There was just one thing that wasn’t good—that gust of wind came too coincidentally. Originally, I could have said that You Yun was feigning death and struck back with his dying breath to avenge himself.
Now, I’ll probably have to waste some more words explaining.
She said softly: “Your Highness, I truly thank you.”
“So your gratitude is to repay kindness with enmity, to kill my man, and to make me watch with my own eyes as you marry my man’s spirit tablet right in front of me?”
Weixuan lowered her eyes and said sincerely: “Your Highness, I have my difficulties.”
Before her was that half-gold, half-silver mask, brilliant and radiant, but even more brilliant were those eyes—dark and clear, their radiance undiminished despite suffering such treatment.
At this moment, with the two so close, You Weixuan saw those eyes clearly for the first time. She suddenly froze slightly, a wave of tremendous terror flashing through her eyes.
But before she could figure it out, a familiar shout from behind made her turn around abruptly.
“Sister!”
From the crowd, You Weixing, who had tried to rush out several times only to be held back, finally broke free from Dan Shuang’s grasp and charged forward.
He wore guard’s clothing and had been keeping his head down, mixed in with the troops the entire time, so no one had noticed him.
Now he rushed out like the wind, bursting through the crowd and into the wedding hall.
You Weixuan never expected You Weixing to suddenly appear. A trace of panic finally flashed in her eyes, but at this moment, Tie Ci grabbed her wrist.
You Weixuan tried to strike again with her other hand, but suddenly felt her whole body go numb and could no longer move.
Her eyes filled with terror as she looked down at Tie Ci’s wound.
The knife was Wan Ji’s, but after she took it, she had already coated it with poison given by Xiao Ying. Xiao Ying said this was her collection from many years as an assassin—a poison that would kill upon contact with blood, one that even the Mei clan couldn’t cure.
Why…
Those blood-stained, ice-cold hands gripped her wrist like iron pincers. She heard the other person say clearly: “What difficulties do you have?”
“Your difficulty is how to watch tigers fight from the mountain, then reap the benefits at the end.”
“You were in a weak position in Yannan’s power struggle, so you simply went with the flow, showing weakness everywhere, drifting with the current, letting others manipulate you, drawing me to come to Yannan to clean up the mess for you.”
“So you didn’t use your tiger tally even though you had it. So even though you grew up in the Yannan Royal Palace, you didn’t have a single confidant or anyone who could help you after all these years. You dressed yourself up as having nothing, so enemies would let their guard down and I would pity and sympathize with you.”
“Only when you could finally reap the harvest did you contact me. You tricked me into personally coming to the manor to back you up. You tricked my man into disguising himself to rescue you. You killed my man who went to save you, and now you want to hold his tablet and marry it in front of me.”
The grip on You Weixuan’s wrist grew tighter and tighter. Tie Ci’s voice was intermittent but clear, and the crowd heard it all and was stunned.
They had always thought the female heir was weak and incompetent, never imagining she was also a ruthless character who concealed her talents and struck with deadly precision.
This uncle and niece truly were not family members who wouldn’t enter the same door.
You Weixing stood before the two, seeming to hear yet not hear, only staring fixedly at Tie Ci’s bloodied hand.
“Let me guess what you originally planned to do. You would kill me with a knife borrowed from my guard, then falsely claim it was You Yun’s dying revenge, pushing the blame for killing me onto You Yun. Thus, the You father and son would be dead, I would be dead, the court would be in chaos with no energy to investigate Yannan. You would cry bitterly, hold a grand funeral for me, even possibly wear mourning for me. You would walk at the front of the procession, grief-stricken to the point of death. The people of Yannan would wipe away tears with you, praising your loyalty and righteousness. You would have eliminated everyone who intended to covet Yannan while gaining the people’s hearts. Your succession would be natural and proper, and the court would praise your loyalty. His Majesty, that soft-hearted person, might even give you the privilege of wearing swords at court and grant you the Nine Bestowments out of love for me.”
Everyone listened with bowed heads, feeling cold dread rise from their hearts, their scalps tingling.
Though this was speculation, it was probably eight or nine parts correct.
Such profound scheming, such royal offspring!
Everyone sighed in amazement, but You Weixing remained motionless, his eyes blood-red.
You Weixuan also looked at him with blood-red eyes.
You Weixing didn’t even glance at her.
The bloodied hand he stared at so fixedly suddenly released You Weixuan’s wrist, leaving only a clear bloody handprint, then that hand rose slowly, pointing toward You Weixing.
