Chapter 146
Chapter 146
Only a few feeble lights burned along the walls of the dim cellar.
There was no telling what method the owner had used to make the entire room so extraordinarily cold.
Yet the man in red seemed not to feel the bone-deep chill. His eyes held only the ice coffin placed in the very center.
Inside, the young woman lay neatly dressed upon a bed of ice, her expression peaceful. If not for the ghastly wound running from her pale neck beneath her collar, she would have looked asleep.
It must have hurt terribly.
Fusheng Duan traced a finger above that place along the coffin lid and gazed down for a long time.
“If you knew he put you somewhere this cold, you would certainly curse that dog of an emperor.”
His fingers had just pressed down to open the lid when something suddenly tore through the air above.
Fusheng waved without blinking, and the volley of arrows, dense as rain, snapped in the wind.
Footsteps then sounded behind him.
“A rat from Zhu Kingdom actually slipped inside.” A deep, magnetic male voice echoed through the empty cellar.
Fusheng opened the coffin lid and gently lifted the dead young woman.
But when he turned around, his once-tender expression became glacial, his eyes brimming with murderous intent.
The newcomer approached with a sword. The keen blade was held in one hand, its tip dragging over the ground and leaving a long trail.
It was clearly a fine sword capable of slicing iron like mud.
A cold smile tugged at Fusheng’s lips, contempt in his eyes. “You think you can stop me?”
Siran Ming’s eyes were scarlet. His gaze fixed upon the hand wrapped around the girl’s waist. “Let her go.”
Fusheng scoffed. Had being emperor poisoned him for so long that he believed whatever he said became law?
Siran suddenly recalled the day he had seen Shengsheng Zhou in this man’s arms by the window, receiving slow, tender kisses.
“Feeling proud, Fusheng Duan? Do you know, among everything she said before she died…”
Before Siran could finish his provocation, the man standing a short distance away suddenly vanished…
Racing swiftly out of the palace with Shengsheng’s corpse in his arms, Fusheng muttered two words. “Fucking idiot.”
Did you think I crossed a thousand miles to hear you tell a story?
You unfilial son even dug up the ice coffin meant for your own father and used it for someone else. He felt cursed on Shengsheng’s behalf.
He had not gone far when pursuers quickly sounded behind him.
At their head was Siran, whose fury had been thoroughly ignited.
The two fought with such determination to kill or die that the imperial guards standing nearby with weapons in hand could find no way to intervene.
Especially when their emperor, already so battered, had issued an absolute order forbidding them to approach.
Ignoring the blood streaming from his chest, Siran stared red-eyed at Fusheng. “Give her to me.”
Fusheng brushed a finger over the bloody mark on his face and smiled scornfully. “Dream on.”
By the time his men extracted him, Fusheng’s red robes had almost become robes of blood. His body had never recovered, and he coughed up several more mouthfuls.
But he did not care. After wiping the corner of his lips, he gently kissed the girl’s cheek and said warmly, “See? I won.”
The subordinate sent to receive him could not bear the sight and turned his head away.
He had dragged his unhealed body all the way here. Otherwise, how could the Yong emperor, an ordinary mortal, have wounded him so badly?
“My lord… as for Shou Xiong, this subordinate believed there was little point in bringing him back, so I took it upon myself to leave him there. Please punish me.”
Only after changing into clean clothes did Fusheng settle Shengsheng in his arms. His fingers stroked her wound again and again as he asked indifferently, “Why?”
The man pressed his lips together, remembering what he had seen after finally infiltrating the deepest dungeon.
That could no longer be called a human being.
All four limbs had been cut away, leaving only a torso and head. His tongue had been severed. His eyes had been filled with mercury and sewn shut, leaving him unable to open them.
Yet the precious life-preserving medicinal bath beneath him swarmed with countless venomous insects.
The subordinate had seen those insects before.
They were exceptionally vicious. Their saliva could grow flesh over bare bone, yet they delighted in human blood. Anyone bitten by them would regrow flesh even as it was devoured, only for the poisonous insects to eat it again, the cycle repeating without end.
And so he believed there was no longer any need for them to take Shou Xiong away.
Their original intention had also been to leave the man unable to live or die, but Siran Ming had clearly done a thorough enough job.
“My lord, this subordinate also added a few drops of my own blood, extending his life by several more years.”
They carried the pure blood of Qing Kingdom’s royal family. Their strength might no longer compare with their ancestors’, but even that thin remnant was enough.
Fusheng Duan nodded. “You did very well.”
In the past, no matter the reason, their lord would punish anyone who disobeyed an order. Yet he was being unprecedentedly lenient now. The man glanced at the corpse in Fusheng’s arms, shook his head, and sighed silently at the injustice of fate before retreating with quiet steps.
He left the space to the lovers now separated by life and death.
“The villager who came looking for me with the things you entrusted to him received a generous reward. I ordered someone to take him home.”
“I had that bottle of strange liquid you left for Zhiyu Jiang delivered to her. Not long afterward, she asked to resign and seek out her mother. She looked unwell, so I granted permission. You have always liked her. Will you blame me?”
At some point, a simple hairpin had appeared in Fusheng’s hand. He intended to place it in the girl’s hair, but after a moment’s thought, put it away instead.
“Let me keep it as a memento. But why did you say you no longer liked it?”
He buried his face in the curve of her neck. The corpse did not smell pleasant, but he seemed utterly unaware, murmuring the same question to someone who would never answer. Why did she no longer like it?
…
Even Shengsheng Zhou, who lived in the rear palace and paid no attention to gossip, heard that the Yong emperor had been gravely wounded by an assassin and was in mortal danger.
“Who is capable enough to injure the Yong emperor, a man hailed as a god of war?”
A young eunuch knelt on the floor, gently massaging Shengsheng’s legs.
Another young eunuch stood nearby, feeding the princess tangerine segments dipped in honey. He shook his head, then gazed tenderly at Shengsheng as she sprawled lazily in the sun. “Yong Kingdom tore up the treaty between the three kingdoms and offended many people. Perhaps someone from Zhu Kingdom did it. What does Your Highness think?”
The youngest eunuch stood behind her, rubbing her shoulders. He snorted. “What nonsense are you saying? Her Highness only just regained her senses. How could she know about such things?”
The first two young eunuchs instantly dropped to their knees.
“Mercy, Your Highness! This servant misspoke.”
Shengsheng opened her eyes. Those beautiful eyes, seemingly filled with shattered light, studied the two shivering young eunuchs kneeling before her, and her brows knitted. “Hurry and get up. The floor is cold. If Xiaobaizi and Xiaolianzi catch a chill, wouldn’t this princess’s heart break?”
At her words, the two young eunuchs rose with flushed faces and thanked her, still blushing.
Shengsheng smiled and gestured for them to continue.
These three young eunuchs were Shengsheng’s newest favorites.
Every one of them was handsome and refined, a pleasure simply to look at.
As for what they had just discussed, Shengsheng could guess who had done it with her toes.
But other people’s dazzling drama had nothing to do with her, because she was now a flower free and single since birth.