Must a Villainess Be Punished? - Chapter 5

I didn’t care what he thought.

“Stop talking and give them to me, or I’ll tell my brother—”

Before I could finish, an overwhelming wave of cedar erupted and sealed me inside it.

The drug still raged like fire through my body, while my skin felt buried under frost and snow.

Being scorched and frozen at once was unbearable.

I struggled, only for Chu Ruoqing to pin me against the bedding.

“You’re in my bed, and you still dare call for another man. You truly have no fear of death.”

The scent of cedar grew heavier.

My head swam from it, leaving me too weak to object to his insolence.

Chu Ruoqing sounded vicious, but when his canines touched my nape, he stopped.

He panted, each hot breath washing over my skin.

“You still have time to change your mind. Walk out now, and nothing will happen.”

My scent gland was ready, and *this* was what he wanted to say?

I couldn’t resist taunting him.

“Useless. And you call yourself a top-tier Alpha? Are you incapable? If you are, I’ll go find Cen Qi. He offered to help me—ah!”

Sharp canines pierced delicate skin. With the pain came a violent flood of pheromones into my scent gland.

The shock tore a cry from me. Instinct drove me to crawl forward, rubbing my legs together, but Chu Ruoqing hooked an arm around my waist, dragged me back, and continued the mark.

“Where are you going? To find that blackhearted childhood friend? There’s no need. I’ll give the young lady as much as she wants.”

Even after my shriveled gland could hold no more, Chu Ruoqing kept kissing and biting my nape like an unsatisfied dog.

The aloof flower on the mountaintop had finally revealed what lived beneath his disguise.

I savored the satisfaction of exposing him and almost mocked him for it.

Then I felt my gland soaking in pheromones and magnanimously kept quiet.

Fine. Since he could help me differentiate again, I would let his behavior slide tonight.

All my attention was fixed on my gland, so I paid little mind to Chu Ruoqing’s wandering hands.

Only when one slid down my waist, under my skirt, and tried to turn this into a complete mark did I slap it away in annoyance.

Chu Ruoqing froze, clearly not expecting me to stop him halfway.

“Weren’t you terribly proud before? You looked down on me and my money. What do you think you’re doing now?”

His throat bobbed. “I never looked down on you… I was wrong.”

Even as he apologized, his body pressed insistently against my thigh.

Feeling the threat against me, I kicked him away in disgust.

“Don’t touch me with that filthy thing!”

Chu Ruoqing was astonishingly good-tempered now. He didn’t get angry when I insulted him. Instead, he patiently explained, “Don’t you want to become an Alpha? Every Alpha has one. You will too.”

“How could mine possibly be like yours?” I widened my eyes. “I’ll be the finest, most perfect Alpha alive. Of course mine won’t be filthy!”

Afraid he would rub against me again, I kept kicking until he finally retreated.

“Stop making trouble, young lady.” He caught my foot. “You asked me to help because you felt awful, and now I’m filthy. What exactly do you want me to do?”

His words reminded me of the ache in my lower belly.

I had obtained the pheromones, but the drug was still in my system.

Suffering through it wasn’t my style. Neither was backing down and retracting what I had said.

After a moment’s thought, I shoved Chu Ruoqing onto his back, swung one long leg over him, and sat astride his chest.

“Hey. You weren’t bad at licking my neck. You have some use after all. Keep going.”

Chu Ruoqing stared at me stiffly without a word.

His stare made me flush with anger.

“What are you looking at? Usually you have ten answers for everything I say. You love talking back, and now you’re pretending—”

His impatient movement cut off the rest.

My fingers clenched in his hair. “Are you a dog?”

Chu Ruoqing lifted his damp, reddened lips and barked without an ounce of shame.

He had none left.

After that, he completely overturned everything I thought I knew about him. His handsome face held none of its usual lofty restraint.

Like a cheap prostitute, he devoted himself to serving his capricious guest.

“Thanks to you, young lady, I didn’t dare drink a single mouthful of water today. By your logic, you’re responsible for that. Right?”

“You always liked my face… You climbed on top of me yourself… Why run now?”

“Stop crawling around. My bed isn’t that wide. If you fall off, you’ll cry and accuse me of abusing you again.”

…

By the time the drug had run its course, I was exhausted.

I ordered Chu Ruoqing to put clean sheets on the bed, then claimed the cedar-scented mattress for myself.

I banished him to the living-room sofa.

He crouched by the bed and stared at me resentfully for a long while.

When he realized I could barely keep my eyes open, he could only grind his teeth and retreat to the bathroom.

I fell peacefully asleep to the sound of running water that lasted well into the night.