Chapter Four: The Mystic Prince's Outburst
Upon learning of the foolish things she had done over the years, Li Bao'er knew she was doomed.
But she didn't want to accept the mission's failure like that.
In a flash, Li Bao'er suddenly jumped off the bed, grabbed Mu Cenlin's arm, rubbed her face against his robe, and said in a voice as sweet as honey:
"Your Highness~ So you are my true love!"
Mu Cenlin: "...?"
Bao'er tilted her head back, her eyes blinking as if they were full of sand: "It's all because that peach tree grew too crooked, preventing me from seeing your handsome face clearly! Look how many years this has wasted for me!"
001: [Host... your integrity... is shattered to pieces.]
"Shut up!" Bao'er roared in her mind, but she tightened her grip on Mu Cenlin's arm. "Your Highness, you don't know how much my heart aches every time I bully you all these years!"
Mu Cenlin raised an eyebrow: "Oh? The horse that wounded this king?"
"That's so you can get a more impressive horse!"
"Spreading rumors about my cruelty?"
"Helping you establish your authority in Beijing"
"Stealing the tiger tally?"
Li Bao'er choked for a moment, then said matter-of-factly, "This...this was to test the defense of your camp! See, the problem has been discovered!"
The tent was deathly silent.
Mu Cenlin suddenly chuckled, grabbing her chin and moving closer: "Li Bao'er..."
"exist!"
"You're even better at talking nonsense than Zhu Zhi."
Bao'er was puzzled, but she was good at taking advantage of situations: "This name, Zhu Zhi, sounds like a pig."
001: [It's over, the host has gone mad.]
Mu Cenlin stared at her fawning smile, then suddenly pulled her outside, saying, "Fine, I'll give you a chance to replace him."
"Wait! Your Highness, where are you taking me?!"
"The dungeon, you can slowly fabricate a story with the death row inmates inside."
Li Bao'er: "..."
"I was wrong, I've come to my senses. Please give me a chance to prove it to you, okay?" Li Bao'er stubbornly held onto the table and wouldn't budge.
Mu Cenlin turned around and looked at her, her hair disheveled and her face covered in mud and ash. Suddenly, he frowned. Had she just rubbed her dirty face against his arm?
I can't keep these clothes.
"I dislike you, and whether you admit your mistakes or not is meaningless. But you'd better explain clearly the fact that we can understand each other's feelings."
Li Bao'er's throat tightened. It was perfectly normal for him not to like her. He bullied her to death. If he still liked her, Bao'er would suspect that he had some kind of special fetish.
But regarding their mutual attraction, she had to pretend to be clueless: "What do you mean?"
Mu Cenlin sneered, then suddenly drew his dagger, right before her terrified eyes.
"Whoosh!"
The blade sliced across his own palm, and blood gushed out instantly.
"Ah—!" Li Bao'er suddenly curled up, the pain from her left palm bringing tears to her eyes.
"Now, are you still pretending?" He looked down at her, his eyes filled with an almost morbid curiosity.
Li Bao'er gasped in pain, cursing the system eight hundred times in her mind.
001 tentatively popped up: [Host, how about... we just admit it?]
Li Bao'er: "Admit it my ass! If I do, he'll burn me like a monster!"
Mu Cenlin's fingertips traced his blood-stained palm, then slowly moved to Li Bao'er's unharmed but excruciatingly painful hand.
"The pain is shared, but the injuries are not identical," he suddenly chuckled. "Li Bao'er, what kind of evil magic are you hiding?"
Li Bao'er swallowed hard, feigning panic: "This is too strange. I fell off such a cliff and didn't die, but unexpectedly I have a connection with the prince."
"This...this must be divine retribution! Because I was so disrespectful to the prince, Heaven is punishing me!"
"Oh."
001 was frantically sounding alarms in her mind: [Host! His murderous intent has off the charts!]
Mu Cenlin's eyes darkened, and he suddenly used the tip of the knife to pry open her clothes: "Then let's try something even more painful."
"Wait!" Li Bao'er screamed.
"Um?"
"I really don't know what all this is about, but doesn't Your Highness think this might be some kind of Gu poison from the Western Regions that causes life and death together?"
The tent fell silent.
Mu Cenlin's knife tip stopped at her heart: "Who did this?"