You Weixing trembled all over and froze in terror.
“…You would also tell your stubborn little brother that you wanted to save His Highness but didn’t make it in time. You siblings would cry together, and from then on you would gain your brother’s wholehearted trust and respect—after all, before this, his closeness to the Crown Princess far exceeded his relationship with you. Then you would hand the throne to him, wouldn’t you? This throne obtained through exhaustive scheming, repaying kindness with enmity, regicide and destroying kinship—you would ultimately give it to him.”
“It’s for him.”
“In this world, you might be false to everyone else, but your love and protection for your little brother has always been real.”
“For him, for survival, you disregarded gratitude and righteousness and struck a deadly blow, right?”
You Weixing was thunderstruck.
You Weixuan blinked and finally shed tears.
She said softly: “Shouldn’t all of this rightfully be his?”
“Even if it means exchanging the life of the person he most admires and loves?”
You Weixuan said calmly: “He will eventually understand who is truly connected to him by blood, bound for life.”
Tie Ci suddenly pulled out the knife. Blood sprayed in the air like red flames falling to earth as she pointed the blade at You Weixing: “Then did you ask him if he was willing?”
Blood dripped steadily from the knife tip.
Several drops of blood splashed onto You Weixing’s cheek.
As if suddenly awakened from worldly confusion by that drop of blood, You Weixing reached up and touched his face.
He looked at the fresh red on his fingertip.
Then suddenly rushed forward.
With one hand, he snatched the still-bleeding knife from Tie Ci’s hand.
With a reverse strike, he sent the blade tip, not yet drained of blood, into You Weixuan’s abdomen.
In exactly the same position where she had stabbed Tie Ci.
You Weixuan’s body trembled slightly as all color drained from her face.
She slowly turned her eyes in disbelief, looking at the young man before her.
You Weixing still didn’t look at her. His eyes were blood-red like a wounded beast as he pulled out the knife and thrust it in again.
“I am not willing.”
He pulled out the knife and thrust it in again.
“I am not willing!”
Again he pulled it out and thrust it in.
“I am not willing!”
The vast wedding hall was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, only the sound of the knife being pulled out and thrust into flesh again and again—dull and blunt. Listening to it repeat over and over could drive one mad.
He was stabbing his own sister, knife after knife.
“I am not willing!”
“I am not willing!”
“I! Am! Not! Willing!”
The smell of blood gradually spread, the metallic scent forcing its way into their nostrils, accompanied by the mechanical “thud, thud” sounds and the noise of thick liquid dripping to the ground.
Outside, there was a loud bang as someone couldn’t bear this terrible scene and fainted.
All of this actually happened in an instant. After several thrusts and withdrawals, You Weixuan finally reacted and suddenly shouted: “No!”
“No!”
She used all her strength for this shout, causing the several wounds on her abdomen to spray blood outward.
Everyone outside thought she was trying to stop You Weixing’s madness, but only Tie Ci slightly raised her head to glance.
Her gaze was very cold, without any emotion.
Wan Ji and the others finally reacted and were about to rush inside, but Tie Ci sneered, flicked her sleeve, and closed the door again.
The door panel hit right at people’s noses, making everyone instinctively step back. Wan Ji vaguely felt something was wrong—You Weixuan had been so proud earlier, and His Highness had at least suffered serious injuries, so how could she still say so much? Now she could close the door with a wave from a distance, as if nothing had happened?
With the door closed, Tie Ci raised her hand and blocked You Weixing’s knife.
The knife was sticky with blood dripping onto You Weixing’s clothing and boots, pooling into a small puddle at his feet. You Weixing never raised his head, staring down at the pool of blood in a daze. Suddenly he crouched down and used his little finger to pick out an ant that had mistakenly entered the blood pool and was struggling desperately.
You Weixuan was no longer human in appearance. She looked down at her brother’s black hair for a long moment, then actually grinned.
Her voice was thread-like, broken and fragmented: “This is the punishment you’re giving me…”
Tie Ci’s gaze lightly swept over her, then she smiled with a hint of strangeness.
“No, your punishment is just beginning.”
Then she lifted her mask.
You Weixuan slowly raised her gaze, her eyes instantly freezing.
Under the half-gold, half-silver mask was a face that shouldn’t have appeared—a face she had fallen in love with at first sight, thought about day and night, thought she could never see again in this life, but absolutely didn’t want to see at this moment.