Chapter 231: She Was Like a Lamb to the Slaughter

Chapter 231: She Was Like a Lamb to the Slaughter

Xiao Lingchuan carried her out of the secret chamber, to show her the meticulously arranged wedding room.

The dragon-and-phoenix wedding candles blazed high, red drapes hung low, and even the solitary pair of nuptial cups on the table were identical to the humiliating night buried deep in her memory.

Looking at this place, so familiar yet strange, Jiang Shuning felt her skin crawl.

He embraced her from behind, his chin resting on the hollow of her shoulder, his hot breath on her neck, and asked softly, "Do you remember what our wedding looked like in our past life?"

As if completely oblivious to her tense, trembling body, he murmured affectionately, as if to himself, "Look, I arranged all of this exactly as it was in our past life. From the moment Prince Jing's mansion was built, I began decorating this room, striving to restore it exactly as it was..."

Jiang Shuning certainly remembered.

He had resented her for using her reputation to blackmail him into marrying her, deliberately placing the bridal chamber in the most remote and desolate courtyard.

For ten years after marriage, she had lived in this room—though she was the mistress of Prince Jing's mansion, she occupied the room farthest from his.

Thinking of this, Jiang Shuning's heart ached with bitterness, feeling even more that her past self deserved better.

"Didn't Your Highness say you wanted to settle accounts with me?" she asked coldly, looking at him. "Why keep bringing up the past life?"

Xiao Lingchuan picked up the wine flask on the table, poured a cup, and brought it to her lips, his expression tender: "Drink this cup of wedding wine, and your hiding the jade token and scheming against me... I will let bygones be bygones."

Hearing this, Jiang Shuning couldn't help but show a mocking smile.

In the past life, she had gone to great lengths to marry him, only to receive his full disgust and ten years of humiliation.

In this life, she avoided him at all costs, yet he played the role of a devoted lover who would marry no one but her.

How ridiculous, how ironic!

"Has Your Highness forgotten? The person you originally wanted to marry in the past life was Jiang Yaozhen. I overstepped my bounds and married you, only to be neglected for ten full years. I don't wish to suffer such pain again!"

Hearing this, Xiao Lingchuan's expression stiffened.

"In the past life, I wanted to marry Jiang Yaozhen because her mother, a concubine, was from Nanyue. I only meant to... In short, I had no romantic feelings for her; everything was based on using her."

His chess game should have been flawless, but Jiang Shuning, the greatest variable, had charged in, ready to burn everything to the ground, wrecking his years of careful planning.

He had once resented her for ruining his plan—after all, for the most neglected prince at that time, Nanyue's support was his only lifeline.

But later, her love, like a moth to a flame, became the sole light, gradually warming his heart, which had been frozen by power schemes.

He couldn't help but fall in love.

But Jiang Yaozhen and her mother were like venomous snakes; if they saw his feelings for her, they would surely harm her.

So he had to pretend to neglect her while acting as if he cared for Jiang Yaozhen, trying to gain the trust of the mother and daughter.

Jiang Shuning's sarcasm deepened: "Your Highness is indeed frank! Is this something to be proud of?"

These mocking words instantly enraged Xiao Lingchuan. He hurled the wine cup onto the table, splashing wine everywhere.

"If I hadn't treated you coldly like that, if I hadn't put on a show of superficial harmony with Jiang Yaozhen, do you think you could have survived ten years safely? That venomous mother-daughter pair from the Jiang family would have devoured you, bones and all!"

These words only struck Jiang Shuning as absurd.

She didn't even bother to struggle, just looked at this seemingly maddened man with an almost pitying gaze.

"So... Your Highness means," she said slowly, her voice eerily calm, "that I should in turn thank you for your 'painstaking efforts' after suffering ten years of cold treatment and countless humiliations in the past life?"

The darkness in Xiao Lingchuan's expression froze for an instant, and even a flash of genuine pain appeared in his eyes.

"It was my fault. I wasn't strong enough in the past life, making you suffer so much. Rest assured, in this life, I won't let anyone hurt you."

As he spoke, he wanted to caress her face, but she pulled away.

She raised her eyes, filled with cold mockery and hatred.

"Your Highness, you probably haven't realized—the only person in this world who has ever truly hurt me is you!"

Xiao Lingchuan's expression stiffened.

Then he laughed.

"Shuning, it's not a bad thing that you hate me so much. Hate is born from love, after all. I would rather you hate me to the bone than be indifferent to me." He looked at her, his expression dark and unhinged, "In this life, let us be entangled like this until we grow old!"

Before his words finished, he already wrapped his arms around her without a word and forcibly pressed the wine cup to her lips!

Jiang Shuning suddenly remembered that in the past life, the wedding wine had somehow been laced with a strong aphrodisiac, and he thought she had laced it; he was extremely rough with her on the wedding night, causing her to suffer for a long time.

"Let me go! I won't drink!" Fear made her struggle wildly, and tears of humiliation instantly blurred her vision.

Xiao Lingchuan seemed to recall something as well, and soothingly cradled her in his arms, his warm lips pressing against her cold cheek, saying softly, "Don't be afraid. This is just ordinary wedding wine; it wasn't drugged. I wronged you in the past life. It wasn't until after you died that I discovered the one who drugged the wine was your personal maid, Dong Mei."

Jiang Shuning shuddered all over.

So it was her.

In this life, she had long discovered that Dong Mei was a spy planted by Jiang Yaozhen, but she never expected that the wedding night that destroyed all her dignity and hope in the past life had also been orchestrated by Dong Mei!

It was already tragic enough not to be loved by one's husband, but to suffer such torment on the wedding night as well.

Jiang Shuning gritted her teeth. Jiang Yaozhen, you are indeed vicious!

"Your Highness just said that you have no feelings for Jiang Yaozhen, only using her..." Her voice was hoarse but unusually calm. "Is that true?"

Xiao Lingchuan looked down at her, at the lifeless ashes in her eyes, his heart inexplicably tightening, yet he felt a surge of ecstasy due to this absolute dependence.

"Naturally."

"Very well." Jiang Shuning's lips curled into a cold arc. "I want her life. Would Your Highness be willing to help me?"

"I am naturally... more than willing!"

Hearing his promise, Jiang Shuning lifted the wine cup and drank it all in one gulp.

The clear cold wine flowed down her throat, carrying a sharp, burning sensation.

"Your Highness," she put down the cup, her eyes rimmed with red from the strong wine, but no tears remained, "you must keep your word."

After saying that, she closed her eyes, her long eyelashes trembling like butterfly wings, surrendering all resistance and giving up all dignity.

She was like a lamb to the slaughter, soft and vulnerable, yet filled with a sense of utter defeat.

Xiao Lingchuan gazed greedily at her completely submissive appearance, his Adam's apple bobbing.

After a long while, he merely reached out his finger and gently wiped a drop of wine from the corner of her mouth.

"Take your time. I'll have someone take you to wash up."

Jiang Shuning understood with icy clarity.

Yes, he had an obsession with cleanliness.

A woman just returned from prison, covered in dust and filth, wasn't fit to share his bed.

What he wanted was a scrubbed clean, flawless offering.

In the bath, the warm steam enveloped her body, but the cold felt like it was seeping out of her very bones, impossible to dispel.

She submerged herself in the water, blankly repeating to herself over and over: It doesn't matter, it's not like she hadn't shared a bed with him before.

Moreover, now that she was trapped in this Jing Prince's mansion, even if she didn't make a deal with him, she couldn't escape this fate anyway.

If she could trade this body for the life of that viper Jiang Yaozhen, it would be worth it!