Bewitching

“Why won’t the Professor answer me?”

The girl’s tears had completely soaked Jiang Li’s shoulder.

“I… I don’t know how to face this… Yuehua, it’s too sudden…”

Jiang Li was at a complete loss. He carried too many secrets to ever be honest with Xiao Yuehua, but he was equally incapable of accepting her love without a guilty conscience, acting as if nothing were wrong.

The day he finished courting the two heroines and completed his mission would be the day he had to leave. Their parting was inevitable, an unstoppable force. If he allowed Xiao Yuehua to sink deep into a false relationship, she would only suffer more when the lie was eventually stripped away upon his departure. It was better to maintain a distance now so their future pain might be lessened.

But despite having decided this in his mind, guilt gnawed at his heart like a swarm of bloodthirsty insects, never pausing for a second. The pain brought on by this sorrowful, fragile version of Xiao Yuehua was far more agonizing than the mental pressure she had exerted before.

He allowed her to pour out her resentment and grief into his arms, his hands patting her back with mechanical rhythm.

“Let me think about it, alright? Just… let me think…”

“…”

Perhaps Jiang Li’s active attempts to comfort her worked. The trembling of the girl in his arms gradually subsided. She lifted her head to look him in the eye; her beautiful eyes were bloodshot from crying, her eyelids red and swollen. She looked wretched, yet possessed a certain tragic beauty.

“How much longer does the Professor want me to wait?” Her eyes were filled with fragility. “You keep trying to push me away, yet you keep moving closer to Ning Rou…”

“Do you understand that I have nightmares every single day? I know I can’t compare to her. I know that if this continues, one day the Professor will end up with Ning Rou…”

Jiang Li’s expression grew increasingly rigid. Her mournful voice sliced through him like a dull knife, carving directly into his soul. She was exactly right. He did indeed harbor the same despicable plan she saw in her nightmares.

Now, Jiang Li lacked even the strength to defend himself.

Glancing around, he realized the commotion had drawn the attention of the other diners. Many people in the restaurant were casting curious glances their way, making him feel intensely exposed.

However, these impolite stares gave him a reason to act. He forced himself to shift focus, trying to ignore the tangled mess that had no happy ending, and grabbed Xiao Yuehua’s wrist.

“Yue-Yuehua, let’s leave first, okay? Some things are better discussed in private.”

“Then the Professor must say it clearly first.” Xiao Yuehua stared stubbornly into his eyes. “When will you accept me?”

Jiang Li felt her gaze burning into him, a stinging sensation that made him avert his eyes in guilt. “Perhaps keeping our distance for a while is best for both of us.”

“That’s impossible, Professor.” Yuehua’s voice turned cold. “I’ve told you before, I will never give up on you. Now, I just want a timeframe.”

She took a step forward, and that aura of absolute dominance seemed to be resurrected within her. “When will the Professor face his own heart and accept me?”

“…”

“I understand.”

Faced with Jiang Li’s troubled silence, Xiao Yuehua simply nodded coldly and took initiative. Grabbing his wrist in a reverse grip, she led him forcefully out of the restaurant. She picked a random hotel by the roadside and marched inside with resolute steps.

“This… Yuehua, what are you doing?” Realizing something was wrong, Jiang Li panicked and tried to wrench his hand free. Has she gone mad?

But the look she gave him—a gaze filled with unquestionable authority—made him freeze.

“Didn’t the Professor say it himself? We need a quiet place to talk. What’s wrong?”

As if everything before had been an illusion, the fragile, mournful look on her face vanished. In its place was the familiar expression of obsession and determination.

“Does the Professor not trust me? Do you think I’ll use force? Hehe…” She let out an unreadable, cold chuckle. “What a joke. The Professor is a man… why would you be so wary of a woman like me?”

“Just what kind of image do I have in the Professor’s heart?”

Completely suppressed by her aura once again, Jiang Li had nothing to say. He could only lower his head in silence.

Ignoring the suggestive look from the woman at the front desk with a cold face, Xiao Yuehua quickly led Jiang Li into the room.

The door shut with a heavy thud. A brief silence permeated the private space. The room was simple and monotonous, which only made the solitary king-sized bed stand out even more.

Jiang Li sat on the edge of the bed, feeling restless. At this moment, he didn’t look like a professor facing a student; he looked like a prisoner awaiting interrogation, head bowed and speechless.

Xiao Yuehua broke the silence first. She adjusted her collar with a hint of irritability and stood over him. “The Professor can speak now, right? Why… won’t you accept me?”

“…Because of… our status…”

“I already told you status doesn’t matter. Is the Professor lying to me?”

Now that they were in an isolated space, she allowed her true nature to emerge. The anxiety and insecurity on her face were laid bare, squeezing the very air out of the room.

