Tuoba Keyan sat to one side, his face expressionless, seemingly without the slightest interest in the proceedings of the punishment. Had the Emperor not insisted that they come to observe, he would never have been here.
The Second Prince, Tuoba Er Meng, though his expression was equally blank, could not entirely prevent a flicker of reluctance from passing through the depths of his eyes.
Xiao Yingtao did not look at either of them. She simply bit down on her teeth and refused to speak.
“This girl truly has a body built for punishment.” The head guard turned to look at the First Prince, wearing an expression of indeterminate meaning: “First Highness, the Great King has said that he wishes both the First Highness and the Second Highness to conduct this interrogation together. Perhaps you might take over the whipping, First Highness.”
Tuoba Keyan swept a cool glance at him, then suddenly drew back the corner of his lips in a cold smile: “Is Father testing me — to see whether I am colluding with this girl?”
When that thin lip curled upward, the smile that formed was truly something to behold, and even the other men present, fellow men themselves, could not help but steal an extra glance.
“How could that be?” The head guard naturally could not admit to it. He simply kept his smile in place and continued: “The Great King’s intention is merely to fear that we are not competent enough, and so wishes the First Highness and Second Highness to supervise — or even personally conduct the questioning. First Highness, please proceed.”
“You would truly have me conduct the interrogation?” Tuoba Keyan raised an eyebrow, his voice carrying a slight chill: “If I conduct the interrogation, the person is very likely to die under my whip before long. Are you certain?”
The head guard froze, cowed by the ice-cold air in Tuoba Keyan’s gaze, and lowered his head — not daring to meet his eyes even once more.
And rightly so. Was there anyone in all of Muerhe who did not know the First Highness’s methods?
A single stroke from him was worth a dozen or more from anyone else. That girl looked soft and delicate — a few strokes from the First Highness, and would she not drop dead on the spot?
Yet the Great King’s orders were not something the head guard dared to defy. He could only offer the whip forward with both hands.
Tuoba Keyan took the whip, and finally rose to his feet, stepping forward to stand before Xiao Yingtao.
Xiao Yingtao felt a wave of overwhelming cold emanate from him, sweeping over her like a flood. All the pain on her body, in this instant, was nothing compared to the fear of facing this man.
This man was like the god of death himself. She already felt the hopeless certainty that if she fell into his hands, there would be no chance of survival whatsoever.
Tuoba Keyan studied her face, which was now stained with blood. Beneath his cold, sharp gaze burned the vicious, glacial light of a man forged through years upon years of war.
“Tell me who is pulling the strings behind you, and where that person is now. Say it, and I will spare your life.”
Xiao Yingtao closed her eyes, bit down hard, and with great effort forced out a few words: “You are violent and cruel by nature — how many Muerhe common people have died because of you? You… if you want to kill me, then kill me. Do not think for a moment that I will ever yield to you!”
“You are from Bei Mu?” Tuoba Keyan’s hand suddenly swept — crack — the whip came down on Xiao Yingtao.
Xiao Yingtao let out a wretched cry. Her eyes rolled back and she collapsed into unconsciousness.
Everyone in the prison cell felt their scalps go numb. The First Highness’s hatred for people of Bei Mu was bone-deep, and in all these years, not even a fraction of that hatred had ever faded.
The moment this girl opened her mouth, the First Highness had known she was from Bei Mu — and so that stroke of the whip had been delivered without the slightest restraint.
The head guard was also somewhat unsettled. The First Highness had already given his warning just now: if he were the one to conduct the interrogation, whether the person could survive was absolutely in question.
And indeed — he truly was not holding back.
“Elder Brother.” The Second Prince, Tuoba Er Meng, who had remained silent all this time, rose to his feet. He looked at Tuoba Keyan, who still held the long whip: “She is nothing but a young girl. Elder Brother… why be so heavy-handed?”
He of course knew why his elder brother harbored such hatred for people of Bei Mu. Everyone now said that the First Prince and the Second Prince were blood brothers by both father and mother, but in truth, the First Prince’s birth mother was not Tuoba Er Meng’s own mother.
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The First Prince’s birth mother was actually a woman from Bei Mu. After marrying the Great King, she had once returned to her homeland to visit family.
Unexpectedly, those people declared that she had married into a foreign clan, calling it a descent into wicked and deviant ways. They drove her out of the family home. Afterward, when she tried to make her way back to Muerhe, she was seized by mountain bandits along the road, violated, and killed.
The First Prince had been only a child at the time. When his mother’s broken, ravaged body was brought back, he was so horrified he was left in a stupor.
Tuoba Er Meng had also been present, and had personally witnessed just how wretched the death of the First Prince’s birth mother was. Below the waist… below the waist was a mangled ruin of blood and flesh. All four limbs had been broken. Across the chest… across the chest, the skin and flesh were incomplete.
What his birth mother had suffered in her final moments alive — no one even dared to imagine it.
From that day forward, the First Prince had come to loathe every last person from Bei Mu.
In those days, Muerhe had still been a weak nation. When the First Prince came of age, he led his armies on campaigns in all directions, until now, when Muerhe, though still poor, had expanded its territory to a size one-third that of Bei Mu.
No one dared to look down on Muerhe any longer. If the First Prince’s birth mother were still alive today, no one would ever dare harm her again.
But she was gone. And so the First Prince could only pour all of that hatred onto Bei Mu.
Every person from Bei Mu was his enemy.
Xiao Yingtao was doused awake with a bucket of cold water. The head guard feared that if the First Prince brought down another stroke, it might take the girl’s life directly.
So this time, the whip was transferred into the Second Prince’s hands.
Tuoba Er Meng stepped forward to stand before Xiao Yingtao — then casually let the whip drop to the ground.
He looked at the head guard, displeased: “If I were truly colluding with this young woman, would I have the heart to strike her? And should I not now simply finish her off, to prevent her from revealing any so-called secrets?”
So what was the point of Father’s testing?
The head guard maintained his smile: “That, this subordinate only follows orders. Second Highness, please… do conduct the questioning.”
Xiao Yingtao looked at Tuoba Er Meng, and suddenly tugged at the cracked corners of her lips: “The Second Prince is kind-hearted and benevolent. Having a prince such as you is a blessing for all the people of Muerhe. To die by the Second Prince’s hand — I have no grievance whatsoever.”
Having said this, Xiao Yingtao closed her eyes and waited for the punishment to come.
Her implication was perfectly clear: if the Second Prince truly had the greater picture at heart, he should not hold back with her.
Rather than leaving her here to suffer, it would be better to finish things cleanly.
She would not reveal the matter of Jiu’er and the Second Prince no matter what — but these people would not release her no matter what either.
If they kept her alive, what Muerhe’s Great King would do next would certainly be to use her as bait to harm Jiu’er and Xing Zizhou and the others.
Jiu’er was deeply devoted to those she cared for. Xing Zizhou felt such a deep attachment to her — to her, that is — that both of them would certainly come to rescue her, even at the cost of their lives.
If it truly came to that, would that not mean dragging everyone down to be buried alongside her?
And so it would be better to let her die here, and spare the others from being implicated.
“Second Prince — the future of Muerhe’s people rests in the Second Prince’s hands. I hope that you will always cherish and protect the people of Muerhe. In the days to come…”
There, the words came to an abrupt stop. A wretched, pale smile touched the corners of Xiao Yingtao’s lips — and she suddenly bit down hard on the root of her own tongue.