The Attack of the Wastrel

“What nonsense are you spouting? Since when have you seen my body?” Gu Lingzhi huffed.

“One year ago at Yelai Inn. I helped you remove your clothes and applied medicine on your body,” Rong Yuan said briefly in a calm manner. This caused Gu Lingzhi to suddenly recall everything. Her face turned red as she shouted, “How dare you!”

In that previous attack, she had fainted in his arms. When she woke, her clothes were also hanging off her and it was done by the man before her very eyes. He took the initiative to help her apply medicine and naturally saw her entire body.

“I was unconscious that time, it doesn’t count.”

Rong Yuan’s lips curved up as he laughed mesmerizingly, “This time, I will attend to you while you are conscious.”

With a sweep of his arm, he pulled Gu Lingzhi into his embrace. One of his hands started to wander around her body without permission, his goal – to take off her clothes and apply medicine.

Gu Lingzhi was not as strong as Rong Yuan and within a few struggles, she was placed on the bed and her entire bottom half was trapped by one of Rong Yuan’s legs. Her upper half was completely stripped by Rong Yuan and was held in place by one of his hands, his other hand started applying medicine on her wounds. He did not forget to say, “In this entire house, there is only Yuan Zheng and I. If you don’t want me to help you, do you want Yuan Zheng to help you instead?”

“…You can call Xinran over.”

“And let them see your body?” Rong Yuan’s voice immediately turned cold. “Only I can see your entire body!”

His sudden seriousness stunned Gu Lingzhi causing her lip to quiver slightly, “Your Highness, they are girls.” Girls had the same body parts. She had nothing to lose by letting them see her body.

“Girls are not allowed to see your body too!” Rong Yuan glared at her, “You are mine!” These three words demonstrated Rong Yuan’s desire to commit to her. Even if it were other girls, he could not bear to let anyone look at his woman.

Gu Lingzhi rolled her eyes and gave up struggling, allowing him to apply medicine for her. After all, their difference in strength was too much and it would not matter how much she struggled. It would only lead to her being pressed closer to him.

Closing her eyes, Gu Lingzhi pretended not to notice what was happening. The only thing that reminded her was the cooling effect of the medicine on her body and that there was someone helping her apply it to her naked body.

This feeling… wasn’t all that bad.

Closing her eyes made her more sensitive to touch. She could very clearly feel Rong Yuan’s breath brushing across her skin. His warm hands moved over her body with a gentle firmness. As his hands glided across her body, streaks of cooling medicine covered and soothed her wounds. Occasionally, those large warm hands would pause and gently massage areas that were hurting. Gu Lingzhi opened her eyes and saw Rong Yuan look painfully at her bruised areas as he massaged gently. A tinge of wood-based spiritual energy flowed over her as it healed the surface of her wounds. In his eyes, she did not see even a hint of lust like she had imagined.

“You…” Gu Lingzhi wanted to ask him why he was behaving so well today. Even after seeing her body, he was actually better behaved than usual.

“Don’t look at me like that.” It was as if Gu Lingzhi’s gaze was too fervent, forcing Rong Yuan to look at her embarrassedly. “What kind of person do you think I am? You are so badly injured. No matter how charming you look, I will not harbor those kinds of thoughts.”

Rong Yuan sighed as he stroked Gu Lingzhi’s forehead.

“Take care of yourself. I will help you deal with those attackers.”

Rong Yuan’s gaze was extremely sincere, allowing Gu Lingzhi to feel the sincerity in his voice. She realised that Rong Yuan really only wanted to help her apply medicine and had no other intentions. Gu Lingzhi felt embarrassed and troubled. She only ever experienced this feeling of being delicately cared for and attended to from him.

“Thank you…” Gu Lingzhi mumbled her thanks as she felt her heart warm up.

“If you want to thank me, then quickly recover. I did not help you without expecting something in return.” Rong Yuan threw a quick glance at her chest and smiled widely. This simple sentence dispersed all her feelings and she could only grind her teeth.

“…Can’t you think of other things?”

Rong Yuan tilted his head to one side as he pretended to consider her question. He however, did not pause his movement of applying medicine, “Why not… I return the favour with my body.”

“…” She should not have hoped that he would say anything perceptive.

Amused by Gu Lingzhi’s speechless expression, Rong Yuan lowered his head as he gave her a light kiss on her forehead, “Don’t think so much. Go to sleep and let me handle the rest.”

It was only then did Gu Lingzhi realise that unknowingly, her wounds had all been tended to. Her minor wounds all had medicine applied on them while those that were slightly more serious were wrapped properly in bandage. Gu Lingzhi did not resist as she shut her eyes once again. After receiving so many injuries and persisting for so long, she was exhausted.

When Gu Lingzhi’s breathing stabilised and she fell into a deep sleep, Rong Yuan finally looked away from her and left the room quietly.

Outside the room, Yuan Zheng had been waiting for a while. Seeing Rong Yuan come out of the room, he quickly reported what was happening.

