"I hear Youzhou has always had a tradition of inferiors overthrowing their superiors. What do you think of that, Your Highness?"
Li Yuanying's gaze immediately turned cold. In a slow, emotionless voice, he said, "Overthrowing one's superiors is tantamount to rebellion. Is there no one left in this world you care about?"
Huo Qilang caught the threat in his question and shrugged. "So what? I have none of my nine clans left. Even if your father is the emperor, I don't care."
As she spoke, she pinned Li Yuanying against the brocade quilt and covered his mouth before he could call for anyone. She teased, "Your Highness, you wouldn't want all those guards outside to rush in and see a scene like this, would you?"
She tore open his sumptuous patterned-silk underrobe, then loosened her own belt and straddled his hips, their clothes in disarray. Her movements looked casual, but she had actually locked his limbs firmly in place with grappling techniques. Even if Li Yuanying had been healthy rather than ill, he could never have broken free.
Whether it was "none of my nine clans left" or "those guards outside rushing in" that had done the trick, when Huo Qilang slowly removed her hand from his mouth, Li Yuanying indeed made no sound. He lay sunk in the soft brocade quilt, his eyes gleaming darkly. Though held at another's mercy, he retained an air of poised grandeur, as though he looked down upon everything in the world. The sight had a fatal allure, and for a moment Huo Qilang was spellbound.
Taking advantage of her distraction, he suddenly reached beneath his pillow. A veteran of countless battles, Huo Qilang snatched the blade with a turn of her hand and tossed it aside. The dagger he kept for protection sank