Chapter 425: Tsundere Is Out of Fashion

In the air, there was the faint scent of another male having been here.

’Who was here? And who hurt her?’

Ye Linyuan was about to ask again when Jiang Qingli suddenly scrambled out of his arms. "I’m not hurt."

She spoke a little quickly, rushing to run outside without even putting on her shoes.

Ye Linyuan’s gaze swept past her reddened ear tips as he sneered inwardly.

’I was only gone for a few minutes, and some other lowly creature took the opportunity to sneak in?’

’Who could it be that she’s protecting like this?’

’That white-haired fox demon? The ugly black dragon? Or that big-chested, brainless idiot husband?’

A fierce jealousy surged in his chest. Without another word, Ye Linyuan grabbed her hand and pulled the girl into his lap, her bare feet landing on his tail.

Jiang Qingli struggled, but he gripped her by the wrist.

"You’re hurt. I can smell blood."

Ye Linyuan explained with cautious patience and moved to check her.

Jiang Qingli planted a foot on his shoulder and kicked him away. Her fair face was beet red, and she even stammered, "Y-y-you, get lost!"

Ye Linyuan frowned. Just as he was about to determine where she was hurt, Jiang Qingli couldn’t take it anymore. "Period! Have you ever heard of a period?!"

Ye Linyuan froze, his fingers stiffening around hers.

Those perpetually cold, vertical pupils widened slightly, looking somewhat dazed.

Jiang Qingli was speechless at Ye Linyuan’s ignorance. She stood up to go to the bathroom when there was a knock at the door.

Ye Linyuan got up, walked to the door, opened it a crack, and stared coldly at W-103 outside.

W-103 was standing far back, holding out a large pile of exquisite desserts.

Ye Linyuan took them and was about to close the door when he heard W-103 whisper, "Um... Boss, Baili Jing—that is, Miss Jiang’s Beast Husband—he said he left something here for you. It’s something Miss Jiang needs, so he hopes you won’t mind."

’So it was the fox demon.’

Ye Linyuan scoffed and slammed the door shut.

When he turned around, Jiang Qingli had already gone into the washroom.

Ye Linyuan looked around outside but didn’t find anything extra.

Just then, Jiang Qingli’s hushed voice came from the washroom. "...I’m using it now. I can’t believe I forgot the date. Thank you, you’re so thoughtful~"

The person on the other end seemed to say something. Jiang Qingli’s voice got even quieter, and a few seconds later, she whispered, "...Thank you, honey."

The call ended.

As Jiang Qingli pushed the door open and walked out, Ye Linyuan’s snake tail coiled around her and pulled her onto the bed with its freshly changed sheets.

He hugged her from behind, his snake tail wrapped tightly around her.

"I can’t mark you now, so you must be satisfied." Jiang Qingli stepped on his snake tail. The thought that her attempt to force herself on him was over before it even began infuriated her. "Don’t press against me. You’re so cold."

Although her period wasn’t painful, it tended to make her lazy and crave warmth. With the room’s air conditioning on, the feeling of a chilly snake tail wrapped around her stomach wasn’t exactly pleasant.

When she was on her period, Jiang Qingli preferred hugging Baili Jing’s or Yuan Shimo’s tail, which were both warm and very comfortable.

Once, her period fell on a Monday, and Jiang Qingli, finding Ye Linyuan too cold, insisted he wear fuzzy pajamas or he wouldn’t be allowed in bed.

Ye Linyuan had called her childish and boring and went to sleep on the sofa himself.

In the middle of the night, Jiang Qingli felt very warm and touched something hot and fuzzy, thinking another one of her Beast Husbands had arrived.

But when she turned on the light, she discovered it was Ye Linyuan.

He’d gotten a set of fleece pajamas from somewhere and put them on, giving him a strangely adorable look, especially when he told her not to laugh with a straight face.

But this time, the amnesiac Ye Linyuan clearly lacked that patience. "So?" he asked, his face expressionless.

"Is that the only word you know?" Jiang Qingli was displeased. She turned her back to him and started comparing. "In the past, when I was on my period, you would always warm yourself up before coming over to warm my stomach."

