Mercenary Princess - Chapter 108
Retracting her foot, Rongyue turned and walked into the dark cell. Under the flickering candlelight hanging from the eaves, she took heavy steps and gradually approached the dark figure in the deepest part of the cell...
Unlocking the iron lock, Rongyue waved away the jailer who had led the way and bent down to enter the cell.
In a damp, dark corner of the cell, Dongfang Yao was curled up in a ball. Whether from the cold or some other reason, he was shivering as he lay asleep with his knees drawn up to his chest...
"Wife, wife, no..." Dongfang Yao cried out urgently in her sleep, her hair, covered in grass clippings, swaying wildly, her voice filled with terror.
Her expression shifted. She glanced at the trembling Dongfang Yao with a complicated look, then reached out and touched the ribbon hanging from her lapel. Hesitantly, she lowered her hand and raised it again, repeatedly, her brow furrowed in struggle. She bit her lip, raised her hand, and pulled hard. The knot came undone, and the white cloak fluttered into her hand.
With a flick of her wrist, Shengxue's cloak, carrying a faint scent of pear blossoms, slowly drifted down from mid-air, gently covering Dongfang Yao's shivering body like a soft silver glow.
The moment the cloak fell, Dongfang Yao jolted awake, his hands flailing wildly in the air, crying out, "Wife, no—!"
He was panting heavily, his eyes wide with terror, his body drenched in cold sweat. It took him quite a while to recover from his nightmare before he finally let go of his wildly flailing hands, his body going limp, his hands weakly bracing themselves on the damp straw.
His dejected eyes inadvertently darted around, and a glimpse of snow-white skin caught his eye. At the same moment, his eyes snapped open, and the slender figure standing with her back to him, hands clasped behind her back, made him exclaim in delight, "Wife!"
"I once said, don't call me that anymore, because I can't bear it, Prince Yao." A light, calm voice drifted from ahead, soft yet suffocating Dongfang Yao.
Holding up the white cloak, Dongfang Yao leaned closer, her face lingering on his cheek, and murmured with adoring eyes, "I long, I long to go back to when you sweetly called me 'Brother Yao'... How wonderful those times were, without any grudges or barriers. We would hunt birds in the vast forest, raid their nests, roast their eggs, the whole forest filled with our joyful laughter... But, once you've seen the ocean, other waters seem insignificant. I know, everything is gone forever..."
Her almond-shaped eyes flickered with a subtle, unsettling light.
Raising his bitter eyes, Dongfang Yao questioned painfully, "Wife, if you disliked me for being foolish from the beginning, then why did you treat me so well after we married, causing me to sink into a quagmire from which I could not extricate myself? And why did you deliver the fatal blow when I was deeply poisoned by love, plunging me from the paradise of happiness into an endless dark and painful hell, making me wish I were dead? Wife, why, why? What place do I hold in your heart? Tell me, please? So that even if I die, I can die in peace."
A deep, long-dormant emotion suddenly surged within her, overwhelmed by resentment. Huo De turned his face away, Rong Yue retorting with hatred, "I also want to ask you, how could you stand by and watch Chu Xuyao assault me! Dongfang Yao, I am your wife! Didn't you feel anything watching your wife being raped by another man?!"
"Violence?" Dongfang Yao's expression changed drastically upon hearing this.
“You disown me, curse me, hit me, insult me, I can endure and forgive all of that. But as a husband, as a man, you allow your wife to be violated and humiliated, and you remain indifferent from beginning to end! Tell me, where do you place me? Dongfang Yao, do you know how cold my heart is?”
Dongfang Yao was stunned, as if struck by lightning, and stammered, "Didn't you throw yourself into my arms willingly...?"
He was filled with anger and resentment, and all sorts of grievances welled up in his heart!
Snatching the cloak from Dongfang Yao's hand, Rongyue growled, her voice low with pain, "Go to hell!"
He scrambled to his feet and swiftly grabbed Rongyue from behind as she rushed out, demanding, "Wife, explain yourself! What exactly happened?" His breathing was rapid, his mind a jumble of tension and confusion, but he had a nagging feeling that a profound misunderstanding was brewing...
"What happened? Ha! Didn't you say you stood in front of the door for half a day and a night and saw everything clearly?!"
"I..." Dongfang Yao's lips opened and closed repeatedly, he stammered for a long time but didn't know where to begin. He only learned about the half-day and one-night ordeal later. On that day, when he rushed there after hearing the news, he only managed to see Chu Xuyao walking out of the house with a satisfied look on his face, and Huo Ming flying out of the house shortly after... But he was a coward. Remembering Chu Xuyao's beaming face just now, he immediately stopped and dared not step into the courtyard, let alone enter the house to question Rong Yue... Because he was afraid, he was afraid to see his wife with a sweet and happy expression after being pampered by another man. If that were the case, he thought he would completely collapse, so in his cowardice, he chose to run away… The reason he lied to her that day, saying he witnessed the whole thing, was because he mistakenly believed… so he wanted to use that to shame her… No wonder she slapped him angrily as soon as he finished speaking, instead of the overwhelming shame he had expected… No wonder…
Volume Two: The Resolute Heroines' Chronicle, Chapter Thirty-Eight: Yao's Perseverance
Dongfang Yao's silence was seen by Rong Yue as nothing less than a sign of guilt. Her grief and resentment intensified; she twisted her body frantically, kicking and punching Dongfang Yao who was tightly holding her from behind: "Let me go! Let me go!"
