Force-Bound to My Brooding Junior Brother - Chapter 2

Feeling the weight of my stare, Zhou Lingxue flinched and instinctively clutched his collar shut.

“What are you looking at?”

“Nothing,” I drawled.

“Liar. You were obviously looking at me!”

Tsk.

I had forgotten that although my junior brother was frail, his spell cultivation made his five senses unusually sharp.

“All right. I was looking at you.”

I gave him my warmest smile. “So what if I was? What are you going to do about it?”

What a joke. At close quarters, one-on-one, I could pin him down with a single finger.

Zhou Lingxue’s eyes widened in disbelief. Through clenched teeth, he demanded, “You’re not even pretending anymore?”

Ah. I had nearly forgotten my responsibilities as the eldest senior sister.

It was all my junior brother’s fault for being so unreasonable. Around him, I was forever revealing my true colors.

That would not do.

I promptly tucked away my thorns, and the smile on my face became much more sincere and friendly.

“It was only a joke. Don’t read too much into it, Junior Brother.”

Zhou Lingxue did not believe me for a second. “You call that a joke? You clearly—”

“I was only wondering,” I interrupted, “why you hate me so much. As far as I know, I’ve always treated you rather well.”

Admittedly, a streak of vicious possessiveness might lurk somewhere in my bones, but I had always kept it under excellent control. I was certain I had never behaved improperly toward this junior brother.

So where did his inexplicable aversion come from?

I merely wanted to find the root of the problem so I could improve my relationship with him.

Yet Zhou Lingxue’s beautiful face twisted as if I had said something unforgivable.

“Treated me well? You’ve never even seen me.”

That was hardly fair.

He liked peace and quiet, so I did not bother him. Wasn’t that considerate enough?

Zhou Lingxue seemed to read my thoughts. With a cold laugh, he demanded, “If I were a sword cultivator, would you be just as considerate? Would you still treat me like empty air?”

Of course not.

Zhou Lingxue’s cultivation was profound. If he had cultivated the sword, I would naturally have sought him out often to spar. But he was only a spell cultivator. However exquisite his talismans or ingenious his arrays, they were of little use to me.

So naturally, I had respected his wishes and played the tactful, understanding good person.

Hmm.

Usually, I considered myself remarkably thoughtful. Why did his version make me sound like rather less than a good person?

Could I truly be that selfish?

I sank into contemplation. Enlightenment struck.

Then I forgave myself.

So what if I was selfish? I had never harmed anyone with it.

Still, after an accusation like that, failing to do something selfish would almost dishonor him.

I sighed regretfully. “So you don’t appreciate your senior sister’s kindness, and you have no intention of making peace with me?”

Zhou Lingxue’s gaze flickered. A moment later, he lifted his chin with practiced pride.

“Make peace? I’ll say it again: I don’t need your hypocritical concern. Don’t waste your time on me.”

I nodded to show I understood.

Then I raised my wrist and used the fine thread between us to yank Zhou Lingxue toward the bed. He let out a short, startled cry. I caught him, twisted my arm, and pressed him face-first into the bedding.

“Junior Brother, I don’t think you understand your situation.”

“We’re grasshoppers tied to the same rope. We ought to help one another through this. But if you refuse to cooperate, your senior sister will have to use force.”

The thread connecting us looked fine and weightless, but no sword could sever it, and neither fire nor water could damage it. If we did not want to spend the rest of our lives tethered together, we would have to begin by doing as Bai Yang had instructed.

But how intimate did the contact have to be for our auras to mingle? How long would its effects last?

Every detail needed testing.

Zhou Lingxue obviously had no intention of cooperating, which left me no choice but to tie him up.

I truly had not planned anything beyond that. At most, the configuration of the ropes was a little peculiar. I wanted to scare some manners into my arrogant, insolent junior brother.

Yet I had barely laid a hand on the back of Zhou Lingxue’s hand…

When I frightened him to tears.

I stared at him. “…”

My junior brother’s eyes now shimmered with tears, his gaze hazy. Perhaps crying embarrassed him, because he bit his lip hard and refused to make a sound. But the more he tried to suppress it, the more his rapid breathing gave him away.

Puzzled, I slid a hand into the gap in the hemp rope between his thighs.

It wasn’t particularly tight. Why did he look as though he could not breathe?

At the intrusion, Zhou Lingxue began to tremble uncontrollably.

“Hah… don’t touch me… get away…”

I clicked my tongue. “You hate me that much? You’re already tied up, yet you still can’t behave?”

Zhou Lingxue glared at me through wet, unfocused eyes.

He struggled onto his side, curled his trembling legs toward his waist, and retreated into another stubborn silence.

If he still had strength to glare, I had clearly tied him too loosely.

But that face, habitually pale with illness, was now washed in an indecent flush. The tears trembling on the verge of falling lent him a startling beauty. Even someone as cold-hearted as I was felt the rare stir of compassion.

So I drew my sword sheath and wedged it crosswise between Zhou Lingxue’s teeth.

“Don’t cry. If you keep crying, your senior sister might go soft.”

Zhou Lingxue made muffled sounds of protest. His tears flowed even harder.

Out of kindness, I reached over and wiped them away. “There, there. I lied. Crying won’t help.”

“You’ll sleep here tonight. Behave yourself, and your senior sister will untie you in the morning.”

Once my junior brother’s mouth was blocked and he could no longer talk, he was extraordinarily pleasing to the eye.

With such a great beauty lying beside me, my mood improved at once. Even the resentment from being drugged faded considerably.

That night, I held Zhou Lingxue’s hand and slept soundly until dawn.

But after I fell asleep, the indignant Zhou Lingxue quietly curled his fingers around mine.

In the darkness, his bound waist lifted in shallow, restless motions. His misted eyes remained fixed on my profile.

After a long while, he pressed his tongue against the saliva-slick sword sheath and let out a stifled moan.