Ye Linyuan’s lips twitched. "...You have quite an imagination."

Snakes are cold-blooded creatures, unable to maintain a constant body temperature.

’How could he warm himself up to warm her?’

’She’s full of it. Aside from the part about marking, not a single word she says is true.’

The gloomy young man’s face darkened. He propped himself up with one hand, glanced at the girl’s back, and left without another word.

Hearing the door close, Jiang Qingli huffed even louder.

Then she burrowed under the covers, planning to sleep for a while before eating.

Jiang Qingli buried her face in the blankets.

But she paused, a little surprised.

’Strange. This place is cold and bleak, never seeing the sun, but the blankets are very soft and smell nice.’

She had been so tired last night, and busy with work the past few days, so it didn’t take long for Jiang Qingli to feel drowsy. Buried in the blankets, she drifted on the edge of sleep.

Just as she was about to fall asleep, the covers behind her were suddenly lifted.

Immediately after, Jiang Qingli felt the mattress beside her dip. Something coiled around her waist, and her back was pressed against the firm touch of muscle.

It was warm.

Jiang Qingli struggled to open her eyes. She looked down and saw that it was Ye Linyuan’s tail wrapped around her.

Thinking she was dizzy from sleep, she reached out and touched it.

The texture was familiar, but the temperature was clearly higher than before. It was warm, and it actually felt very comfortable against her stomach.

Jiang Qingli rolled over, nuzzled her cheek against his chest, and asked drowsily, "Did you steam yourself done?"

Her hair was soft, and it tickled his chest as she nuzzled him. Unaccustomed to the sensation, Ye Linyuan frowned slightly. His tone was stiff. "If I were done, how could I be talking to you?"

"Can’t you even take a joke?" Jiang Qingli complained. "You’re not as cute as you used to be."

Ye Linyuan tightened his tail slightly, his tone a warning. "Shut up and sleep."

’So fierce.’

Jiang Qingli pouted. "Ye Linyuan, being a tsundere is out of style now."

Ye Linyuan didn’t reply, probably because he didn’t understand what she meant.

Jiang Qingli didn’t care whether he replied or not. The warm tail felt so good.

’I’ll just enjoy this for now. We can talk after I wake up.’

Hugging the tail, Jiang Qingli drifted off to sleep.

Ye Linyuan sat beside her. Once her breathing steadied, he turned her over to face him.

The girl unconsciously hooked a finger through his long hair. Only then did he realize his own hair had spread out, cascading like black seaweed and mingling with her own dark locks, like a flowing river.

His heart stirred. Ye Linyuan buried his face in the crook of her neck, taking a deep breath of her scent.

As things grew quiet, Ye Linyuan finally noticed his own unusual state.

Perhaps due to his genetic recombination, while his strength far surpassed that of ordinary people, Ye Linyuan’s heat was also far more difficult to endure than a typical Beastman’s, almost like a punishment.

Many had tried to take his life during his heat. He would become extremely violent during these times, and he had likely lost count of the people he had killed.

From adulthood until his memories cut off at age twenty, every heat Ye Linyuan could recall, he had endured alone.

Jiang Qingli was the first living person to stay by his side during his heat.

Ye Linyuan had no mother and had always detested females.

But holding Jiang Qingli, breathing in her scent, he felt nothing but infinite peace.

It was like being a rag dredged from the sewer, washed clean of its filth, and left to dry in a sunny place, caressed by a gentle, flower-scented breeze.

But also like the wind, she was impossible to grasp.

He closed his eyes, and her voice echoed in his mind again, along with the one word that had appeared so frequently on her lips since they’d met—

"Before."

’Were we like this before?’

’Inseparable, my emotions so easily swayed by her.’

Ye Linyuan’s brow furrowed tightly as he pulled his hair back.

He didn’t like hearing Jiang Qingli talk about the past. In fact, he detested it.

The smiling look in her eyes whenever she mentioned the twenty-five-year-old Ye Linyuan was a constant reminder—

The person she wanted was the twenty-five-year-old Ye Linyuan. The person she wanted to mark was also the twenty-five-year-old Ye Linyuan.

’On what grounds?’

’The one in front of her is me.’