Chapter 98 Her dagger had already pierced through. ...

At the critical moment, Eunuch Cao rushed out and took the bullet for the Crown Prince with his own shoulder.

When Li Pan's spear thrust was blocked, many Imperial Guards rushed forward and blocked his path.

Almost simultaneously, Wu Zhao shouted, "General!"

The battle quickly spiraled out of control, the sounds of fighting resumed, and the Northwest Army roared like thunder, their eyes bloodshot with rage.

The Imperial Guards were under General Liao's command, so naturally they had to protect the Crown Prince. But the capital army was different. The previous verbal sparring between Emperor Jinghui and the Crown Prince had already caused panic among the troops. Seeing that the battle was about to resume, their morale quickly collapsed, and countless soldiers abandoned their armor and fled in all directions.

Seeing that things were going badly, the Empress grabbed the Crown Prince and shouted, "Run!"

Lou Xueying, however, still held on tightly to the Crown Prince's wrist, refusing to let go.

The Crown Prince had no idea where she got her strength. He had clearly given her medicine this morning, so she shouldn't be too weak to move!

The Empress snatched the dagger from the Crown Prince's hand, intending to stab Lou Xueying, but the Northwest Army attacked from both sides. The two soldiers who had been holding Lou Xueying had to draw their swords and join the battle, no longer able to care about her.

Lou Xueying lost her balance and fell to the ground, the dagger missing its mark. The Crown Prince stared in disbelief at the bloody welt around his wrist, but before he could speak, the Empress angrily dragged him away: "You still care about her!"

"Rustling!"

Lou Xueying looked up and, amidst the chaos, saw Li Pan rushing towards her.

The rain from the sky grew heavier, from a light drizzle to a downpour of beads. His armor was splattered with the blood of others, which was quickly washed away by the rain.

Lou Xueying couldn't speak, she could only watch as he picked her up and let her lean on his shoulder.

Li Pan supported her with one hand and swung his spear with the other. The spear moved like a dragon striking water, and soon another path was carved out.

He rushed into the main hall of Ganyang, turned his head and saw the curtain being pulled up in the corner. He flicked the tip of his spear, tore off a large piece, wrapped Lou Xueying in it, and placed her on the dragon throne.

Lou Xueying was soaked and cold all over, shivering slightly, her face pale as she looked at Li Pan.

Emperor Jinghui followed him in.

"Stay away from her!" Li Pan snapped.

Emperor Jinghui stood firm.

Wu Zhao rushed in: "General, Liang Ji has escaped. I have already sent men to chase after him and we will definitely bring him to justice!"

Li Pan said coldly, "Alive."

"Yes!" Wu Zhao received the order and hurried out again.

Li Pan took a deep breath and looked at Eunuch Zheng, who was standing cautiously to the side: "Do you have a dry cloth?"

Eunuch Zheng quickly took out a clean handkerchief from his sleeve and handed it to Li Pan.

With a gloomy face, Li Pan pressed a handkerchief to Lou Xueying's neck to stop the bleeding.

Her bite on the Crown Prince, though unexpected and buying Li Pan time, also resulted in the Crown Prince's dagger directly slashing her neck.

Fortunately, it did not cause any vital injuries, nor was it too deep.

Li Pan asked her, "What did Liang Ji do to you?"

She looked so weak and unable to speak that it didn't seem like she was sick, but rather like she had taken some kind of medication.

Lou Xueying sniffed and said in an extremely weak voice, "N-nothing...it's nothing..."

Li Pan frowned, bringing his ear close to her mouth: "What did you say?"

"It's nothing..." Lou Xueying said with difficulty, "The effects of the medicine have worn off... I'll be fine soon..."

She was sent to the capital the day before yesterday and met Liang Ji that night. She thought she would have to stay in that room for a few more days, but last night she was taken to the palace. Only then did she realize that Li Pan had given up looking for her and was preparing to attack the city directly.

She was brought into the palace as a last resort. She was terrified that Li Pan would not receive the message she sent and would fall into the trap set by the Crown Prince and others. Fortunately, he did receive it.

She couldn't resist the medicine the prince fed her, but fortunately she had eaten a lot in the past few days and her spirits had recovered considerably. Even though she was given the medicine, she was not as drowsy and weak as she had been when she was kidnapped.

