Chapter 30: The Pain

Chapter 30: Pain

The bed curtain was lifted by a slender hand.

Chen Shuoan, still in the position of having his ankle held, turned his head to look behind him.

Yuan Rang's cold, sharp face was hidden beyond the thin bed curtain, his tall frame gradually blocking out the faint light that managed to seep through.

Sensing the growing pressure on his ankle, Chen Shuoan felt uneasy lying in the dim, soft bed.

He asked timidly, "Your Highness, are you looking at me?"

Hearing this, Yuan Rang immediately let go.

The nearly weightless bed curtain and his leg slid down together with gravity.

The soft texture of the curtain brushed against Chen Shuoan's bare skin, itching him slightly.

Chen Shuoan curled his round toes uneasily and pulled his foot back into the bed.

Hearing Yuan Rang's breathing suddenly turn heavy outside the curtain, he couldn't help but ask, "Your Highness, are you feeling hot?"

Yuan Rang's voice was muffled, as if he were holding something back with great effort, and he answered in a low tone, "No."

Chen Shuoan said nothing, merely staring blankly at the soft fabric slowly soaking through with water.

After a long moment, he spoke softly.

"Your Highness, if you don't dry your hair before sleeping, you'll get migraines."

"It's fine." Yuan Rang replied absentmindedly, savoring the exquisite sensation of his palm from just moments ago.

What annoyed Chen Shuoan most was this attitude of his—not taking his own body seriously at all.

Frustrated, he flung open the bed curtain with a "swish" and started to get off the bed.

As Yuan Rang snapped back to attention, he realized Chen Shuoan was already on his feet. The soft body brushed past him, stirring up a warm breeze carrying a hint of his scent.

He twitched his nose slightly, desperately trying to capture every trace of the scent in the air, as if afraid someone else might catch it.

And that's exactly what he did.

Yuan Rang wrapped his arms around Chen Shuoan's waist from behind, leaning down to whisper coolly in his ear, "Where are you going? Just call for me."

Chen Shuoan pried his hands away and said in a placating tone, "I'm going to get a clean cloth to dry your hair."

With that, he vanished in an instant.

Yuan Rang never had a way to deal with him.

On this already cool night, he didn't even bother to close the door, quietly watching Chen Shuoan's figure disappear down the corridor.

He lowered his gaze, his face unreadable.

In the empty room, Yuan Rang sat alone at the writing desk.

He would be back soon.

He wouldn't leave him.

He was just going to get a cloth.

Yuan Rang's head throbbed violently. He pressed his knuckles hard against his temples, his nails nearly digging into his flesh, trying to use pain to snap himself back to reason.

It had only been a short while since Chen Shuoan left, and he was already losing his mind with longing.

Yuan Rang's eyes were bloodshot. He slammed his head against the desk in agony, his fingers on his thighs twitching and spasming slightly.

"Your Highness." Chen Shuoan came rushing in, a few glistening beads of sweat clinging to the tip of his nose from running.

The shadows in Yuan Rang's heart vanished instantly.

He obediently leaned his head toward Chen Shuoan, letting him roughly towel-dry his hair as he pleased.

Yuan Rang stared at Chen Shuoan's face, as if unable to hold back a smile, and reached out to wipe the sweat from the tip of his nose.

Then his hand moved downward, wrapping around Chen Shuoan's waist, and with a single effort, he hoisted him up.

With his toes off the ground, Chen Shuoan was, of course, panicked. His Highness the Sixth Prince even mischievously pretended to lose his grip, as if his strength might give out at any second.

Chen Shuoan's hand, which had been holding the fresh cloth over Yuan Rang's head, moved to wrap around this scoundrel's neck.

Face to face with Yuan Rang, so close that he could clearly see the teasing smile in his eyes, Chen Shuoan tightened his grip around his neck and urged, "Yuan Rang, stop messing around!"

Yuan Rang raised an eyebrow, hoisted him up a bit, and obediently replied, "Alright."

Chen Shuoan was jostled so much that he was pressed entirely into his embrace, and for a moment, he wanted to punch that handsome face.

"Alright" my ass! If you're gonna say yes that fast, at least actually do it!

