Chapter 278: Woven by Two
Xue Sui raised her eyes.
The Crown Prince’s python robe was stained with night dew. Against the faint light of the corridor, he wore a dark brocade robe, his jade belt cinched tightly at the waist, outlining a lean and powerful physique, making his shoulders appear broad and his legs long.
“Your Highness summoned this nun here, is it regarding the matter on Imperial Street?”
Xue Sui’s throat moved slightly, attempting to break the stillness.
Li Zhao did not speak.
His long legs slowly crossed the threshold, approaching her step by step. The lingering drunkenness in his eyes was replaced by a heavy fierce aura, mixed with the cold hardness tempered by the winds and snow of the Western Frontier. His dark eyes shone astonishingly.
The air suddenly solidified.
Heavy, suffocating.
Xue Sui had never seen Li Zhao like this before.
It wasn’t the frantic obsession when the love gu acted up, nor the cold, murderous intent upon returning from the battlefield, but a kind of… cold ferocity born of being utterly offended and repeatedly used, accumulated to its peak, carrying a desire for destruction.
Like a knife dipped in poison.
His tall figure pressed down heavily, as if to engulf her…
She found it somewhat novel, and also somewhat… troublesome.
The numbness from her wound was quietly spreading, leaving her with little energy to contend.
She slightly adjusted her posture, concealing her injured left arm a bit within her sleeve, her voice as calm and steady as ever, even carrying a hint of perfunctory weariness.
“Since Your Highness does not wish to make small talk, then perhaps you could be direct. How do you intend to deal with this nun? Imprisonment and punishment, or… execution on the spot?”
A habitual reaction, with little emotional fluctuation, as if she were not discussing her own life and death.
“Xue Ping’an.” Finally, Li Zhao uttered this long-unheard address, bearing the imprint of the past. The end of his voice trailed off, carrying a near-cruel playfulness, or perhaps it was a mockery forced out from between his teeth.
“You schemed well.”
“This nun does not understand.”
Her eyes seemed to hold ripples of water.
They were soft, without the slightest hint of aggression.
Perhaps she was ill, and injured, making her appear listless. Her entire being was faintly… under the candlelight in this quiet room late at night, she exuded an almost transparent paleness.
She lacked the cold indifference and sharpness of before, and was thus less irritating.
“Hmph.”
Li Zhao stopped on the other side of the desk, leaning over with the back of his hand on the tabletop. The black jade of his jade belt buckle brushed against the edge of her sleeve.
“Then Master Miaozhen, why does Your Highness believe I have come?”
“Perhaps…” Xue Sui looked up, her eyelashes casting a fine shadow beneath her eyelids. “Your Highness wishes to see if an old acquaintance is still alive?”
“Old acquaintance?” He chuckled, his knuckles tapping the tabletop.
“Do you presume to call yourself my old acquaintance?”
“This nun has overstepped.”
Xue Sui lowered her gaze, revealing her slender neck.
“But Your Highness should not be angered by this matter.”
“Oh?” Li Zhao raised an eyebrow. “Then why should I be?”
Xue Sui quietly observed Li Zhao’s expression.
“A debt repaid, karma cycles. Nothing is beyond one’s control.”
She uttered softly, almost silently, unsure if she was speaking to him or to herself.
Her voice was light, carrying a sense of fated desolation.
“…Beyond one’s control?”
Li Zhao straightened up quickly. When he spoke again, his bottomless dark eyes were even more profoundly deep…
Like a hawk staring at a dying sparrow, with the patience of a predator, sharp enough to pierce through her, to peel away her skin…
Under the heavy pressure, Xue Sui chose silence.
A long silence permeated the space between them…
The dripping water from the eaves formed a continuous line, striking the bluestone steps with a fine, monotonous sound.
Outside the window, the rain beat against the banana leaves, the pattering sound urging the heart like drumbeats, growing faster and faster.
Li Zhao finally walked around the sandalwood desk and stopped in front of Xue Sui.
Looking down from above.
Only a thin brocade robe and light silk separated them. A mere foot’s distance away, yet it felt like a separation of ten thousand mountains.
“I apologize.” Xue Sui met his gaze, neither flinching nor avoiding it.
“This nun had no intention of scheming against the Crown Prince. Today’s events were merely borrowing strength to strike, acting with the flow.”
Li Zhao sneered.
It was as if Xue Sui’s words were not a sentence, but a slap, fiercely striking the mask he maintained on his face, and tearing apart the fig leaves that covered up the pretense of peace.
“Guo Zhaoxuan’s evidence, the postman’s cries of injustice, the blood inscription on the archway, and those perfectly timed victims… Xue Ping’an, tell me, if this isn’t scheming, what is it? Do you take me for blind? Or a fool?”
Xue Sui subtly curled her lips, almost imperceptibly.
Li Zhao should hate her. Hate her for planting the gu, hate her for using him.
After all, holding grudges and seeking revenge was the Crown Prince’s true nature.
In normal times, she might have been in the mood for a verbal sparring match with him.
But today she was injured. That numbness was creeping up her veins, making her irritable and exceptionally lazy.
She lowered her eyelashes, looking at her slightly curled fingers resting on her knees, her tone carrying a perfunctory tone of resignation.
“If Your Highness says so, then so be it. This nun is not a good person anyway, Your Highness can sentence me however you wish—however, the Duke of Zheng’s Mansion’s guilt is proven, the rot has been removed, which is beneficial to the country and the people. Henceforth, Your Highness’s efforts to clear out the imperial court system will be smoother…”
Li Zhao let out a light scoff, his laughter filled with sarcasm.
“You really know how to praise yourself. For the country and the people? Xue Ping’an, put away your high-sounding rhetoric. What you hold in your heart has always been only your own blood feud.”
Xue Sui frowned slightly.
That familiar itch in her throat crept up again, with a subtle numbness, which she forcefully suppressed.
“It is good that Your Highness knows, this nun has nothing more to say.”
She turned her face slightly, avoiding his overly scorching gaze.
“Then say no more.”
Li Zhao suddenly leaned forward, his hand propped on the desk beside her, trapping her within his arm. His fingertip brushed against the skin of her hand, the scent of wine mixed with agarwood wafted over, his breath warm, making her earlobes burn…
“Shall we do something…?”
Xue Sui’s heart trembled.
Outside the window, the rain seemed to have intensified, the banana leaves rustling with a pattering sound.
Suddenly!
Li Zhao leaned down, his right hand shot out, with an irresistible force, and precisely grasped her slender wrist.
The grip was immense, like icy iron tongs, tightening instantly.
His fingertips, roughened by the sandstorms of the Western Frontier, brushed against her skin, sending a shiver through her.
“Your Highness is drunk.” Xue Sui abruptly turned her head.
“I am perfectly sober.” Li Zhao moved closer, his nose almost touching her forehead.
“Soberly watching you, how you use a benevolent facade to carry out schemes that draw blood with every stroke.”
“Mmm…” Xue Sui was caught off guard. A sharp pain shot through her wrist, causing her brows to furrow instantly, and she let out a low groan.
She clearly felt the scorching heat of Li Zhao’s palm and the rough calluses, as well as the terrifying force that threatened to crush her bones…
She could also smell the scent of agarwood mixed with wine on him, which wafted warmly past her ear, like a branding iron scorching silk, making her involuntarily shrink her neck and her heart tighten.
But what was more critical was that this sudden assault aggravated the wound on her left arm.
Her face instantly lost all color, her body swayed almost imperceptibly, and fine beads of cold sweat broke out on her forehead.
“Your Highness, please conduct yourself with propriety.”
