Have you been lying to me all along?
Zheng Quchi broke the silence between the two. Despite her small stature, she held a pen in one hand and a scroll in the other. Dressed in official robes, she exuded an aura of righteousness and fearlessness.
Yuan Xingzhou rubbed his swollen and sore forehead. He raised his droopy eyelashes and looked straight at Zheng Quchi. There were a few strands of red spider silk in the whites of his eyes, while his pupils were dark and deep.
Why would I lie to you?
solitary?
Seeing that he was now riding high, enjoying the spring breeze of success, and about to ascend to a high position, he adopted the noble posture of the future Prince of Ye. Zheng Quchi also realized that things had changed, and his situation and relationship with her were no longer what they used to be.
They were allies who shared hardships, and perhaps they can also be friends and equals.
But once they defeat their common enemy, he becomes king and she becomes a subject, and the disparity in their status immediately becomes apparent, making it uncertain whether they can share prosperity and glory.
Therefore, at this point, she should also realize her place, adjust her mindset, and not act rashly, nor dare to act rashly.
Zheng Quchi knew this day would come. She helped him and stood on the same side as him, hoping to rise with the tide and get some credit for his help. She didn't ask for a meteoric rise, but only that things would turn around and she would have a powerful backer in the future.
Thinking about it this way, she realized she shouldn't have confronted Yuan Xingzhou in such a questioning tone. It wouldn't have done her any good to strain the relationship; on the contrary, maintaining a good superior-subordinate relationship would have been much more beneficial to her.
She wiped her face as if to repent, and bowed, saying, "Your Highness specially brought me the Divine Wood Dream to relieve my worries. I am very grateful for Your Highness's thoughtfulness."
She thought that this would change the subject and erase her previous slip of the tongue, but little did she expect...
Why would I lie to you?
"Your Highness saved me in Egret Lake before, but I haven't had a chance to properly express my gratitude. I thank Your Highness here." She bowed again.
Why would I lie to you?
Zheng Quchi: "..." She just said one slip of the tongue, is this matter going to be unresolved?
He seemed to care a lot about those words. Seeing that she kept avoiding answering, he stepped down from the throne. He was tall and thin, with a slender waist and long legs. The wind swept through the wide hall, causing the black bamboo gauze curtains to flutter. His expression was somber as he walked towards her step by step, accompanied by an inexplicable sense of oppression.
There were only the two of them in the hall, so even the slightest sound would be amplified. The steady footsteps clattered on the gleaming floor, and Zheng Quchi immediately recalled images of his murders—mountains of corpses, the scenes of killing and arson under the cover of darkness…
Her face turned pale as she was lost in thought and daydreaming. Although she knew he would never lay a hand on her, she couldn't help but react as if she were seeing a dangerous creature and instinctively wanted to run away.
What are you afraid of?
He asked again, this time in a flat tone, but with a hint of gloomy, suppressed anger.
"Your Majesty, I am afraid to face you." She gave a dry laugh.
“Look at me.”
This time, he didn't refer to himself as "I" again, but Zheng Quchi felt it was better to draw a clear line than to face this deadly atmosphere.
Standing a step away from her, his projection and aura completely enveloped Zheng Quchi in his domain, utterly disregarding whether she could bear it or not.
"Zheng Quchi, I have done my best..."
His voice echoed in the empty hall like a ghost returning from the underworld, chilling and eerie.
“I had Gong Jinniu hold you back, preventing you from getting involved in the dirty affairs of the palace. I sealed the palace gates, forbidding anyone from entering. I summoned your most trusted men, Wang Zebang and Wei Yao, to the palace, so you couldn't learn anything from them. I thought you would give up and wait patiently outside, but you—”
His voice suddenly turned deep, startling Zheng Quchi so much that his hair stood on end.
"But why did you barge in?" He stared at her, noticing her head was lowered and her shoulders trembled slightly, then softened his voice: "Now you're scared?"
He forcefully lifted her face, his eyes sharp as blades, but his lips were smiling, with a twisted sense of madness: "It's too late, I don't have the patience to do it all over again."
"Your Highness, Your Highness, please let me go." She felt his strength was getting out of control, and her cheeks were hurting from being pinched.
But Yuan Xingzhou seemed completely oblivious to her struggles and cries of pain; his thoughts were entirely absorbed in another dark and collapsing world.
"I left the Four Symbols Army to you to protect you and give you confidence so you can travel freely, not so you can escape me. If you ever have the thought of escaping again, I will take back everything I have given you..."
"Have you said enough?" Zheng Quchi felt that even if she wanted to curry favor with a powerful figure, she still had her bottom line and her temper: "I know you don't want me to interfere in your handling of Empress Ye and the people she colluded with. Yes, you've calculated everything and tried every means to obstruct me from entering the palace. But you didn't expect that I would worry about you and would risk everything, even being beheaded and labeled a traitor, to break into the palace to save you, right?"
"That's right, I was stupid, I was foolish. You kept everything from me, deceived me, and I knew nothing. I always thought you were all alone, being bullied in the palace, imprisoned and suffering there, waiting for me to rescue you. That's why I mustered up the courage to mobilize troops to storm the palace. But you, on the other hand, are not only perfectly fine, but you also have everything under control. You can kill whoever you want, do whatever you want. But was I wrong? I wanted to save you, I wanted to help you, was I wrong?"
Her anger was at its peak, and she spoke without thinking, unleashing a torrent of words at Yuan Xingzhou.
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