She feigned weakness to lower the prince's guard, and finally, at the crucial moment, she bit his wrist with all her might.

Unfortunately, he still managed to escape.

The faint voice reached Li Pan's ears, but instead of calming him down, it only made him angrier.

But because she had just been frightened, he ultimately said nothing, suppressed his anger, and patted her head.

Emperor Jinghui stood behind them, watching the two of them so intimately close, and remained silent. After a while, he turned and left, walking to the entrance of the Qianyang Palace and looking out at the square.

The battle has reached its end, and the outcome is already decided.

The autumn rain was drizzling, and the black armor and red blood made them stand out starkly.

He looked at General Liao, who was bound and lying on the ground, and a cold smile appeared on his lips.

He wanted to laugh at him, for all his scheming had come to nothing in the end.

But that cold smile quickly faded. He pursed his lips, looked at the misty horizon in the distance, and realized that his throne had finally come to an end.

...

The Crown Prince and Empress fled at breakneck speed. They originally had some guards with them, but as the number of pursuers increased, the number of guards dwindled, either to cover them or to hold off the pursuers. In the end, only the two of them remained.

The queen finally couldn't run anymore and collapsed to the ground with a thud.

The crown prince turned around in astonishment: "Mother!"

"You...you go by yourself!" the Queen said, tears streaming down her face. "I can't go far like this!"

The crown prince hesitated: "But..."

"No buts!" the Queen said. "The two of us together are too conspicuous! Let's go!"

Hearing the sounds of pursuers coming from outside the wall again, the crown prince gritted his teeth and decided to go ahead first.

There were many small doors in the palace used for transporting goods, and it was through these small doors that the palace servants escaped.

However, as the Crown Prince was pondering where such a door could be found, he turned a corner and suddenly came into eye contact with a lone soldier from the capital.

That soldier from the capital must have been a deserter who didn't want to fight the Northwest Army, so he fled here. However, he lost his way out of the palace and had to rest against the wall for the time being.

However, none of this was the reason why the crown prince stood there dumbfounded.

He stared intently at the man in front of him, as if he had forgotten that there were pursuers behind him. He just stared at him so intently that it was as if he wanted to bore two holes through him.

"It's you!" he suddenly roared in fury, drawing his sword. "I'll kill you—"

The soldier from the capital clearly recognized the Crown Prince and was momentarily stunned. However, seeing the Crown Prince suddenly draw his sword and thrust it at him, he immediately reacted and quickly raised his own knife to defend himself.

"You adulterer! So this is where you were hiding!" The prince's eyes blazed with fury, and the intense resentment he felt before his death in his previous life was rekindled at this moment.

—The adulterer of that wicked woman Yao Biyue! The culprit who murdered him in his past life!

After his rebirth, he investigated almost every palace guard, but still couldn't find the person's whereabouts. He thought that at this time of his life, the person hadn't entered the palace yet, but it turned out that the person was hiding in the capital army!

Great, great! It's like finding a needle in a haystack!

Upon hearing the prince call him his lover, the man looked confused. However, after fighting the prince for a few moves, he realized that the prince was clearly trying to kill him. He took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and slashed at the prince's thigh with his knife!

The prince had been running all the way and was already exhausted, but the man had been resting for a while. Suddenly, he slashed down with his knife, and blood splattered everywhere. The prince felt a sharp pain and fell to the ground.

Immediately afterwards, the other party kicked away his sword without hesitation and stomped heavily on his chest to prevent him from lashing out again.

The crown prince glared at him fiercely, his eyes bloodshot and almost dripping with blood.

Just as this man hesitated about whether to kill the crown prince, he suddenly heard Wu Zhao's voice from not far away: "Search carefully! The general said he wants him alive!"

The man was overjoyed and immediately grabbed the prince by the collar and dragged him out.

-

The crown prince was taken back to the Qianyang Palace.

General Liao, who had been half-dead at the base of the wall, finally closed his eyes in despair after seeing him.

The Empress, seeing her son dragged in, his legs bleeding profusely, burst into tears: "Ji'er!"

Lou Xueying had just eaten something, and her complexion was slightly rosy. The wound on her neck had been simply bandaged, and she had changed into a palace servant's outer robe. When she saw the Crown Prince being brought in, she couldn't help but lift her body slightly, trying to get a better look.

