“Your Highness already has the answer in your heart.”
What he meant was obvious—if the answer was already there, why go through the trouble of asking? What if Chi Zhuo said something that wasn’t the answer he wanted to hear?
“I’m giving you the right to choose.” Ji Chenxi, who had been lightly patting the empty spot beside him, paused for a moment. A low, unclear sound slipped from his throat, carrying a hint of annoyance. Then, as if he realized something, he turned over on his own and lay down, clearly not wanting to keep talking to Chi Zhuo.
That wasn’t all. Ji Chenxi even pulled the blanket higher, tucking himself completely inside, hiding under the covers like he wanted to disappear.
He closed his eyes and pretended he was already asleep. Not long after, he caught a faint rustling sound.
Footsteps moved from near to far. On the surface, Ji Chenxi looked like he had shut out the world, but the scent drifting through the air told him everything he needed to know about Chi Zhuo’s movements. Besides, his hearing and senses weren’t just for show.
The bathroom?
Even though he knew Chi Zhuo wouldn’t suddenly jump out the window from the bathroom, Ji Chenxi—still not fully over the aftereffects of his sensitive period—couldn’t help feeling uneasy.
It wasn’t until the sound of running water came from the bathroom that he finally pulled the blanket down from over his head and took a breath of fresh air.
They had been at it for quite a while earlier. Even if they’d already showered today, there was no trace left of that clean, dry feeling. As someone who’d been bothered by his sensitive period for so long, Ji Chenxi could feel a faint stickiness on his skin. The calm he had just barely managed to regain instantly turned sour again, heavy with irritation.
So annoying.
He wanted to shower too—no, he wanted to soak in a bath. But someone who had just been playing ostrich, pretending nothing was wrong, suddenly going to bathe like everything was normal… it felt weird no matter how he thought about it.
Feeling fed up, Ji Chenxi wrapped himself back up in the blanket and forced his eyes shut, trying to sleep. But the more he tried, the more awake he became.
He clenched his fist, his neatly trimmed nails unconsciously pressing into his palm. He wanted to use pain to calm the restlessness—something he’d done plenty of times during his sensitive period. But this time, right before his nails broke the skin, he froze.
His pheromones spread through the entire second floor. That meant anywhere they reached could be considered his territory. He hadn’t deliberately used his spiritual power to sense his surroundings, because even so, his pheromones could still feed him bits and pieces of information from around him, faint but steady.
He could feel it—his pheromones drifting along with the water, sliding over the other man’s chest in a way that felt far too intimate, washing away traces of another alpha’s scent bit by bit.
In that moment of extreme closeness, the two pheromones seemed to overlap and mingle, almost like they were blending into one. But Ji Chenxi was very sure they hadn’t truly merged. Just like how, no matter how hard he bit Chi Zhuo’s gland, he could never actually form a temporary mark with him.
That was another thing that had been driving him crazy earlier. What looked like fusion was, in truth, mostly just two smells mixed together.
As this went on, Ji Chenxi slowly began to calm down again. Wrapped in the hazy steam, he felt like he was seeing things he really shouldn’t be seeing, all through the feedback from his pheromones.
Water streamed down a broad back, slid across a strong, tempting chest, then flowed over a lean waist and along powerful thighs.
Ji Chenxi tilted his head slightly, thinking that keeping Chi Zhuo here might not have been such a good choice after all.
His Adam’s apple shifted, and the sound of running water made his throat feel a little dry.
He wanted to get up and drink some water, but any movement like that would definitely catch Chi Zhuo’s attention.
In the end, Ji Chenxi could only give up with a bit of regret and force himself to ignore the dryness.
The rich scent of roses slowly faded from the bathroom. Later on, Ji Chenxi even cut off his connection to his pheromones altogether. Even so, he could still clearly hear the rush of water, and just the sound alone was enough to make him remember everything his pheromones had picked up before.
He turned over, exposing the tips of his ears, faintly red from the lingering heat in the air.
Compared to him, his snow leopard had it much easier. Earlier, the spirit form had been restless because of its owner’s sensitive period, but now, not long after it ended, it had already fallen into a deep sleep. Of course, the snow leopard hadn’t forgotten to pull that little black snake into its arms, holding it tightly against its chest in a possessive way, completely locking it down.
The black mamba—far larger in its true form—somehow just let the furry little one have its way.
Ji Chenxi watched the scene, and as if he’d been affected by it, he finally started to feel a bit sleepy.
With his eyes closed, Ji Chenxi drifted in a daze. The moment he clearly sensed the sound of rushing water stop, the bathroom door opening, and light footsteps moving closer to him, he knew that what he thought was sleepiness was only that—sleepiness, nothing more.
But whether he was actually asleep didn’t really matter now. All he had to do was pretend, and that would cover everything.
Chi Zhuo moved very quietly—so quietly that if you weren’t paying close attention, you’d barely hear anything at all. But Ji Chenxi was very much awake, and not only that, his focus was razor-sharp. Forget those tiny sounds—he could even guess what Chi Zhuo was doing based on them.
Drying his hair. Using a silent hair dryer that could dry it fast, less than a minute. Then heading straight toward the bed where Ji Chenxi was lying.
Ji Chenxi slowed his breathing, keeping it steady and even, just like someone deep asleep, right up until the person who still carried a hint of dampness drew close.
The breath coming nearer made Ji Chenxi feel uneasy. He really should’ve wrapped himself back up before Chi Zhuo came out.
Between two people, when one is asleep and the other leans in like this, nine times out of ten, that person wants to kiss them.
Ji Chenxi quietly waited for the kiss to come, determined to play the role of a considerate “sleeping beauty” and not ruin anyone’s mood.
