Chapter 105 Peeling Back Your Mask
"Not coming?"
Pei Yunjing looked at Tang Li, who was huddled in the corner and motionless, but he wasn't angry.
He simply took long strides, one step at a time, slowly approaching her.
The study was so quiet that only the soft crackling of the candlelight could be heard.
With each step Pei Yunjing took, Tang Li felt the air grow thinner.
That invisible pressure was like a fine net, sealing off all her escape routes.
until--
"Thump."
Tangli's back slammed heavily against the hard bookshelf.
There was no way to retreat.
Pei Yunjing stopped half a step in front of her.
His tall figure completely blocked the candlelight, enveloping her in a heavy shadow.
He raised his hand and placed it on the bookshelf beside Tang Li's ear, forming a restraining posture of absolute control.
"You don't want to come over, so you want me... to come and arrest you myself?"
His voice was soft, with a hint of hoarseness and weariness from just having killed someone, yet it was so beautiful it could make your ears pregnant.
But all Tang Li wanted to do at that moment was cry.
She pressed herself tightly against the bookshelf, staring at the man so close to her, her heart pounding so hard it felt like it was going to jump out of her throat.
"Your Highness..."
She made a last-ditch effort, forcing a smile that looked more like a grimace: "You...you must be tired? How about...I'll get you a cup of tea?"
No rush.
Pei Yunjing was not swayed by her.
He lowered his head, his deep eyes like two scalpels, dissecting her disguise bit by bit.
"We can drink the tea later. But there are some accounts we need to settle now."
Pei Yunjing reached out his other hand, gently lifting a stray strand of hair from her cheek with his fingertips, twirling it between his fingers, and spoke casually:
"Tangli, you are really smart."
"The stories you made up, such as hermit masters, feng shui afflictions, and even nightmares... each one sounds absurd, but upon closer inspection, they somehow manage to make sense."
He paused, his tone suddenly turning cold:
"But you forgot one thing."
"Too many coincidences are no longer coincidences."
Pei Yunjing released her hair, his fingers slowly sliding down her cheek, as if tracing an exquisite mask:
"On your wedding night, why didn't that white-browed tiger, which had been starving for three days, eat you? Instead, it let you sleep with it as its pillow?"
Tang Li's breath hitched.
"At the Mid-Autumn Festival palace banquet, why did that usually arrogant imperial cat listen to you and scratch the Empress Dowager's face?"
Pei Yunjing's fingertips slid to her chin, applying slight pressure to force her to lift her head and look directly into his eyes:
"And tonight."
"Why do the rats in that city, numbering in the tens of thousands, obey orders like an army? Why do they rush to their deaths one after another just to bite through a few fuses?"
"Don't tell me that's because they're patriotic."
Pei Yunjing's lips curled into a sarcastic smile:
"Beasts don't understand the greater good of the nation; they only know..."
He leaned close to her ear, his voice low and menacing, like a devil's whisper:
"……obey."
"Obey one who can communicate with them and control their will—the king."
boom--!
The last layer of paper was finally torn down.
Tang Li felt ice-cold all over, and her pupils contracted sharply.
He found out.
He guessed it all.
In front of this exceptionally intelligent man, her self-righteous pretense was like a clown's trick, clumsy and laughable.
"Your Highness...I..."
Tang Li opened her mouth, wanting to explain, but found herself speechless.
"Shhh."
Pei Yunjing extended his index finger and pressed it against her lips, stopping her from uttering the lie she was about to tell.
Don't lie to me.
His eyes suddenly turned as dark as an abyss, surging with a terrifyingly dangerous light.
The next second.
His hand tightened suddenly, gripping Tang Li's slender neck.
His thumb pressed precisely on the throbbing artery on the side of her neck.
With just a little force, this fragile life would end in his hands.
"Tang Li, stop talking to me about experts, feng shui, and luck."
Pei Yunjing stared intently at her, his fingertips tracing the small patch of warm skin, feeling the vibrant, fearful throbbing beneath his fingertips.
He asked, slowly and deliberately, the question that could have sealed her fate:
“Tell me.”
"Who exactly are you?"
His gaze seemed to peel away her skin and see into her soul:
"Or rather..."
Pei Yunjing's voice was as soft as a cold wind, yet it froze Tang Li's blood.
"What exactly are you?"
Is it a demon?
Is it a demon?
Or is it that legendary anomaly that shouldn't exist in this world?
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