Li Pan helped her sit up straight, then stepped down from the steps, looked down at him condescendingly, kicked him, and said sarcastically, "Oh, isn't this the esteemed Crown Prince? Who injured you like this? Can you still inherit the Great Yue Empire?"

"Li Pan!" The crown prince was injured and couldn't get up from the ground, but he still had the strength to glare at him angrily. "What kind of hero do you think you are? If Lou Xueying hadn't chosen you, how could you, a mere brute, have ended up like this today!"

"You're right. Without her, I wouldn't be where I am today," Li Pan sneered. "But isn't this all your and your father's doing? You two forced her to this point, forced me to this point, and now you ask me what kind of hero I am?"

He bent down, grabbed the prince by the collar, and said viciously, "Heroes are made by the times. Who gave you that power? You and your father!"

After saying that, he slammed the Crown Prince to the ground again, walked directly to the dragon throne, and picked up Lou Xueying.

Lou Xueying looked at him in surprise: "What are you doing?"

She can make a little sound now, but her voice is still low and hoarse.

Li Pan put her down next to the Crown Prince, his face grim, and handed her a dagger.

This dagger was the same one the Crown Prince had held to her neck when he had taken her hostage.

“Come on, kill him,” Li Pan said.

Lou Xueying sat on the ground, her hand trembled, and the dagger fell to the ground.

Li Pan picked it up, put it back in her hand, and looked at her, saying, "Don't you want to do it yourself?"

Lou Xueying stared blankly at Li Pan, her eyes gradually reddening.

She actually didn't have much strength; the dagger in her hand felt as heavy as a cauldron.

"I...I..." she murmured, unable to continue.

"Swish, swish!" The crown prince suddenly struggled to his feet. "You can't kill me! At least you can't be the one to kill me! I accept that the victor is king and the loser is villain, I accept that I have to die, but please, please, someone else!"

Lou Xueying held up the dagger, trembling as she looked at the Crown Prince.

All his armor had been removed, leaving him in only a thin layer of clothing. Killing him would actually require very little effort.

But... but she has never killed anyone herself.

Seeing her hesitation, the Crown Prince immediately reddened his eyes and looked at her earnestly, advising, "Susu, I know you hate me, but wanting to kill is one thing, actually doing it is another. You can't do it yourself, otherwise, given your state of mind, you won't be able to bear it. You'll remember every day the scene of me dying at your hands, and you'll remember the time when we were still so good together..."

Li Pan kicked him in the chin: "You talk too much nonsense. She didn't kill any good people. She rid the people of a scourge, which is a great deed. What's so hard about that?"

The crown prince winced in pain and glared resentfully at Li Pan.

Lou Xueying's dagger tip gradually hovered in front of the crown prince's chest.

She didn't look into the prince's eyes, but stared at the fabric on his chest, wondering in a daze: Did she really want to kill him?

Before her rebirth, she had never imagined this.

Even after being reborn, there was nothing.

Even though she was determined to rebel against Li Pan, she didn't intend to kill anyone.

From beginning to end, all she wanted was to end these two absurd relationships, to escape this endless nightmare, and to let them receive the punishment they deserved.

She knew they were going to die, but she never imagined she would have to do it herself.

"Li Pan! Why don't you kill me! You've taken so many lives, what's one more? Let me tell you, if you let her kill me, she'll hold a grudge for the rest of her life. She might even dream about me. Can you accept that?" The Crown Prince's expression gradually became frenzied. Seeing that provoking Li Pan was useless, he turned to Emperor Jinghui standing to the side and shouted, "Old man, didn't you want to kill me too? Why don't you do it? Aren't you the one here who wants to kill me the most? Hurry up and do it! You've tried to kill me so many times before, why don't you dare to now!"

Emperor Jinghui looked at him quietly, without moving.

"Swish, swish!" Seeing her dagger tip already touching his collar, the Crown Prince began to stammer incoherently, "Calm down! Don't listen to Li Pan's instigation. You don't actually want to kill me, do you? Your hands are for playing the zither and writing, not for killing! If you're afraid to kill, don't force yourself! If you hate me, you can have someone else do it; you don't need to do it yourself..."

Before she could finish speaking, her dagger had already pierced through.