The suffocating sensation he had been waiting for never came, and Shen Yangge was overcome with despair.
The Crown Prince rested his clean palm against his forehead and swept up his damp bangs, drawing the strands of black hair stuck near his lips out of his mouth as well.
With that terrifyingly dark look in his eyes, was he sure he wasn't about to kill him?
Fuck, was this bastard planning to rip his hair out by the roots?
"Your Highness?"
He hesitated. "Are you going to bathe and change as well?"
He remembered that before he had changed from a cat back into a human and escaped, the Crown Prince seemed to have just finished bathing and put on an outer robe.
He had rushed around looking for his cat, only to catch Shen Yangge instead. So that bath had been for nothing?
The Crown Prince lowered his hand and withdrew it, but his gaze continued to linger on Shen Yangge's neck.
Shen Yangge instinctively tucked his neck in.
[-Tsk, acting up again?]
He hid his pale neck inside his collar. Hoping to distract the man from his apparent urge to bite him, he murmured, "Your Highness, I was held captive by a villain for these past fifteen days. Fortunately, my courage and resourcefulness allowed me to escape."
He had been missing for fifteen days. He needed a plausible explanation, or the questioning might never end.
He had to seize the initiative first.
With that thought, Shen Yangge walked past the Crown Prince toward the exit. "Your Highness, I..."
He had barely taken two steps when he stumbled and hit the floor with a loud thud!
[-Fuck, why is this robe so long?]
His face twisted with pain, and his elbows and knees reddened almost immediately.
Hissing softly, he slowly got up from the floor, only to notice the Crown Prince's strange gaze.
Shen Yangge followed that gaze downward.
Fuck. Just great.
He had exposed himself!
This... this was an utter humiliation!
[-Didn't anyone ever teach you not to look at things you shouldn't?!]
[-And you're still looking!]
The modesty he had guarded for years was gone just like that. It might have been tolerable if the other person were a girl, but this was just some bastard of a man.
Ignoring the pain in his knees and elbows, Shen Yangge hastily wrapped his robe tight around himself. Combined with his slightly contorted face, he looked indescribably strange.
But this version of him was more genuine than the act he usually put on.
The Crown Prince watched him for a while, then said calmly, "Go outside."
Like a cat let off its leash, Shen Yangge hurriedly fled.
He didn't even realize that his ears had turned red as he left.
Watching that slender figure disappear through the doorway beyond the screen, the Crown Prince could no longer suppress the heat burning through his body. He walked over to the tub of used bathwater, quickly stripped off his clothes and trousers, and stepped inside.
As the clear water washed over his body, he sat down and rested his hands loosely on the rim.
The Crown Prince tipped his head back slightly, his eyes half closed, and rested his head against the spot where Shen Yangge had leaned. It seemed to still hold a trace of warmth that belonged to him alone. His lips parted as he exhaled a heavy breath, and his hand slowly slipped beneath the water.
Sitting in a chair in the bedchamber, Shen Yangge considered what questions that bastard of a Crown Prince might ask him later. If he challenged him about his disappearance, how could he push back without inviting further scrutiny?
After thinking for a long time, he left the chair and began pacing around the chamber.
It suddenly struck him that the bastard had been bathing for ages-so long that he was beginning to wonder if he had drowned in there.
Was that fucker peeling off his skin piece by piece to wash it?
Shen Yangge deliberated over whether he should go in and check. After all, if anything really happened to the bastard, he would never be able to return to the real world.
Just as he was about to enter the side chamber, he stopped himself short. Had being a cat made him stupid? That man could swim back even if someone threw him into the depths of the sea!
Why the hell should he check? What if the bastard had thought up another way to humiliate him? Wouldn't he just be walking straight into trouble?
Besides, there had been no warning from the system in his mind.
That fucker was the male lead of this novel, after all.
Shen Yangge turned and started walking back, only for someone to suddenly grab his collar!
To keep from exposing himself, Shen Yangge hurriedly covered his lower half. He turned his head and found the Crown Prince staring at him, looking as though he hadn't had enough and remained unsatisfied.
Especially when he looked at his neck.
Shen Yangge quickly tucked his head back into his collar, his almond-shaped eyes wide with confusion. "Your Highness?"
System 615 asked curiously, [Host, is this what they call turtle behavior?]
[-If you can't say anything useful, donate your mouth to someone who needs it =.=]
The Crown Prince asked, "When did the wound on your neck heal?"
What?
Wasn't that the wrong question? Shouldn't he be asking how he had gone missing for fifteen days?!
Shen Yangge thought for a moment and said, "Perhaps I have a strong immune system, and my injuries heal quickly. Of course, there may be something a little unusual about me."
Like how he could turn into a cat as punishment.
But he wasn't going to say any of that aloud.
The Crown Prince stared at him with that burning gaze, looking nowhere but his neck.
"Immune system?"
"...It means I'm healthy. Strong."
"So healthy that even the scar disappeared?"
How was he supposed to respond to that? Any answer felt wrong.
Cold sweat poured down Shen Yangge's back. He stammered for a while before finally squeezing out, "I don't know either."
Everyone was baffled now. He wasn't entirely sure how all his injuries had healed, and the system hadn't given him a direct answer either.
He wanted to know himself whether his wounds would heal after a punishment.
After a moment of silence, the Crown Prince dragged him toward the bed by his collar.
[-Are we sharing a bed again?]
[-What a child. He's this old and still needs someone to sleep beside him. No wonder there are always so many women around him.]
[-Right, why haven't I seen his beloved first love lately?]
[-Ow, this is choking me. Couldn't you be gentler? Are you slaughtering a fucking pig?]
The Crown Prince tossed him onto the bed and said, "Move to the inside."
Shen Yangge answered, "Oh," and scrambled farther in. He moved as carefully as possible, because the night robe he was wearing was not only loose but long and oversized, leaving him feeling strangely bare underneath.
What was the term again? Going commando.
Once he had crawled to the inside, he suddenly wanted to punch himself.
When had he become so obedient?
It was as though he instinctively followed the Crown Prince's commands, doing whatever he told him to do.
It had to be a bad habit he'd developed as a cat to keep himself from getting killed!
Once Shen Yangge lay down, he was just about to speak when the Crown Prince pressed close.
He edged away, retreating into the corner by the wall.
His other arm was pressed tightly against the wall.
The Crown Prince moved closer again.
"Your Highness, do you want to sleep on the inside?"
[-Tsk, couldn't you have said so earlier? Why keep squeezing up against me?]
[-Hurry up and say yes.]
The Crown Prince stared straight at him without saying a word.
Shen Yangge had reached the limit of his patience. He forced a stern "smile" onto his face, then shifted, intending to climb over the Crown Prince.
Suddenly!
Something mortifying happened...
Before you continue