Yuan Rang let out a soft "tsk," with a hint of feigned displeasure, but a smile still hung at the corners of his mouth as he said, "What are you afraid of? You think I'd actually drop you?"

Chen Shuoan was speechless and could only let him pull open the bed curtain and set him down gently on the bed.

Yuan Rang knelt on one knee before him, looking up at him, and leaned his head over without breaking eye contact: "Shuo'an."

Chen Shuoan resigned himself to attending to His Highness, keeping his mouth busy as well, and replied, "Mm, what is it?"

Yuan Rang seemed to find his accent hilarious, and called out again, "Shuo'an."

"...Mm." Chen Shuoan rolled his eyes until they were nearly all white, but he answered again helplessly.

Yuan Rang's voice was even more full of laughter, as if he would never tire of it: "Shuo'an."

"If you keep yapping, I'll slice off your mouth and turn it into knife-cut noodles! Then you'll only be able to go 'ahh ahh ahh'!" Chen Shuoan threatened, putting on a fierce face.

Yuan Rang laughed deeply and shot back, "If that were really the case, I should still be able to say 'Shuo'an.'"

Chen Shuoan had no comeback, so he freed one hand to cover the man's lips: "Would this contestant please mute themselves, thank you."

Yuan Rang felt the softness pressed against his lips, and the smile in his eyes was impossible to hide.

He noticed a forgotten book lying by itself on the bed.

Yuan Rang always had boundless enthusiasm for anything related to Chen Shuoan.

It was probably because His Highness the Sixth Prince was usually so cold to others that the Yuan Rang Chen Shuoan remembered seemed especially vivid.

Chen Shuoan watched helplessly as His Highness stood up and reached out a mischievous hand toward that book, not immediately realizing what was wrong with it.

He momentarily forgot the plot twists that had been driving him up the wall, and that gut-wrenching, over-the-top soap opera drama.

Yuan Rang rested his head on Chen Shuoan's lap, his slender fingers slowly flipping through the book, half-heartedly skimming a few pages.

The motion tickled Chen Shuoan, and he couldn't help but pull harder, yanking out a few precious hairs of the Sixth Prince.

Chen Shuoan secretly flicked the hairs off the handkerchief, pretending nothing had happened.

Yuan Rang noticed his action and chuckled softly, indulging him and letting it slide.

"Shuo'an likes reading this kind of book, no wonder I keep finding you passed out over my study books," Yuan Rang teased softly, watching Chen Shuoan's face turn bright red.

His eyes grew heavy, and he cleared his throat to hide it, tamping down the heat flaring in his chest.

Chen Shuoan, embarrassed by his words, couldn't help but defend himself: "So what if I've got no ambition? I'm already amazing just for being alive."

Yuan Rang snickered from deep in his throat, as if he agreed with his point.

His fingers flipped to the last page, and when he saw what was written there, he slowly paused.

Yuan Rang's dark, brooding eyes locked onto Chen Shuoan's reddened face, and he asked, his voice low and rough, "Does Shuo'an like this kind of thing too?"

Chen Shuoan was completely baffled by that. While furiously rubbing the nearly dry hairs in his hands, he leaned in to peek.

"Huh?"

Yuan Rang moved in closer, and out of nowhere, a big hand clamped onto Chen Shuoan's cheek.

Chen Shuoan's head was spinning from his question, and once he realized what Yuan Rang meant, his face turned as red as a boiled lobster.

He stammered, flustered, as he tried to explain what he liked: "I don't! I've always liked girls!"

"Likes girls..." Yuan Rang shoved his whole face into Chen Shuoan's clothes, murmuring.

His whole demeanor instantly turned gloomy and powerless, like a forgotten statue of a deity, lonely and desperate.

He was determined to tear open his chest and pull out his bleeding heart.

He would dig out the love for Chen Shuoan from his heart bit by bit, then fill it back into his broken flesh to let it heal and grow.

Love cannot only fill the heart.

The heart is too small.

He wanted this love to grow wildly within his body as its container.

Yuan Rang, as if feeling no pain, stubbornly kept tearing himself bloody and numb, and asked again, "Then what kind of girl does Shuo'an like?"