He could feel Chi Zhuo’s breathing—so close, probably only two or three centimeters away. Yet those two or three centimeters stubbornly refused to close.
Being a sleeping beauty turned out to be harder than Ji Chenxi had imagined. No normal person could keep sleeping soundly when someone stayed this close for so long—especially not an alpha with sharp senses like him.
Just as Ji Chenxi was about to pretend to wake up naturally, Chi Zhuo’s low voice sounded in the dark.
“Your Highness… are you waiting for me to kiss you?”
Ji Chenxi’s eyes flew open. He was just about to scold someone for waking him from a good dream when the already-close face moved even nearer, and a slightly cool kiss landed on his lips.
His eyes widened a little, surprise leaking through the kiss.
After Chi Zhuo gently nibbled and pecked at his lips a few times, Ji Chenxi half-lowered his lids and said, “I wasn’t waiting for anyone to sneak a kiss.”
Chi Zhuo corrected him calmly. “It wasn’t sneaking. I waited until Your Highness opened his eyes, then kissed you properly.”
Ji Chenxi turned his head away, clearly not wanting to talk to him. He tried to steady his breathing again, but it was his first time pretending to sleep—having flaws was normal. And it was obvious Chi Zhuo had seen right through him.
“Are you mad?” Chi Zhuo leaned beside him and asked softly.
“Who said I’m mad?” Ji Chenxi replied, his voice still muffled.
“Then you’re not mad. Want to go wash up?”
Ji Chenxi didn’t move.
Chi Zhuo continued, “Should I carry you?”
Ji Chenxi’s love for cleanliness—Chi Zhuo knew at least that much.
Ji Chenxi still had his head turned away, refusing to look at Chi Zhuo. Chi Zhuo was about to try again—if he still got turned down, then so be it.
But before he could move, Ji Chenxi flicked his gaze back just a little. He reached out and poked Chi Zhuo’s firm, springy chest with a finger.
“So when you stay over at someone else’s place, you act like this too? Not even bothering to put on any clothes?”
Chi Zhuo, who was actually wrapped properly in a bath towel, showed no reaction at all to the unfair accusation. His expression didn’t change as he calmly explained, “I usually don’t stay over at other people’s places.”
“Really?” Ji Chenxi sounded doubtful. Even he himself had stayed over at Su Yu’s and Gu Hechuan’s places plenty of times.
“Your Highness could look into it a bit,” Chi Zhuo said evenly. “If you did, you’d know I don’t have any friends.”
In their circle, everyone liked to keep things polite on the surface, but deep down, most people looked down on illegitimate children. Especially when rumors said Chi Zhuo’s biological mother had been a nightclub dancer.
After reading that log, Ji Chenxi had already had doubts about Chi Zhuo’s real background. But in other people’s eyes, Chi Zhuo was nothing more than a child born from a woman who had tried every trick to marry into wealth.
Ji Chenxi fell silent. Even the finger poking at Chi Zhuo’s chest started to pull back.
Before his hand could fully retreat, Chi Zhuo caught it and pressed it back onto his bare chest.
With a bit of force, Chi Zhuo turned what had been a single finger into an entire palm resting there.
“I did want to find something to wear,” Chi Zhuo said. “But what I had on before wasn’t good for sleeping, and I didn’t want to touch Your Highness’s things without asking.”
If anyone else had said that, Ji Chenxi probably wouldn’t have cared—he might’ve even thought they were being sarcastic. But coming from Chi Zhuo, there was no edge to it at all. Instead, Ji Chenxi felt a little embarrassed.
He got out of bed and went straight to the nearby walk-in closet. After digging through his clothes for a while, he finally found a brand-new set of pajamas he hadn’t worn yet. He handed them over, then asked, “Do you need… that too? I’m not sure if my size will fit you.”
The air instantly turned awkward again, laced with a quiet kind of tension.
Chi Zhuo replied without changing his expression, “It should fit.”
Ji Chenxi decided to go with that and continued looking.
He found it, handed it to Chi Zhuo, then turned and headed for the bathroom to shower himself.
Everything he did flowed smoothly, like it was all perfectly natural. Only his slightly red ears gave him away, revealing that he wasn’t nearly as calm as he looked.
Little Rose could be surprisingly innocent at times.
Chi Zhuo let out a soft, almost fond sigh.
While Ji Chenxi was in the bathroom, he changed into the set of pajamas Ji Chenxi had given him. The fabric carried a faint scent of incense, light and pleasant—aside from the rose scent of Ji Chenxi’s pheromones, this was the smell Chi Zhuo was most used to on him. Just wearing the clothes gave him a strange sense of closeness, like being held by Ji Chenxi without actually touching him.
He cleared his throat softly. There was nowhere in the room to wash clothes, so Chi Zhuo quietly slipped out and went to the laundry room, using the equipment there to wash and dry his own clothes.
The whole thing took less than five minutes. When he returned just as quietly, Ji Chenxi was still in the bathroom.
There was no sound of running water. It was obvious Ji Chenxi was soaking in the tub.
Chi Zhuo lay down in the spot Ji Chenxi had been sleeping in earlier. At first, he’d thought this would make it easier for Ji Chenxi when he came back. But after falling asleep in the thick scent that belonged entirely to Ji Chenxi, he still hadn’t returned.
Chi Zhuo opened his eyes and checked the time. Half an hour had already passed.
Without hesitating, he got out of bed and headed for the bathroom. Before he even pushed the door open, he heard soft breathing from inside.
Not heavy, not light—more like a quiet moan.
Hello, everyone ヾ(＾∇＾). I hope you enjoyed the story! If you’re feeling generous, please buy me a coffee, share/comment on my translated works! Check out the link below for early chapters. (๑>ᴗ<๑)
