Chapter 31: Bound!

However, she soon found herself unable to spare any thought for anything else. Luo Wushuang’s naughty little hands had already found their way to her silk bodice; if she didn’t stop her now, there really would be no chance left.

“Wu—”

Shangguan Liqian opened her mouth to speak, but Luo Wushuang took it as an invitation. The Empress leaned down, capturing those tender, succulent lips, swallowing the rest of the sentence whole.

Seeing her mouth blocked, Shangguan Liqian’s hand reached for the other woman’s waist. But before she could even pinch her, Luo Wushuang guided her hand, placing it firmly against her own back.

Shangguan Liqian tried to get a grip, but the skin of that back was so smooth she couldn’t catch hold of anything. She could only tilt her head back with all her might, trying to escape the intense kiss just to get a chance to speak.

As her soft tongue playfully darted away, Luo Wushuang moved to chase it, but her gaze fell upon her sister’s neck—white and flawless as jade—and she found herself unable to look away.

Luo Wushuang marveled silently: Sister is so passionate today!

She lowered her head, intent on enjoying this feast to her heart’s content.

Shangguan Liqian’s eyes were rimmed with red, her thin lips slightly swollen…

When she finally managed to make a sound, it came out as a string of soft, breathless moans.

Her face flushed a deep crimson instantly.

The irritation in her heart began to bubble up, bit by bit.

“Luo Wushuang! Stop this instant!”

The shy, timid reprimand failed to pull Luo Wushuang away from the beautiful sight; instead, it only deepened the obsession in her phoenix eyes.

Luo Wushuang raised her head slightly, kissing that jade-smooth skin from the chin upward, finally settling back onto those ravaged, cinnabar lips.

“Sister, did the Empress hurt you?”

Luo Wushuang’s voice was husky, her breath like orchids as she coaxed her with sweet tenderness.

“Then I shall be gentler, alright?”

Hovering just above her, the light shimmering in Luo Wushuang’s phoenix eyes was soul-stirring. She didn’t look like an Empress Regnant who stood above ten thousand people; she looked more like a beautiful, enchanting spirit.

Shangguan Liqian bit her lower lip, struggling to maintain her clarity of mind. Her breath was thin as silk as she whispered, “You… stop first.”

Seeing the person she loved in such a state beneath her, the wicked fire in Luo Wushuang’s heart ran wild. There was no way she was willing to stop.

“I can’t stop…” Luo Wushuang murmured, leaning in to continue.

Seeing her urgent, desperate manner, Shangguan Liqian didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, yet she was also quite vexed.

In the past, she might have indulged her.

But now…

Looking at the thick dark circles under the other woman’s eyes and a complexion that was no better than her own, the hesitation in Shangguan Liqian’s gaze quickly solidified into resolve.

“Luo Wushuang!” Shangguan Liqian’s face darkened, and her voice rose.

After a moment of panic, Luo Wushuang remembered what her sister had said earlier and suddenly puffed out her chest again.

“I am the Empress Regnant.”

Sister said I am the Empress; I can do this during the day.

Hearing her emphasis, Shangguan Liqian merely shot her a glance. Her expression didn’t change as she said flatly, “Get off.”

Seeing her sister’s persistence, Luo Wushuang could only speak up reluctantly.

“Fine…”

And yet, she still dawdled, unwilling to move.

“Are you still not getting off?” Shangguan Liqian’s face was as cold as water, her beautiful eyes flashing with a clear threat.

Luo Wushuang let out a wronged “Oh” and collapsed into the brocade quilt beside her with a look of grief and indignation.

She took the brocade quilt, embroidered with the motif of a phoenix and its mate, and used it like a veil to cover her head. Shangguan Liqian reached out and tugged at it, but when it wouldn’t budge, she turned and climbed off the couch.

Luo Wushuang, who was waiting piteously for someone to coax her, panicked the moment she sensed the other person leaving. Forgetting her sulking, she poked her head out from the quilt.

“Sister, where are you going?”

Shangguan Liqian shot her a sidelong glance and said crossly, “To start a rebellion!”

“Does Sister want to be the Empress Regnant too?”

