Chapter 1340 - 1280: Playing Liang Zhu

Sienna Johnson peeled a lotus seed and popped it into her mouth; the seed was sweet with a faint bitterness.

The core of the lotus seed was especially bitter. But that bitter embryo was the part of the lotus seed with the greatest medicinal value.

Sienna wasn’t afraid of bitterness; in fact she rather liked that taste of slight astringency followed by sweetness.

She ate a few lotus seeds and set down the lotus pod in her hand.

She wandered slowly around the room; it felt both familiar and strange... A Pipa hanging on the wall caught Sienna’s attention. She reached out, stroked it, and broke into a smile.

"Adrian Desmond, you actually didn’t throw this away."

Sienna took the Pipa down from the wall, cradled it in her arms, tested the sound; it was still in tune. She plucked at it a few times and played "The Butterfly Lovers."

Years ago, back at Desmond Manor, she had played this very piece. Only her state of mind had changed, and the emotions hidden in the music had changed with it—the once-trapped melancholy had become lingering affection.

Adrian finished washing the dishes and went back to the bedroom; he heard the sound of the Pipa as soon as he stepped into the corridor...

"That’s ’The Butterfly Lovers’..." Adrian recognized it.

This was the second time Sienna had played the Pipa.

Through the glass window Adrian saw the woman playing the instrument; time seemed to rewind and flow backward...

His profile was reflected in the glass and mirrored in her eyes. Sienna stopped playing and asked, "Why are you standing outside instead of coming in?"

"Why did you stop?" Adrian came down the corridor and turned into the room.

"You like it?"

"I do."

Adrian dragged over a chair and sat beside Sienna, saying, "Keep playing. I really like listening to you."

"Do you know what I’m playing?"

"Of course. It’s ’The Butterfly Lovers’—a love story about a girl disguised as a boy... the plot is full of holes, but the music is beautiful."

A woman dresses up as a man and sleeps beside a man for so long, and the man never notices—Adrian found that utterly unbelievable.

Even the scent of a woman and a man is different.

Sienna hadn’t expected him to know. She plucked out a few notes and asked, "How did you find out?"

The Pipa was a traditional instrument from Orienta; although this Pipa had been bought in an Antique Store in Abyanabad, Abyanabad locals didn’t actually have this instrument.

"...Back then, I heard you play it once... After you left, I missed you so badly I had to know what piece you’d played. I thought maybe I could decipher some useful information from it, figure out where you’d escaped to..."

Adrian looked at the Pipa in her hands and said regretfully, "What an idiot I was—why didn’t I ever stop to wonder how a woman from Raelnia could possibly know how to play an instrument from Orienta?

And I went and searched Raelnia for so long.

I practically investigated every single ’Mai’ in Raelnia, and not one of them was my Mai."

"Mai, you really put me through hell."

The moment that name slipped out, both of them went a little dazed. "...How could your guard be so high? Even in that situation you were still thinking about feeding me a fake identity, a fake name?"

Sienna explained, "At the time there was a whole boat full of bare-chested men and I was the only delicate little woman. If I didn’t keep my wits about me, I’d have been sold off by you lot in no time...

You have no idea—I was really terrified then. I actually thought maybe being bitten to death by a shark wouldn’t be such a bad ending..."

"You’re the one who sold my men out."

The entire Unnamed Island had been bewitched by one little minx; it was a humiliation so deep he could never put it into words.

"The past is the past. Why bring it up?"

"Every time I think about it, my teeth still itch with hate... I suffered so much for you, woman."

Sienna laughed; her eyes were so bright, like stars glittering in the night sky. Even after all this time together Adrian still found himself stunned by her.

"I’ll play for you as compensation, okay?" Sienna leaned closer, kissed Adrian, and said.

"Not enough."

Adrian scooped Sienna up; with a bang, the Pipa in her arms fell to the floor as he carried her into the inner room.

On the big bed, Adrian sprawled over Sienna, a faint light burning in his eyes. One look at him like that and Sienna knew exactly what he wanted.

Thinking of how she’d be returning to Sileria City tomorrow, while Adrian had to stay here to handle business, Sienna decided to indulge him.

"I’ll feed you till you’re full tonight." She hooked an arm around his neck and murmured the words into his ear.

Only heaven knew how much courage it took for her to say that.

Encouraged, Adrian immediately closed his lips over Sienna’s earlobe, gently licking and nibbling at it, expertly stoking Sienna’s heat.

But slowly, as the fire built, he forgot all about technique; only animal instinct remained.

Once people are moving on pure instinct, forget about pride—there’s nothing they wouldn’t do. Adrian licked Sienna from her earlobe all the way down to her toes, while Sienna clung to him like a little temptress who wouldn’t let go.

"Ah..."

In the stillness of the night, Sienna couldn’t hold back the sounds that were pleasure tinged with pain. Adrian’s breathing was ragged; together their voices blended like a symphony.

They tangled so fiercely that by the end neither of them knew how many positions they’d gone through; all Sienna knew was that she was lying sprawled on top of him, completely unable to move, while Adrian held her and pushed their pleasure higher.

"Adrian, I can’t take any more..."

Sienna had no strength left, burrowing into Adrian’s arms, gently biting his arm like a little kitten sharpening its teeth.

"And who was it just now talking big about feeding me till I was full?"

"..."

"Mrs. Desmond, I’m still not full."

"I’m beaten by you." Sienna admitted defeat; when it came to stamina, she could never compete with Adrian.

Adrian reached out and stroked Sienna’s long black hair, lightly twining it around his fingers before pulling her tight against him.

"Adrian, you’re squeezing me so hard I can’t breathe."

Adrian loosened his hold a little, narrowing his eyes as he looked at the woman in his arms who was so exhausted she couldn’t even keep her eyelids open.

Once she left tomorrow, Adrian knew he’d be sleepless.

After a while he lowered his head to kiss her—a kiss long, so long... Adrian deliberately sucked at her skin, leaving one adorable little love mark after another on her body.

"Sleep." Adrian said softly.

Sienna had already drifted off.

Knowing she couldn’t sleep soundly without a shower, Adrian carried her to the bathroom; she never woke up through the whole process.

In the bathroom Adrian slowly and carefully washed Sienna; half-dreaming, half-bleary, she felt someone wiping her body, but no matter what she couldn’t quite wake up. It was only in the dead of night, somewhere between sleep and waking, that she realized she was lying in Adrian’s arms.

Sienna nuzzled against him, pillowed her head on his arm, and slipped back into sleep.