Chapter 35: The Mad, Lustful Hostage and the Pampered, Arrogant Princess (35)

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Shu Yao reached for her collarbone. The savage bite marks were grotesquely swollen and uneven; it was plain that the beast had used all his strength.

The flesh, even the bone beneath it, throbbed with pain.

She panted heavily, fury surging through her.

“You insolent dog of a servant.”

“Guards!”

Five eunuchs immediately rushed into the hall.

The commotion inside had left them trembling with fear, and not one dared raise his eyes to meet Shu Yao’s gaze.

Shu Yao pointed at Shen Jingmu. Blood pouring from his chest had already soaked through his palace robes, and the loss of blood had left him dizzy and gasping for breath.

“Drag this dog of a servant away and give him thirty strokes!”

For an ordinary person, thirty strokes would mean death at worst, and crippling at best.

Though Shen Jingmu possessed formidable strength and exceptional endurance, the blood he had lost had already weakened him considerably. Thirty blows would cost him half his life.

Shu Yao watched coldly, waiting for him to bow his head and beg for mercy at her feet.

But Shen Jingmu did not. He did not even resist.

Before long, the sound of wooden rods striking flesh rang out from beyond the hall.

An incense stick later, Shen Jingmu dragged his battered body back inside.

After enduring thirty brutal strokes, he could still walk upright. Yet everywhere he passed, he left behind conspicuous bloody footprints.

Shu Yao rebuked him sharply. “Why have you crawled back in?”

Shen Jingmu breathed weakly, his eyelids lowered as though he had finally submitted.

“I have not yet washed Your Highness’s feet.”

The hot water fetched earlier had nearly gone cold. Shen Jingmu had actually gone to fetch another basin, then knelt trembling at Shu Yao’s feet.

One bite in exchange for a body drenched in blood.

Her full red lips trembled, but in the end, Shu Yao said nothing.

A deep wound on Shen Jingmu’s palm, torn open by a dagger, plunged into the wooden basin. The hot water slowly changed color.

He gently lifted Shu Yao’s foot, leaving streaks of blood across her snow-white, delicate instep.

Whether intentionally or not, she could not tell.

Shu Yao no longer made things difficult for him and obediently placed her foot into the warm water.

His fingertips were rough as they rubbed against the tender sole of her foot. Shu Yao lowered her gaze to him, her expression unreadable.

She did not believe Shen Jingmu had truly submitted. She believed only that this was a temporary disguise.

Or rather—a scheme of feigned suffering.

Shu Yao curled her lips and asked gleefully, “Your backside must be smashed to pieces by now, mustn’t it?”

His hands paused. Shen Jingmu raised his head and asked gently, “Would Your Highness like to see?”

The words left Shu Yao speechless. After a long moment, she gritted her teeth and cursed, “You shameless creature.”

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Shen Jingmu did not answer back. With his eyes lowered and his manner submissive, he continued washing her feet.

Once familiar with a task, one became proficient. His technique was now remarkably skilled. Even so, Shu Yao dared not relax, constantly weighing the possibility that he might suddenly rise up and strangle her to death.

Yet Shen Jingmu had no such intention at all. He was perfectly obedient, as though the man who had just gnawed at her collarbone had never been him.

“I rather like this docile appearance of yours, now that you’ve been beaten into submission.”

She teased him, then suddenly raised her foot and pressed it against Shen Jingmu’s chest.

The wound that had finally stopped bleeding began to gush once more.

With a graceful flick of her jade-white foot, she kicked him hard enough to send him sprawling onto the floor.

Her right foot came down ruthlessly upon the man’s bleeding chest.

“Kneel, mad dog!”

The newly changed thick carpet was stained again, the blood seeping from beneath him glaringly bright.

Shu Yao arched her instep and swung it coldly through the air.

“If you dare bite me again, I’ll have your dog teeth pulled out one by one!”

Shen Jingmu crawled toward her on hands and knees, then gently cradled her foot.

With his head bowed, his expression solemn and devout, he pressed kiss after kiss upon it.

“This servant is vile and base. I beg Your Highness to take pity on me.”