Luo Wushuang asked the question while already making mental calculations.

If Sister wanted to be the Empress, it wasn’t impossible, though it would be quite difficult. But as long as Sister wanted it, she…

Seeing the dead-serious look on the other woman’s face, Shangguan Liqian was truly at her wit’s end. She even suspected that if she said she wanted to be the Empress, Wushuang might actually help her rebel against herself.

“Want to…”

Deceiving the monarch? Subverting authority? Shangguan Liqian realized she couldn’t use those words, or this fool might mistake it for flirting.

Finally, meeting Luo Wushuang’s wide, expectant eyes, Shangguan Liqian said helplessly, “What are you looking at? Go to sleep. Who do you think actually wants to be your Empress? It’s nothing but a pile of endless chores.”

Seeing that her sister truly didn’t have that intention, Luo Wushuang stopped thinking about it. Watching Shangguan Liqian, who was already several feet away from the couch, she asked unhappily, “Where are you going, then?”

Looking at Luo Wushuang’s act of playing the victim, Shangguan Liqian knew without asking that she wanted her to sleep with her.

But thinking of the memorials she had caught a glimpse of earlier—stacked like a small mountain—Shangguan Liqian pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.

“I’m going to help you organize your memorials by priority. You take a good rest first, alright?”

Only after saying it did Shangguan Liqian realize that helping organize the memorials was something Wushuang had demanded in her past life. Back then, she had been imprisoned for several years, mostly chained to the couch and unable to go anywhere, which was why Wushuang had felt safe letting her touch the imperial documents.

In this life, by bringing it up so directly, would Wushuang become suspicious?

Fortunately, Luo Wushuang didn’t overthink it. Hearing her sister offer to help with the paperwork, her heart was filled more with touched emotion—and, of course, a little bit of worry.

“There are so many scrolls; won’t Sister get tired?”

Also, will Sister take advantage of me being asleep to try and sneak away again?

Thinking of this, her eyes instinctively drifted toward the chains scattered haphazardly on the inner side of the bed.

Shangguan Liqian followed her gaze…

The heartache she felt just a moment ago vanished without a trace. This little bastard is thinking of locking me up again? She had been unconscious for several days and had only just woken up, yet the girl still had the heart to do this!

Truly… truly!!! Detestable!!

Shangguan Liqian ranted wildly in her mind. However, to let Luo Wushuang sleep in peace, she took two steps forward and resignedly fastened the chain around her own wrist. As for the other end of the chain…

Shangguan Liqian’s gaze swept across the phoenix couch, finally landing with ill intent on Luo Wushuang’s… neck.

Watching Shangguan Liqian approach her slowly, Luo Wushuang said with a look of horror, “Sister, what… what are you doing?”

In that short span of time, Luo Wushuang’s mind raced at high speed, filled with all sorts of emotions.

What is Sister doing? Did I go too far and make her angry? Is she going to strangle me to death? If she starts strangling me later, should I resist a little?

While she was lost in thought, the world went dark before her eyes. Shangguan Liqian’s playful smile was reflected in Luo Wushuang’s phoenix eyes.

Then… Luo Wushuang felt a cold sensation around her neck. The chain was looped loosely around her throat like a collar, and the other side of the handcuff was pulled out by her sister and placed neatly right in front of her.

The way she looked now…

She looked like a Siberian Husky! A Husky! Fine, keep laughing, sob…

[Luo Wushuang: Unhappy about being lectured! Hmph…]

[Xiaobai: Same here! Same here!]

“Alright, sleep obediently now.”

After saying that, Shangguan Liqian turned and went to the low table behind the screen.

She left Luo Wushuang lying alone on the bed, feeling a thousand layers of grief and indignation…

Sister has turned bad now. But I still love it so much.

The “badder” Sister was, the more she loved her!

Her fingers brushed against the slender chain, and she gave it a light tug. This immediately earned her a heartless scolding:

“Stop messing around! Go to sleep, or you won’t be allowed to stay here tonight.”

The smile on Luo Wushuang’s face froze. She obediently closed her eyes, and before long, she drifted into a deep sleep.