He hugged Rongyue tighter, burying his head deeply in the crook of her neck. His eyes were closed as he silently endured Rongyue's resentment and anger, letting her kick, bite, and tear at him, his arms holding her captive refusing to loosen their grip even slightly...
"Wife?" She looked up in confusion, gazing at Rongyue's profile illuminated by the dim candlelight, surprised by her abruptly stopped movement.
"Wife? Wife, what's wrong?" He walked around to Rongyue in confusion, looking down at her, but saw that she was frozen in place, her expression stiff, her eyes staring straight ahead to the side.
Following Rongyue's gaze, Dongfang Yao quickly turned his head and finally saw a dim silhouette flickering in the dim candlelight. Above the silhouette, a cool breeze blew against the emaciated body, and above that, a cold, expressionless handsome face. The lifeless pupils were open blankly, the unmoving eyeballs silent, like dark, round holes nailed to their sockets, devoid of life's brilliance, utterly devoid of vitality…
An eerie silence hung over the three men in the cell. They remained motionless, gazing at each other, silent. No one moved, no one spoke to break the silence. Perhaps, for them, the silence was the best language…
"Chen, you... heard everything?" Biting her lip, Rongyue finally couldn't help but ask.
The soft lines at the corners of her lips unexpectedly curved upwards, revealing a gentle smile: "What did you hear? Little San, it's getting late, shouldn't we go back? I woke up and touched the bed and you weren't there, it startled me. You just disappeared for no reason, I thought you'd been lured away by a ghost! How naughty of you, turns out you came to play in the prison! Come here quickly, there's still an hour or so until dawn, if we hurry back we might be able to catch up on some sleep!"
Dongfang Yao's body suddenly stiffened like iron.
Seeing Dongfang Yao's reaction, Rongyue lowered her eyes, bit her lower lip, and responded softly. She moved away from Dongfang Yao and started walking towards Tuoba Chen.
Her wrist was suddenly pulled by a powerful force, the stiff force abruptly stopping her in her tracks.
"If you want to blame me, I have nothing to say." The voice was gentle and light, like a breeze, but at this moment it was as cold and desolate as snow in the wind.
The grip on his wrist tightened suddenly: "No, I won't blame you. If anyone should blame someone, it's myself..."
The shadow beneath them trembled slightly, accompanied by a soft, cleansing sigh: "Let go!"
Dongfang Yao was jolted. Her serene and resolute face lingered before his eyes, pressing against his chest, making even his breath feel heavy with pain. How could he not hear the double meaning in her words? Letting go… his wife? How easy was that?
Starting with his thumb, Rongyue, her face ashen, calmly and silently pried open Dongfang Yao's five fingers, one by one. She bent low and left the cell, her figure receding into the distance, yet drawing ever closer to another man. Inside the cell was him, outside was her, a row of cold bars mercilessly separating them…
My vision blurred. My wife, is this how I'll only ever be able to watch your receding figure from afar from now on...?
"Believe it or not, I wasn't standing outside the door that day, nor did I stand by and watch—" Dongfang Yao shouted hoarsely at the receding figure in the darkness. After shouting, she touched her cold face and realized that tears were streaming down her face.
Their steps faltered. After a moment, a clear, cool voice drifted from afar: "It's no longer important. The past is gone." With that, she quickened her pace, helping Tuoba Chen away swiftly.
daughter in law……
His body slid limply down the fence. The past is gone… a single sentence erases everything…
My dear wife, how resolute, how carefree, and yet, how cruel you are...
Throughout the journey, Tuoba Chen kept his lips tightly pressed together, his face cold and silent.
As soon as he entered the bedchamber, he suddenly kicked the door shut. Before Rongyue could react, he swiftly hoisted her onto his shoulders and, following a familiar path, strode to the bed, tossing Rongyue onto the soft, smooth quilt. Instantly, his burning body pressed down on her.
"Chen, what are you doing!" Rongyue cried out in alarm, pressing her hands against his pounding chest.
With a firm jawline, Tuoba Chen said in a deep voice, "Little San, you've kept me waiting too long tonight, long enough that you might have already forgotten. So, tonight, I will take it all back from you!"
Grabbing Rongyue's hands that were bracing against him, Tuoba Chen forcefully pulled her body down onto Rongyue's delicate frame. A torrent of hot kisses rained down, domineering and wild, filled with intense love, covering Rongyue's cheeks and winding down her delicate neck, leaving a trail of frenzied marks…