He had actually thought… that the naive little princess, even when furious, wouldn’t go too far.
But she had grown more ruthless each time, more merciless.
Every time, she shattered his understanding of her.
It seemed only he believed her affection wouldn’t vanish so quickly, only he stubbornly clung to the hope that they could start over.
And she, with all her strength, was only trying to pull away.
“Princess.”
Xiao Hanjin’s Adam’s apple bobbed, his dark eyes fixed unwaveringly on hers, his tense voice soaked in bone-chilling coldness. “Aren’t you always one to distinguish clearly between gratitude and grudges? To make me suffer, you’d indirectly take a life?”
The force of his fingers increased uncontrollably. “When did you become so vicious, hmm?”
Di Ronghua’s eyelashes trembled.
She couldn’t pinpoint where the pain was coming from—perhaps her chin, crushed by his grip, or perhaps somewhere else… The pain even brought a distinct sense of dizziness.
She closed her eyes for a moment, erasing the smile from her face, and looked at him expressionlessly. “If I’m so vicious, you wouldn’t still want to keep me around, would you?” she said lightly. “This time it’s the Red Feathers. Next time, I might just stab her directly.”
“Heh.”
The man suddenly let out a cold laugh. “Do you think, at this point, I’d let you have your way?”
But even before this incident, he hadn’t intended to let her have her way.
“It seems you really want her dead.”
“You can try,” the man’s sinister voice seemed to grind out from his throat, each word deliberate. “See if I really won’t do anything to you.”
Di Ronghua’s pupils contracted almost imperceptibly.
“Third Brother, what do you plan to do to my fiancée?”
A deep voice, laced with both amusement and coldness, suddenly sounded from behind.
Both of their expressions changed.
Di Ronghua instinctively looked up.
Xiao Hanjin, seeing her almost instinctive reaction, felt the darkness in his eyes deepen, but his words were directed at the man behind him. “Third Brother, barging into the Crown Prince’s residence isn’t a first for you. Do I need to teach you to seek the host’s permission before entering?”
Xiao Yixun walked over slowly, his tone indifferent. “Father has already approved my marriage to Ronghua. I’m here to take her back to my residence.”
Xiao Hanjin’s eyes flickered.
A chill even more piercing than before emerged from his tense, handsome face. “Even if it’s an imperial decree…” His thin lips parted, his voice hoarse and sinister. “If I don’t want to, you won’t be taking her away today.”
Xiao Yixun’s gaze darkened, about to retort, but Di Ronghua’s voice cut in first. “I kept some of the Red Feathers. I didn’t burn all of them.”
Xiao Hanjin’s pupils contracted slightly.
Di Ronghua looked at his face, filled with extreme anger but also a faint trace of astonishment, and said calmly, “I believe what you said—if you don’t want to let me go, even an imperial decree might not get me out of the Crown Prince’s residence. So now, I’m giving you a choice.”
She raised her hand and began to pry his fingers off her chin, one by one. It was strenuous, even painful for her. Her chin bore clear finger marks, but she didn’t stop.
Xiao Hanjin vaguely guessed what she was about to say, so his grip tightened even more, unwilling to let her go.
“Ronghua…”
“You say you only want me, but what I see is you running around for her, getting angry for her, questioning me for her, thinking I’m vicious for her.”
Di Ronghua looked at him, her lips curling into a faint, emotionless smile. “I’ve already had Xiao Jiu take the remaining Red Feathers out of the Crown Prince’s residence. If you want to save Mu Qingshuang, let me go, Xiao Hanjin. Don’t say I deceived you again. This time, I’ve given you a choice.”
