Ouyang Nianci sat in a corner of the cramped room, her clothes rumpled from head to toe, their former brightness gone.
Her breathing was faint, and a trace of defiance remained in her eyes. She was holding on by a thread.
"Hahaha!" A middle-aged man's sleazy voice rang out in unrestrained laughter.
"Who would've thought the proud young lady, heaven's own favorite, would end up in my hands? Hahaha! You never saw this coming, did you?"
His face was sharp and monkey-like, his narrow eyes brimming with malice.
He made no effort to hide it. Only the presence of another member of the Ouyang Household made him restrain himself a little.
"Li Aihui, she's our young lady. She made a mistake, and even if you killed her, I'd swallow it and accept it."
"But you can't torment her like this. She's still one of the Ouyang Household. You're only related by marriage. If Ouyang Fanke hadn't raised you up, you wouldn't even be qualified to stand before her today."
The woman speaking was around thirty, with a full figure and an intangible allure in her every movement.
Her phoenix eyes fixed on him with a look that could have killed.
"Hahaha. Don't get angry, Auntie. I'm only doing what Lord Fanke asked."
"Don't forget, the young lady committed the crime of betraying the Household. She brought us important news, but who's to say she isn't working with that boy, one on the inside and one on the outside, to lull us into complacency?"
"If I don't interrogate her harshly today, she may well lose her life."
"Does Auntie really want the young lady to die here?"
"Lies!" The woman he called Auntie spoke sharply.
"Heh. Auntie, you know whether I'm lying. If I hadn't taken this job, someone else would