Chapter 46 I Might As Well Hate You More

Yin Jiaojiao knew she had said the wrong thing and done the wrong thing, but it was already far beyond any hope of remedy.

The bed was large yet also small, at least for Xiao Yuanchi; it was a mere span of space that required no effort to conquer. Soon, she was pinned beneath him, unable to move an inch.

Xiao Yuanchi acted as though he had endured for a very long time, blazing with fury, completely unrestrained in his movements. She was kissed to the point of suffocation, kneaded until she felt she would lose her mind. One moment she was floating on clouds, the next she was plunging into an abyss. Emboldened by the wine, she bit him. He did not mind in the least, and instead egged her on.

"Bite harder, Jiaojiao," he murmured, kissing her earlobe. "Bite through my throat, and you and I will never have any ties again. Then you can go back to being your prime minister's daughter."

Yin Jiaojiao did not bite through his throat. She loosened her jaw, stared blankly at the tooth mark on the man's right cheek, and asked in a daze, "Does it hurt?"

"No."

"But it hurts me, Xiao Yuanchi," Yin Jiaojiao said hoarsely. "Do you really want me to hate you that much?"

"..."

"You didn't have to marry me. Even if it went against the imperial decree, as long as you were willing, you could have stood your ground just as you protected Commander Yang. But you didn't—you married me! You were the one who gave me hope, and you were the one who killed me. Xiao Yuanchi, you are truly rotten to the core..."

As she spoke, Yin Jiaojiao blinked away a tear. The fiery, heated atmosphere was half-extinguished by that single teardrop.

Xiao Yuanchi's response was to lower his head and kiss away the tear.

"Sophistry," he murmured, tracing his lips down the path of the tear. "Who is trying to kill whom?"

Wine gives courage to the timid, and Yin Jiaojiao's courage was soaring. "You wanted to kill me! You wanted me to step aside for your sister! Ah—!"

Xiao Yuanchi's warm lips lightly brushed against the wound on her right shoulder. Even through the bandage, Yin Jiaojiao could not bear it, her surge of bravado instantly melting into a whimper. The rich fragrance of medicinal herbs drifted into Xiao Yuanchi's senses, causing his frame to freeze.

He suddenly recalled the night of the birthday banquet, the moment Yin Jiaojiao had let out that sudden cry, and the very first thought that had surged into his mind.

That thought had been utterly absurd, and he had refused to accept it, which was why he had hesitated for that single instant. And it was precisely because of that fleeting hesitation that, when he turned back, Yin Jiaojiao had already been pierced by Luo Xiang's long sword, hanging by a thread between life and death.

Xiao Yuanchi suddenly turned fierce. "Since I'm rotten to the core, why don't you hate me yet?"

"I do hate you!"

"Not enough, Yin Jiaojiao. Far from enough."

Xiao Yuanchi did not stop moving, his onslaught tearing down all defenses in his path. Yin Jiaojiao trembled uncontrollably from head to toe, and amidst the tremors, she faintly heard him say.

"How about I make you hate me even more?"

He hated her? What right did he have to hate her? In both lifetimes, by any measure, he was the one who had wronged her more! Was it just because of that baffling bestowed marriage? If so, he should hate the emperor; why take it out on her? What an unreasonable bastard!

***

The alcohol surged within Yin Jiaojiao, and all her lingering resentment vented entirely upon Xiao Yuanchi. She kicked him, struck him, and cursed him, wishing she could turn the heavens upside down. Yet Xiao Yuanchi took every blow and effortlessly defused each one, making this intimacy even more intense than the last.

She did not know when she finally lost consciousness.

Was it around the third time?

When she pleaded for mercy, he had replied, "Too late."

***

Yin Jiaojiao had a dream, something she had not experienced in a long time.

The scene in the dream was not unfamiliar; it was still the stark, pale-white Prince Qin's Mansion, only this time without the coffin.

Towering soul-banners stood all around, fluttering and dancing in the desolate wind and cold rain. Amidst the courtyard surrounded by these banners for calling back the dead, her father and Xiao Yuanchi were confronting each other.

Unlike Xiao Yuanchi, who was dressed fully in mourning garb, Yin Chaozong's attire was perfunctory at best—he wore only a coarse hempen robe thrown over his official uniform, making it clear he had arrived in a hurry.

"Prince Qin, you must give me and the entire Yin clan an explanation!" Yin Chaozong demanded, full of vigor. "I have sufficient evidence to prove that my daughter's death cannot be separated from you. According to our dynasty's laws, murdering an innocent wife is a grave crime. Without an explanation, even if you are to ascend the throne tomorrow, I, Yin Chaozong, will never let this rest!"