“Your Highness, once the black men who attacked your fiancée woke up, all of them immediately committed suicide. We were not able to get any information from them at all.”

“I got it,” Rong Yuan nodded his head as he was not surprised by their behaviour.

Ever since he confirmed that Xiao Wu was the Fifth Prince, there was nothing more to consider. As he was from the largest Royal Family in Tianyuan continent, how would his family not have a troop of diehard loyal soldiers?

All their sacrifices only confirmed his guess.

“Don’t bother with the men anymore. Spread the news that the Black Thorn is officially under the protection of the Royal Family. Due to her severe injuries, she is recuperating here. In the future, whoever makes things difficult for the Black Thorn would mean going against me!”

Yuan Zheng stared at Rong Yuan in a daze as he looked at him hesitantly, “Your Highness, I don’t think that is very appropriate…” Since they knew who the Black Thorn was, it was natural that they let her recuperate here. However, others would not understand the relationship between them and if this news were disseminated, rumours would start to spread. As a man, the Third Prince had nothing much to lose. However, these rumours would be too unfair to Gu Lingzhi.

“Why not? She is mine after all. Are you saying that because her identity is different, she can find others?” Rong Yuan was not at all burdened by this and spoke nonchalantly. After all, this was a special circumstance and this was the simplest excuse he could think of to rationalise sending people to protect her.

Yuan Zheng had no choice but to do exactly what Rong Yuan said. However, he could not help but say a prayer for Gu Lingzhi. She had become her own love rival. Hopefully, when she woke up, she would still be able to hold it together.

Yuan Zheng’s worry was not unnecessary. When Gu Lingzhi finally woke and realised what Rong Yuan had done, she almost vomited blood.

With both of her identities living under the same roof, if someone were to look for her, what would she do?

“Isn’t this easy? Just say you are not around?” Rong Yuan threw her a sweeping glance as he held up the bowl of soup in his hand and fed her spoonful of soup.

“It’s not that easy…” Her last word was muffled by soup being pushed into her mouth. Gu Lingzhi glared at him, “I haven’t finished talking.”

“You can continue later, drink this soup first. Good girl, open your mouth, ahhhh…” Rong Yuan cooed as if coaxing a child to take a bite. This made Gu Lingzhi’s eyelids twitch.

However, seeing how excited he was, she could not bear to reject him…forget it, she decided to let him do whatever he wanted.

Gu Lingzhi opened her mouth slightly reluctantly. She had rationalised that she would not be able to defeat Rong Yuan and it might be better if she cooperated right from the start. Also… she could not deny that although she felt that these behaviour of theirs was not acceptable because they had yet to be married, she could not deny that she liked how she felt around him. Most importantly…he had already seen her entire body, what could be worse than that?

As she struggled internally, Gu Lingzhi subconsciously drank the entire bowl of soup.

Rong Yuan was extremely delighted to have successfully fed the entire bowl to Gu Lingzhi without facing any resistance. He was about to open his mouth and explain the situation with the men in black with her when Yuan Zheng’s voice sounded from outside, “Your Highness and Lady Black Thorn, Lady Ye Fei and Lady Tianfeng is here to visit.”

Speak of the devil!

Gu Lingzhi’s face immediately hardened. She started to ponder on how to explain to Ye Fei and Tianfeng Jin without them being suspicious.

As she was thinking, her two visitors had already made their way to the second level and was about to enter Gu Lingzhi’s room.

“Third Prince, Ling… Lady Black Thorn, what are you doing here?” The minute Ye Fei entered the room, she greeted. But before she could complete her greeting, she realised that the person opposite Rong Yuan was not Gu Lingzhi but the Black Thorn. Seeing as how Rong Yuan had yet to place down the bowl of soup, they could imagine how intimate the moment had been. The look that Ye Fei was giving the two of them immediately changed. She took a step back subconsciously and knocked into Tianfeng Jin that was standing behind her.

“Xiao, Xiao Jin, am I seeing things?” Ye Fei’s voice trembled as she pleaded Tianfeng Jin. What was she looking at? The Third Prince who had seemed to be completely devoted to Gu Lingzhi had actually brought the Black Thorn to Gu Lingzhi’s room and let her sleep on Gu Lingzhi’s bed. He was also personally feeding her! Although she was also close to the Black Thorn, and had given her something as precious as the Spirit Cleansing Pill, she should not be involved with her friend’s fiancé. Didn’t she know that?

Tianfeng Jin’s expression was just as dumbfounded. She had always treated Gu Lingzhi as her good friend and she also had a good impression of “Black Thorn”. Especially after Black Thorn had given her the Spirit Cleansing Pill. However, that did not mean that she could go ahead and steal Gu Lingzhi’s fiancé! What was even worse was that by looking at the current scenario, the two of them must have been involved with each other for quite a while.

Thinking back on the rumours that had spread around the capital city last year, Tianfeng Jin unsheathed her saber from her waist. While it was true that the Black Thorn was good to her, Gu Lingzhi has been similarly kind to her.