Chapter 42: The Obsessive, Insatiable Hostage Prince and the Pampered, Arrogant Princess (42)

"Hey, you!"

Even a fool of a lieutenant could tell he was being cursed, and he immediately took offense, flexing his arm as if wanting to beat him up.

However, Cen Mo ran at lightning speed, slipping away in the blink of an eye.

Shen Jingmu hoisted Shu Yao over his shoulder, kicked open the doors of the Wutong Palace, and flung her onto the couch.

"Oof!"

Shu Yao's head collided directly with the soft cushions, leaving her dizzy and seeing stars.

The man pressed down upon her.

Shu Yao immediately scrambled backward, but the man gripped her ankle and dragged her straight back.

"Audacious! How dare you touch me!"

"Get away, you vile slave!"

Having only a few vocabulary words to hurl in abuse, Shen Jingmu found it rather amusing.

He knelt beside Shu Yao, straightening his upper body to untie the dark belt at his waist.

Shu Yao's eyes widened, speaking wildly in her panic.

"What are you doing? How dare you!"

Ignoring her tirade, Shen Jingmu unfastened his belt with a single hand.

Shu Yao struggled even more violently, using both hands and feet to kick at Shen Jingmu's face.

Losing his patience, Shen Jingmu pressed his weight directly onto Shu Yao, leaning down to pin her wrists.

He threaded the belt through her wrist bones, securing it tightly to the thin pillar beside the couch.

Shen Jingmu raised his eyelids, looking her up and down.

"Keep cursing."

Instinctively straightening her spine, Shu Yao wanted to hurl a few more insults, but upon meeting his gloomy gaze, she prudently shrank back.

Shen Jingmu sneered. "Done cursing?"

A wise person does not fight when the odds are against them, and Shu Yao chose to temporarily withdraw from the battle.

Averting her gaze so she wouldn't have to look at him, she curled up into a tight ball, her back turned to Shen Jingmu.

His gaze swept over the woman's trembling spine, the delicate, slender lines tracing into the distance, her wrist bones so frail they looked as though a breath of wind could snap them.

Shen Jingmu gave her one deep look and turned to leave.

Hearing the doors of the hall close, Shu Yao's rigid body finally began to relax.

Her first priority was to summon the system.

"What is going on? Why is this different from the plot? Why didn't Shen Jingmu kill me?"

She could accept the destined ending—death—but the unknown terror made her even more anxious.

Would she die right here due to some glitch?

The system emitted a buzzing static sound.

[Divergence in the plotline detected. Beep, repairing.]

[Repair at 10%, 20%, repair failed. Warning! Warning!]

The violent crackling sound made her heart leap frantically.

Two seconds later, the harsh static vanished, and the system returned to normal.

[Host, please complete the mission as soon as possible—die at the hands of the male protagonist (Shen Jingmu).]

Shu Yao spread her hands. "I want to! But this brute won't kill me; he wants to torture me!"

There were even worse things than torture, things Shu Yao didn't even dare to imagine.

The system's voice was utterly merciless. [Warning: If the host dies in the small world at the hands of irrelevant individuals, it will be judged as a direct failure!]

Shu Yao was on the verge of tears. With her hands bound to the slender pillar, she had nowhere to escape, and given her strength, snapping the pillar was completely out of the question.

The soft couch she once loved had now transformed into a narrow cage confining her.

A lowly hostage had transformed overnight into the master of her fate.

Knock, knock.

The hall doors were tapped, and several maids walked in carrying food boxes.

Exquisite dishes were laid out before Shu Yao, yet she had no appetite whatsoever.

What on earth was Shen Jingmu planning?

She could not fathom what was in his mind.

These maids were not from Liao; they were from Chu.

With the imperial capital fallen, they had chosen a master of their own accord and become Shen Jingmu's people.

Everyone cherished their lives—it was the most natural choice in the world, and Shu Yao did not make things difficult for them.

"I'm not eating. Take them away."

The maid paused in her motion of feeding, gently put down the soup spoon, and walked out. After that, no one else came.

Through the doors of the hall, she could see numerous armored guards keeping watch outside.