Li Bao'er braced herself and said, "Mu Yuan! Apart from him, no one else sees you as a thorn in their side!"
Mu Cenlin suddenly sheathed his sword. "Very well, within three days, I will send someone to find a sorcerer, but if the curse is not found or cannot be cured..."
His icy fingertips traced across Bao'er's neck: "The Prime Minister's residence will then receive a corpse afflicted with a Gu poison."
Mu Cenlin got up and left. He stood in the backlight behind the tent curtain and suddenly said something.
"Li Bao'er, this is the last time." With an ambiguous look in his eyes, Mu Cen left the military tent.
The moment the curtain fell, she sensed a hint of loneliness in that tall, straight figure.
Li Bao'er stared blankly at the steaming medicine on the table, suddenly realizing the special nature of this military tent.
Sachets for repelling mosquitoes hung in the four corners, the bed was covered with a rare white fox fur, and there were even two more charcoal braziers than elsewhere.
A pang of guilt and bitterness rose in her heart; he was not at all the "ruthless and heartless" person she had spread rumors about.
A tightness gripped her chest. Had she been a simp who fawned over the wrong person? What had she been doing all these years?
"Really," she murmured, her voice hoarse and almost inaudible, "utterly stupid."
The next day, Mu Cenlin clearly had no intention of letting her go.
Before the morning mist had dissipated, Mu Cenlin ordered his men to drag Li Bao'er to the center of the training ground.
He wasn't wearing any black armor, only a thin black robe. Mu Cenlin had a cold and aloof appearance, with prominent brow bones and a high nose bridge. However, his peach blossom eyes were slightly upturned at the corners, giving him a strong sense of oppression when he looked at people.
She has to be described as having a first-rate appearance, but the only flaw is an old scar under her right eye, which twists her charming demeanor into a menacing aura.
Seeing Li Bao'er being escorted by his personal guards, he smiled slightly. "See this? This is the precious horse you wanted to replace for me." Following the direction Mu Cenlin pointed, Li Bao'er looked at the spirited, gleaming Akhal-Teke horse in the center of the training ground.
The crimson Akhal-Teke horse was impatiently pawing at its hooves, its breath exhaling white mist.
What is the Great Demon King going to do? Li Bao'er felt something was wrong until she saw his personal guards put a strange set of leather ropes on the saddle. The ends of the ropes were clearly shackles used to bind people!
001: [Host! He's going to treat you like a sled dog!]
Li Bao'er's eyes widened instantly. No way?! The person she's trying to seduce is a complete psychopath!
Mu Cen stroked the steed's glossy mane, his voice chilling, "I've heard there's a form of punishment in the northern deserts: traitors are tied to the back of a horse and chased by a pack of wolves."
Li Bao'er's vision went black.
"Your Highness, I was wrong, I was really wrong."
Mu Cenlin slowly lifted her chin with his riding crop: "Are you that afraid of death?"
"Nonsense!" Li Bao'er forcibly suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. If it weren't for the need to survive, she wouldn't want to serve any of the perverts in this world!
Mu Cenlin's gaze was incredibly penetrating, almost making Li Bao'er think he could discover her secrets. However, what he said was as frightening as ever.
"Heh, it's quite a strange story. Yesterday, the army doctor reported that you've been poisoned since childhood and are physically weak, but the most serious injury you sustained from falling off the cliff was an arrow wound to your left shoulder." With that, Mu Cenlin swept Li Bao'er up in his arms, and in that instant, a voice carried on the wind, "I'm becoming increasingly curious about you."
When Li Bao'er was lifted onto the horse, she was still trembling.
"Hold on tight." Mu Cenlin wrapped his arms around her from behind and spurred the horse. "If you fall off, you'll be food for the wolves."
Like an arrow released from a bow, she dashed into the dense forest, clinging tightly to the horse's mane, yet constantly bumping into him in the jolting. The heat emanating from his chest was astonishing, yet his voice was cold and hard: "This is the second set of clothes you've dirtied for me."
After passing through the last thicket of thorns, a breathtaking view suddenly appeared: a cold pool shrouded in a deep blue mist.
"Take it off." He tossed over a set of plain gauze clothes. "If you can't wash it clean, you'll be sleeping in the stable tonight."
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