Please, I'm Trying to Study, Your Highness! - chapter 42

What happened next unfolded naturally.

Shen Ruanruan had already tampered with the iron door of the old storage room in advance.

The internal structure of the lock had been sabotaged by her as early as yesterday afternoon.

And this method of sabotage wouldn’t show any abnormalities from the outside.

As long as the door was closed a second time, the misaligned spring bolt would jam the latch.

Unless it was violently broken from the outside, there was absolutely no way to open it.

Claustrophobia?

That was even more absurd.

She had once, under a family-arranged trial, been trapped alone beneath a collapsed South American mine, spending over a dozen hours with several cold corpses, and eventually, she calmly found the way out.

If anything, cramped and dark environments made it easier for her to think.

She pushed open the door and led Lin Hui into this dim “secret room.”

Then, following her own instructions, she meticulously arranged the books.

After that, Shen Ruanruan “tried” to pull the door handle.

“The door… seems to be stuck,” she said in a low voice, feigning helplessness.

The young man came over, tried it without success, and frowned.

He took out his phone, and the screen displayed the no signal icon.

Of course, this was all within her calculations.

“It’s useless.”

Shen Ruanruan explained in a trembling voice.

“This… is the school’s old archive room, near the building’s core load-bearing wall. The signal has always been blocked here.”

All of this was a script she had carefully arranged just for him, for Lin Hui.

The story needed a fragile and helpless heroine, a reliable male lead trapped with her, and emotions of “dependence” and “heart flutter” that would grow in adversity…

But the script started to go off track before it had gone on for long.

The setting, actions, and expressions were all correct-except for… his reaction.

Shen Ruanruan, following the way she had rehearsed countless times, showed fear and helplessness, resting her head weakly against the boy’s back.

She had imagined many possibilities.

Perhaps he would panic.

Perhaps he would stiffen up like a block of wood.

Or perhaps… like those self-important males, he would use “comfort” as an excuse to take advantage.

But Lin Hui did none of that.

From start to finish, he behaved with a restraint that was uncharacteristic for an eighteen-year-old boy.

He sat on the ground, oblivious to romance, and rhythmically tapped the iron door, trying to attract attention from outside.

He allowed her to lean against him, but did not touch her more than necessary.

Not even the most basic, symbolic gesture of comfort.

This was not what Shen Ruanruan had expected.

A faint displeasure spread in her heart.

Not playing by the rules…

Faced with Lin Hui’s excessive composure, all the words and traps she had set to provoke a man’s physiological desire were like arrows falling to the ground.

But at the same time, a strange sense of excitement began to quietly grow somewhere inside her.

These two utterly opposite emotions intertwined, creating a complicated feeling she couldn’t explain.

Shen Ruanruan stopped thinking about it.

Since the script was going off course, then as the director, she would take the stage herself and pull it back on track.

She intensified her breathing, and her trembling became more obvious, as if her “fear” had reached its peak.

With this intense “shaking,” her body naturally shifted from simply leaning against his back…

Slipped, toppled, and nestled into his embrace.

It worked.

Her cheek pressed against the boy’s chest.

She could hear the strong beating of his heart.

Thump, thump, thump…

As if a war drum was beating deep within her soul, causing the blood in her entire body to race.

Shen Ruanruan took a deep breath.

There was no unpleasant odor-

Only a fresh, clean scent from being out in the sun, mixed with a hint of the fragrance that bursts from a young citrus fruit when squeezed.

It wasn’t deliberately sharp like expensive men’s cologne,

But it made her feel more at ease than any perfume, and even… addicted.

Her arms naturally wrapped around the boy’s waist.

Her fingertips met at his lower back, quietly measuring the dimensions.

Broad shoulders, narrow waist.

His shoulders were much broader than she had imagined, and she could feel the outline of his muscles even through the fabric.

His waist was taut without a trace of excess fat-

A perfect inverted triangle.

So tempting…

She couldn’t help but tighten her embrace, pressing her body even closer.

Countless dirty and impure thoughts grew wildly from the suppressed dark depths of her heart like poisonous mushrooms after the rain.

She wanted… she wanted so much to completely merge him into her body.

She wanted to bite his prominent collarbone with her teeth, then taste the slight saltiness of sweat on his skin with the tip of her tongue.

