Engagement Annulled? Now The Husbands Kneel and Beg for Her Favor

Chapter 233: Chapter 233: Even Being the Other Man Is an Extravagant Hope

Caught off guard, two identical faces stared at each other.

Jade-green eyes narrowed dangerously as Yuan Shimo spoke slowly. "Shiyao, what are you doing here?"

Though phrased as a question, his tone held no curiosity—only a chilling iciness.

Standing behind the two brothers, Jiang Qingli, who had done nothing wrong, was suddenly struck by the nervous, awkward feeling of being caught red-handed.

’The male who shouldn’t have been in the closet, the husband discovering a third person in the room and demanding answers in a cold voice, and the helpless woman herself, stammering and speechless.’

No matter how she looked at it, the scene was a dead ringer for getting caught in the act...

A torrent of wild thoughts flooded Jiang Qingli’s mind. Her scalp tingled with anxiety, and her fingers clenched into tight fists.

She regretted it.

’I shouldn’t have told Yuan Shiyao to hide in the closet. I should have just told him to jump out the window!’

’But if he’d jumped out the window and run into someone else, wouldn’t that have looked even more suspicious?!’

’Ugh, stop thinking about that kind of thing!’

Jiang Qingli pushed the wild thoughts from her mind and spoke seriously. "Yuan Shiyao saw that my shoe was broken, so he brought me a new pair."

Yuan Shimo chuckled. "Quite attentive to your sister-in-law, aren’t you."

Yuan Shiyao lowered his gaze, his voice tinged with a rare hesitation. "My sister-in-law and I... we’re friends."

Hearing this, Yuan Shimo let out a cold sneer and repeated the word. "Friends."

His tone was frigid, devoid of any humor.

The two people who knew Yuan Shimo well understood perfectly: he was angry.

While alarm bells screamed in Jiang Qingli’s mind, she was also completely bewildered.

’Why is Cat Teacher so angry?’

’What in the world is wrong with these two brothers? How could their relationship be this bad? It feels like they’re about to draw blades on each other!’

’I’m not going to get caught in the crossfire, am I...?’

Fortunately, another knock sounded at the door, and Qiao Lan’s voice cut in just in time. "President? President Qin Shu is also here to see you. She’s on her way."

Jiang Qingli quickly called out a reply, straightened her hair, and went to open the door.

Yuan Shimo shot a glance at his twin brother in the closet, then turned and melted into the shadows.

After a few seconds’ hesitation, Yuan Shiyao followed him into the shadows.

Jiang Qingli breathed a sigh of relief.

She opened the door and was immediately pulled into a tight hug by Qin Shu, her face burying into a suffocatingly soft expanse.

"Long time no see, Qingli!" Qin Shu’s cheerful voice rang out. "I’ve heard all about your accomplishments. I’ll have to give you a bonus!"

Jiang Qingli dazedly pulled away from the hug, only to be met with a camera lens being shoved in her face. A reporter from the school paper was beaming at them. "You two are so close!"

Then they immediately fired off a volley of questions.

Some members of the school paper were close to the student council, and their questions were often deliberately challenging.

Qin Shu, intending to let Jiang Qingli shine, simply stood to the side with Qiao Lan and watched.

After hearing her answers, the two of them nodded in satisfaction. They would occasionally exchange glances and smile, looking like proud farmers who had just harvested a prize-winning crop.

After she flawlessly answered all their tricky questions, the reporters ran out of things to ask. Forcing a smile, they moved to take a customary photo.

The group stood in a line, pulling in Gu Nian, a top-performing student who happened to be nearby.

Jiang Qingli stood between Qin Shu and Qiao Lan, but behind her back, Gu Nian was holding her hand.

As the photo shoot ended, Jiang Qingli heard someone in the hallway calling for Yuan Shiyao.

’That’s strange, where did they go?’

’They didn’t actually go off to fight, did they?’

Worried, Jiang Qingli sent a message to Yuan Shimo.

「Imperial Royal Academy Theater, Back Entrance.」

The two young men stood apart, a cold distance between them.

They had been locked in a stalemate for some time.

The standoff was only broken when a terminal vibrated. Yuan Shimo glanced down and replied to the message.

Seeing the corners of his older brother’s lips curl into a smile, Yuan Shiyao asked in a low voice, "Is that from my sister-in-law?"

