Taohua gazed at Guan Fusha’s breathtaking profile. A warm tide swept through her heart, her cheeks flushed, and she said, moved,
“Senior Sister…”
“You little fool, why do you look like you’re about to cry?”
Guan Fusha chuckled softly.
“Did you forget? I promised you before I’d protect you.”
“Mm.”
Taohua forced back her tears, lifted the corners of her lips, and nodded hard at her.
Guan Fusha smiled back. As they spoke, she finally stopped walking and landed on the eaves of a house.
“We’re here.”
Taohua looked around. The surrounding houses were all low, clearly common residences. There weren’t many pedestrians on the street, sparse and scattered, the place looking a little desolate.
She withdrew her gaze and asked,
“Where is this, exactly?”
Guan Fusha didn’t answer. She simply leapt downward. Taohua immediately tightened her arms around the woman’s neck. Before she could even scream, Guan Fusha used the outer wall as a springboard, flipped neatly, and slipped in through a window. Then she carefully set Taohua down on the bed.
“This is… an inn?”
Taohua gave the room a quick once-over. It was very clean and simple, laid out very much like an inn’s guest room. But from outside, it had clearly looked like an ordinary house.
“This is Elder Gu’s home,” Guan Fusha replied with a faint smile.
“Elder Gu?”
Taohua’s face was full of confusion. Was there such a person in the Night God Sect? She hadn’t seen him in the main hall last time.
“Mm. He’s the old man who brought your meals,” Guan Fusha explained for her.
Only then did Taohua realize.
“So it was him!”
Guan Fusha sat down at the bedside.
“He’s our planted spy we sent to infiltrate the Orthodox Alliance.”
Taohua was faintly surprised. With her status, Guan Fusha didn’t actually need to explain all this to her.
“Senior Sister… why are you telling me all this?”
“Because you’re my junior sister,” Guan Fusha said as if it were obvious, still smiling,
“And the Left Protector of the Night God Sect.”
“Senior Sister…”
Taohua was moved by those words. In this completely unfamiliar ancient world, having someone open their heart to you like this… it felt so good.
“All right, enough idle talk.”
Guan Fusha’s smile suddenly faded. She turned, knelt beside the bed, and looked up at Taohua with a deeply worried expression.
“Junior Sister, where exactly are you hurt? Don’t worry, there’s no one else here. I’ll treat you myself.”
Taohua froze, not understanding why Guan Fusha had circled back to this topic again.
“Senior Sister, I’m not injured.”
“How could you not be injured!”
Guan Fusha assumed Taohua only said that so she wouldn’t worry.
“That day when I went to Peach Garden, I saw blood dripping in your room and all over the floor. Did those people from the North Kun Sect hurt you?”
“No.”
Taohua shook her head.
“There was just a cut on my arm. It’s already bandaged, it’s nothing serious.”
“What?!”
Guan Fusha’s expression changed.
“So someone from the North Kun Sect stabbed you?”
“No!”
Taohua was both amused and helpless at how worried she looked, and simply recounted everything that happened that night.
“That night I was half-asleep when I sensed someone outside the door. They used knockout incense on me, so I couldn’t fight back. I didn’t know who it was, and I was afraid you wouldn’t be able to find me, so I deliberately cut my own arm and left a trail of blood along the way for you to follow.”
“You really are…”
Guan Fusha felt a sharp twist in her heart as she listened.
Her junior sister had been pampered since childhood, yet this time she had suffered so much. It was all her fault for not protecting her properly.
“You really are a little fool. Why hurt yourself like that? Do you have that little faith in me?”
The sight of all that blood in Peach Garden that day had almost made her heart stop. Following the trail, they’d not only found the ones who abducted Taohua, but by accident uncovered the real identity of the traitor. She’d wanted to rush straight to the North Kun Sect to rescue her junior sister, but if she acted rashly she might alert the enemy, so she had to grit her teeth and endure.
She hadn’t expected Tianlun Sect to suddenly crash the scene like some meddling third party, tearing their face with the North Kun Sect and stealing Taohua away by force, leaving her chasing empty air—and arriving late.
“How could that be!”
Taohua didn’t understand why Guan Fusha would think that.
“The Night God Sect is always tightly guarded. That day, when I sensed something off about the person outside my door and thought it through carefully, I suspected someone in the sect was harboring disloyalty and deliberately defying your orders to harm me. So I deliberately left clues behind, hoping you would catch that person.”
