I Really Didn't Intend to Pick Up the Black Lotus Omega - Chapter 51

How could one describe this kiss?

 

The ice had melted, and the breath Jiang Nianyu held in Yu Qing’s mouth was slowly being warmed by the tip of her tongue.

 

That soft, wet sensation was utterly intoxicating. It pressed gently against Yu Qing’s teeth, yet felt as if it were licking away the tears clinging to the corners of her eyes, making Yu Qing gasp involuntarily.

 

The nerves, once numbed by the cold, seemed to awaken like spring buds nourished by rain, fueled by alcohol to grow wildly.

 

Warm breath flowed between their intertwined lips. A hint of sweetness, perhaps from melted sugar, trickled down Yu Qing’s throat into her body.

 

Sharply, Yu Qing heard the sound of the Suppressant Patch peeling off.

 

Jiang Nianyu slowly swallowed Yu Qing’s tongue, as if truly delivering her pheromones into her mouth.

 

Jiang Nianyu’s pheromones…

 

What did they taste like?

 

For a fleeting moment, Yu Qing forgot she was a Beta.

 

She leaned into Jiang Nianyu’s breath, greedily savoring the other woman’s scent as it burned down her throat.

 

Yu Qing had forgotten one crucial detail.

 

If she could taste Jiang Nianyu’s scent, she would have smelled it the moment Jiang Nianyu tore off her Suppressant Patch.

 

Long ago, Yu Qing had injured her leg so severely that walking became difficult. The doctor had prescribed complete rest.

 

She was all too familiar with this kind of anticipation, only to feel a piercing, bone-deep pain the moment she tried to stand.

 

Suddenly, a layer of dull, gray despair settled in Yu Qing’s eyes.

 

She strained to savor Jiang Nianyu’s scent, her throat bobbing as she inhaled delicately through her nose.

 

She caught the fresh scent of Jiang Nianyu’s new laundry detergent, the lingering aroma of alcohol that had transferred from her own clothes…

 

But these were all utterly ordinary scents.

 

As if she were just another ordinary Beta.

 

“It’s no use,” Yu Qing whispered, her eyelashes trembling. She turned her face away from Jiang Nianyu, tears spilling before her voice could form the words.

 

“I still… can’t smell your scent.”

 

Under the fundamental laws governing this world, any attempt felt futile.

 

Jiang Nianyu understood this principle. As an Omega, she shouldn’t be able to truly empathize with Yu Qing’s suffering.

 

In this world, everyone swept the snow from their own doorstep. Yet, for some reason, seeing Yu Qing’s distress made Jiang Nianyu feel the same pain.

 

She even absurdly suggested that Yu Qing taste her pheromones.

 

“White Camellia,” Jiang Nianyu said. Since Yu Qing couldn’t smell it, she would describe it to her.

 

She spoke earnestly, lifting her hand to caress Yu Qing’s cheek. “My pheromones smell like white camellias.”

 

White… camellias.

 

Yu Qing’s gaze wavered as she looked up into Jiang Nianyu’s eyes, as if she had been captivated.

 

So, this was Jiang Nianyu’s scent.

 

When she was a child, she had made dried camellia bookmarks in craft class.

 

That spring, her books were filled with the delicate, clean fragrance of the flowers, their neatly arranged petals pressed between the pages—nature’s most exquisite artistry.

 

“A-Qing has a scent too,” Jiang Nianyu said, refusing to let herself be special. Cupping Yu Qing’s face, she wanted to tell her that she wasn’t ordinary either.

 

“A-Qing’s scent is better than any Omega’s or Alpha’s, cleaner than any other.”

 

—”I can smell her scent, so pure, as if she shouldn’t even exist in this world.”

 

That single sentence suddenly overlapped with the words on the page.

 

Yu Qing abruptly recalled Jiang Nianyu’s earlier remark about her smelling delicious. She had dismissed it as a joke, never imagining it was true.

 

So, she really did have a scent.

 

She was a Beta with a scent.

 

—”…I always felt I shouldn’t be so selfish. My greed ruined her.”

 

Under the dim yellow light, Jiang Nianyu’s voice, tinged with the scent of old books, echoed in Yu Qing’s ear.

 

She was forced to remember why Jiang Nianyu had said in the story, “Yu Qing was killed by me.”

 

Because she had been using her all along.

 

Because Yu Qing’s body truly possessed a scent that Jiang Nianyu could smell.

