The next day, a peculiar sight unfolded on the Skycloud Ship. Adair and Ivan, who typically shared an uneasy atmosphere, were now inseparable, their wrists intimately linked by handcuffs.
This immediately sparked a flurry of chatter among the servants aboard the ship.
“Wow, I knew this day would come. What a perfect pairing!” (A fujoshi’s exclamation)
“Hey, hey, hey, they’re clearly being forced, can’t you see the handcuffs?” (A normal person’s comment)
“What do you know? This is love taken to the extreme. I suspect one of them loved the other so deeply but couldn’t have them, resorting to such drastic measures.” (A speculative remark)
“I’m telling you, yesterday I saw Lord Adair fleeing from Miss Ye Xi’s room, looking utterly disheveled. He was probably scared witless. He finally understands that only a man can truly understand another man, tee hee.” (A dangerous comment)
“His Royal Highness Ivan’s face is so dark. I feel like he’s the one being taken advantage of.” (Another fujoshi’s comment)
****
Ivan detested his acute senses, which now felt like nothing more than a burden. He halted abruptly, sweeping his gaze around with chilling intensity.
The servants quickly bent their heads, pretending to be absorbed in their work as if nothing had happened.
“Why have you stopped? Hurry up and eat. I’m still waiting to organize the documents.”
Adair’s shameless voice floated over from beside him, causing Ivan to clench his fists involuntarily.
‘Hold it in. I must hold it in. Hitting him now would be hitting myself.’
Ivan gritted his teeth, almost shattering them. Last night, he had endured electric shocks, trying every conceivable method to undo the contraption. Yet, the gleaming handcuffs remained, a testament to his failure.
His face grim, Ivan forced himself to step out. He had initially planned to simply stay in his room for two days, avoiding all contact, but Adair beside him was far too boisterous.
‘Can’t he starve for two days without food?!’
Upon arriving at the dining area, Rich, Fu Yuanxing, Kelly, and Ye Xi all stared at them with curious expressions.
Rich observed the unusual closeness between his elder brother and his teacher, momentarily failing to comprehend. Their relationship had never been this amicable.
Then, he noticed the handcuffs linking Adair’s right hand to Ivan’s left. “Second Brother, Teacher, what exactly is going on?” he inquired.
Adair smiled, lifting his shackled hand. He completely ignored Ivan’s murderous glare as he showed Rich, “It’s nothing, nothing at all. Just a trivial little matter. See, we don’t mind it one bit.”
Adair simultaneously noticed Ye Xi’s gaze, cold as ice and sharp as a blade, fixed upon him. It was terrifying!
Under the chilling scrutiny, Adair instinctively nudged his chair closer to Ivan’s.
Ivan wore a sunny smile, yet his voice was dangerously low. “Could you roll as far away as possible within this limited distance? Those servants are one thing, but I’d rather not have those at the table misunderstand anything.”
Adair, too, expressed no interest in Ivan, but replied helplessly, “I wish I could. But if you look over there, you’ll understand. This is for the sake of both our lives.”
Ivan glanced towards Ye Xi and saw her deftly twirling a silver dinner knife. The next second, the silver knife vanished from her hand.
Ivan’s expression shifted drastically. He flung a silver fork directly at Adair’s forehead.
With a clang of colliding silverware, the silver knife and fork met their demise in mid-air.
“Phew~”
Both Ivan and Adair simultaneously exhaled in relief. They had narrowly escaped being double-killed by Ye Xi.
Seeing Ye Xi’s slight frown as she reached for another utensil, Ivan hastily interjected, “No, no, no, Miss Ye Xi, please calm down.”
“I am perfectly calm. I merely didn’t see my Master in their room this morning, and my heart was filled with longing and worry. It’s truly wonderful to see Master safe and sound! That was just a slip of the hand, Master doesn’t mind, do they?”
Each utterance of ‘Master’ was genuinely affectionate, yet Adair felt no comfort whatsoever. This was truly a ‘bone-scraping knife’ disguised as tenderness.
Adair swallowed hard. “Haha, is that so? Of course, I don’t mind. A few more slips of the hand are perfectly fine. Ivan and I were simply working through the night, organizing documents, so I didn’t return to my own room to rest.”
“Is that so?”
Ye Xi mused thoughtfully, “So, you two were engaged in a ‘PY transaction’ all night. How disheartening. You were so affectionate with me yesterday, and I was just about to go throw myself into Master’s arms this morning, feeling much better.”
If Adair believed that, his intelligence would be on par with Lifa’s!
Ye Xi was clearly planning to send him straight to the underworld!
Kelly and Fu Yuanxing exchanged odd glances at Ivan and Adair. Were they really like this?
Ivan’s face was darker than ink. Their little lovers’ spat was ruining his reputation.
“PY transaction?”
The innocent young Rich, still unfamiliar with this coded phrase, curiously asked Kelly beside him, “Kelly, what does ‘PY transaction’ mean?”
Kelly’s face flushed with embarrassment, unsure how to explain it to Rich.
Ivan’s gaze at Adair was laden with menace. He whispered a telepathic message to Adair, “You had better explain this clearly in appropriate language. If you ruin my image in Rich’s mind, I will kill you! Even if it means mutual destruction, I will kill you!”
Adair’s heart seized. His life now entirely depended on Ivan.
“A ‘PY transaction’ refers to two individuals engaging in deep discussions on certain matters, forming a profound bond. Your brother and I spent last night thoroughly researching the situation in the capital, reaching many consensuses. That’s why they say we had a ‘PY transaction.'”