Looking into Taohua’s clear, sincere eyes, Guan Fusha was secretly astonished. She hadn’t expected Taohua to think so deeply—just from noticing something slightly off, she’d managed to infer so much.
Taohua had thought so much for her. With that kind of heartfelt intention, Guan Fusha really couldn’t bring herself to blame her anymore. Everything she wanted to say turned into a soft sigh that slipped from her lips.
“Senior Sister…”
Taohua couldn’t understand what that sigh meant. She thought Guan Fusha was blaming her for meddling, and a wave of grievance welled up in her chest. The apology slipped out on its own.
“…I’m sorry.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
Guan Fusha leaned in close and pressed her forehead against Taohua’s, murmuring almost to herself,
“From now on, no matter what happens, don’t hurt yourself, all right?”
They were so close that Guan Fusha’s breath spilled hot over the tip of Taohua’s nose. Taohua’s face went scarlet in an instant. Only then did she realize that sigh hadn’t been blame at all—it had been worry.
She wanted to escape that breath, but didn’t dare move rashly. Her face burning, she stammered softly,
“I know…”
Guan Fusha finally smiled.
“Then it’s a promise.”
Taohua had thought that after saying that, Guan Fusha would pull back. Unexpectedly, the other woman didn’t move at all, as if she meant to stay glued to her forehead.
Taohua lowered her lashes, heart thudding wildly. She didn’t dare meet Guan Fusha’s gaze. After a long moment, she could only mumble,
“Mm.”
Seeing that Guan Fusha had no intention of moving away, Taohua felt this couldn’t go on. She took the initiative to say,
“Senior Sister, y-you’re a bit too close…”
“Mm?”
Guan Fusha made a questioning sound on purpose, as if teasing her. She lifted a hand and stroked Taohua’s cheek, her tone full of concern.
“Junior Sister, your face is so hot.”
Taohua opened her mouth, but didn’t know how to respond. Or rather, with Guan Fusha this close, her brain was already on the verge of shutting down.
She instinctively placed her hands on Guan Fusha’s shoulders, wanting to push her away, but her body was feverish and weak, as if she couldn’t use any strength.
“Senior… Sister…”
Her voice carried an unintentional, youthful sultriness. Not only did Guan Fusha not pull back, she leaned even closer. Their noses brushed, and Taohua’s breathing grew heavy without her realizing it.
Listening to Taohua’s increasingly ragged breaths, Guan Fusha let out a low laugh. Her index finger traced down along Taohua’s face and finally came to rest on those soft, dewy lips, slowly rubbing back and forth.
Her voice turned husky and bewitching.
“Junior Sister, have I ever told you? You’re really very beautiful.”
Taohua’s mind had already stopped functioning properly. She let out a small, uncomfortable whimper and murmured in a daze,
“I don’t think you have…”
Guan Fusha’s finger kept sliding over her lips, back and forth.
“My junior sister is such a pretty girl,” she said with a soft laugh. “How wonderful.”
Hearing that, Taohua’s face burned even hotter.
“That’s not true at all. Senior Sister is so beautiful. Compared to you, I’m just… an ugly duckling.”
“Ugly duckling?”
Guan Fusha didn’t know this metaphor, but she could guess the general meaning—Taohua thought her looks couldn’t compare.
Guan Fusha suddenly moved away. With that oppressive closeness gone, Taohua could finally draw in a lungful of fresh air, and her head cleared all at once.
Phew. Breathing nothing but Guan Fusha’s carbon dioxide, she had almost suffocated.
But before she could take a few more breaths, Guan Fusha abruptly scooped her up and laid her flat on the bed.
“Senior Sister?”
Before Taohua could react, Guan Fusha’s hand shot to the inside edge of the bed, bracing herself. That flawless face hovered right above Taohua’s line of sight.
Taohua’s eyes widened in shock.
In this lifetime, she was actually being pinned to the bed by someone!
“Junior Sister?”
Sensing Taohua’s distraction, Guan Fusha lifted her other hand to pinch Taohua’s chin lightly, forcing her gaze back to her own face.
“Look at me.”
Forced to meet her eyes, Taohua stared straight into that burning gaze, into that devastatingly beautiful face. It was like an intoxicating, rich vintage wine, and Taohua felt herself growing drunk on it.
