Trembling

The clock struck twelve, its chimes echoing in the darkness. Snow froze the wooden windows, and the wind creaked and groaned through the cracks.

Suddenly the wind stopped, the windows stopped trembling, and the quiet room became warm and cozy.

The shadows of people overlapped layer upon layer, yet they were still reluctant to leave after just one look.

Kim Hee-ro buried her head in the blanket, counting the number of steps that person took in her mind.

It's only three steps from the window to the bed, why does it take so long?

Kim Hee-ro had her back to him, and her nervous heartbeat was well hidden in the darkness.

Why isn't he coming over yet? Is he going to keep watch like this all night?

Kim Hee-ro recalled the scene when the orange cat and the calico cat came to her to complain. The cats said that the chieftain had developed madness and was now attacking people indiscriminately every day.

Jiang Yilin kept saying he didn't like Jin Xilu, but every night he would act like a lovesick fool, going to the window and staring at the lights going out, guarding Jin Xilu. It seemed that only when he was sure she was still there could he feel at ease.

While saying that He Canyang was an immature child, she silently cleaned up his messes and even interfered with the renovation of the Jiang family ancestral hall.

Too fast is no good, and too slow is no good either.

The calico and orange cat couldn't stand him anymore. The two talkative kittens bombarded Kim Hee-ro with a barrage of complaints.

That's why Jin Xilu suggested that He Canyang get Jiang Yilin drunk and spread some outrageous rumors that she was in a bad mood because she couldn't think straight after Xin Xuan's sudden death.

The purpose was to lure Jiang Yilin to come to their door.

Will Jiang Yilin believe it?

Of course he would believe it.

Even without eye contact, Kim Hee-ro could feel his burning gaze in the darkness, just as Kim Hee-ro was about to speak first.

Someone pulled back her blanket, and then a pair of icy hands pressed against her ankles, pulling her body down. The warmth was stirred and melted, becoming sticky.

Before Kim Hee-ro could even speak to stop it, she felt something wet and agile wrap around her ankle. The cold, slippery sensation constantly challenged Kim Hee-ro's perception of things in the darkness.

It doesn't look like stainless steel, nor does it look like glass. Is it a plastic bag filled with ice water?

When Kim Hee-ro realized that it was Jiang Yilin's icy tongue licking her ankle, she was speechless.

Today, I wore socks that were too short and walked in the snow all day. When Jin Xilu came back, she found that her ankles were already red and swollen. After soaking her feet, they were itchy and itchy.

Jiang Yilin, Jiang Yilin, who have you deceived with your love this time?

Even I don't believe it myself. I don't like Kim Hee-ro's low-level lies. Nobody has believed them since I was a child.

Just as Jin Xilu's body had finally warmed up in bed, her chilblains started flaring up again. The warmer she was, the more unbearable it was to scratch them open.

But with Jiang Yilin's repeated licking, the frostbite, which was originally swollen and itchy, gradually stopped itching.

Other restless and ambiguous thoughts also surfaced. Jin Xilu lay flat on the bed and felt Jiang Yilin's breathing gradually become heavier. Although she was trying her best to control her body so as not to tremble and disturb Jiang Yilin's breathing.

But when their skin touched, a burning sensation spread through their hearts. They couldn't help but start to tremble with fear, and the slightest tremor became a silent test of their mutual respect.

After a long silence, noticing that the chilblains on her ankles were gradually subsiding, Jiang Yilin finished doing all this without saying a word and was about to leave as she had done before.

Jin Xilu pounced on him, and the small 1.3-meter wooden bed made a screeching sound with her large movements.

There was no light, only a sliver of snow reflected from the glass window. A faint, misty light shone on a small semicircle on the ceiling, and the light in his golden eyes began to flicker as they met.

"Jiang Yilin, do you love me?" Jin Xilu finally dared to ask this question.

Jiang Yilin was beautiful even when she shed tears after hearing those words.

Tears slid down her cheeks, one by one, calmly and steadily, large drops sliding down her face and landing on the back of Kim Hee-ro's hand, still warm from the fall.

She didn't wipe away his tears, but asked again, "Jiang Yilin, do you love me?"

Snowy nights are always quiet, yet they also simmer with hidden dangers; snowy nights are often just a beautiful illusion that people dream of.

"Don't leave me, don't leave me, I can't lose you..." Jiang Yilin, who always looked up and remained calm, cried like a child at this moment.

He could never forget the screams of his mother crying for help in the cellar when he was a child. He could no longer remember He Min's face; perhaps it had been rotted away by the soil. Later, Jiang Lianyi treasured it as a portrait and hung it in another dark, airtight room.

He didn't want his future with Kim Hee-ro to become nourishment for the Jiang family's evil curse.

He couldn't stand the way Jin Xilu looked at him like he was an enemy or trash. He didn't value power as much as Jiang Lianyin did. If that day ever came, he would end his own life first.