Adair’s torrent of nonsense successfully fooled Rich, who harbored complete trust in Adair. Of course, the others exchanged subtle glances but said little, unwilling to pollute Rich’s pure heart.
Looking at Rich’s innocent eyes, filled with unwavering trust, Adair felt a profound sense of guilt.
Adair thought to himself, ‘I’m sorry, Rich. This is what I once told you was a white lie!’
Rich suddenly understood, then said enviously, “Then will Master and I also have to do ‘PY transactions’ in the future?”
“Pfft!”
Adair, who had just been about to take a sip of water to calm himself, was hit by Rich’s critical strike. He spat out the water directly. Ivan, suffering the brunt of Adair’s ‘water cannon’ attack, had veins throbbing on his clenched fists, revealing his extreme agitation.
“Rich, those words shouldn’t be used casually,” Adair painstakingly explained. “It’s a colloquialism, used in jest, and can easily be misunderstood as something inappropriate.”
Rich nodded thoughtfully, indicating he understood.
Adair felt his life was incredibly difficult, a true ‘hell mode.’ Even his bodyguard was already contemplating mutual destruction with him.
Ye Xi looked at Adair with disdain, her eyes full of contempt. “You had a tough night, didn’t you?”
Adair recalled his experience of being electrocuted all night and forced a bitter smile. “Indeed, it wasn’t easy, but not in the way you’re imagining.”
Ye Xi raised an eyebrow. “Are you two planning to stay linked indefinitely?”
“Two days,” Ivan said coldly. “After two days, once I’ve had my fill of anger, I’ll hand him over to you!”
Adair felt the chill down his spine intensify. He was truly caught between a rock and a hard place.
The entire meal was shrouded in a subtle, tense atmosphere.
Ye Xi’s gaze towards Adair remained hostile, Ivan’s face was clouded with gloom, Kelly and Fu Yuanxing wisely kept to themselves, and Rich remained blissfully unaware.
As the central figure, Adair had no choice but to break the deadlock. “Ahem, perhaps we should simply eat first.”
He was the first to pick up his chopsticks, and the others quickly followed suit, striving to finish their meal and depart as quickly as possible.
Kelly, seeing that Rich had eaten enough, sent him away. Fu Yuanxing also finished hastily, excusing himself for official business.
Only Adair, Ivan, and Ye Xi remained at the dining table.
Adair ignored Ye Xi’s watchful gaze, occasionally serving her dishes.
“Here, Ye Xi. This dish is quite good, have some more.”
“This one is also excellent.”
“This is good for your health.”
Soon, Ye Xi’s plate was piled high with food.
Ivan ate slowly, glancing at Adair’s actions and cursing inwardly, ‘A bootlicker will come to no good end!’
Ye Xi dismissed Adair’s concern. Once the others had left, she leaned closer to Adair, smiling. “Master, you don’t need to worry about me. Look, you haven’t eaten much yourself. Let me feed you.”
With that, she brought a spoonful of soup to Adair’s lips. Just as Adair was about to meekly consume it, Ivan used his chopsticks to block the spoon, preventing it from moving an inch.
“Wait! We agreed you’d only act after two days. What did you add to the soup using this scoundrel’s blind spot?!”
Ivan was now paying twelve times the attention to Ye Xi’s every move. He had no desire to share Adair’s fate.
“Don’t mind it. It’s just a little seasoning to make the soup more delicious. And I don’t recall agreeing to anything with you.”
Ye Xi’s spoon and Ivan’s chopsticks remained locked in a stalemate, their hands trembling from the exertion.
The soup, poised inches from Adair, seemed like a prehistoric beast. Adair frantically pushed back his chair, scrambling away with his legs.
Ye Xi squinted, forcing a smile. “Your relationship is progressing by leaps and bounds, isn’t it? To protect him so fiercely.”
Ivan’s smile was also somewhat stiff from the immense force on his hand. “Don’t be sarcastic. I’m itching to tear him to shreds right now, but I can’t. This thing on my wrist transmits injuries. If you poison him, I’m finished too.”
“Don’t worry, I’m mindful of the consequences. I wouldn’t act on the Skycloud Ship. It’s merely a slight punishment.”
“A head-exploding punishment is quite ‘lenient’!”
“Actually, a little less won’t kill him. No knife insertion is needed.”
“And I, without a knife inserted, will just wait to die, right?”
“You could find a knife and insert it. I can even help.”
“Dream on!”
The clash between these formidable figures, even just the aura they exuded, made Adair, who was hiding to the side, tremble uncontrollably.
Adair bravely spoke up. “Um, I think everyone has eaten enough. How about we all return to our rooms now?”
Ivan and Ye Xi exchanged glances, simultaneously withdrawing their hands. The soup from the spoon spilled onto the floor, immediately producing a sizzling, corrosive sound.
Adair and Ivan: “!!!!”
Ivan rose, ready to leave immediately, and Adair hastily followed.
Ye Xi, seated calmly, propped her chin on one hand, smiling as she looked at Adair. “Master, merely running away is useless, you know. What’s destined to come will come eventually. Come back obediently, and perhaps I’ll be willing to serve you tonight.”
“Ahem, what a joke! I am a man of integrity; how could I be captivated by beauty! Goodbye!”
Adair swiftly fled from Ye Xi’s side, hoping to live one more day at a time.
At the very least, he needed to use these two days to reduce his death sentence in Ye Xi’s eyes to a suspended sentence.