She wanted to slip her hand under his shirt, to touch his abdomen and chest…

Forcibly suppressing those surging thoughts,

Shen Ruanruan’s face still maintained that perfect mask of fear and guilt.
“I’m sorry…”

“It must have been troublesome for you to see me like this…”

By her ear, it was Lin Hui’s voice.

“Figuring out whose fault it is doesn’t help at all in solving the core problem of ‘the door not opening.'”

Not a single comforting word like “it’s okay” or “never mind.”

Every sentence was calm and objective, hitting right at the heart of the matter, smoothing over the anxiety she had tried to conceal.

This kind of answer really suited his style.

Something soft deep in Shen Ruanruan’s heart was gently touched.

But right after that-

His next sentence stabbed in like a needle.

“Come to think of it, I saw you like this before, in fifth grade.”

Hadn’t he… forgotten?

That day on the stairs of the teaching building, when Lin Hui looked over with blank, unfamiliar eyes…

That sting of being ignored and forgotten was still fresh in her mind.

That feeling-when a memory she cherished was discarded by the other person like trash-made her, for the first time, taste an almost maddening sense of indignation.

Shen Ruanruan bit down on her lower lip so hard she nearly drew blood.

A rush of intense emotion welled up in her throat.

“…So, you actually remember.”

The words she let out carried a genuine grievance, one even she herself hadn’t noticed.

As she listened to the boy’s explanation,

She didn’t speak again.

Yes, academic pressure.

Such an unassailable reason.

But… why should you forget? What gives you the right to forget!

I am… Shen Ruanruan, after all. Someone like you, a nobody, how dare you…

“Sorry.” The sincere apology came with a gentle stroke of her hair, so light it was as if he was soothing an injured little animal.

That resentment slowly faded away under this gesture.

With her cheek buried in the boy’s chest, Shen Ruanruan couldn’t help but pout.

Part of it was blaming herself for being so easily appeased, part of it was not wanting to admit her delight.

Then, Lin Hui, with his familiar hint of dark humor, joked,

“So, is the sheet music torn enough now?”

She couldn’t hold back anymore and let out a snort of laughter.

But after laughing, that intoxicating thought surged back once more, turning into waves that crashed against the crumbling dam of her reason.

Maybe it was the influence of her earlier grievance.

Or maybe, after suppressing it for so long, those indefinable emotions finally found a place to break out.

This time, she didn’t push them down.

She slowly lifted herself up, her chin bumping against Lin Hui’s shoulder.

Turning her head, lips parting slightly, she poured all her feelings into this aggressive gesture.

She… took the boy’s earlobe into her mouth.

It was a small patch of warm, soft flesh.

Her teeth first left her mark.

She didn’t bite down right away, but her tongue carefully traced the outline several times.

Then she licked the most sensitive tender spot inside.

The series of shivers this set off in the boy left her very satisfied.

This taste was truly addictive.

She wanted to… she really wanted to keep doing this.

To keep biting, to leave indelible marks on his neck, his collarbone, every inch of his skin…

But Shen Ruanruan knew, she couldn’t.

At least, not now.

She forcibly suppressed the flood of desire, reluctantly letting go and withdrawing a little.

“Sorry.”

She began to explain her “illness” in the gentlest, most fragile tone.

Lin Hui’s usually expressionless, dead-fish eyes finally showed some life.

Looking at him-those widened eyes, half-suspicious, half-afraid, as cute as a startled little animal-she almost felt criminal.

The urge to torment him, which had just barely been calmed, rose up again.

What to do?

She wanted to bully him again, what to do…

An even fiercer, hotter wave of restlessness surged through her whole body.

Shen Ruanruan decided to just go for it, not to hold back anymore.

She was just about to ask, “Can I bite your Adam’s apple this time?”

When-

Bang! Bang bang!

Urgent knocking came from outside the door.

“Why is there a key stuck in the door? Which student is inside?”

Her movements stopped abruptly.

A beautiful moment… interrupted.

Shen Ruanruan kept her upper body slightly leaning forward, her expression unchanged.

“Teacher Zhang, it’s me.”

She straightened her slightly disheveled collar, her voice gentle and appropriate, tinged with the relief of having escaped a disaster.

“And Lin Hui. We’re stuck in here, the door seems jammed.”

Ah, really…

Maggots and such should just rot and stink in the toilet.

Why… do they have to crawl out and interfere with other people’s happiness?

Teacher Zhang

Could you please just die quietly?