As if driven by some impulse, Shu Yao asked the system, "What happens if Shen Jingmu never kills me and just locks me up to torture me for the rest of my life?"

She believed he was capable of doing just that.

[Changing mission... Mission change complete.]

[Host, please hang in there and act as a vicious female supporting character who has 'died', right up until your physical demise.]

Shu Yao understood.

Since Shen Jingmu wouldn't kill her, she had only to escape, make room for the male and female protagonists, and never appear before them again.

There was only one drawback to this plan—she would have to survive the rest of her life in this small world by the skin of her teeth.

-

The soldiers spent three days cleaning up the imperial palace.

During these days, Shu Yao did not see Shen Jingmu, though she learned a great deal of information from the food-delivering maids.

Chu Yuan had been thrown into the dungeon; Empress Xiaode, Imperial Noble Consort Li, and the other female consorts of the inner palace were locked up in the Hall of Supreme Harmony, awaiting sentencing.

As for the remaining soldiers, those who voluntarily surrendered were incorporated into the army, while those unwilling to surrender were shown no mercy.

The prosperous and flourishing Great Chu had perished overnight.

Shen Jingmu's methods could not be called ruthless, but neither were they particularly merciful.

The blood of the former dynasty's officials filled several large vats in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, and the stench of blood lingered for three days.

Thud, thud.

The heavy sound of footsteps echoed from outside the hall, startling Shu Yao into opening her eyes.

Having finished cleaning up the aftermath, he had come to deal with her.

Her intertwined fingers tightened involuntarily before she forced them to relax.

Screeech.

The doors of the hall opened.

The tall figure of a man appeared in her field of vision.

He had removed his armor and was draped in a black cloud-brocade cloak; the shadow he cast completely covered the entire soft couch.

Shu Yao shrank her neck, turning her head to glare at him with hatred.

Over the past three days, she had eaten very little, only being fed a couple of bites by the maids when she was on the verge of fainting from hunger.

Suffering from severe dehydration, Shu Yao's lips were dry and pale, and her complexion looked as distressing as that of someone suffering from a terminal illness.

She engaged in a silent standoff with Shen Jingmu, neither making a move.

After a long while, Shen Jingmu made the first move.

casually picking up a pastry from the round table, his tone level, he said, "Her Highness has such backbone. Since I won't kill you, are you going to starve yourself to death?"

"Compared to starving to death, I'd rather you just killed me."

Her red lips quivered, and Shu Yao realized her throat was dry and burning, her voice rasping harshly like an old crone's.

Shen Jingmu walked forward at a leisurely pace, stopping right in front of Shu Yao.

"Is Her Highness not afraid of death?"

He loved breaking spirits—subduing an infinitely proud eagle soaring across the sky into an obedient little bird—it gave him an immense sense of accomplishment.

So he had broken her spirit for a full three days.

Not a single word of surrender; this stubborn bone was truly difficult to chew through.

Shu Yao sneered, grinding her teeth.

"Compared to dying, I find the thought of sharing a room with you utterly nauseating!"

Every single word was deliberately drawn out, trampling upon the man's dignity and bottom line.

"A rebellious, base dog who dared to commit treason—you will rot in the eighteenth level of hell."

Now that he occupied such a high position, how could he possibly tolerate someone calling him a base dog?

She was pushing him, forcing Shen Jingmu to exhaust his patience and put her out of her misery.

"Ugh!"

Her neck was seized, though the force was held in check.

"Since Her Highness is not afraid of death, this slave will take you to watch a good show."

His low, hoarse voice sounded like a fiend, stirring unreasoning terror in her heart.

The more respectful his tone became, the more exhilarated his emotions grew.

"What are you taking me to see?"

Shu Yao disgustedly avoided his touch; wherever he had touched her, it felt like thousands of ants crawling over her skin, raising a shiver of revulsion.

Slender knuckles cupped her earlobe, rubbing it firmly as Shen Jingmu smiled gently.

"Her Highness will know in a moment."

"Let go! Let me go!"

Shu Yao was dragged away by his formidable strength toward the deep dungeons.