“I’m begging you, Professor. I want the truth. If there’s something wrong with me, that’s fine—I’ll change it…” Her desperation was undisguised. As she spoke, she knelt down in a flurry, placing her hands over the back of his. Her eyes were pleading. “Professor, only you… you are the one person I can never give up. I’ll do anything, just please don’t push me away.”

Jiang Li trembled as a tide of pressure swept over him. In this closed room, Xiao Yuehua’s voice sounded like an incantation, morphing into countless overlapping echoes that vibrated in his ears.

“Professor… Professor… Professor… Professor…”

The chaotic, hallucinatory sounds felt like they were going to make his brain explode.

My head hurts… it feels like it’s splitting open… Jiang Li clutched his head tightly.

“Please, Professor, don’t leave me…”

“Yuehua, stop it…” Jiang Li curled into a ball of pain.

“Is the Professor annoyed that I’m a waste of time? It’s okay, I’ll give you money. My Acting Power is improving fast; I can become an academy professor later and earn a lot of money…”

“I’m sorry… don’t do this, Yuehua, I’m begging you…”

“Professor, please accept me. I’ll give you everything… truly.”

Intense self-reproach boiled within him. The more humble Xiao Yuehua became, the more Jiang Li suffered. Insecurity, irritability, and fear churned in succession, stripping him of the ability to think. The combination of external mental suppression and internal guilt felt like a pincer attack of fire.

His heart and brain felt as though they were being pierced by thousands of venomous needles. He collapsed onto the floor in a pathetic, crazed heap, his body convulsing in increasingly violent tremors.

Xiao Yuehua took all of this in, an inevitable surge of pity and heartache crossing her features. Yet, she had no intention of stopping. Instead, her pleas became even more humble and aggressive.

“I can’t be without the Professor… the Professor is the only one who understands me…”

“Stop… I’m sorry…”

“The women outside are all crazies and liars. Only I am different. Only me…”

“Please, stop for a moment…”

Jiang Li’s pupils shook frantically. His entire body was drenched in sweat under the onslaught of her words.

“Does it hurt, Professor? The pain I feel is much stronger than yours! I like you, I love you… seeing you in pain makes my heart ache like it’s being cut by a blade…”

“I’m… I’m sorry…”

“But I don’t regret it at all. Loving the Professor is the best decision I’ve ever made. You don’t need to apologize to me…”

“I… I…” Jiang Li’s mouth opened and closed incoherently. His mind was on the brink of total collapse.

“Because I love the Professor… and the Professor likes me too, doesn’t he?”

“…I… do I… like Yuehua?” Jiang Li spat out the words, slurred and barely discernible through his tremors.

But Yuehua’s eyes lit up with a terrifying, ecstatic glow.

“Yes. Yuehua loves the Professor, and the Professor likes Yuehua…”

“Professor, you only have me, and I only have you. We are a match made in heaven. Only I will love you.”

Her words were thick with a seductive, suggestive power, eroding the last of his logic. The overlapping echoes acted like a curse, brainwashing him. Gradually, Jiang Li’s pupils became vacant. His struggling grew faint.

Slowly, Xiao Yuehua retracted the hidden flow of her Acting Power. She wiped the sweat from her brow and revealed a satisfied, frenzied smile, tenderly pulling Jiang Li into her embrace.

In that instant, the pain and struggle vanished. In its place, an overwhelming sense of peace and joy flooded his heart. His brain almost ceased to function. Driven only by instinct, Jiang Li sought the ultimate tranquility within her warm arms.

Silence returned to the room, save for the rhythmic breathing of two people.

With empty eyes, Jiang Li burrowed deeper into her chest, trying to feel more of her body heat, more of her presence. Xiao Yuehua chuckled softly and stroked his head, her fingers running through his hair.

“I love you, Professor.”

“Even when you’re like a little baby… I still love you…”

“Does the Professor like me?”

Jiang Li shuddered. A moment later, he hesitantly lifted his head from her embrace, looking up at her gentle, serene, and beautiful face with unfocused eyes. He didn’t have to think at all. The only answer flowed naturally from his lips.

“L-Like… I like you…”

“That’s wonderful!”

Xiao Yuehua looked at him with a gaze of tender relief. Seeing the microscopic trace of self-awareness remaining in his eyes, hot tears fell from the corners of her own.

“Professor, all the pain we’ve been through wasn’t for nothing.”

“Now, our hearts are finally as one.”

She gently caressed his face. The sudden, rare comfort soon lulled the mentally tortured Jiang Li into a deep sleep.

“This is truly great, Professor. If I’d known the effect of [Taboo] was this good, I wouldn’t have had to suffer in anxiety for so long.”

Holding him tenderly, she pressed her cheek against his. Like someone soothing an infant, she swayed her body with an expression of sated hunger and laughed softly.

The laughter echoed in the silent room, sounding eerie and chilling.

“Professor… my Professor… I really love you… I love you so much…”