 

A Beta who couldn’t mark others yet could satisfy an Omega’s craving for scent—what a perfect setup.

 

There was no need to force an Alpha to wear a collar or inflict physical mutilation.

 

A Beta could possess the scent of an Alpha or Omega, and this was considered a blessing.

 

Moreover, her character was a timid, ordinary office worker. Who would ever suspect she was hiding such a Big Shot in her home?

 

And she had personally brought her home.

 

Novels loved to portray weak characters suddenly gaining overwhelming courage.

 

But often, when such a character finally found that courage, it became the countdown to their demise.

 

Yu Qing had never hated herself so much for reading so many novels, to the point where she could clearly see the death tropes unfolding, so logically that she felt no urge to struggle.

 

On her face, the contours of her drooping brows and eyes were painted.

 

Even in this dire situation, she still found the energy to comfort herself, thinking: It’s already good enough. Isn’t it?

 

In a sense,

 

she was insignificant.

 

Yet she was also irreplaceable.

 

Jiang Nianyu couldn’t do without her.

 

But why…

 

Yu Qing, why are you so willing to be used?

 

Yu Qing’s gaze deepened as she looked at Jiang Nianyu, her calm eyes resembling a bottomless pool of dark water.

 

She seemed to hate this woman, yet she couldn’t bear to drive her away.

 

Was it just for her scent?

 

Was there nothing else between them?

 

“You’re spacing out.”

 

Gazing at Yu Qing, Jiang Nianyu gently brushed her cheek.

 

The warmth of this sudden gesture sent ripples through her gradually cooling heart.

 

“A-Qing…”

 

“I was wondering if I could mark you.”

 

Jiang Nianyu’s hand hovered near Yu Qing’s lips before Yu Qing seized it, gripping it tightly in her own.

 

Yu Qing wasn’t joking. A primal, violent instinct seemed to stir within her, pulling Jiang Nianyu’s hand and pressing her down onto the sofa.

 

Caught off guard by the sudden force, Jiang Nianyu was about to hit her head when Yu Qing’s hand cushioned the impact.

 

Yu Qing’s kisses were almost brutal, as if she were trying to plunder Jiang Nianyu’s scent through sheer force.

 

Jiang Nianyu had already removed her Suppressant Patch, freeing herself from its restraints.

 

Yet her heart clenched suddenly.

 

She had never experienced this before.

 

How does a Beta mark an Omega?

 

The moonlight flickered intermittently behind the dark clouds, as if someone had covered its eyes.

 

Jiang Nianyu let Yu Qing kiss her, tracing a wet trail from her lips down to her chin, then along her neck to her collarbone. The girl’s soft lips painted a damp path across Jiang Nianyu’s skin, lingering until they paused at the nape of her neck.

 

There, behind her neck, lay the Omega’s scent glands.

 

Yu Qing’s long, smooth hair clung together in wet clumps, and when she brushed it aside, a silver strand stretched out before snapping.

 

Yu Qing saw that familiar little thing again, and her breath hitched.

 

Jiang Nianyu’s heart skipped a beat in response. She couldn’t see what was happening behind her, but she anticipated Yu Qing’s next move.

 

When Yu Qing’s hot breath ghosted across her neck, Jiang Nianyu’s rigid shoulders trembled slightly.

 

She wanted Yu Qing to mark her.

 

But she also managed to control her nervousness.

 

For the first time in her life.

 

As Yu Qing’s lips pressed against her neck, Jiang Nianyu felt a familiar yet alien pain.

 

The last time Yu Qing had approached her gland, she had only used the tip of her tongue. Little did she know that teeth were the true weapon.

 

Jiang Nianyu bit her lip, the coldness in her eyes dissolving into a daze as she clutched the hem of her skirt.

 

What did it feel like for a Beta to mark an Omega?

 

Jiang Nianyu felt a clear, conscious pain. Without the soothing pheromones to alleviate the bite, it reduced her to a primal creature, a warning meant to prevent her bonded partner from fleeing.

 

Yet, despite this, she couldn’t bring herself to escape Yu Qing’s mark.

 

Even through the pain, the frantic pounding of her heart was no less intense than when they had kissed before.

 

One cannot experience greater happiness when already in a state of perfect bliss.

 

The experiences Jiang Nianyu had endured over the years had long left her disillusioned and indifferent to such matters.

 

Her gaze always drifted downward with a sense of listlessness, and even Lin Sui couldn’t fathom what could move this woman.

