Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Xiao Qibai spent the night coaxing Song Wanrong until she finally felt at ease and drifted into a deep sleep.

Xiao Qibai tucked her in carefully before stepping outside, his gaze landing on me.

Song Wanrong had already forced me to kneel for four hours, from dusk until late into the night.

When Xiao Qibai saw me, he didn’t ask for a reason.

He simply said, “She must have been far too defiant.”

Everyone knew that Song Wanrong was an exceptional woman.

To His Highness, she was a savior who had once risked her life for him.

To the servants, she was gentle and generous.

Therefore, if she and I were at odds, it could only be because I had harmed her.

For this reason, Xiao Qibai had lost count of how many times he had punished me.

When Song Wanrong wept and claimed I had stolen her prayer beads, Xiao Qibai made me kowtow on every one of the temple’s thousand steps during a torrential rainstorm.

When Song Wanrong said I pushed her into the water and caused her to catch a cold, Xiao Qibai had the servant women drag me into the courtyard in the dead of winter to pour buckets of ice water over me.

Now, as a light night breeze stirred, Xiao Qibai stopped in front of me. He looked down, his eyes filled with nothing but disappointment.

“Have all those punishments still not taught you a lesson?”

The early spring night was bitingly cold. I was soaked to the bone and trembling slightly.

In what seemed like a fleeting moment of pity, Xiao Qibai reached out his hand, intending to pull me up.

I instinctively flinched away.

His hand froze in mid-air, and his gaze instantly turned cold.

“Do you hold a grudge against Rong’er, or against this Prince?”

I lowered my head, wanting to say I wouldn’t dare.

How could a lowly opera singer dare to resent the most prestigious guest in Jiangling City?

But when I opened my mouth, I realized my throat-forced by Song Wanrong to sing for an entire day-was thick with the taste of blood. I couldn’t make a sound.

Seeing my silence, Xiao Qibai’s expression grew even colder.

“Rong’er made you kneel so that you would reflect on your mistakes. It seems you have no intention of reflecting at all.”

He strode away, tossing an order to his subordinates.

“Make her kneel for another hour.

“Also, find the human broker. Ask her when exactly the person can be bought.”