"I didn't, Tianfeng. Believe me, I really didn't..."
Zhu Wanying broke down. She suddenly fell to her knees, sobbing her heart out:
"Qian Xunji really was arrogant, but he never touched me!
He only... only... made me massage his legs all night to humiliate me and the Star Luo Empire!"
"Massage his legs? Hahahaha! What a fine massage!"
Dai Tianfeng laughed as if he'd just heard the greatest joke in the world. His wounds split open, and blood seeped through the bandages, but he didn't care.
"A man and a woman alone in a secret chamber, and you're telling me you only massaged his legs? Zhu Wanying, do you think Qian Xunji beat me stupid? Can you still smell him on yourself?"
A ruler was naturally suspicious. With Dai Tianfeng's extreme male chauvinism and royal pride clouding his heart, Zhu Wanying's explanation sounded laughably flimsy.
Seeing the disgust in Dai Tianfeng's eyes, even a hint of murderous intent, Zhu Wanying's heart turned completely cold.
She had endured humiliation beyond what an ordinary person could imagine to protect him and save her family. She'd even been forced to agree to send her own sister into the tiger's den.
If not for those ties, she would have ended her life yesterday. Why else would she have let Qian Xunji...!
But she had escaped by the skin of her teeth and made it back, only to be met with what?
In that moment, Zhu Wanying closed her eyes, and tears slid silently down her cheeks.
Nothing hurt more than a heart that had died. What had all that sacrifice been for?
She knew that she and Dai Tianfeng were through.
The Star Luo Imperial Family and the Zhu Family's greatest inherited trump card, the [Martial Soul Fusion Skill: Hell White Tiger], required the two partners to be of one heart and trust each other.
But now, the venomous snake of suspicion had sunk its fangs deep into Dai Tianfeng's heart. This rift, this "green hat"—
It would forever stand between them.
From now on, the Star Luo Empire would never again see the Hell White Tiger of the two of them!
"Since Your Majesty doesn't believe me, I have nothing more to say."
Zhu Wanying slowly stood and wiped away her tears. Her gaze turned hollow and cold, stripped of all the tenderness she'd once shown.
"Pope Qian Xunji let me come back on the condition that one of my Zhu family's daughters go to Spirit Hall to become his personal disciple. For the safety of Star Luo, I've already agreed."
"You didn't just sell your body. You sold out your family, too?!" Dai Tianfeng ground his teeth.
Zhu Wanying paid no more heed to Dai Tianfeng's furious shouting. She turned and walked out of the imperial bedchamber, where she felt utterly suffocated.
After returning to the Zhu Family, Zhu Wanying shut herself in her room.
She looked at the little girl before her, only six years old, with short black hair and a face as delicate as a porcelain doll. An air of stubborn pride seemed to glimmer in her eyes.
This was Zhu Yan, a daughter born to a concubine in the Zhu Family—and Zhu Wanying's younger sister.
"Big Sister, why are you crying?" Six-year-old Zhu Yan reached out a little hand, trying to wipe the tears from Zhu Wanying's face.
Zhu Wanying pulled her sister tightly into her arms, and her tears burst forth like a flood. "Yan Yan, I'm sorry... Big Sister was useless. I couldn't protect you."
Originally, she had been overwhelmed with guilt and despair at the thought of sending her sister to that devilish Pope.
But after experiencing Dai Tianfeng's mercilessness, Zhu Wanying suddenly wondered: was it truly better to stay in the cold, ruthless Star Luo Imperial Family, where only suspicion and self-interest ruled, and in the Zhu Family, where the sisters were fated to turn against each other, than to go to Spirit Hall?
Qian Xunji might be a lunatic, a demon, but he kept his word. He had said he would take Zhu Yan as his disciple. Perhaps... this was actually a way out of Star Luo's man-eating cage.
"Yan Yan, remember this." Zhu Wanying held her sister's little face in her hands and stared into her eyes, speaking each word slowly and firmly.
"When you go to Spirit Hall, do as the Pope says, no matter what he asks of you. Train with everything you have. Become as strong as you can!
"Never, ever trust a man's feelings. Strength is the only thing you can rely on. Do you understand?"
Zhu Yan didn't quite understand. Seeing her big sister's frantic expression frightened her a little, but she still nodded firmly.
The next day, an ordinary carriage bearing no Star Luo Empire insignia left Star Luo Imperial City in secret, carrying six-year-old Zhu Yan. A squad of deathsworn escorted it as it sped toward Spirit Hall.
A few days later.
Spirit City, Pope Hall.
Qian Xunji sat in his study, happily watching the system panel. His Subversion Points had already passed the two-hundred-thousand mark and were still soaring thanks to the buzz surrounding General Theory of Martial Souls. He wondered whether it was time to go on a shopping spree in the store.
"Reporting to Your Holiness the Pope!"
A Red-Robed Bishop hurried in. His expression was respectful, with a hint of something odd.
"The people from the Star Luo Empire have arrived. They... brought a six-year-old girl, saying she was a... token of apology from the Zhu Family."
At that, Qian Xunji spun around in his chair, setting down his glass of red wine. The smile at the corners of his mouth grew wider and wider.
"Oh? They've delivered her?"
Qian Xunji stood and straightened his immaculate white Papal Robe.
"Come, bring her to the main hall. I'll personally inspect this little kitten from Star Luo."
Pope Hall, Council Hall.
As the heavy bronze doors groaned open, two Red-Robed Bishops respectfully led a small figure into the hall.
It was a little girl who looked about six years old.
She wore a plain, somewhat oversized gray-black cloak.
It was clearly meant to keep her identity hidden on the journey, but once the hood fell back, her delicate, doll-like face immediately caught the eye.
Her short black hair ended at her ears, and her features were as exquisite as a porcelain doll's.
The long journey had left her somewhat pale and haggard, but her large, obsidian-like eyes held none of the innocence or fear one would expect from an ordinary six-year-old.
This was the token of apology sent by the Zhu Family of the Star Luo Empire: Zhu Wanying's younger sister, Zhu Yan.
"Your Holiness the Pope, the people from the Star Luo Empire have delivered the girl. The escorting party unloaded the carriage, then ran straight back the way they came without even stopping for a drink of water," the Red-Robed Bishop respectfully reported.
"Mm. You may leave."
Qian Xunji waved his hand. Soon, only he and the lonely little girl at the foot of the steps remained in the hall.
"Your name is Zhu Yan?"
Qian Xunji didn't deliberately release his pressure. Instead, with a thought, he switched his Martial Soul to its second form. A gentle, sacred aura, warm as the spring sun, radiated from him and instantly banished the chill from the hall.
Zhu Yan paused slightly, her small hand clutching the edge of her cloak tightly.
Before they left, her big sister Zhu Wanying had described the Pope as the most terrifying, most twisted demon in the world, one who devoured people without even spitting out their bones. She had even hidden a sharpened stone in her sleeve, ready to put up a futile fight at any moment.
But the golden-haired, handsome man standing before her, surrounded by a sacred radiance, didn't look at all like someone who would bully women.
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