 

Until Yu Qing appeared.

 

A lingering spark of will compelled her to willingly submit at someone’s feet.

 

Though this felt unlike herself, her sharp pride carried her through, preventing her from avoiding this somewhat humiliating posture and the intoxicating, chaotic love it entailed.

 

Suddenly, Yu Qing made no further moves. Her fingers hovered before slipping beneath the skirt draped over the sofa. “Jiang Nianyu, what exactly does your White Camellia scent taste like?”

 

Yu Qing’s tongue circled Jiang Nianyu’s gland again and again, trying to extract even a hint of fragrance.

 

But the scent she managed to draw out was so faint. The delicate gland beneath Jiang Nianyu’s tongue was both beautiful and fragile, and Yu Qing feared crushing it. She couldn’t bring herself to mimic the Alphas’ rough methods, piercing it deeply with her teeth. Instead, she merely rolled her tongue over its surface.

 

The taste that trickled into her throat was minimal. Closing her eyes, she could still detect a lingering metallic tang on her tongue.

 

Yu Qing had never heard of White Camellias smelling like scalding, rusty iron.

 

“Can you let me experience it more fully? Don’t just smell me,” Yu Qing pleaded, her tone conciliatory but firm.

 

Jiang Nianyu couldn’t quite make out whether Yu Qing had said “kiss” or “smell.”

 

She sensed a deep bitterness in Yu Qing’s heart and wanted to explain, “I didn’t—”

 

But before Jiang Nianyu could speak, Yu Qing’s fingers, which had been dangling below, silently parted Jiang Nianyu’s lips.

 

The area was heavily moistened, and Yu Qing’s fingertips were instantly drenched.

 

Jiang Nianyu’s body stiffened abruptly, her tightly clenched lips twisting even tighter.

 

Her tear-glazed eyes, blurred by the steam, met Yu Qing’s gaze and shattered into fragments of heat.

 

Locked in Yu Qing’s embrace, Jiang Nianyu held her breath, trembling, struggling, her tears scalding.

 

How could I not want Yu Qing to feel it more clearly? she thought.

 

The dim light bathed the cramped, soft sofa. In the shadows where Yu Qing couldn’t see, Jiang Nianyu had long since filled the room with White Camellias—a dense, overwhelming expanse of white that had squeezed their world down to nothing but that color.

 

The alcohol fermented, almost completely saturating Yu Qing’s scent.

 

Jiang Nianyu seemed to have gotten drunk too, paying little attention to her lover’s sudden violence. She gazed out the window at the fragmented moonlight, the stark white gap resembling a fissure in the world, offering her a momentary respite from the relentless pressures of the day.

 

“You must remember me,” Yu Qing murmured in her ear. “I was the first to mark you.”

 

In her daze, Jiang Nianyu heard Yu Qing whisper these words.

 

The inexplicable entanglement was thick with both hatred and love, like a punishment for a faithless lover.

 

Jiang Nianyu’s vision swam, unable to focus. Before she could even ponder Yu Qing’s words, the Beta bit down harder on her neck.

 

The night wind surged, suddenly filling the living room with Yu Qing’s scent.

 

The sensation was so intense, it felt as if the Beta had truly injected her with pheromones, completing a temporary mark.

 

Jiang Nianyu felt utterly filled.

 

She was a cloud saturated with moisture, raining down in Yu Qing’s palm.

 

 

The night was desolate, and the scent from the living room drifted upstairs, turning the small bed into a final sanctuary.

 

Jiang Nianyu was hastily bathed by Yu Qing, who was still half-drunk, before falling asleep.

 

Both women were exhausted from their exertions, and Yu Qing felt she should sleep too.

 

But as she closed her eyes, the ring on her finger seemed to weigh heavily on her chest, causing a dull ache.

 

Yu Qing turned to gaze at the sleeping figure beside her. The baby-blue gemstone resembled Jiang Nianyu’s eternally falling eyes.

 

Yes, eternally falling.

 

Jiang Nianyu was the protagonist of this story. How could she die?

 

Yu Qing didn’t want to die either.

 

She believed everyone deserved to live for themselves at least once.

 

She wanted to escape the fate written for her in the book.

 

She refused to be dragged into the plot’s vortex, reduced to a mere tool.

 

“I know you don’t love me,” Yu Qing murmured, her gaze dark and conflicted as she stared at Jiang Nianyu. She spoke to the sleeping woman, but also to herself, steeling her resolve to leave.