Queen O's Timid Fugitive A - Chapter 9

9

“Jiang Ciqing!”

The night deepened, the full moon hung like a plate in the sky, and the lights of the wooden pavilion in the distance grew hazy. A stream gurgled past, its surface shimmering like schools of silver fish swimming across the water. The grass tips brushing against shoe tops were swept aside by the hem of a wide robe.

The young man turned at the sound, his brows furrowed in surprise.

The dinner party showed no signs of dispersing. Despite being two opposing factions at odds like fire and water, they now chatted as warmly as a close-knit family. Finding the noise unbearable, Jiang Ciqing excused himself early, citing his frail health.

Returning to his room now would be too early, so he wandered alone by the riverside, making up for the interrupted scenery he hadn’t had the mood to appreciate earlier.

Unexpectedly, she had followed him.

Jiang Ciqing instinctively took a step back, still remembering the teasing under the table that had left her red-eyed with anger.

Xu Fusheng stood a meter away. Seeing his guilty retreat, she let out a cold laugh. Now you’re scared?

Gone was the urgency of chasing a debtor. Instead, Xu Fusheng sauntered forward slowly, like a cat toying with its prey—lazily padding closer, amused by the fear and struggle of her target.

And Jiang Ciqing was as guilty as a mouse, retreating step by step, his eyes fixed on the ground as the grass swayed beneath him.

“Jiang Ciqing,” she called again, this time in a slow, deliberate tone, each syllable crisp, the tail of her voice curling upward like a feather caught in the wind, swirling before settling.

It was the cat unsheathing its claws—a fluffy pink paw laced with threat.

Jiang Ciqing retreated another step, recalling the punishment from days prior. His Adam’s apple bobbed imperceptibly, fingers curling under his sleeves.

“Why did you come out?” The timid Alpha stammered out a pointless question.

“Oh? So only you are allowed to leave early?” Xu Fusheng arched a brow. Cause trouble and then run? Not so easy.

Jiang Ciqing didn’t answer, retreating again.

Until Xu Fusheng’s patience wore thin. Done with this game of chase, she abruptly closed the distance in a few quick strides.

The panicked mouse scrambled backward in escape.

—Thud!

A willow leaf drifted onto the water’s surface. Rough bark pressed against a slender back, and the pampered head of the Jiang family couldn’t help but frown.

The woman before him showed no reaction—or rather, she didn’t care whether he was comfortable. In fact, she enjoyed seeing Jiang Ciqing suffer a little physical discomfort as punishment.

Due to secondary gender development, female Alphas tended to be taller than average women, and Jiang Ciqing was no exception. Though Xu Fusheng stood before him as the dominant party, the half-inch height difference made her seem slightly at a disadvantage.

But that didn’t deter Queen Xu. Her cool fingertips pressed against the back of his neck, finding the gap between the prominent bone and the next vertebra. With just a light press, the big dog was forced to bow its head to her.

Jiang Ciqing struggled but was pressed down harder. To ease the pressure on his neck, he had no choice but to bend slightly, meeting her gaze at eye level.

The well-bred, textbook-perfect heir of an aristocratic family always found herself bowing and bending for one person alone.

Wood splinters clung to his robes, strands of hair fell over his eyes—he looked utterly disheveled.

Jiang Ciqing tugged at the corner of his lips, forcing out a dry response: “In broad daylight, in the middle of nowhere, isn’t it improper for an unmarried Omega like Miss Xu to cling so closely to an Alpha like me?”

Once again, he deliberately distanced them.

Xu Fusheng looked up at him, lips curling in a half-smile. Ignoring his point, she teased, “What ‘broad daylight’? It’s the middle of the night. Or has Ciqing mistaken the moon for the sun?”

The green-faced, tense young man stared back. “Whether day or night, Miss Xu shouldn’t be so brazenly pressed against an Alpha.”

He emphasized the word Alpha.

“Oh?”

Cool fingertips trailed from his neck to his Adam’s apple, then downward, hooking into his collar.

Xu Fusheng smiled at him, the shimmering light making her eyes even more bewitching. The wind tousled her silver strands, brushing against the young man’s face, the unique scent of strong liquor curling around his lips.

Though the pressure on his neck had eased, Jiang Ciqing remained bent, fingers gripping the bark beside him, the tips of his ears tinged with a faint red.

“Xu Fusheng,” the young Alpha warned, her deliberately lowered voice turning husky.

The bold Omega paid no heed, pressing even closer, deliberately crowding into his embrace, tugging his collar wider.

Jiang Ciqing flustered, instinctively moving to wrap an arm around her waist before snapping back to his senses and hastily retracting it.

Xu Fusheng had a small frame, slender and soft—like a wisp of cotton falling into his arms. Jiang Ciqing clutched the bark tighter, resembling a monk resisting temptation under the spell of a seductress.

“Miss Xu, the middle of nowhere…” Jiang Ciqing couldn’t think of anything new, recycling his earlier words in a futile attempt to dissuade her.

“Ciqing keeps emphasizing how deserted this place is—are you hinting at something?” Xu Fusheng chuckled, her nimble fingers slipping past his collar, climbing up his jutting collarbone.

Perhaps due to her constitution, Xu Fusheng’s body temperature ran low, her touch icy even in the summer heat. Jiang Ciqing shivered at the chill, a tremor running through him.

“Hmm?” The woman, unsatisfied with the lack of response, ventured further inside.

Jiang Ciqing could only press harder against the uneven bark behind him, straining to create even a sliver of distance. “Miss Xu, please restrain yourself.”

