ITF Chapter121

A hand cupped the back of Bai Heting’s head, turning his face slightly. Luo Congye’s lips pressed closer, but Bai Heting raised a hand to block his kiss.

“I didn’t disclose the details of the confession. Therefore, the evidence of the Church framing your father is still in my hands,” Bai Heting continued. “I can use this written confession to negotiate with the Holy See and force them to recognize me as the late king’s legitimate heir.”

Luo Congye’s expression darkened slightly as he pulled Bai Heting’s hand away, “Why?”

“What do you mean, why?” Bai Heting said. “I have the support of the populace right now. As long as the Pope steps forward—”

Luo Congye asked again, “Why do you want to do this?”

His reaction was somewhat different from what Bai Heting had anticipated. Bai Heting got off his lap, resting his back against the wall of the pool as he sat side-by-side with him in the water. “I shouldn’t have forced you to eat the apple pie you didn’t like.” He cast a sidelong glance at Luo Congye. “Even though it is the most delicious thing in the world.”

Luo Congye remained quiet for a moment, then stood up and walked out of the bath before returning with a bar of soap.

“You announced in the Bania Valley that you were Bai Yi’s legitimate son born of wedlock for the sole purpose of establishing an advantage for us.” Sitting cross-legged at the edge of the pool, he rubbed the soap in his palms into a lather, speaking as he helped wash Bai Heting’s hair, “If it hadn’t been for that battle, you wouldn’t have let anyone know about your parentage, right?”

Bai Heting tilted his head back and closed his eyes, showing no intention of responding. Luo Congye spoke in an affirmative tone, “You don’t want that crown at all.”

Bai Heting did not refute it.

“Power represents responsibility. When the things you shoulder increase, you are left with no choice but to make certain decisions against your own will. Only those who have absolutely nothing dare to act with total recklessness.”

Luo Congye said, “You can no longer cast off those responsibilities.”

“Which is why I need a more reliable council,” Bai Heting said. “It must be larger and more meticulous, and everyone must act in accordance with the established ironclad laws. This may take many years, but ultimately, it can completely replace me in supervising the monarch’s decisions.”

He opened his eyes, colliding with Luo Congye’s gaze.

“Regarding the late king, I will fulfill the duties I ought to fulfill. After that,” Bai Heting said, entirely unperturbed, “I want to be responsible to only one person.”

The gaze Luo Congye directed toward him was like the stifling, steamy heat wave inside the bathroom. Scalding, yet damp. Cupping Bai Heting’s chin with one hand, he bent his waist down and pressed close to his face once more.

This time, Bai Heting did not stop him.

Prying opens his lips and teeth with the tip of his tongue to entwine with his, Luo Congye asked indistinctly, “How do you want to be responsible to me?”

Letting go of Bai Heting’s chin, his fingers slowly trailed down the line of his neck. A soft groan slipped from Bai Heting’s throat, and he turned his head aside to avoid the kiss.

“Otherwise…” he panted, “when I am on the verge of stepping into the grave, I will still have to listen to you nagging in my ear every day, saying that I am fully occupied with state affairs and have no time to pay attention to you.”

This was originally meant to be a scolding, but his voice was thoroughly soaked in desire, completely devoid of any majesty and sounding instead like a complaint. Luo Congye stepped back into the pool with a smile, pinning him against the wall of the bath, and kissed him once again.

“Did you miss me?” He sucked on Bai Heting’s lips, and without waiting for his answer, murmured, “I missed you so much…”

The scent of tequila was relaxing yet fever-inducing. Bai Heting was kissed into a daze, and before he knew it, his waist was locked in a grip and he was lifted up.

“Let’s use that leverage to exchange for something else instead,” Luo Congye carried him out of the water, letting him sit on the edge of the bath as he looked up at him. “This time let’s ruthlessly strip a layer of skin off them. The scholars and Omegas under my command have been waiting for this day for a very long time.”

Bai Heting’s mind was chaotic. Just as he managed to process what leverage Luo Congye was referring to, his entire body suddenly shuddered violently, and he gripped Luo Congye’s hair with force.

The billowing steam and rapid, clipped pants swirled and echoed within the bathroom. His skin flushed with an unnatural red and burned with an unnatural heat, like a peach forced to ripen by tequila.

“How can you look this beautiful?” Luo Congye detached one hand to reach behind him, giving his lower back a gentle push, and Bai Heting slid into the water like someone without bones, falling back onto him.

Luo Congye took two steps on his knees through the water before turning him around to hold him from behind while lowering his head to bite his ear, “From head to toe, completely beautiful.”

Bai Heting was scalded by the hot breath he exhaled. The heat of arousal rushed in like a surging tide; his consciousness plummeted into the web woven by desire, only to be lifted high up by the grinding pleasure.

Pressing his chest against Bai Heting’s back, Luo Congye scooped up his narrow waist with a single hand and held him against his front, “I should have done this the very first time I attended to you for a bath here…” he breathed heavily, “pinning you right here…”

With both hands resting on the edge of the pool, Bai Heting mumbled a curse, “You dare.”

Yet, his body was clearly far more honest than his mouth.

Extending his right arm, he reached behind himself to brace a hand against Luo Congye’s thigh, then instinctively lowered his head, baring the flushed, swollen gland at the nape of his neck.

The traces of the last temporary mark had long disappeared. The moment Luo Congye’s lips pressed against it, Bai Heting scratched him, unable to bear it.

The Alpha’s canines, however, did not bite down right away.

“Tell me, why did you keep the words I wrote when I was a child?” Luo Congye lifted his hand and pressed it against the row of scars on his own thigh, complaining to him in a mock-pitiful manner, “Had I known this would happen, why on earth would I have suffered through those miseries back then? It hurt so much.”

So the messy state of that desk really was his handiwork. Bai Heting knitted his brows and said, “Who permitted you to… rifle through my things?”

Luo Congye pretended to be deaf to the question. “I could have ended up landing myself the position of Prince Consort,” he pressed on relentlessly, demanding an answer. “Now, you think you can just brush me off with a Minister of Commerce? You tell me yourself, is that reasonable?”

“Prince Consort,” Bai Heting closed his eyes and let out a light laugh. “There really is… nothing you wouldn’t dare dream of.”

A hand slid along his lower back, pushing up that thoroughly soaked white short shirt.

“Am I wrong?” Luo Congye ripped the short shirt off him completely and tossed it onto the edge of the pool, holding him close without a single barrier between them as he asked earnestly, “Where am I wrong? Teach me, General Bai.”

He was becoming more brazen by the day, every single sentence challenging General Bai’s bottom line. Bai Heting looked back and glared at him, “Utterly lawless.”

Luo Congye, however, simply cupped his face directly.

He kissed his lips and entangled his tongue.

It was far too agonizing. Bai Heting pushed his face away, calling out with sheer impatience, “Hurry…”

“I want to go inside.”

Bai Heting abruptly snapped his eyes open.

Luo Congye’s palm gently covered that crooked scar on Bai Heting’s lower abdomen.

It was a scar that caused his heart to break into pieces every single time he thought of it.

A wound sliced directly across the tip of his heart, one that could never truly heal.

“Let me inside,” he lowered his head with his forehead resting lightly against the side of Bai Heting’s face, confirming in a soft voice, “Didn’t you say you wanted to be responsible to me?”

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