Yin Chaozong was forty-seven this year, the youngest head of the Yin family in a hundred years, and also the youngest prime minister since the founding of the Great Yong dynasty.

He was a man of striking appearance. During the imperial examinations, he had originally placed first as the top scholar, but because of his good looks, he was appointed as the third rank's tri-yuan recipient. After losing his first wife, relying on his ability, his looks, and marrying the legitimate daughter of the Duke of Zhao as his second wife, he had grown older not with senility, but with an added imposing aura. In Yin Jiaojiao's memory, he had always been dignified, upright, and calculating in all things, rarely flying into a rage.

To see him bare his fangs and brandish his brows like this for an unfavored daughter—as that daughter, Yin Jiaojiao could not describe what she felt. There was a sense of being moved, yet it also felt entirely illusory.

Xiao Yuanchi's complexion was deathly pale without a trace of blood, his brows brimming with chill. Hearing this, the corners of his lips twitched slightly.

"From the day Jiaojiao was abducted to today, a full seventeen days have passed. Her father never once appeared. How she struggled, how she cried for help, how she met with harm, and how she was treated—you never cared about any of it. Where on earth did you get this so-called evidence?"

Yin Chaozong sneered. "Jiaojiao died by your exclusive feathered arrows. With so many pairs of eyes witnessing it, there are bound to be those with a remaining shred of conscience willing to step forward and speak. Prince Qin, I understand your schemes; it is merely to sever any ties between the Yin family and yourself, and... to clear the path for your widowed sister!"

Having his hidden motives exposed so abruptly took him by surprise, and even though Yin Jiaojiao knew she was dreaming, she still grew tense.

This dream was bizarre. Although it was a dream, every single detail felt extraordinarily real. The only unreal part was her father, who usually treated her like thin air, shedding blood and tears to interrogate the husband who had treated her like a tool—it was solemn to the point of being almost laughable. Yin Jiaojiao exerted herself to float forward a few paces, hovering right in front of Xiao Yuanchi.

She guessed that perhaps she simply desired it too much to conjure such an absurd dream.

She craved her father's affection so deeply, and yearned for an explanation from her husband.

Therefore, even if it were only a dream, she wanted to see with her own eyes what answer Xiao Yuanchi would give.

Mentioning the person he held dear, Xiao Yuanchi furrowed his brows, his voice darkening a fraction further. "Do you even deserve to mention the Gu family?"

***

"I don't deserve it, but you do? Prince Qin, what are you plotting by pulling the Princess Consort into this? You might fool others, but you can't fool me," Yin Chaozong took a step forward, saying in a deep voice. "It is simply for the remnant military forces left behind by General Gu. Unfortunately, trying to coerce the emperor with military might will likely not get you what you want; it will only lead to you being smashed to pieces all the sooner!"

"..."

The tightly pressed corners of Xiao Yuanchi's mouth suddenly relaxed.

"It sounds like, even now, the Prime Minister still does not understand what I truly want. How pathetic and lamentable." He raised his eyes, his gaze sharp, piercing right through the floating Yin Jiaojiao to fix upon Yin Chaozong. "No wonder the Prime Minister could only use his own daughter to set a trap for me. What a pity that this trap was so crudely made—it couldn't harm me in the least, but you, Prime Minister..."

He sneered coldly.

"You have already reached a dead end, with no cards left to play."

Yin Chaozong sneered back.

"When you cannot explain, you talk about something else entirely. Prince Qin, the one with no cards left to play is likely you."

"Is that so?" Xiao Yuanchi squeezed the words out from between his teeth. "Without Yin Jiaojiao, how much longer do you think your own life can be preserved?"

Utter fury burned in the depths of the man's eyes, as though he meant to avenge her. Yin Jiaojiao started, only to hear Yin Chaozong burst into laughter from behind her.

"Prince Qin, trying to feign deep affection at this late stage is far too late. Would you like your father-in-law to remind you who it was, in the eyes of the world, that broke my daughter's heart, ruined her body, and ultimately took her life?"

"Do you suppose that when my daughter died and looked at that fatal arrow, she didn't recognize that it came from your own quiver?"

Yin Chaozong grew excited, practically unable to stop himself.

"To die in such a miserable fashion—tell me, might she transform into an evil ghost one of these midnights in a dream, and drag you down into the eighteenth level of hell?"

Yin Jiaojiao had never heard Yin Chaozong speak in such an icy, sinister tone. She felt a chill gather from all directions, freezing her teeth.

Was this really her upright and wise father?

Before she could rub her arms and recover from her astonishment, she heard a soft, cold scoff.

"If she is truly willing to come and see me," Xiao Yuanchi said, "then even plunging together into the Avici hell would be a joy I gladly accept."