The naive Jiang Ciqing didn’t realize that such feeble protests only invited more brazen bullying. A palm cupped the warm, rounded softness, the mischievous owner even giving it a little bounce.

Her figure wasn’t bad, but she always hid it under loose robes, deliberately obscuring every curve.

The heartbeat under her palm suddenly quickened, a flush spreading from neck to face like a lobster plunged into boiling water.

Trying to arch away only met the unyielding tree trunk. Leaning forward only delivered herself further into the other’s grasp.

All she could do was grab the offending wrist. Now that she didn’t have to worry about drawing attention, Xu Fusheng no longer held back. Jiang Ciqing couldn’t force her away, only clinging tightly in hopes of stopping her next move.

Dark eyes glazed over with mist, like polished jade submerged in water. To the heir of the strictly traditional Jiang family, this was already a scandalous breach of propriety.

“What were they talking about earlier? Did Eleven listen carefully?” Xu Fusheng abruptly asked, ignoring their intimate proximity as if making casual conversation.

“Wh-what?” Jiang Ciqing had meant to feign ignorance to preserve his last shred of dignity, but a light squeeze from those five fingers forced a stuttered reply.

“A sixth-tier magical beast.” Xu Fusheng generously provided a hint.

“I heard.” Jiang Ciqing didn’t dare look at her, his flushed face turned aside, eyes fixed on the swaying pearl earring beneath her ear.

“Did Eleven remember anything?” In unusually high spirits, Xu Fusheng was more patient than usual, coaxing the answer she wanted from him.

The sensitive Alpha sensed danger and pressed her lips together, ready to play mute again.

But her weak point was in the other’s grasp. No matter how she resisted, a simple squeeze or release from Xu Fusheng stripped her of all defiance.

“Remember what?”

The young Alpha’s legs weakened, leaving her to rely on the tree trunk for support.

A fresh, sweet bamboo scent leaked from the gaps of her scent blocker, drunkenly weaving around the other’s neck.

“What comes after slaying a magical beast?” Teacher Xu patiently continued her line of questioning.

“Scales for armor, sinew for bowstrings, claws for weapon embellishments…” Student Jiang recited textbook answers, deliberately avoiding the correct one.

Xu Fusheng studied the young woman’s forced composure. Locked away forging metal instead of entering politics—what a waste of talent.

“Mmm…” Jiang Ciqing received her due punishment. The hand gripping the other’s wrist was purely decorative, utterly powerless to stop her exploration.

A thin mist climbed the high peaks, veiling the pale full moon.

“What about the magic core?” Post-punishment came the next question. Xu Fusheng, unswayed by the warmth in her grasp, cut to the chase.

“I don’t know,” Jiang Ciqing’s eyelids were thin, her skin porcelain-pale. Under the other’s shameless actions, the skin around her eyes flushed a delicate pink, her usual aloofness melting into something enticingly coy.

It was the first time Xu Fusheng had heard such a blatant lie—no pretense, no excuse, just a dry I don’t know.

Xu Fusheng laughed in disbelief. “Jiang Ciqing, why don’t you feel your heartbeat? It’s pounding so hard it might leap out and tell me you’re lying.”

Then, switching tactics: “Where’s the magic core?”

“I don’t know,” Jiang Ciqing was like a stubborn prisoner under interrogation.

Xu Fusheng stared at her, then rephrased: “Was that blade a gift from you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the red-faced Jiang Ciqing stubbornly avoided her gaze, afraid to reveal even a hint of the truth.

Even the so-called “Demon Queen” summoned her best patience, suppressing her temper to explain: “Two years ago, someone suddenly brought me a blade, saying they’d been entrusted to deliver it to me…”

“Miss Xu thinks I sent it? There are countless blacksmiths in the world—why suspect me?” Jiang Ciqing finally broke her stiff resistance, the words tumbling out as if rehearsed a thousand times in her mind.

Cut off mid-sentence, Xu Fusheng didn’t immediately punish her. Instead, she finished: “That blade could cleave through the hide of a sixth-tier beast. My weapon smiths confirmed it must contain at least one sixth-tier magic core.”

Jiang Ciqing’s eyes darted. She doubled down on her denial: “How generous of this person—not only forging a family heirloom into a blade but delivering it to Miss Xu.”

Implying the core was someone else’s ancestral treasure, unrelated to Jiang Eleven.

“Jiang Ciqing! What do you want?” Faced with such an immovable stone, Xu Fusheng’s patience snapped. She yanked her hand free and seized Jiang Ciqing’s collar, crimson eyes blazing.

“What will it take for you to admit it?” Xu Fusheng gritted out.

“Is admitting you gave me that blade so hard? You can let the whole Southern Liang know when you gift others, but with me—”

Her words cut off as both of them turned toward the sound of rustling grass approaching.

Jiang Ciqing’s eyes flickered. The open, flat terrain offered no cover beyond the half-concealing willow trunk.

Xu Fusheng acted faster, wrapping an arm around her waist and shoving her into the river.

—Splash!

The loud disturbance sent water plants swaying wildly. Under the cover of night, Jiang Ciqing vanished beneath the surface.

Moments later,

A man’s voice rang out—one of the Crown Prince’s lackeys: “Miss Xu, what brings you here? And that splashing sound just now…”

Xu Fusheng’s expression remained unruffled. “Just taking a stroll, enjoying the night view. As for the splash…”

She feigned annoyance: “I tripped over a rock and kicked it into the river in frustration.”

The man blinked at the excuse, then chuckled. “I see. I was worried something had happened to you and rushed over.”

He added, “The Crown Prince noticed your prolonged absence and sent me to find you.”

Xu Fusheng nodded, not sparing the river a single glance as she followed him away.