"None of your business."

Yuan Shimo’s cold voice, dripping with sarcasm, cut through the air. "Waving the flag of ’friendship’ to exploit her trust, all to satisfy your own selfish desires and make your move... You’re quite the eye-opener, Secretary Yuan."

Yuan Shiyao froze, his voice cracking. "I didn’t—"

"Didn’t you?" Yuan Shimo cut him off, his jade-green eyes glinting like ice. "Did you not get close to her under the pretense of being ’friends,’ or did you not have any intentions? If I hadn’t shown up, what exactly were you planning to coax her into?"

Yuan Shiyao took a deep breath. "Brother, the only reason I was in the dressing room today was that I saw her heel broke. I just wanted to help her with the new shoes and leave. I had no intention of doing anything to her."

"I admit I’m being despicable. I admit that every single moment, I want to squeeze my way in between you two, to have even a little bit of her affection. But right now, she only sees me as a friend. There’s no way I would ever do anything without her consent." Yuan Shiyao was getting frantic. "You have to believe me, really!"

Yuan Shimo knew his twin brother wasn’t lying.

The Yuan family was hardly normal, and Du Yushan was certifiably insane, but through all these years, Yuan Shiyao had grown up with a solid moral compass. No matter how much he wanted to steal his brother’s partner, he would never force a female to do anything against her will.

He had spoken those words out of malicious speculation.

Yuan Shimo lowered his gaze and saw the shadows at their feet flicker wildly.

With just a flick of his finger, a Shadow Blade could pierce Yuan Shiyao’s heart from behind. The shadows would swallow all the blood and gore, silently erasing a person from existence.

And yet, this young man—who had a perfect score in his defense class—was simply standing here explaining himself, promising he would never do anything to his sister-in-law unless she wanted him to.

Ever since they were children, Yuan Shiyao had never put up his guard around him.

Yuan Shimo’s voice was hoarse. "I don’t want you to become her Beast Husband."

"I won’t," Yuan Shiyao said, his voice firm and decisive.

Yuan Shimo froze.

"Brother, regardless of who Jiang Youchen chose in the past, you are her official Beast Husband now." Yuan Shiyao’s expression was earnest, but then he gave a bitter laugh. "Just being her secret lover is already more than I could hope for."

The wildly flickering shadows instantly grew calm.

Beside him, Yuan Shiyao suddenly looked up.

As if sensing something, Yuan Shimo raised his eyes. He saw the girl poke her head out of the dressing room window. She waved at them, but her eyes, curved like crescent moons, were fixed solely on him.

Yuan Shimo suddenly realized that between two incredibly similar twins, she always looked at him first.

Jiang Qingli must have just taken a moment to check on them; a few seconds later, she disappeared back inside.

Yuan Shimo pulled his gaze away, but in his periphery, he could see Yuan Shiyao still staring at the empty window, his eyes shining brightly.

In that instant, Yuan Shimo felt the heavy weight on his heart dissipate like mist in the wind.

He had known all along, really. What ultimately happened with Yuan Shiyao was entirely up to Jiang Qingli.

In the end, his desperate attempts to stand in their way were all because he was terrified of being abandoned by Jiang Qingli.

His excessive panic and defensiveness had made him overlook one simple fact—

The special affection he so desperately craved was something Jiang Qingli had already given him.

It was there in every glance she sent his way, and in every utterance of the nickname she had only for him.

The tight knot between Yuan Shimo’s brows suddenly smoothed out.

He turned, looking down to send Jiang Qingli a message on his terminal as he started walking back toward the theater.

Meanwhile, Yuan Shiyao stared at the empty window for a moment longer. When he turned, he saw that Yuan Shimo was already some distance away. Clenching his fists, he hurried to catch up.

There was one question he needed to clear up. "Brother, what’s our sister-in-law’s shoe size? I don’t think the ones I bought fit her properly."

Hearing his brother’s voice, Yuan Shimo felt another surge of irritation.

A cold laugh rumbled in the young scholar’s throat as he used a rare, vulgar word. "Scram."

But he didn’t actually try to drive him away.

Sunlight scattered down over their heads, stretching two long shadows out at their feet.

They weren’t close, but the volatile tension between them was gone.