Lu Yan lowered his gaze, looking at the unconscious softness in his arms, a creeping, eerie smile spreading in his dark eyes.
He raised his hand, the distinct, pale bones of his large hand stained with blood that dripped down the back of it. With that blood-soaked hand, he lifted a strand of Lu Mingtang’s black hair.
“A little white rabbit walking right into the trap. Interesting.”
At that moment, Ling Xiao, the commander of the Palace Guard, rushed in with his men and quickly dispatched the remaining assassins.
Kneeling on one knee to plead for punishment, he said, “Your humble servant arrived too late to protect Your Majesty. I beg for Your Majesty’s punishment!”
“All dead again. How boring.”
Lu Yan raised his hand and indifferently tossed the unconscious Lu Mingtang to Ling Xiao. The commander, caught off guard, instinctively reached out to catch her.
Perplexed, he looked at the Young Emperor, unsure of his intentions, and tentatively asked, “Your Majesty, shall I take her away and dispose of her?”
“Clean her up and bring her to Qin Zheng Dian. Don’t kill her—it’s rare to find someone interesting.”
Though Lu Yan spoke of interest, his handsome face showed no emotion as he glanced around like he was surveying trash. “As for the others, I’m tired of them. Dispose of them all.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Prince Yong, like a fat pig, crawled frantically across the floor to Lu Yan’s feet, only to be stomped on by Ling Xiao, his plump head pressed harshly against the ground.
But all he could think of now was survival, pleading hoarsely for mercy: “Your Majesty, spare me! Your Majesty, don’t kill me! I… I can be interesting too! I can imitate a pig’s grunts, a pig’s run! As long as you don’t kill me, you can treat me as an amusing pig!”
With that, Prince Yong earnestly began to mimic the snorts and grunts of a pig.
Lu Yan leisurely wiped the blood from his hands with a handkerchief and tossed it onto Prince Yong’s face. Prince Yong immediately caught the blood-stained handkerchief with his mouth, his plump, large-headed appearance almost indistinguishable from a pig eating.
The young Young Emperor suddenly sneered, “Throw him into the pigsty. We’ll slaughter him once he’s fattened up.”
When Lu Mingtang regained consciousness, her head was still dizzy, and her body remained weak from the high fever.
But her eyes were exceptionally bright, quickly scanning her surroundings.
The hall’s roof was covered with glazed tiles, and a massive luminous pearl was embedded in the center of the ceiling, shining brilliantly, a display of extravagant waste.
Dragons coiled around the hall’s pillars, and the interior was furnished with a throne, a screen, and incense burners emitting smoke. However, it wasn’t the usual ambergris favored by emperors but a faint, woody incense tinged with a bitter scent.
The underfloor heating system warmed the entire bedchamber cozily. Lu Mingtang quickly realized this wasn’t the grim and terrifying inner prison of her past life, nor was it the palace filled with corpses she had woken up in earlier. Instead, it was Qin Zheng Dian, where the emperor rested.
“You really can sleep. If you hadn’t woken up soon, my interest would have worn thin.”
Lu Yan had changed into dark blue brocade robes, his ink-black hair unbound and cascading over his shoulders, accentuating his sickly pale complexion. Yet his eyes were exceptionally dark.
The blood vessels creeping across his pupils filled his entire being with a heavy, violent aura, while the teardrop mole at the corner of his eye made him appear both bewitching and eerie.
He wore no boots, his bare feet stepping on the golden bricks as he walked to the warm couch. His slender, tall frame slowly leaned toward Lu Mingtang.
His pale, bloodless, slender hand rested on Lu Mingtang’s brow, his icy fingertips like a venomous snake, sliding from her brow down to her neck.
Suddenly tightening, he asked, “Was that repeating crossbow of yours meant to kill me?”
He had seen it!
Seeing her hiding in the cabinet, holding a repeating crossbow aimed in his direction.
The sudden suffocation made Lu Mingtang, already lightheaded, go weak in the limbs, her vision darkening in waves.
"I… I saved… Your Majesty."
Lu Yan smiled, a deepening ferocity creeping into his pitch-black eyes. He enjoyed the process of the little rabbit struggling helplessly in his grasp, gradually increasing the pressure of his hand.
"The repeating crossbow was aimed at Zhen's direction, but it ended up hitting the assassin hiding on the roof beam. So, you knew there were assassins, and you even knew their exact positions. You are one of them."
Lu Yan was not asking but stating it as a fact.
Though his hands were slender, they were enough to wrap each finger around her neck, encircling her snow-white swan-like throat, ready to snap her life away.
"Speak. Who sent you?"
In her previous life, Lu Mingtang's impression of Lu Yan was only fragmentary. She only knew that before Chancellor Wei placed him on the throne, he was just a forgotten little prince.
He had reigned for barely ten days before succumbing to poison. But having been reborn, she redirected the poison-tipped arrow meant to send him to his death toward someone else, allowing him to survive.
The course of history had changed. Now, up close, she realized:
This young emperor, beneath his cruel and unruly exterior, possessed a clever mind.
A clever mind meant he had methods. Using him against Jiang Chaosheng would give her greater odds of success.
Lu Mingtang was quite satisfied with the pawn she had chosen. However, this somewhat clever pawn was too ferocious and would require some time to properly train.
She only wanted obedient pawns. If they were disobedient…
She could simply kill them and replace them.
"I… I wish to become Your Majesty's person. Would Your Majesty… be willing to give me this opportunity?"
The pain from suffocation caused tears to spill uncontrollably from the corners of Lu Mingtang's eyes. What Lu Yan met was her glistening, moist phoenix eyes.
Lu Mingtang's beauty was aggressive—not fresh, not ethereal, not gentle and delicate like the noble ladies of prestigious families.
Her appearance leaned more toward striking allure, her phoenix eyes holding a hint of moisture, even exuding a trace of seductiveness.
But Lu Yan showed no mercy toward her, looking at her as if she were already dead.
"What value do you possess to become Zhen's person?"
Lu Mingtang's unusually crimson lips uttered a few words: "The assassins… are Prince Yong's people."
To be precise, they were arranged for Prince Yong by Jiang Chaosheng. But at this point, Lu Yan was far from capable of moving against Jiang Chaosheng.
Lu Mingtang was in no hurry. When a venomous snake hunts its prey, it coils around it again and again, slowly tightening its grip, watching as the prey slowly dies in endless agony.
The pressure around her neck suddenly loosened. The abrupt rush of air sent Lu Mingtang into a fit of violent coughing.
"So it's a pig with a brain. That's somewhat interesting. But what Zhen finds more intriguing is why you betrayed that pig and chose Zhen instead."
If this assassination had succeeded and Lu Yan had died, Prince Yong would have ascended the throne. Lu Mingtang, having contributed to the assassination, could have enjoyed wealth and honor. Yet she chose a different path.
Lu Mingtang made no attempt to conceal the disgust in her eyes. "Because he's too ugly. I like beautiful people, and Your Majesty is very beautiful."
Lu Yan laughed, the tear mole at the corner of his eye shimmering brilliantly. But a shadow of malice crept inch by inch into his pitch-black eyes.
His flowing sleeve swept by as he snatched the small knife from the fruit tray, simultaneously gripping Lu Mingtang's chin with his left hand—so tightly that his fingers could almost touch the soft tip of her tongue.
"A little rabbit full of lies—how much more interesting it would be to cut out its tongue and make it a mute little rabbit."