Book 4, Chapter 14 - Don’t Touch Me As You Please

Love Code at the End of the World

“Don’t touch me!” I began to struggle, only for the hand he’d been pressing on my shoulder to instantly wrap around my neck. He seized my other shoulder firmly, locking me in his hold against his body. My back was held against those clearly visible and firm chest muscles. I could feel his body heat through his silky-textured shirt, hot against my skin.

“No other girls. See just how much I love you!” he gritted through his teeth in my ear. His long black hair draped over our shoulders, hanging before my chest.

His hand around my neck became tighter. I grabbed his arm at once. His muscles tensed as he exerted his strength, to the point where his arm felt as stiff as metal.

At the very last moment, he stopped pressuring me and instead left a millimeter of space around my neck for breathing purposes.

“Oh yeah? Then, the girls around you will be wailing in tears because their beloved Highness is in love with a man!” I showed no fear and counterattacked. 

Humph!” He released the arm that he’d wrapped around my neck, and moved his face against mine. “From today onwards, you are my man. Don’t fool around. Think about your Arsenal and your Noah City.” His voice turned gentle, as if he was murmuring to his favorite girl.

I believed in what Gale had said. Xing Chuan wanted to kill me. He would even vent his anger on Noah City out of hatred towards me. Hence, he’d needed a few months to calm himself down so that he wouldn’t kill me or attack Noah City that day. 

But can’t he stay further away from me?!

I narrowed my eyes and gripped the arm he’d draped over my shoulder. Twisting my waist, I threw the Highness Xing Chuan who was admired by many girls over my shoulder without the slightest hesitation!

Subconsciously grasping for anything that he could hold, he grabbed onto my braid. It was just like how he’d grabbed the rose in my hand when I’d pushed him off the tall building in Kro.

*Bang!* Just as he landed on the ground, he pulled off the hairband of my braid. I immediately rode on his waist, pressing on his shoulder with one hand and gripping his neck with the other.

My long hair scattered over my face and his deadly gaze fixed upon my face. 

I stared at him while pressing on his shoulders. “I’ll tell you one more time, speak properly and don’t touch me!”

A flash of light crossed his deadly gaze. He smirked and his gaze suddenly became captivating. “We’ve finally met officially. Luo Bing, turns out that you look like those Honeycomb men in Blue Shield City.” His voice sounded frivolous, nothing like the soft-spoken Xing Chuan with a gentle smile whom the girls usually saw. Now, he was cold and malicious. Without warning, he reached his hands into my hair. I immediately slapped his hand away and moved away from his body!

“You are the one who looks like a gigolo from Honeycomb!” I glared at him.

He smiled and stood up from the ground, calmly patting down his black robe and smoothening out his collar. Just as he lifted his gaze to meet mine, the coldness vanished and was replaced with gentleness. “I think there’s a misunderstanding between us. We might need to cultivate our feelings."

He’d changed too quickly. He was acting like a different person from just moments before. In the blink of an eye, he’d switched his character. It made you doubt if whatever you’d seen earlier was your own delusion. The gentle and kind Xing Chuan seemed to be the real him.

A human would always choose to believe the beautiful side of things. That was why Arsenal believed in Xing Chuan’s gentle appearance.

I glared at him coldly. “I will go to Silver Moon City with you and I will follow your command. But feelings, humph, Your Highness Xing Chuan, we have no need to cultivate any.” I cracked my wrist. If he dares to cultivate ‘feelings’ with me, I will make sure I beat the h*ll out of him. 

He nodded with a smile, disdain flashing across his eyes. It was as though he didn’t want to waste any time on me either. “If you say so, I feel less burdened."

“But, I have conditions.” I looked at him.

“Go ahead.” He lowered his head to fiddle with the hairband he’d pulled off my braid. Clearly he wasn’t paying much attention, as if he didn’t care a bit about my conditions and whether he agreed or not depended wholly on his mood.

I stared at him coldly for a while before I looked away. “If anything happens to Noah City, I want to come back and help Noah City.”

“No problem. You don’t know, but one of the conditions that Noah City proposed when they handed you over is to receive Silver Moon City’s protection.” He lifted his eyes to look at me. When I looked at him, our gazes met and I saw the mockery in his eyes.

It was a complicated feeling.

“Why? Are you sad that your family betrayed you?” He extended his hand to me. “Tsk tsk tsk. Do you want me to give you a hug and let you cry on my shoulder?”

I immediately shouted and raised my hand, lifting my middle finger. “The second condition! Don’t touch me!”

Pausing his hand near my hair, he gently lifted a lock of my hair up next to my face. He watched as my hair glided off the tip of his finger.“That depends on my mood.”

*Pak!* I slapped his hand away and turned away from him. “Are you going to marry Arsenal?” I asked the question that I least wanted to know the answer to.

When I turned to look at him, he was holding my hairband up and looking at it absent-mindedly. “Although they brought up the condition, I didn’t agree with them. Your Arsenal...,” he glanced at me, “...I am not interested in her at all. I am more interested in you.” He then placed the ribbon before me like a gentleman again.

I glared at him coldly and extended my right hand to retrieve my hairband. A cold light appeared in his eyes and he swiftly grlasped my wrist.

“Let go!” I shouted. Ignoring my words, he pulled my hand towards him to take a closer look at my ring, narrowing his eyes. “I saw this on Raffles’ hand earlier. I never thought…” He harshly tossed my hand aside, averting his eyes in disdain.

I was stunned. I’d never thought this could work!

Traditionally, a man wearing a ring on his right hand didn’t mean anything in Noah City, but it was a different story if he wore it on his right ring finger. It meant that he was married to another man and that he was the bride.

Xing Chuan turned his head back to look at me and I lifted my chin as I returned his gaze. “Is it so strange? Haven’t you seen a man marrying another man before? Humph.” I turned to walk to the capsule door.

He followed and chuckled behind me. “That means two women got married?”

I spoke in a deep voice at once. “We are not women!”

Humph. In my eyes…” he moved his face lower and leaned close to my ear, “...you are!”

*Swoosh!* The door in front opened. I wanted to walk in and close the door behind me, but he stepped around and stood before me. As he walked towards me with a malicious smile, not taking his eyes off me, I began to step backward. He closed the door behind us. 

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