Reborn to Redeem: Their Abusive Love-Chapter 125: Quench thirst

Xu Si’s eyes twinkled with mirth as she lifted her gaze to Pei Zhen’s porcelain chin. Leaning against him, utterly spent and relaxed, she uttered words that were unexpectedly bizarre.

In the vast, empty confinement cell, layers of steam swirled and unfurled, creating a scene both hazy and wild.

Rusty water trickled ceaselessly.

Pei Zhen held her, his eyes abruptly lifting. He felt as if the blood in his veins was slowly freezing solid. Indifferent, he leaned his head back, his ash-gray eyes, exceptionally probing, met hers—those slightly upturned, shimmering eyes—flawlessly.

Their gazes locked, neither flinching away. With avid, secret madness, they explored the sordid darkness within each other. Phantom fireworks flickered and danced in the dim, haphazard light.

Xu Si lifted her slender, fragile wrist, a network of fine blue veins visible beneath the skin, and held it to his handsome lips.

"Want a taste?"

The sight of blood hidden beneath thin skin met his eyes. Pei Zhen’s throat worked, and he closed his eyes.

After a long moment, he curved his bewitching eyes, his voice hoarse, "You know everything? Is it truly disgusting?"

"...Of course," Xu Si swallowed with difficulty, burying her face completely against him. Her hand remained by his lips, her shoulders shaking violently as if lost in thought.

In the pale, dim light, his laughter was unrestrained. Whenever his lips chanced to brush her delicate wrist, the woman in his embrace would stiffen.

Is she crying?

After a long while, the amusement in his haze-filled eyes gradually faded, finally congealing into a sliver of indifference at the corners of his lips. He grew more obsessive, looking at Xu Si as if she were an ice-cold Rose, its hard thorns piercing straight through his heart.

When he wasn’t smiling, his aura was dangerous, sinful, and terrifying. His voice was empty and chilling, his eyes slightly widened. "What then? Disgusting or not, it can’t be helped. Xu Si, you need me to get out of here."

The sound of flowing water in the dark cell gradually ceased.

The last trickle of dark orange, rusty water escaped through the narrow air vent, carrying away viruses and stench.

Xu Si’s cool body curled in his embrace, a lingering ache spreading through her heart like pinpricks. Her shoulders trembled more violently.

"Azhen," she called, her voice slow and gently hoarse, mingled with an almost inaudible sigh. "Have you misunderstood something?"

A rustle of movement came from her. Her soft fingertips pressed firmly against his cheek. Xu Si looked up, her peach-blossom eyes curving into a captivating smile, the corners of her lips uncontrollably turning upwards.

"Of course, it’s disgusting. But it’s not you who’s disgusting—it’s them."

Her tone was assertive, tinged with midnight stillness. She suddenly leaned closer, their noses almost touching—so close his heart fluttered. His well-defined fingers lifted to steady her trembling shoulder, his gaze filled with astonishment and disbelief.

The movement was rather abrupt. In the heavy air, it stirred the clinking friction of chains. Xu Si noticed. Her hearing was fine. Yet her expression showed no change, as if her chaotic thoughts were entirely focused on the man before her. Her lips weren’t chapped, but the skin inside her mouth felt like old, weathered plaster, flaking and cracking.

She nuzzled his cheek, a brazen, wicked smile appearing for the first time on her usually cool, proud face. Her striking red lips parted several times before she finally said, with a hint of resignation, "If you insist on calling yourself disgusting, then can I tell you something? I’m pretty disgusting too. How about we make an exchange?"

"...What?" Pei Zhen asked.

"They drugged me with some strange concoction. I’m thirsty, and that water over there isn’t drinkable—it feels like mice have steeped in it, full of rust and viruses. Can you save me?"

Xu Si licked her lips, gazing into his dangerous, alluring eyes, her voice low and slightly nasal.

"If you don’t want to drink my blood, then... can I drink yours? That way, we’ll be the same."

Most of the time, she lived by instinct; of course, there would be flaws.

The air remained still for a long time. Every minuscule sound vanished, even the clink of chains as he lifted his fingers fell silent.

Pei Zhen blinked slowly, placing his hand behind her ear. No one could have known the fatal allure her words, "We’ll be the same," held for him.

An irrepressible desire surged, climbing higher and higher within him.

He seemed to curve his lips into a faint smile. Lifting his wrist, bound by an iron chain as thick as his arm, he tilted up her enigmatic face. He wiped the dirt and dust from the tip of her nose and, seductively lowering his own face slightly, effortlessly pressed his lips to hers.

"Truly mad, my dear," he murmured. "You’re about to outdo me."

He had long known what kind of soul dwelled beneath Xu Si’s cool exterior. No one had ever called her mad because she played her part so well, adhering to the dignity of a young lady and the conventions of a wealthy woman. She almost never let her true self show. But once she did, she was like a fallen savior. It made one want to seize her wings and bind her close.

Her eyes closed, driven by a desperate need to escape her parched state, Xu Si bit his cool lips, drawing fresh, red blood. She sucked gently, again and again.

The quiet space echoed with intimate sounds.

Foreign books often contained such descriptions: a handsome, dashing nobleman becomes a Vampire; at midnight, he would use his divine allure to seduce a pale noblewoman into depravity, compelling her to sacrifice herself.

But in reality, it was the vampire-like, handsome Pei Zhen sacrificing his own blood to quench Xu Si’s thirst.

It was Xu Si enacting a private torment upon his lips. A scorching kiss, perfectly suited to the winter chill of this desolate place.

When her throat was no longer dry, the cool indifference returned to Xu Si’s eyes. Her hair was disheveled, her face still smeared with stubborn traces of dust. She gently moved her lips away.

As she drew in a breath of thin air, she licked her lips again and smiled.

Sweet. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Addictive.

It was impossible to tell if it was night or day. Even after the water from the vent stopped flowing, not a single ray of light penetrated the darkness.

Before Xu Si could say anything, dust suddenly rained down from the ceiling for no apparent reason. She frowned.

The man suddenly lifted a hand, pressing her into his somewhat cool embrace. The heavy iron chains and shackles pressed against her back, their material unknown, making it hard to breathe.

A strand of his silver-white hair fell across his finely chiseled features. His eyes were lowered, his brows drawn down. His lips, now even more bewitching after losing blood, curved into a smile tinged with a morbid desire. The fingertip he hooked at the corner of his mouth was also stained with blood.

"Close your eyes." As if anticipating something, his thin lips parted. He covered her ears with his strong arm. "It’s going to explode."

Xu Si froze for a second. Then she heard an explosion potent enough to shatter heaven and earth. The walls seemed to vibrate to the point of cracking. Gunpowder-like dust rained down from all directions, threatening to get into one’s eyes at any moment. She squeezed her eyes shut.

The man held her even closer. As she breathed, a faint, elusive fragrance enveloped her. Beyond the explosion, the entire world was his heartbeat—steady and joyous.