Chapter 30: A Rare Moment of Tenderness

Seeing that Yu Tingye made no movement, Lin Xihe released his lips and looked at him cautiously.

Observing her gentle, moving, and submissive appearance, Yu Tingye could not help but reach out to touch her face.

"What am I to do with you?" Yu Tingye asked her softly. He could not love her, nor did he dare to. Yet, when it came to killing her, he found himself unable to bear it.

Yu Tingye was tormented by these feelings, feeling pained, restless, and even losing his sense of self. He had to bring this to an end as soon as possible.

The old tree spirit had said that only by completely refining her could the poison of this emotional addiction be cured. Refining was a form of extreme torture, a punishment reserved only for the most heinous demons; the level of agony it inflicted was unimaginable.

As Yu Tingye looked at Lin Xihe, the thought of her enduring the torture of refinement caused a pang of pain to ripple through his heart. He immediately pulled her into his arms.

Because the movement was so sudden, Lin Xihe was unprepared and bumped her forehead against his chest, feeling a sharp sting.

"Ye, that hurts," Lin Xihe said, rubbing her forehead before reaching out to rub his chest in return.

Yu Tingye seized her wrist and began to lick and kiss her fingers. Lin Xihe was startled by his actions; the scene was chillingly similar to how he interacted with Wanwan. Wanwan loved it when he licked her like that, especially while kneeling, but Lin Xihe felt a strange sense of discomfort and pulled her hand away.

Her heart felt heavy. It turned out he had always viewed her as Wanwan; perhaps he had never once considered that she might be someone else entirely.

"What is wrong?" Yu Tingye asked.

"I am not Wanwan."

Yu Tingye did not seem to like hearing those words. "You are Wanwan."

"I am not!" Lin Xihe looked into his eyes, enunciating every word clearly. "My name is Lin Xihe. I am a soul from elsewhere, not Wanwan."

Yu Tingye replied, "I do not care if you are Wanwan or not; you are Wanwan."

The implication was clear: whether she was or was not, whether she was the original or a substitute, all he wanted was Wanwan.

Lin Xihe fell silent as Yu Tingye picked her up and placed her on the bed.

After a moment of sadness, Lin Xihe soon came to terms with it. Whether she was Wanwan or Lin Xihe, she was the master of this body now, and that would have to be enough.

As Yu Tingye kissed her, Lin Xihe initially resisted, but once she had made peace with the situation, she began to respond to him.

Lin Xihe exerted herself to cater to Yu Tingye, partly because she had another motive: she wanted to persuade him not to destroy her inner core. Little did she know that while they were intimate, Yu Tingye had already silently shattered the core within her, so thoroughly that even after they were finished, Lin Xihe remained unaware.

"Ye, I want to discuss something with you," Lin Xihe said in an exceptionally tender voice.

Yu Tingye was uncharacteristically gentle. "Mm, tell me."

Lin Xihe nestled into his embrace. "Could you please not take my inner core away?"

Yu Tingye smiled. "Very well."

"Really?" Lin Xihe, overjoyed, kissed his face repeatedly.

Yu Tingye smiled again, but then, as if something occurred to him, the warmth in his eyes slowly faded into coldness. Lin Xihe did not notice.

Upon returning and seeing A-Jiu, she felt an urge to run up and kiss her as well.

"Miss, what has made you so happy?" Seeing her joy, A-Jiu could not help but smile as well.

Just as Lin Xihe was about to reply, Tang Xin'er came running over, breathless. "Sister-in-law, it is bad! Shuangyu... he has gone missing."