His voice was hoarse, as though rubbed raw by sandpaper. His canine teeth brushed lightly over the protruding bone of Shu Yao’s ankle, making her shudder violently.

Shu Yao clenched her teeth, only to see ripples stir in those emerald eyes. As he lowered his head, his lashes swept across the top of her foot, raising a fine tremor.

A tingling sensation shot straight up her spine and burst against the crown of her head.

Unable to bear the ticklishness, Shu Yao instinctively tried to pull her foot away, but he only tightened his grip.

He looked weak and barely able to endure, yet his strength had not diminished in the slightest.

The ticklish sensation traced the arch of her foot before her toes were suddenly caught between his teeth.

Shu Yao arched her back, her fingernails clawing disordered creases into the brocade couch.

“That’s enough. Let go.”

Her command came in a broken tremor. With a soft sound, Shen Jingmu finally released her.

He lifted his head. A few traces of blood colored his pallid face, revealing a satisfaction he could no longer conceal.

Shu Yao was filled with dread. Only two words remained in her mind:

Pervert.

After washing her feet until she was drenched in sweat, Shu Yao ordered Shen Jingmu to get out. Only when she was left alone in the empty bedchamber did she finally manage to calm herself.

Her cheeks burned like fire. She raised a hand to touch them, while the terrifying sensation seemed to linger on her toes.

“Wretched dog.”

She cursed resentfully, then suddenly heard movement outside the hall. A familiar, rough voice rang out.

“Little Imperial Sister, what a delightful mood you’re in.”

Shu Yao straightened her disordered clothing and looked up.

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“Imperial Brother.”

Chu Yuan arrived with the chill of night dew upon him, surveying the disarray in the bedchamber with evident interest.

If their father learned that the imperial daughter he cherished in the palm of his hand had been fooling around on a couch with a lowly hostage prince, what an entertaining sight that would be.

Excitement flashed in his eyes.

Shu Yao had no intention of hiding anything. Reclining against the couch, she cast him a languid glance.

“You came looking for me in the middle of the night. Is there something you need, Imperial Brother?”

Chu Yuan laughed heartily. “There is! Something very important!”

He strode into the room and sat down beside a carved pearwood table.

After putting on her shoes and socks, Shu Yao walked over, poured two cups of warm tea, and pushed one toward Chu Yuan.

Chu Yuan narrowed his eyes as he looked at the tea before him but did not touch it.

“Did you know I would come?”

Meeting his gaze, Shu Yao lifted her cup and took a light sip before replying, “Now that the meeting with the envoys is over, do you really think you could sit still, Imperial Brother?”

Chu Yuan stared at her in astonishment for a moment, then laughed again.

“My little sister truly is clever.”

Shaking his head with a rueful laugh, he finally lifted the cup and drank.

“Why don’t you simply say what you came to say?”

Shu Yao’s gaze was too direct for him to deliver any of the preamble he had prepared.

He nodded and praised her three times in succession. “Good. Good. Good.”

Shu Yao had already guessed his purpose. Now that the envoys’ meeting was over and she was to marry into a foreign state in two months, he wanted to draw her into his faction before then.

The neighboring kingdom was powerful, and this visit had been made in the hope of forging a strong alliance. Once the position of Crown Prince became vacant, she would marry into that kingdom and become its Crown Princess. Though she would hold no real authority, she could still influence matters through the pillow talk between husband and wife.

Shu Yao could not decide whether to admire Chu Yuan for his patience or mock him for his stupidity.

The original owner’s relationship with Empress Xiaode had not merely been that of mother and daughter; they had been closer than that. Yet he naively believed that a few persuasive words from himself could convince Shu Yao to betray her.

In the story, the position of Crown Prince ultimately fell to the Third Prince. He had barely settled into the throne before Shen Jingmu arrived with his forces.

Everything Chu Yuan was plotting was nothing more than a fool’s dream.

If Shu Yao had to choose between him and the Third Prince, she actually favored Chu Lanqing.

He was skilled at intrigue and willing to risk everything.

The Fifth Prince, Chu Mingjue, and Anle were all stepping stones beneath his feet.

His methods might be ruthless, but how could anyone who accomplished great things be a softhearted coward?

Especially not a muscle-bound simpleton like Chu Yuan.