ITF Chapter29

Luo Congye was burning with anxiety; how could he possibly shut his mouth? “I heard many medications have side effects, you—”

Bai Heting raised a hand and covered his mouth.

“I didn’t take anything.” He lowered his hand, keenly detecting a hint of abnormality in the young man’s panicked expression. “Is there something wrong with that physician?”

Luo Congye’s gaze flickered slightly. “No.”

Bai Heting said in a deep voice, “Look at me when you speak.”

The general, and the cherished childhood friend who had treated him like a biological younger brother.

It turned out that making this choice was far more difficult than Luo Congye had ever imagined; by a thousandfold, ten thousandfold.

But he quickly calmed down.

Luo Congye said calmly, “I haven’t had the chance to meet that Physician Zhou yet.” Then, he slowly lowered his eyelashes, fixing his gaze back onto Bai Heting. “I’m just…” This time, his tone was even more sincere, “really worried about you.”

Those pitch-black eyes were like a gentle cage, firmly locking the other party’s gaze.

Bai Heting was dazed for a moment.

The medicine really seemed to have side effects.

His heart…

His heart felt very uncomfortable.

“Stop worrying blindly.” He sat up while propping himself up against the ground with one hand.

A few withered leaves were crushed to pieces under his palm. Bai Heting slapped his hands together, and just as he was about to stand up, an arm suddenly caught him by the chest from behind.

A patch of warmth also pressed against his back.

“General.”

With that soft call beside his ear, the discomfort spread rapidly from his heart to his entire body before crawling into every corner of his being.

The two of them had embraced too many times.

In pitch-black caves, between soft bedsheets.

Naked, intimately connected with limbs entangled.

But an embrace should have a reason to be an embrace.

Driven either by desire or seeking comfort.

It shouldn’t be like this…

It couldn’t be like this…

So caught off guard, so without reason, so disturbing to one’s peace of mind…

“Let go.” Bai Heting pried at that sturdy arm.

Luo Congye, however, held him even tighter.

“I won’t,” he whispered, placing his lips right behind Bai Heting’s ear while emphasizing every single word, “let anyone hurt you.”

“Who do you think you are?” Bai Heting struggled slightly in his embrace before turning his head to reprimand him, “I told you to let go.”

Luo Congye’s profile pressed tightly against Bai Heting’s forehead.

The sky had turned pitch black.

He couldn’t see the flush on Bai Heting’s face, but could only feel the heat of his skin.

Bai Heting’s breath was also burning hot.

It brushed against Luo Congye’s neck puff after puff.

Luo Congye’s Adam’s apple bobbed heavily.

He was good at enduring.

This was a survival instinct he had learned during his long, solitary years.

The general ordered him to let go.

He should let go.

But…

The rapidly beating heart beneath his arm gave him the courage to be presumptuous.

He raised his other hand, pinched Bai Heting’s delicate chin, and lifted it slightly.

The stiffness of the body in his arms reminded him of their first embrace.

In his panic, Bai Heting held his breath.

He also closed his eyes tightly—

*

Yet those lips, which were right within reach, never pressed down against his.

When Bai Heting opened his eyes, Luo Congye was already standing properly a few paces away, and a familiar voice came from the distance.

“It’s already dark, why are you still sitting by the lake?”

Bai Heting followed the sound, looking over, and stood up by supporting himself against the ground, adjusting his breathing in the bleak, cold wind after sunset.

Bai Jiashu never hid his pheromones, yet Bai Heting had been so dull that he hadn’t even noticed an Alpha approaching.

It was an unforgivable, amateur mistake.

Bai Jiashu made his way toward him, crunching over dry branches and fallen leaves, his gaze instinctively sweeping over the unfamiliar guard’s face as he sized him up.

Bai Heting also glanced at Luo Congye, reminding him, “Greet His Highness.”

Compared to the top-tier tequila, Bai Jiashu cared more about the slightly fluctuating fir. He stopped looking at the guard, took a few steps closer to Bai Heting, and asked with concern, “Are you not feeling well?”

Bai Heting stood facing him and replied in a flat voice, “No.”

His attitude was even colder than before, leaving a bitter taste in Bai Jiashu’s mouth.

Ever since they parted on bad terms at the hunting grounds that day, Bai Heting had called in sick for over half a month and had only visited the palace today.

Yet he hadn’t looked for him either.

“It was my fault last time at the hunting grounds. You had clearly just gone through something so dangerous…” Bai Jiashu lowered his voice, offering an olive branch in a gentle tone. “I shouldn’t have lost my temper at you, nor should I have taken my anger out on you.”

Bai Heting looked at him expressionlessly.

“Whether Your Highness loses your temper at me is not a matter of ‘should’ or ‘should not’.”

If these words had come from anyone else, Bai Jiashu might have tried to discern if they were just acting spoiled or throwing a tantrum, but this was Bai Heting.

“Don’t be angry with me anymore, I apologize to you.” Realizing that saying anything else would be redundant, he reached directly into his coat pocket and pulled out an exquisitely crafted little hunting knife. “Look at this.”

Bai Heting looked over.

Judging by the sculpted style of the handle, it likely came from a renowned bladesmith he frequently patronized.

“Don’t you always love the knives he makes?” Bai Jiashu rubbed the mother-of-pearl inlay on the hilt with his fingertip before placing the hunting knife into Bai Heting’s hand. “It’s too dark here to see the full effect, but in the sunlight, this mother-of-pearl has a dazzling, iridescent gleam. It’s beautiful.”

Bai Heting took the item, testing the feel of it in his hand.

The grip was excellent.

Seeing his expression soften slightly, Bai Jiashu quickly suggested, “Let’s go, I’ll walk you back. You’ve just recovered from an illness, don’t stay out here catching the cold wind.”

Bai Heting fiddled with his new toy, then glanced back.

Luo Congye was still standing in the same spot with his head slightly lowered, his expression unreadable in the dim twilight.

Bai Heting turned his head back, giving an order with his back to the person, “Take Zhenzhu back to the stables.”

Luo Congye remained quiet for a few seconds before responding in a low voice, “Yes.”

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