...
"No, I think it's fine as it is."
Xuan Hao not only didn't let go, but tightened his arms even more, refusing with a straight face:
"Anyway, I'm currently weak and powerless, so all I can do is hug you. I won't do anything bad to you."
"Besides, now that you've removed your disguise, what if Na'er and Rongrong finish their training early and suddenly come back?
As things are now, even if they suddenly barge in, it would just be His Highness the Crown Prince, showing concern for his subordinates, comforting and consoling a peerless genius who was seriously injured for the sake of the empire at his bedside.
How reasonable is that!"
"If you turn back into a blonde beauty, then I really won't be able to explain myself in a hundred mouths when we're alone in a room together."
Hearing Xuan Hao's seemingly flawless and rigorous logic, Qian Renxue was speechless for a moment, unable to find any reason to refute him, so she had no choice but to stop forcing him and let him continue to hold her.
However, although the logic was sound, the strange feeling in his body just wouldn't go away.
She was held tightly in Xuan Hao's arms, feeling the warm breath he exhaled near her ear, when suddenly a thought flashed through her mind and she remembered something.
Just recently, while she was operating in Tiandou City under the guise of Xue Qinghe, she overheard some outrageous gossip from Ye Lingling—
It's said that Ning Rongrong and Xiao Wu, seeing the Crown Prince's excessive concern for Xuan Hao and their frequent secret rendezvous, have already conjured up a multi-hundred-thousand-word novel in their minds titled "The Forbidden Love Between the Crown Prince and a Peerless Genius."
They even firmly suspect that there's some unspeakable homosexual relationship or strange connection between Crown Prince Xue Qinghe and Xuan Hao!
Upon thinking of this, Qian Renxue's gentle and refined "prince face" instantly crumbled, her face turning pale and then flushed, her expression becoming extremely interesting.
She stiffly turned her head, staring intently at Xuan Hao, who was holding "the male version of herself," with a look of horror, even as if he were a pervert.
That bastard...
He stubbornly refused to let himself off the disguise, and insisted on holding "Xue Qinghe" so tightly...
That damned scoundrel, could he have secretly awakened some weird, indescribable, perverted fantasy?!
Being stared at by Qian Renxue with that strange look, as if she were looking at some shocking pervert, Xuan Hao, knowing her as he did, realized almost instantly what kind of crazy things were going on in her pretty little head.
Xuan Hao's forehead immediately creased with dismay, feeling utterly speechless.
"Stop! Stop! Put those dangerous thoughts out of your head right now!"
Xuan Hao reached out and flicked Xue Qinghe's smooth forehead with his finger, his face darkening as he clarified, "You'd better not get any weird ideas.
My sexual orientation is perfectly normal, absolutely not the slightest bit off!"
"Men are only attracted to women. This is not just a psychological instinct, but an absolute physiological law!
No matter how handsome or dashing a man is, he is still a man.
Even if I, Xuan Hao, were blind, I would never have the slightest worldly desire for a man!"
Xuan Hao rested his chin on her neck again, tightened his arms around her waist, and whispered,
"The only reason I'm holding you like this is because the person inside this body is you, Qian Renxue, nothing more.
Stop thinking about all that nonsense and gossip."
Hearing Xuan Hao's resolute statement, Qian Renxue's initial chill and fear dissipated considerably, but a hint of suspicion still lingered in her beautiful eyes.
"Yeah?"
Qian Renxue turned her head slightly, looking at him with a half-smile, "Since you're so straightforward, why do you always deliberately get close to 'Xue Qinghe' and put your arm around his shoulder when you're out, and even make those extremely intimate physical contacts?
Don't you know how indecent that behavior looks to outsiders?"
"Please, of course I was just teasing you."
Xuan Hao sighed, his tone full of helplessness and self-righteousness:
"Others may not know that the Crown Prince Xue Qinghe of the mighty Tiandou Empire is actually a stunning beauty, but do you think we two don't know it in our hearts?"
Xuan Hao grinned mischievously and leaned close to her ear, turning the tables on her:
"Besides, when I put my arm around your shoulder or hold your hand in public... does our noble Crown Prince really think of himself as a rough old man?"
"you--!"
Qian Renxue was momentarily speechless at his utterly shameless remark.
An extremely unnatural blush, tinged with embarrassment and anger, immediately appeared on "Xue Qinghe's" handsome face. She gritted her teeth and secretly pinched Xuan Hao's waist:
"So, you bastard really enjoy this kind of slightly perverted and exciting private role-playing, huh?!"
"Ouch—be gentle, be gentle, I'm injured!"
Xuan Hao gasped, but still clung to her stubbornly, retorting confidently, "It's just a man's little pleasure.
Of course, I can also choose to be a gentleman and have no worldly thoughts about your appearance or even your true face."
Xuan Hao paused, his tone becoming extremely mischievous:
"But... if one day I'm holding you in bed and I really can't have even the slightest bit of that kind of feeling in my heart, Xue'er, then, when that time comes, won't you be the one hiding under the covers, trembling with fear and crying your eyes out?"
"..."
Upon hearing this, Qian Renxue was instantly speechless, and the words she wanted to say in rebuttal got stuck in her throat.
She wasn't like Xiao Wu or Ning Rongrong, who hadn't fully matured and were clueless about matters of love and sex.
She was already an adult, and even controlled a vast amount of power; she was extremely mature.
She knew better than anyone else that although Xuan Hao's words sounded extremely lewd, they were the most realistic and truthful statement.
The feelings between men and women are inherently based on the instinct of mutual attraction.
If a virile young man faces a stunningly beautiful woman who throws herself into his arms and even shares his bed with him every day, yet doesn't develop any "sexy" or dangerous thoughts about her...
Then it's not just a matter of feelings fading; it really means that the man either has a serious health problem or has completely lost interest in the woman, and the relationship is completely over!
Knowing is one thing, understanding is another, but the resentment in Qian Renxue's heart from being teased in public wasn't so easily dispelled.
Just thinking about how this bastard deliberately touches Xue Qinghe inappropriately every time he's outside, teasing her until she's flustered and in a daze, while he himself seems to be having a lot of fun, and now he even dares to call it "a man's little pleasure"?
"Okay, since you like romance so much..."
A dangerous glint flashed in Qian Renxue's eyes. She suddenly sneered, slammed her hands onto Xuan Hao's chest, and thrust her waist forward with all her might.
"Hey, hey, hey? What are you doing...?"
With a dizzying spin, Xuan Hao, caught off guard, was flipped over and pinned firmly onto the soft bed by Qian Renxue. Qian Renxue, sporting the handsome face of "Xue Qinghe," straddled his waist with an air of dominance!
Feeling the extremely oppressive posture emanating from him, Xuan Hao's alarm bells immediately went off, and he knew something was wrong.
"No... Xue'er, calm down! Impulsiveness is the devil!"
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