Chapter 70

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He mumbled, with great difficulty: “Li…ke.”

 

For him, she had endless patience.

She held tightly, blocked firmly, without touching any other part of him, only repeating her demand.

Under her coercion, Guan Xuan’s reactions grew increasingly intense. His eyes were open now, but he still couldn’t see, and his consciousness remained unclear. He wanted to hold her, to beg for her tenderness—she gave none of it.

He began to cry, tears continuously falling from the corners of his eyes, his chest rising and falling irregularly, his entire body turning increasingly pink.

“Say it,” Zhao Rongzhang’s tone grew colder.

Perhaps sensing her ruthlessness, he struggled to mobilize his five senses, trying to understand what he had done wrong. Finally, under her relentless pressure, he seemed to grasp her demand and began making frantic hand gestures.

Zhao Rongzhang slapped his hand, kissed his lips forcefully, and still demanded viciously: “Say it with your mouth.”

The kiss intensified his collapse. He made no sound, the muscles of his abdomen and thighs contracting in agony. He changed his gestures, but they were slapped away again and again. Unable to bear it any longer, he grabbed her arm haphazardly, his eyes desperately trying to focus on her body, wanting to ask why she was treating him this way. The air in his throat was squeezed repeatedly, struggling to produce sound.

Zhao Rongzhang did not resent the hand gripping her wrist. Instead, she lifted it and pressed the back of his fingers against her own throat, letting the vibration of her vocal cords transmit the words: “Like. Say you like me.”

Tears like gemstones fell from Guan Xuan’s beautiful eyes. He mumbled, with great difficulty: “Li…ke.”

“Who do you like?”

She tightened her hold further. He whimpered, sweat dampening his temples. Crying, he said: “Like Princess.”

Zhao Rongzhang smiled, lovingly wiping the sweat from the bridge of his nose and the tears beneath his eyes. Still thinking this was a punishment, he lifted his face, seeking her fingertips. Failing to find them, he wrapped his arms around her body, burying his face against her chest as he wept softly.

“Want to come? You can beg me.” Ignoring his suffering, she kissed his ear, her touch excessively gentle.

Guan Xuan eagerly took her heart into his mouth, obediently learning to speak in broken phrases: “Beg you, want, want to come.”

“Who wants to come?”

“Me,” Guan Xuan knew she was deliberately tormenting him, growing more distraught, tears flowing endlessly, “Little Cat, beg, Princess.”

“Fine.” Zhao Rongzhang relaxed her grip slightly, stroking the back of his head, tolerating the uncontrolled collisions of his lips and tongue, but issuing an even more outrageous demand: “Control yourself. Not a single drop is allowed.”

Without considering his opinion, Zhao Rongzhang released her hand.

Guan Xuan’s entire body tensed, veins bulging, his already unfocused eyes growing even more vacant as he held her tightly. He obeyed—no matter how unreasonable or impossible her demands were, he obeyed completely. Even if he hated her to the core, he still obeyed. Even if he were to die at this moment, he would obey.

Zhao Rongzhang could no longer bear to torment him and hooked an arm around his waist.

However.

…………

…………

…………

Zhao Rongzhang awoke from his damp kisses and gently embraced him.

He was still crying.

Zhao Rongzhang smiled. “Are you upset? Do you feel I’ve bullied you?”

Guan Xuan ignored her.

“Do you want to go again?”

Guan Xuan immediately held her tighter, clinging more firmly.

“Tell me what you’re thinking,” Zhao Rongzhang whispered, kissing his ear. “No lies, no silence. You’re not mute anymore.”

Guan Xuan refused. But he couldn’t refuse her. He pressed his face against her neck, determined to turn away, tears flowing more heavily than before. “You… you don’t love me at all.”

His voice was hushed, but the sob in it was unmistakable.

Zhao Rongzhang was in high spirits, toying with strands of his hair. “You think I don’t love you?”

He didn’t speak, but her shoulder grew damp with his tears.

“Do you think, after being so gravely wounded, you just walked out of Suzhou City alive?”

Guan Xuan, accustomed to silence, said nothing. Zhao Rongzhang pinched his cheek. “Speak.”

“I was… picked up by someone.”

“By whom?”

With so many people at her disposal, how could he know exactly who? It was either one of Ming Luo’s informants or one of Su Tan’s subordinates.

He answered truthfully, and Zhao Rongzhang laughed. “I’ll tell you who it was.”

Her arm weak, she gripped his chin, trying to turn his face toward her. But with no strength left, she couldn’t budge him. Guan Xuan obediently turned his face back at her prompting.

Zhao Rongzhang stared into his still-blind eyes. “Look at me.”

Guan Xuan struggled to focus his gaze.

Zhao Rongzhang patted his cheek. “It was me, this princess, Zhao Rongzhang. I charged into Suzhou City, lifted you from the ground, rode through the night on horseback, and saved your life.”