But things have changed now. When he heard He Canyang say that Jin Xilu was listless after being caught in the snow and was crying in a daze, saying she wanted to see her grandmother, his heart sank into an abyss. He could hardly breathe and fainted in the last second.

The last time he saw He Min was shattered in his memory and transformed into Jin Xilu's gradually fading face.

Jiang Yilin simply couldn't resist Jin Xilu's advances. He didn't need to deliberately seduce her; he was always secretly watching her every move, constantly fantasizing about the two of them being together.

From birth, the two of them were bound together. Even though their parents prevented them from meeting until their teens, it couldn't stop them from being attracted to each other, and a sweet trap was quietly set.

Why do you insist on believing that bullshit curse instead of believing that I've truly fallen in love with you?

Kim Hee-ro leaned forward and grabbed his trembling, weak shoulders. She wanted him to only have eyes for her, and for nothing to separate the two of them.

They are living, breathing human beings. Why keep suspecting whether the other's love is a sweet evil or a sweet poison? In the end, it is love.

If it's love, then hold on tight.

"Don't you love me, Jiang Yilin?" Jin Xilu asked for the last time, her voice tinged with sorrow.

An invisible, rusty chain swings from the beam in the room, swaying and hitting you with a sharp pain, then using that force to violently lash out at another person. The two people draw closer and closer as they whip each other, feeling the intertwining of pain and love.

Jiang Yilin didn't lean on anything; he slowly sat up, supporting himself with his bones. The two faced each other, their eyes filled with the same watery light of his lover's eyes, but he stiffly reached out to cover them.

"Jin Xilu, you have a fever right now, don't think too much."

"Then let go of your other hand." Kim Hee-ro became bolder in the darkness, pulling his cold hand into his sweater while ignoring what he said.

"If you can't handle it, let go of me. I don't need a lover who only pushes me away." After saying that, Jin Xilu was about to bite his upper lip when Jiang Yilin blocked her.

Unable to stop Jin Xilu, Jiang Yilin finally closed his eyes first. He looked up, his Adam's apple bobbing, and said in a hoarse voice, "It's not clean."

"Oh? Then I'll go find someone else." Kim Hee-ro licked her little sharp teeth, glaring fiercely at the heartless man, though of course he couldn't see them.

It's pointless. Just consider Kim Hee-ro heartbroken.

When Suan took out the needle she used tonight and knocked him unconscious, she would wait until he woke up before lying to him about having a child. The deed was already done.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Yilin suddenly realized what was happening and stubbornly pulled her back to his side. He wrapped one arm around her body and pressed down on her ear with the other, forcing her face to rest against his bare neck.

"I mean I'm not clean. If you really want it, bite here."

Jiang Yilin held her body tightly, preventing her from moving, while suppressing the inexplicable pleasure in his own body, prolonging his anticipation of her, completely infatuated, unable to live without her.

"No, I won't do whatever you want me to do!" Kim Hee-ro said as she withdrew the needle from his hand.

"Are you a mountain god or a willow tree spirit?" she pressed, unwilling to get close to him.

The world outside was pitch black, with wind and snow raging. Snowflakes piled up one by one to form snow houses. Kim Hee-ro seemed to be hallucinating, distracted as she tried to discern whether the dripping sound she heard was real or not.

Jiang Yilin noticed his distraction and became somewhat displeased. Although he was still smiling, his actions betrayed his growing impatience. He forcefully kissed the side of her neck, deliberately not answering, and intentionally rubbing his cool lips against her warm veins.

Their breathing grew heavier and heavier. Just when Jin Xilu suspected that Jiang Yilin would run out of oxygen if they continued kissing like this, she seized on his little breathing movement and pounced on him.

She bit his upper lip, first slowly rubbing against it, and then, as they got into the mood, her tongue slid in, and the two began to fight for each other.

Kim Hee-ro opened her eyes and looked at his deep and devout expression. Her heart softened, and she mumbled, "I love you so much. Don't you really love me at all?"

It was this momentary lapse in concentration that allowed Jiang Yilin to gain the upper hand.

Kim Hee-ro blushed as he kissed her, and in the heat of the moment, she accidentally hit him with her hand, her sharp nails scratching his face.

He frowned, somewhat puzzled, but still took her hand, gently pried it open, and brought it to his lips to soothe her with a soft kiss. Then he intertwined his fingers and held her tightly.

In the chaos, drops of blood fell on her body, but Jiang Yilin quickly kissed them away, as if they were originally one.

The sound of snow outside the window gradually faded, but the house remained restless.

Boom! The snow on the roof collapsed under the weight of the roof.

Then Kim Hee-ro heard his voice admitting defeat: "I'm ready to be your sacrifice."

I love you, so I am willing to become a sacrifice to nourish you.

That fleeting glimpse of snow, captured in a dream, became the swaying "moon" that Kim Hee-ro kept gazing at all night.

The creaking of the small wooden bed the next day shattered the snow piled up in front of the window.