Teasing, A Woman Who Only Stirs the Fire Without Putting It Out Is Truly Unlovable

Ninth Royal Uncle held Serena Feng in his arms, as motionless and composed as an old monk in meditation. No matter how Serena wriggled and rubbed against him, or breathed warm air against his ear and neck, he remained still—a picture of absolute serenity.

This woman clearly thought she had him wrapped around her finger, and right now he couldn’t bear to move her. That’s fine—there’s plenty of time ahead. He’d remember this debt, and one day, he’d make sure to collect it with interest.

Hmph... Ninth Royal Uncle muttered irritably.

Ninth Royal Uncle endured Serena’s sweet, tormenting ‘flattery’—her every deliberate attempt to please him. No matter how excited he felt inside, he forced himself not to show it, staying cold and unmoving like a block of ice, refusing to melt.

Serena was on the verge of tears. She’d used every trick she knew, but Ninth Royal Uncle still refused to let her off. Boo hoo... Sometimes, a man being too wise and calm really isn’t a good thing.

Any ordinary man would’ve given in with a little coaxing and sweetness, but Ninth Royal Uncle was no ordinary man. No matter how she begged and pleaded, he wouldn’t buy it. To have come this far as a woman and still fail—how utterly frustrating.

Serena was thoroughly discouraged!

Whew... After wearing down Ninth Royal Uncle for so long without any results, Serena was exhausted. She let go, slumping into his arms and gasping for breath.

All that teasing and coaxing was hard work too. She was so tired now, sweating all over, and didn’t have the energy to try again.

Whew... Ninth Royal Uncle finally let out a long breath too. Serena had at last given up; if she’d kept rubbing against him any longer, he might really have lost control. Fortunately...

In the end, he won!

Ninth Royal Uncle gave a cold laugh, a dangerous glint flashing in his eyes. He wanted Serena to regret not confessing right away—and most of all, to regret teasing him without putting out the fire.

This matter won’t be settled so easily today.

No matter how much pressure Ninth Royal Uncle endured, or how hard he had to fight to suppress his instincts, in this battle of man and woman, there was no doubt—Ninth Royal Uncle was the victor.

He’d only asked Serena about her wounds, but she kept stalling and refused to answer. Well, she couldn’t blame him for being ruthless.

Ninth Royal Uncle adjusted Serena’s position in his lap, loosened her long hair and let it spill down, stroking it back and forth as if smoothing a pampered pet’s fur—just the right pressure, so comfortable it made every pore in her body relax.

Serena’s eyes narrowed in bliss, and she couldn’t help but let out a contented hum. Rationally, she knew this abnormal behavior from Ninth Royal Uncle must mean trouble, but... with his touch, her whole body went lazy, and she simply didn’t want to move.

Her mind told her to resist Ninth Royal Uncle’s sugar-coated bullets, but she couldn’t bear to. She lay there in his arms, face full of pleasure, enjoying her ‘last meal before execution.’

Isn’t it always said that before execution, the criminal gets a good meal? Ninth Royal Uncle’s behavior was clearly just that.

Seeing Serena close her eyes in bliss, Ninth Royal Uncle nodded in satisfaction. He lowered his head and dropped a kiss on her forehead, then said indulgently, “Tell this prince, what did you encounter on the road? Did you run into any trouble?”

This was a safe question. Serena thought about it—aside from running into Felix Fuller, nothing else had happened on the road. So she told Ninth Royal Uncle everything, recounting each event in detail.

Ninth Royal Uncle listened and nodded, signaling Serena to elaborate and not skip even the trivial bits. Serena watched his expression, saw no displeasure, and cooperated fully—hoping to distract him from her wounds.

Serena’s journey went smoothly—not because she was fast or lucky, but because someone had cleared the obstacles ahead for her.

Fine, credit goes to Storm Cloud Bu.

When Serena mentioned Felix Fuller’s name, Ninth Royal Uncle’s soothing motions paused for a split second—so quickly that Serena didn’t notice.

Serena kept talking, describing what happened at the Prefect’s Manor, the great fire, and how she heroically and dramatically escaped the flames—hoping for praise, but Ninth Royal Uncle didn’t take the bait.

Ninth Royal Uncle was multitasking—soothing Serena while catching every detail of her story, never missing a clue, and all the while speculating about Felix Fuller’s true identity.

The surname Fu had nearly vanished from the Nine Provinces Realm, and anyone named Fu could only be one thing: a descendant of the Divine Temple.

Everyone knew that in the Former Dynasty, the most powerful besides the royal house and the Phoenixfield clan was the Divine Temple. But few realized that, long ago, the Divine Temple was a third great pillar—and the Fu clan were its living voice of sacred authority.

The Lan clan’s founding ancestor understood well: the art of kingship lay in balance. So when Phoenixfield held military power, the Lan ancestor supported the Divine Temple. Whenever the Phoenixfield king grew too strong, successive Lan emperors would push the Divine Temple forward to weaken Phoenixfield’s prestige and authority.

Under imperial control, the Fu clan—representing divine authority—and the Phoenixfield clan—representing military power—were always at odds. Of course, this was exactly what the emperors wanted.

But the Lan clan ruled the Nine Provinces Realm for over a thousand years, and while there were wise founding ancestors, there were also foolish emperors. One such fool became obsessed with immortal cultivation, doted on the Fu clan, and dreamed of ascending to immortality.

The Fu clan seized on this, preaching ascension and cultivation everywhere across the realm. People stopped working, starvation spread, corpses littered the land, and the emperor nearly handed over the empire outright.

The King of Phoenixfield couldn’t stand it anymore. Urged on by the Crown Prince, he marched on the Capital and wiped out the Divine Temple in one fell swoop, forcing the emperor to abdicate and putting the Crown Prince on the throne.

Of course, the Phoenixfield king and the Divine Temple had fought for centuries, each side winning and losing in turn. Now, with such a golden opportunity, the king wasn’t about to let it slip by.

Because the Divine Temple’s image was so sacred among the commoners, the Phoenixfield king didn’t dare slaughter the entire Fu clan. Instead, he found a pretext to drive them out—expelling them from the political heart of the Nine Provinces Realm.

Genocide was rare in the Former Dynasty, especially for someone as powerful as the Phoenixfield king—he considered it beneath him. He didn’t believe the Fu clan, once exiled from the center of power, could still challenge him.

Before the new emperor took the throne, he’d been repeatedly suppressed by the Divine Temple and saw firsthand how the Fu clan used ‘Heaven’s will’ to ruin the Lan dynasty. He hated the Fu clan deeply, so when the Phoenixfield king moved to abolish the Temple, the Crown Prince wholeheartedly supported it.

And so, the Fu clan was driven by the Lan clan and Phoenixfield king to a remote offshore island. Outwardly, they claimed to grant the Fu clan a ‘Celestial Isle’—so the mundane world wouldn’t disturb them. From the moment the Fu clan set foot on the island, it was erased from the realm’s maps and left to the Fu clan alone, with wishes that they’d soon attain immortality.

Of course, no matter how grand the rhetoric, it couldn’t hide the truth: the Fu clan had lost the power struggle and been cast out of the Nine Provinces Realm. This move also changed the entire power structure—without the Divine Temple to check Phoenixfield, the king’s power grew so vast that even the emperor couldn’t restrain him, sowing seeds of suspicion and division.

If not for this, the Lan clan and Phoenixfield clan wouldn’t have fallen out so quickly, leading to the later catastrophe...