ITF Chapter128

It was this kind of moonlight again.

Cold and silent, it slanted in through the window behind him, casting a thin layer of silver frost over the corridor.

Luo Congye knelt on one knee with his back ramrod straight, yet his head remained lowered.

From the age of six to fifteen, he had lived here, but he had never dared to step even a single pace closer to the bedchamber in front of him.

This was Bai Heting’s bedchamber.

It was not a place he had the right to approach.

But right now, that carved wooden door stood wide open. Warm, golden candlelight spilled from within, mingling in a hazy, indistinct way with the silver-white moonlight.

And then, he saw those feet.

They were a pair of bare feet emerging from the candlelight. The sound of each step touching the floor was faint, almost weightless, yet every single one struck Luo Congye’s ears like a heavy blow.

Luo Congye immediately averted his gaze.

This was not something he had the right to look at.

But those feet eventually stopped directly in front of him. A hand reached out, its fingertips tracing a slow path from between his brows down over the bridge of his nose, across his lips and chin, pausing briefly at his Adam’s apple before sliding around to the nape of his neck.

Like wiping a bloodstained blade clean, or like soothing a docile horse, that hand stroked the back of his neck again and again, each motion slow and deliberate. Luo Congye did not dare to make a reckless move and even forgot to breathe. All the blood in his body was rushing toward the back of his neck; his gland felt swollen and numb as something poured out uncontrollably.

Intense, bitter, and carrying the unhideable longing of a sixteen-year-old youth.

His pheromones had lost control again.

But he could not lose control.

He could not let the other party discover that he had differentiated into an Alpha.

“Luo Congye.” The person called his name.

Luo Congye lifted his head and finally saw that flawless face.

Bai Heting still looked exactly as he did two years ago when he returned to the mansion to recuperate from his injuries. He wore only a loose linen night shirt, and the candlelight behind him gilded his silhouette with a layer of gentle warmth.

Yet, his gaze was cold.

That gaze was like the moonlight itself; beautiful yet distant, high and above.

Luo Congye should have replied.

But he could not open his mouth.

He was frozen from head to toe by that gaze, and only the gland at the back of his neck was still burning.

Bai Heting withdrew his hand and stood up straight in front of him.

He looked down at Luo Congye from above and spat out five words with icy contempt.

“Useless piece of trash.”

*

Luo Congye snapped awake.

The tequila pheromones were thrashing wildly inside the woodshed, and the haystack beneath him had grown damp, soaked through with hot sweat. He lowered his head, shifting his gaze from the low rafters to between his own legs.

With just one glance, he raised his arm and blocked his eyes.

The coarse cloth trousers were taut with a miserable contour, stained by a patch of wetness.

Useless piece of trash.

He cursed himself.

Ever since he differentiated into an Alpha last year, absurd dreams like this have become increasingly frequent.

Bai Heting walking barefoot to stand before him…

What utter wishful thinking.

The sensation of being caressed by that hand still lingered on the back of his neck. Luo Congye sat up, drew a hunting knife from his boot-top, and rolled up his pant leg.

The blade pressed against his thigh. He closed his eyes, and applied force—

Blood gushed out.

The sore numbness at the back of his neck finally faded amid the pain, and the restless heat in his lower abdomen gradually subsided.

Using pain to punish his body’s loss of control was a cruel method he had learned from religious believers. But it was clear that he was still far from being able to freely regulate and suppress his pheromones at will.

He wiped the blood off the knife onto his trousers, rolled down his pant leg, fished an inhibitor patch out of his pocket, and pressed it onto the back of his neck.

Dawn was about to break. He had no time to delay here any longer.

*

Luo Congye had squatted here for three days before he finally managed to wait out this delivery convoy heading for Bai Heting’s mansion.

This convoy came every month, and the guards’ inspections were somewhat lax, only casually prodding the cargo bags of the first few wagons with their scabbards before waving them through. Luo Congye curled up in the gaps between the cargo and waited patiently. Taking advantage of the gap when the coachman and the steward were counting the goods, he slipped out from beneath the tarpaulin noiselessly.

He knew this place too well.

Following the route etched in his memory, he skillfully avoided the passing servants and guards, passing through the storeroom and the stables before finally coming to a stop at the side gate of the garden.

The early spring weather was still cold. The vegetation in the garden was withered and desolate with only the hardy evergreens holding onto a bit of green. He continued deeper along the winding path, walked to a secluded spot sheltered from the wind and facing the sun, and crouched down.

The soil was still frozen, and when the hunting knife pried into it, a crisp sound echoed. But he was very patient. He pried open the frozen earth bit by bit until he dug out a palm-sized pit before putting his knife away.

Then, he reached into his jacket and carefully pulled out an object wrapped in burlap.

It was a young agave seedling with its roots wrapped in a dense mass of damp soil. Its thick, fleshy outer leaves fanned outward, while the inner ones curled tightly inward, like a clenched fist guarding a hidden secret.

Luo Congye gazed at this tiny plant as if looking at another version of himself.

No one would ever notice the existence of this inconspicuous speck of green planted in this vast garden.

Luo Congye had no way to tend to it personally, and he did not know if it could survive.

But he hoped it would live.

Before long, the river that had been frozen all winter would thaw, and the bare branches would sprout fresh green.

Spring has already arrived.

Luo Congye carefully placed the seedling into the pit, pushed the surrounding loose soil back with his hands, pressed it firm, and then unfastened an old waterskin from his waist, pouring the water down until not a single drop remained.

Having done all this, he clapped his dirt-covered hands, stood up, and looked toward the south.

That was the direction of Bai Heting’s bedchamber.

But Luo Congye knew that Bai Heting was not in his bedchamber at this moment. He was stationed at the southern border.

Nor did he wish for Bai Heting to be sleeping in that bedchamber. Over the years, Bai Heting would only appear there when he was severely injured and needed quiet recuperation.

The morning light had already climbed all over the stone walls of the castle’s main building. Luo Congye stood there, motionless while gazing toward that direction for a very long time.

“I will definitely return.”

The sixteen-year-old youth made a soft promise in the morning light.

Though the voice was light, it was solemn.

“I will become the sharpest spear and the sturdiest shield in your hand.”

“No matter how high the price is to be paid, no matter how many years it will take.”

“I will definitely, definitely…”

“Return to your side.”

A sharp, biting wind swept through the garden, passing over the newly planted agave and then over him as well, carrying his whispered words onward as it continued blowing toward the south.

Blowing toward the direction where Bai Heting was.

Thank for reading~