The Villain Always Thinks He's Fluffy

[A Timid Noblewoman Who Can Use Gu Poisons x A Scheming Heir Who Plays the Fool]

*

On the first day of Duan Jingyao's reign after seizing the throne, he brought Li Pianpian from the Grand Tutor's residence into his bedchamber.

He didn't need her to wait on him. He only asked her to look after his cat. When the mood struck him, he would sometimes pull her onto his lap, his rough hands tracing down her spine, vertebra by vertebra. His deep black eyes were dark and inscrutable as he stroked her, just as he stroked that cat.

Li Pianpian was kept at his side for over half a year. She tried to escape again and again, and was caught every time. The last time, Duan Jingyao pinned her to the bed, his long fingers stirring up waves with lingering strokes, while his eyes and brows brimmed with menace. "Li Pianpian, try running again and I'll kill you."

Li Pianpian didn't believe he would, and then a cup of poisoned wine took her life.

When she opened her eyes again, she had returned to before Duan Jingyao's rebellion.

At the time, Duan Jingyao was still a haughty heir staying as a guest at the Grand Tutor's residence, an honored visitor the entire Li family had to treat with care. Li Pianpian sought out her younger brother to plot a preemptive strike. The next day, however, her brother, who had clearly overstepped, presented her with a huge surprise.

In the quiet bedroom, Li Pianpian pointed at Duan Jingyao, unconscious on the floor. Her finger trembled, and her voice quavered in alarm. "Y-you said you used what kind of Gu on him?"

Her younger brother looked smug. "The Gu that Mother left us, the one that makes its host obey its keeper. You said Duan Jingyao was a deeply calculating man, so I simply used your blood to put that Gu on him first. That way, he'll be useful to us from now on."

The keeper's Gu did exactly what its name implied. When it took effect, its victim would think of himself as a pet cat and beg his keeper for affection and comfort, obeying the keeper in every way.

Li Pianpian had been forced to look after a 'cat' again, and this time it was Duan Jingyao, the villainous cat. "..."

So, during their nightly lessons, the once pampered and precious heir Duan, who in her past life had been cruel and unpredictable, would always kneel before her. His long fingers gripped her waist, his pale cheek pressed against her chest, and his ink-black hair spilled down, half concealing the hazy flush where their skin touched.

"Pianpian." His lips brushed her fingertips, gentle as a butterfly's beating wings.

"Pet my ears."

Later, Duan Jingyao really did become 'useful to her'. Later still, when everything had settled, Li Pianpian traveled a thousand miles to find a spirit toad, intending to remove the keeper's Gu from Duan Jingyao.

She soothed Duan Jingyao, who was resting in her lap and still being anything but well-behaved, as she guided the spirit toad to search for the Gu parasite inside him.

...Huh? Where was the Gu parasite?!!!

Theme: Love heals pain