After Zhou Junlin departed with his mighty army, Song Lianhe still didn't dare to breathe.
She had wanted to take the opportunity to slip away, but the man beside her spoke in a slow, deliberate voice. "Stop."
The deep, level voice was devoid of inflection, yet it sounded exceptionally sinister and cloying to her ears, like a venomous snake brushing past and leaving her trembling in its wake.
Song Lianhe's feet felt rooted to the spot. She stood there, stiff and unmoving.
"Prince Qing, I can explain..."
Zhou Cangyan slowly turned around. His stunningly handsome face was now turned toward her, its expression ice-cold.
"Heh... You think you can just run away after taking advantage of me?"
"..."
'What an outrageous thing to say!'
Song Lianhe pursed her lips and said earnestly, "If we're talking about taking advantage of someone, then it was Your Highness, Prince Qing, who took advantage of me."
'Objectively speaking, he came up from behind me. It's not like I have eyes in the back of my head, so a little bump was inevitable.'
'Besides, he could have easily avoided me!'
Zhou Cangyan understood her implication. His eyes turned colder, and the corners of his lips curled up slowly. "So, you're blaming me?"
"That wasn't my intention at all!"
At this critical moment, Song Xingfeng stepped forward to beg for forgiveness on Song Lianhe's behalf.
Song Xilan knelt down as well. "Please, Your Highness, Prince Qing, spare my sister."
Song Lianhe's brow tightened. 'So what if Zhou Cangyan hates women? That's his problem. Why is everyone acting like I've committed some heinous crime? Is it wrong for a woman to even exist in the same space as him?'
Of course, she wasn't audacious enough to actually mouth off to an ancient prince who held the power of life and death.
But she was still indignant.
And so, pretending to be terrified, she deliberately let her voice tremble as she said, "If Your Highness still insists that I was the one who took advantage of you, then I... I will take responsibility for you."
Song Xingfeng gasped, his eyes shaking with shock as he stared at her. "You wretched girl! What nonsense are you spouting?"
'Take responsibility?'
'How could you possibly take responsibility for a prince?'
'Besides, this was Prince Qing—a baleful star born devoid of the seven human emotions!'
Song Xilan's face also turned white with fright.
Zhou Cangyan, much like Song Lianhe, was infamous.
The only difference was that Song Lianhe was despised by all, while Zhou Cangyan was feared by all.
When he was born, the Astronomical Bureau had delivered a prophecy: his familial bonds were fated to be weak, for the White Tiger Evil Star governed his destiny. A person with such a fate would be heartless and disloyal, a harbinger of great misfortune. He was not to enter the Imperial City until he was twenty years old.
To preserve the peace of the Royal Family, the late emperor had sent Zhou Cangyan away while he was still an infant in swaddling clothes.
For years, he had guarded the borders—first for his father, the emperor, and then for his elder brother, the current emperor—becoming the "Heavenly Kill Slash," a name that made enemy forces tremble in fear.
'Having been stained by the blood of the battlefield for so many years, who's to say he isn't twisted to his very core!'
'It was one thing for Song Lianhe to be foolish on her own, but she couldn't be allowed to drag down the entire Song Family! She might resent her father, but she understood that they would all rise or fall together.'
This time, Zhou Cangyan moved to stand directly in front of Song Lianhe, his pair of pale, glass-like eyes staring at her with a bone-chilling cold.
"Heh..."
The cold, thin sound reverberated through the air, shockingly potent.
"You want to take responsibility for me?"
He had lived for twenty-six years, and this was the first time he had ever heard someone say such a thing—that they wanted to take responsibility for him!
Song Lianhe wasn't entirely fearless. 'The villain of the book isn't someone you can afford to provoke.'
"Er... Why don't you decide what to do, then? I'll do whatever you say, no arguments!"
Seeing her "I'll go along with anything, I don't really care" attitude reminded Zhou Cangyan of that day in the wooden cabin. She had made all sorts of promises to him then, too, only to run away after committing that atrocious, inhuman act!
Song Lianhe felt the aura of the man before her grow increasingly cold. 'That sinister, terrifying gaze... It looks like he wants to flay someone alive and have them drawn and quartered...'
'All I did was bump into him. Does he have to be so hateful?'
Seeing that Prince Qing was on the verge of erupting, Song Xingfeng was about to plead again when Zhou Cangyan spoke. "For Second Miss Song, promises seem to be made without a second thought."
Song Lianhe: "..."
'What's that supposed to mean?'
'Does he just go around making snap judgments about people's character?'
Just then, a Shadow Guard stepped forward and whispered something in his ear. The murderous intent in Zhou Cangyan's eyes intensified.
In truth, he had been suppressing a wave of murderous intent ever since Song Lianhe had bumped into him, and now it was threatening to boil over.
Song Lianhe's breath caught in her throat for some unknown reason, and she instinctively took a step back.