That sudden roar made Yan Yihuan jolt. He involuntarily took a few steps back, tripped on the bed, and stumbled backward. A sharp sense of danger surged through him, and he immediately tried to get up, but his vision darkened as Li Xuanjing loomed over him, pinning him tightly beneath him.
Heavy breathing sounded right beside his ear. Yan Yihuan pressed his hands futilely against Li Xuanjing’s heaving chest. This perilous position frightened him even more than when the sword had been pressed against his back. He did not dare meet Li Xuanjing’s savage, beastlike eyes, and whispered in a trembling voice,
“Are you crazy?!”
“Yea, I am. You drove me crazy!” Li Xuanjing tore open Yan Yihuan’s collar without the slightest restraint, exposing the marks that still remained for all to see, making them even more glaring to his eyes. “During the spring hunt, what did you and Li Xuanming do together in broad daylight? I heard every word of how you begged him for pleasure while you were on horseback!”
Yan Yihuan’s head throbbed. He stared at the furious Li Xuanjing in utter shock, “You…!”
“What? Nothing to say now?” Veins bulging on the back of his hand as his fingers roughly brushed across Yan Yihuan’s cheek. The rough, merciless force made Yan Yihuan knit his brows tightly. He struggled but was unable to move. “I never imagined, Yan Yihuan, that you were such a shameless person.”
For some reason, hearing those words caused a surge of anger to rise from the depths of Yan Yihuan’s heart, driving away his fear. So what if he had slept with the Emperor? Li Xuanjing was neither family nor anything to him. What right did he have to slander them!
“Other than monks, who in the world doesn’t do this kind of thing too? It was completely consensual, so what’s wrong with it? I wanted to do it with the Emperor myself. Did it bother anyone!” His voice was still trembling, yet he refused to back down. “Shameless? I’d say your rebellion is what’s truly shameless. You’re the one who deserves to die and atone for your crimes!”
Li Xuanjing was caught off guard by the unexpected outburst and froze for a moment. Where was the Yan Yihuan who had been timid as a mouse, who always hoped someone else would bear the burden even if the sky fell?
He really had changed. It was not just the unconscious hint of allure that now lingered around his eyes and brows. Even while being held down, Yan Yihuan had dared to rebuke him so fiercely the moment he mentioned Li Xuanming.
He had truly fallen in love with the one person in the world he had most wanted to disappear.
Li Xuanjing’s shoulders suddenly began to shake. His strange, mocking laughter sounded especially terrifying in the darkness, making Yan Yihuan, who had been bracing himself for an outburst of rage, feel even more frightened.
“Why do you think Li Xuanming kept you by his side? Just because you’re easy to fuck?”
“You… you…!” Such crude, vulgar words coming from Li Xuanjing left Yan Yihuan both humiliated and furious and filled him with even greater disgust. He pressed his lips tightly together, refusing to say another word to him.
“He only wanted you because of your empress’ fate. You don’t actually think he likes you, do you?”
Yan Yihuan, who had just decided not to say another word, let out a startled sound upon hearing this. He just assumed that Li Xuanjing had lost his mind in anger,
“What nonsense are you talking about!”
“Still won’t admit it?” Li Xuanjing sneered. “I heard your mother say it herself all those years ago. Do you really think Li Xuanming likes you? He only wanted you because he needed your fate to secure his position.”
“My mother said that…?” Yan Yihuan looked utterly bewildered, yet for some reason, as absurd as it sounded, a part of him felt it might actually be true.
Because only if it were true would everything finally make sense.
Why was it that after Daoist Master Yuzhen read his fortune, his father, who had always been so strict, stopped caring about his studies altogether, letting him spend his days leisurely and never again mentioning the imperial examinations?
Why was it that when his father later traveled to the capital to report on his duties, no matter how much Yan Yihuan begged, he refused to take him along, even saying for no apparent reason that he should stay far away from the capital from then on?
And why, after he had no choice but to enter the capital to serve as the grand historian, did his family rush to arrange a marriage for him?
At the thought, Yan Yihuan’s eyelid twitched, and he murmured,
“Could it be… that Big Brother Xu died because of this too?”
“Xu Xinyao?” Li Xuanjing scoffed. “An overconfident fool.”
Yan Yihuan, who had kept his face turned away from Li Xuanjing the entire time, suddenly widened his eyes and stared straight into those cold, indifferent ones, “It was you?!”
“That’s right. It was me.” Contempt was written all over Li Xuanjing’s face. “That’s the price of lacking the proper fate.”
Li Xuanjing had gone mad, completely mad!
Just because of this invisible, intangible destiny, he had murdered someone who posed no threat at all. Setting aside whether Yan Yihuan had even wanted to marry Xu Xinyao, even if they had married, did Li Xuanjing really think that alone could have made Xu Xinyao emperor? It was utterly absurd!
“I finally understand the greatest difference between you and His Majesty.” Although he was still completely at Li Xuanjing’s mercy, a surge of relief welled up inside Yan Yihuan. Relief that he had steadfastly chosen to believe in the Emperor. But what did believing matter now? He did not even know if he would live to see him again.
The sharp pain in his chest made his breath catch, and he could not stop himself from coughing before he continued,
“He wouldn’t care about something like that. As for you, beneath all that arrogance, you’re nothing but an insecure, pathetic coward!”
Li Xuanjing’s smile grew even more sinister.
“So what if I believe it? If sleeping with him was because of your destiny, then I’ll change that destiny myself. What can he do about it?”
Before Li Xuanjing had even finished speaking, Yan Yihuan understood his intention and struggled with all his strength, nearly breaking free from Li Xuanjing’s grasp while he was caught off guard.
But in the next instant, Li Xuanjing’s swift reflexes turned the situation around. A sharp pain shot through Yan Yihuan’s shoulder, forcing a cry of agony from him.
“If you don’t behave, I’ll dislocate both your arms.”
Yan Yihuan was horrified. The tears he had stubbornly refused to shed finally spilled over. No matter how fiercely he argued or how angrily he cursed, he knew that in the end, he could never overcome the crushing force pressing down on him.
Kicking, hitting, and biting were all futile. Tears streamed endlessly down his face, soaking the hair at his temples. He continued cursing Li Xuanjing as fiercely as he could, yet every word was filled with an unprecedented despair.
A sudden, urgent knocking sounded at the door, causing Li Xuanjing, whose mind had been consumed entirely by hatred, to pause for a moment. But he shot Yan Yihuan a vicious look, his hand reaching once more for the sash that Yan Yihuan was clutching with all his strength.
“Your Highness! Your Highness!” It was the same voice from before. “If we don’t leave now, it’ll be too late.”
Those words finally restored a trace of reason to Li Xuanjing’s eyes. He looked down at Yan Yihuan, whose eyes were red from crying. The sash had dug so deeply into his fingers that they had turned purple, yet he still refused to let go. He had bitten his lips so hard that blood had begun to seep out.
“Your Highness, we can’t delay any longer!”
The desperate cries from outside finally made Li Xuanjing loosen his grip. The moment he did, Yan Yihuan could no longer hold on either. His hands fell away as he collapsed, gasping for breath, only then feeling the searing pain burning through both of them.
Li Xuanjing cast him a cold glance before stepping outside and returning with a set of ordinary soldier’s clothes. Yan Yihuan no longer had the strength to resist. After forcing the clothes onto him, Li Xuanjing bound him tightly and shoved him into a carriage that immediately set off into the night.
Author’s Note:
We’re really nearing the end now!
