The Fallen's Guide - chapter 14

The piercing cold snapped him awake for a moment, like grabbing onto a lifeline, his pleading gaze turning to Tang Nian.

He seemed certain that Tang Nian was the only one on the scene who could save him.

But Tang Nian had no intention of helping now.

This was just a game, and he was merely a virtual character within it; she didn’t want to meddle.

The white silk that had been wrapped around him was long since torn away, and the girls’ fingernails left scratch marks on his flawless skin.

When people see something beautiful, they can’t help but want to leave their mark.

It’s the destructive and possessive urge people have toward pure things.

They had drunk quite a bit earlier; the Attendant’s tray held slender-necked wine bottles, Chains, fine wine, the boy, and a sealed room-all these elements mixed together easily stirred up Greed and malice in people’s hearts.

The mouth of the wine bottle was pressed against his lips, and the remaining strong liquor was poured down his fragile throat.

The boy finally whimpered, convulsing and collapsing in a mix of tearing pain and drug-induced pleasure, while Rose, her face alight with excitement, grabbed his hair and trampled his dignity.

“Filthy little thing.”

His gaze was unfocused, his crimson lips torn, pitiful to the extreme.

Rose excitedly stirred his mouth with the bottle’s neck, her eyes fixed on his wounded tongue, her face flushed with excitement, as if she were the one drunk.

Those gray-violet eyes had lost their luster, no longer able to focus, his thick lashes fluttering weakly as he gazed in Tang Nian’s direction.

The only one who showed him any hint of pity.

The boy was like a rose trampled underfoot, drained of life.

Dying, about to wither.

Tang Nian waited for the Mission to trigger, but no prompt ever came. Unable to bear it any longer, she sighed, stood up, and walked out.

This was the best plaything Rose had ever gotten, and the most exciting day for these Noble girls.

They couldn’t wait to do something even more interesting to him.

Yet, just as the Nobles reached the height of their excitement, the crystal chandelier overhead suddenly went dark.

The abuse inflicted on the boy paused for a moment in the brief darkness. In the next instant, Rose screamed as she was shoved aside by the Attendant, and a chilling crash sounded where she had just been standing.

The massive crystal chandelier crashed down, glass shards scattering everywhere. The Nobles nearby were terrified, screaming for the servants to check.

The sudden upheaval allowed the boy, who had been pinned to the ground, to get up. He gasped as if near death, curling up on the floor, trembling.

In the darkness, a hand gripped his wrist.

Startled, he felt for the broken glass on the floor and, in a reflexive panic, slashed at the other person.

A low gasp sounded in the darkness.

“…Don’t be afraid.” Someone leaned down, voice lowered at his ear, “I’m not here to hurt you.”

The boy froze.

Even though he’d never heard this voice before, he knew exactly who it belonged to.

Amid the chaos, the owner of the voice struggled to drag him out from the tangle of bodies.

Leaving the banquet was anything but easy.

Tang Nian began to regret meddling.

She had rescued him, only to be wounded by him in return.

Under the moonlight, a slender figure crawled on the ground, his once-pale skin now tinged with a tempting blush from within.

The boy panted rapidly, wrapped in Tang Nian’s soft shawl, looking frail and pitiful.

Fine mist and moisture clung to his curled lashes, and his jewel-like, brilliant eyes trembled with shock, full of regret and helplessness-mostly disbelief.

He seemed unable to believe that, at such a depraved banquet, someone would actually save him.
He was still holding a sharp, blood-stained piece of glass in his hand.

“Drip, drip…”

Fresh blood dripped onto the stone slabs. Tang Nian clutched her arm, blood streaming steadily through her fingers.

What an ungrateful little wolf.

If she hadn’t reacted quickly, that wound would have been on Tang Nian’s face.

She shook her hand, feeling irritable. “Go straight down this path. There’s a narrow gate outside the garden where the gardeners come and go. Run, quickly.”

The boy stood frozen.

His body was stiff, throat dry as he swallowed, as if wanting to say something.

Tang Nian took off the Ring from her finger and tossed it over, hitting him on the forehead.

A red mark instantly appeared on his fair skin. The boy looked up at her pitifully, but Tang Nian remained unmoved, as if she hadn’t seen that breathtakingly beautiful face.

Blood kept pouring from the place on her arm where he had cut her.

“Sell it.”

Just consider it an act of charity.

The boy gripped her Ring in his palm, squeezing so hard his fingers turned pale.

He could feel her annoyance.

Tang Nian only wanted to go back and trigger the Mission; she was running out of time.

Just as she was about to leave, a hand grabbed her ankle.

The touch was light, fleeting, as if he was afraid of upsetting her.

The boy lay prone on the ground, shoulders trembling, mouth opening and closing like a dehydrated fish, breathing rapidly and laboriously.

His breath carried a soft, low, feline-like whimper.

“I… please wait.”

Wearing Tang Nian’s coat, he struggled to cover his disheveled body, his thoughts muddled by drugs, speaking in broken fragments,

“…Sorry, sorry…”

“I-I can’t walk…”

He rambled incoherently, his clear, pleasant voice tinged with a sticky, ambiguous note.

“Don’t go… don’t go yet…”

His low, raspy breaths sounded almost like pleading.

He clutched his collar hard, almost self-destructively, scratching his own skin raw.

His body was flooded with stimulating drugs, his blood burning hot enough to consume him. He couldn’t resolve it, trapped in a helpless, uncontrollable state.

Tang Nian raised an eyebrow, watching the sultry scene, silently categorizing this game as one unsuitable for anyone under eighteen.

Yes, R18+

Under Tang Nian’s amused yet indifferent gaze, the boy whimpered, nearly bursting into tears.

He turned his eyes away in embarrassment, curling up, trembling, his fingers twitching involuntarily, his whole body exuding a decadent, mature allure.

He spoke words that shamed even himself, yet couldn’t suppress them, “Can you… touch me?”

Tang Nian frowned.

His entire body was flushed an enticing red, like a ripe, juicy peach-sweet and tempting.

Those wet eyes brimmed with pleading, growing bolder as they looked at her.

“Can you help me… please…”

His voice trembled uncontrollably, pitiful to the extreme.

Tang Nian raised her hand, showing him the arm he had cut.

As if asking, why should I?

The boy instantly fell into embarrassment, tears clinging to his flushed eyes, the tip of his nose reddened, utterly disheveled.

“Sorry… sorry…”

Sorry for what?

For stabbing her?

He murmured, his gray-violet eyes staring straight at her, tracing from her brows to her lips, as if desecrating her with his gaze, licking every inch of skin exposed under the moonlight.

Shouldn’t have…

Can’t let her leave.

Not far away was the open-air Fountain.

Jets of water rose and fell with the music, at one moment bursting into dazzling, transparent streams, leaping high before gracefully falling back down.

Splashing, trickling.