Guan Xuan’s eyes widened.

The young woman grew angry at her own words, frowning as she asked, “Do you know why I appeared in Liuye Village that night?”

Guan Xuan pressed his lips together and replied, “To ambush Li Tong.”

Zhao Rongzhang shifted her gaze—he was right about that. But that wasn’t her only purpose. She glared at him. “Wasn’t it also to save you! I could have ambushed him anywhere! Saving you was my priority!”

Though carrying out the ambush in Liuye Village made it easier, with the three-hundred-li distance greatly dispersing Li Tong’s forces.

A tear fell onto her collarbone. Zhao Rongzhang saw his dark, moist eyes brimming with tears and gripped his chin again. “You say I don’t love you. What’s your proof?”

Guan Xuan didn’t know how to explain. His mind was far from clear—feverish and heavy.

“Are you angry I didn’t tell you the plan beforehand?”

Guan Xuan shook his head.

“Angry I used you again and again?”

Guan Xuan shook his head again, denying with a pained expression. “No, you know me. I could never be angry with you. Being useful to you, being used by you—it makes me happy, you know that. I… I’m just overthinking things.”

The young woman softened, stroking his eyes and finding her hand wet. “What are you thinking?”

“…I’ve grown greedy, overstepped my bounds, grown arrogant from your favor.” He buried his face again, his voice muffled. “You tell me nothing. I’m afraid you’ll discard me, and I’m afraid I’ll become a burden to you.”

This was close to what Zhao Rongzhang had guessed. In short, he felt she wasn’t opening her heart to him, and coupled with his deafness and blindness, he lived in constant unease, unable to believe she would always love him.

He lay on top of her body like a cat, affectionate and dependent. Zhao Rongzhang stroked the hair on the back of his head and said leisurely, “Are you upset that I didn’t take the initiative to tell you about myself? Hmph. Have you ever told me who your birth parents are, where your home is, when and where you became a medicine person, or how you ended up in the Shadow Pavilion?”

Guan Xuan froze, never expecting her to say such things.

“Why aren’t you speaking?”

“There’s no need for the Princess to understand me.” Even as he said it, he felt his own words lacked conviction. Guan Xuan tightened his grip, holding her rounded shoulders, and murmured softly, “The one the Princess picked up and raised by her side—that’s who I am.”

He belonged entirely to the Princess, body and soul. Down to every single strand of hair, if the Princess wanted to understand him, she could pluck it out and examine it thoroughly.

Zhao Rongzhang smoothed his hair, closed her eyes, and said, “I’m tired, let’s sleep. I can’t be bothered to talk to you anymore.”

Exhausted and worn out from his relentless attention, the Princess rested her head against his chest and fell asleep as soon as she finished speaking. Guan Xuan held her body completely, fitting perfectly against her, as if they were one. He could feel that he was a part of the Princess, as if he had been born that way. This made him feel at ease and happy. Gently inhaling the scent of her breath, he recalled every word she had spoken to him that day, his mind growing dizzy and overwhelmed. Unable to resist, he buried his face in the crook of her neck.

The next day, Zhao Rongzhang carried Li Tong’s severed head and walked onto the Drill Platform, tossing it directly in front of Zhao Yu.

Zhao Yu closed his eyes. He had been tormented with anxiety for days, repeatedly trying to send messages to his father, only to have every single one intercepted. By now, he fully understood that Princess Yingrong was far more capable and formidable than he had ever imagined. Not just him, but his father, the new emperor Zhao Jue, and most of the people in the world had severely underestimated her.

They should have been on high alert the moment she single-handedly took control of the entire Jiangnan Prefecture and cleared the way through various provinces, allowing their five thousand elite soldiers to arrive here smoothly. His father had been somewhat wary of her but had also looked down on her from the depths of his bones, sending only him, the heir, along with a reckless general to meet her, hoping they could subdue her. Little did they know that, in the end, it would be like sending a lamb into the tiger’s den.

But it was too late for regrets.

“Kick it down,” Zhao Rongzhang said, glancing at the five thousand soldiers below.

“Princess…”

“Kick it down,” Zhao Rongzhang drew a sword, leisurely toying with it in her hands. “Or should I kick your head down instead?”

Zhao Yu gritted his teeth so hard they nearly cracked, his face alternating between red and green. He stood up, glanced at the half-crushed head, and lifted his foot. The head rolled down the platform, crashing into the crowd below, causing an uproar.

Ming Luo raised her voice and declared, “General Li Tong harbored treacherous intentions, secretly nurtured rebels, and dared to plot an assassination attempt against the Princess! This head is a gift to all of you. Take a good look and remember who your true commander is, who your true master is!”

She turned slightly, her sharp gaze fixed on Zhao Yu. “Now, please hand over the other half of the Military Tallies, Your Highness.”