Wanqing’s Pov

Anning’s voice trembled, though she tried hard to hide it. "Whenever something happens between us... you always act differently afterwards."

After she finished speaking, I just found my seat staring at her. The room suddenly felt too quiet, the only sound in the room that could be heard was the crackling of incense in the corner.

I frowned, "I do not act differently."

She let out a short laugh. It didn’t sound like she was mocking me this time, now she just sounded uninterested and tired

"You literally have no idea what you’re doing?" She snapped, turning to face me completely.

"Yes, I don’t." I said, shrugging. I knew this whole matter was serious, but it just didn’t make sense.

Tiger looked at me like I had just said the most ridiculous thing in this world. She shook her head and then turned her gaze away from me.

"Forget I ever said anything." She murmured.

"Don’t do that." I took a step closer to her. "You can tell me."

She stayed silent for a long moment and when she finally spoke her voice sounded hoarse.

"One day you’re nice to me. The next, you act like I don’t exist." She paused, her voice cracking slightly. "One day, you fucking do things to me then kiss me and the next you’re sitting beside that bitch you call a fiancèe and acting like nothing happened."

I opened my mouth to say something, but what exactly could I even say?

Anning laughed again, this time she sounded a bit sad. "You see? That’s exactly what I’m talking about."

I ran a hand down my face, then responded, "I don’t understand."

She looked at me, then cocked her head to the side. "It doesn’t make me feel better when you’re this clueless. Weren’t you supposed to be the smart one?"

On a normal day, those words would’ve gotten me extremely upset. But in matters like this, I was truly clueless.

She took in a deep breath, staring down at her shoes. "You left for nine months without saying anything, then you return and suddenly start acting possessive."

"You did that to me and still called me a slave in front of the imperial princess." She yelled, her hands curling into fists. "What exactly do you want from me?"

She stared right into my eyes as she spoke and her question caught me off guard. What exactly did I want?

She was my slave, was I supposed to want something from her?

The realization made me feel deeply uncomfortable. For the first time in a long time, I didn’t know what to say. Because she was already upset, one wrong move might make her walk out on me

Anning looked away when I didn’t reply. "I can’t keep doing this."

"What?"

She gestured between us again, her voice growing softer. "This. I don’t even know what the fuck this is and I don’t know what you want from me. What I do know is that you hate me and that you see me as nothing more than a slave."

You’re wrong, Tiger. I don’t hate you and I see you as something more than a slave, even though she was my slave.

"I don’t—"

"I’m tired." The words came out so quietly that I almost missed them.

"I’m tired of trying to understand you." She reached up and grabbed a handful of her hair. "I’m tired of hoping that whatever we shared with each other actually meant something."

Hoping? What did she mean by that?

At this point, I couldn’t even think properly. Anning had always been a smiley, giddy sort of person. But with how pale her face looked and how red her eyes were, it made me feel bad.

Wait, had she been crying?

Because of me?

The thought hit me so suddenly that I felt my head throb slightly. The last time I had seen her cry had been in the garden. She had been so aloof and upset that day.

I had thought she was simply angry, I hadn’t once considered she could have been hurt.

I pressed my eyes close for a moment, tiger was hurting. Because of me.

"Were you crying because of me?" I asked. The words left my mouth before I could even stop them.

Anning went stiff. "No, why would I?"

She answered too quickly and I knew instantly that she was lying. I took a step closer to her and slowly reached for her hand. But she immediately pulled away.

I froze, the rejection stung more than it should have. Why did that bother me? I had never cared whether people touched me or not. So, why did it feel unpleasant when she pulled away from me?

Anning folded her arms tightly against her chest and said firmly, "I wasn’t crying."

"You were."

"I wasn’t."

"You are a terrible liar." I said, rolling my eyes at her.

She glared at me for a moment, but I just ignored her. Because for some odd reason, I could not stop staring at her eyes. Those beautiful green orbs.

But I had to look away at that moment. "I didn’t mean to make your cry."

The moment those words left my mouth, they sounded awfully strange. Especially coming from someone like me.

Anning frowned at my words but that didn’t stop me from continuing.

"I never meant to hurt you." I said softly.

I slowly turned to look at her and she was staring at me with wide eyes. As though she couldn’t believe what she had just heard.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked, frowning.

"Did you just apologize...to me?!"

"Don’t make this weirder, Tiger." I responded, my frown turning deeper.

"But, you never apologize to me." She said again, sounding almost thoughtful.

I didn’t know what to say to that. Had I ever apologized to somebody? Maybe, yes. No.

I fiddled with the hem of my robe, waiting for Anning to respond.

She sighed. "That’s the one problem you have."

"I don’t think that’s a problem."

She shrugged, then said, "You never mean to hurt me. But somehow...it always ends up that way."

I didn’t know how to respond... again. Because she wasn’t wrong.

I never wanted to see her cry. I never meant to make her upset and the way I had behaved in front of Xiao Qingyue had been for our sake. Yet somehow, everything I’d done online caused her pain.

Silence stretched between us after that. Both of us seemed more engrossed in our own thoughts.

"I should go." Anning said, pointing to the door.

I didn’t respond immediately, why does she want to leave? We aren’t done talking.

She turned back to the door, not glancing at me once. Something in my chest tightened at the sight, I didn’t want her to leave. At least, not yet.

Without thinking, I reached out and grabbed her wrist, tugging her closer to me. Anning let out a small gasp as our chest pressed against each other’s.

For the first time in a while, I didn’t know what I was supposed to do. I didn’t know how to fix this. I didn’t know how to make her smile or laugh. I just wanted things to return back to how they were before, but how?

Just thinking about it made me feel useless or rather, helpless

"What am I supposed to do?" I asked, my words barely above a whisper.

Anning looked up at me, her expression had softened quite a bit. She brushed a few strands of hair away from my face and then pushed herself away from me.

At least, it seemed as though she pitied me. That was good, right?

"Start by actually treating me like a person. Not a slave and definitely not something that belongs to you." She said, her lips twitching slightly.

When I took in her appearance, it was obvious she was tired. But in her eyes, I could still see the hope and expectations.

Anning being Anning could never give up this easily. It would be extremely out of character.

I swallowed hard, ran my tongue over my lip before asking, "How do I do that?"

She chuckled at my words, the smile she had on her face didn’t reach her eyes. Yet, it was still better than nothing.

"That is left for you to figure out." She responded.

She turned away again and walked toward the door. This time, I didn’t reach out to her or try to stop her.

As the door slid shut behind her, the room gave off an eerie feeling. A feeling I knew all too well and had come to despise.

I walked back to the bed, taking a seat on it and stared at the place she had been standing. It was obvious Anning felt something for me, if she didn’t it was also clear she doesn’t hate me.

But what exactly could I do to make her...not be upset?