Mu Xi’s voice was light and airy, yet it cut like a knife, striking precisely at Ye Lan’s most hidden sore spot.
“But you can’t bear to, can you? You love me to the point of madness, so you don’t dare kill me. And I, I only look at you, think of you, but you will never get my heart, only my hatred.”
Ye Lan’s expression instantly turned extremely ugly, her chest heaving violently as she suppressed the churning emotions.
“Ye Lan, you’re about to be tormented to death by me.”
The force with which she gripped Mu Xi’s wrist suddenly intensified, her knuckles turning white. The temperature in the air seemed to have dropped to freezing point.
Right at this tense, sword-drawn moment, Ye Lan suddenly smiled.
That smile was icy and cruel, carrying a kind of certainty born from holding all the cards.
“Is that so?”
She spoke slowly, her voice low and hoarse, laced with a trace of barely detectable cruelty.
“Perhaps you’ve forgotten two other people.”
Mu Xi’s heart sank violently.
Ye Lan drew out her words, each one like a hammer striking Mu Xi’s taut nerves. “Don’t you want to know… where Li Xin and Little An are right now?”
Li Xin! Little An!
Those two names exploded in Mu Xi’s mind like thunderclaps.
She had been so blinded by hatred and her entanglement with Ye Lan lately that she… she had almost forgotten about them!
Li Xin, the woman who, at her most desperate and lonely moment, had resolutely helped her escape. That loyal guard whose legs had been pierced through by crossbow bolts and bullets, nearly crippled, all for her sake.
How was Li Xin now? Her legs… had they healed?
And Little An, that unfortunate, lowly girl who always helped her in small ways. That servant girl around her own age, but with a pair of rough, weathered hands. If not for Little An staying by her side, protecting her at critical moments even at the risk of her own life, she might have long since died under Ye Lan’s endless torment.
Little An… was she okay? Had Ye Lan taken her anger out on her?
In an instant, intense worry and guilt washed over Mu Xi.
She hated Ye Lan, wished she could kill her right now.
But Li Xin and Little An were innocent. They were in this situation because of her.
Mu Xi’s lips trembled, the hatred that had filled her eyes now replaced by urgency and panic.
“Ye Lan, what have you done to them?! Where… where are they?” she pressed urgently.
Ye Lan savored the rapidly shifting expressions on her face, from the previous defiance to the current panic and fear. This sense of control gave her a morbid satisfaction.
“You want to know?”
Ye Lan’s fingertip lightly traced Mu Xi’s sweat-dampened temple, the movement carrying a kind of bone-chilling “tenderness.”
“You can. As long as you behave, just like before, accept my ‘training.’ Please me, obey me. Serve me well, and I will naturally tell you their whereabouts. I’ll ensure they remain alive and well.”
Her fingertip stopped on Mu Xi’s lips, gently stroking.
“But if you disobey…”
Ye Lan’s tone suddenly turned cold, murderous intent laid bare.
“Then they can only serve as your burial companions.”
Mu Xi felt icy cold all over, as if she had fallen into an ice cellar. Ye Lan’s words were like a chain, wrapping around her heart, making it hard to breathe.
Using Li Xin and Little An’s lives to threaten her? Despicable! Shameless!
This was Ye Lan! Always so vile!
Hatred churned in her chest, almost swallowing her whole.
Kill her! Kill this demon!
But… Li Xin… Little An… Their faces flashed before Mu Xi’s eyes in turn, filled with worry and expectation.
Mu Xi closed her eyes, her long eyelashes trembling as two scalding tears fell. Humiliation, anger, powerlessness… all these emotions intertwined, almost tearing her apart.
In truth, she had no choice.
Before Ye Lan, she was always the passive one.
After a long time, Mu Xi slowly opened her eyes. Her originally clear eyes were now deathly still, containing only endless emptiness and despair.
She used all her strength to squeeze a few words from her throat, her voice as dry as sandpaper rubbing.
“I’ll listen to you.”
A cruel curve lifted the corner of Ye Lan’s lips. In her deep, phoenix eyes, a flash of satisfaction passed, so fast it was almost impossible to catch.
She said no more, turning and walking towards the storage cabinet in the corner.
The metal cabinet door opened with a slight scraping sound.
Ye Lan took out a bundle of thick hemp rope from it. The rope’s surface was rough with burrs, looking somewhat aged.
She walked to the center of the bedroom, looked up at the reinforced beam on the ceiling, as if estimating its load-bearing capacity.
Then, she stepped onto a chair, deftly securing one end of the rope firmly to the beam. The other end hung down, tied into a knot about one and a half meters off the floor.
A crude, suspended “bed” was thus formed.
Ye Lan dusted off her hands, jumped down from the chair, and turned to Mu Xi. Her voice returned to its usual flatness, yet carried an unquestionable command. “Get up there.”
Mu Xi looked at the rope swaying slightly in the air, her stomach churning.
Ye Lan strolled over and sat on the edge of the bed, crossing her legs, her posture leisurely, as if what she was about to watch wasn’t a torture session, but an interesting play.
She spoke unhurriedly, each word striking Mu Xi’s taut nerves. “The rules are simple. Tonight, you sleep on this rope. As long as you can last until tomorrow morning without falling off even once, I will tell you Li Xin’s whereabouts.”
Mu Xi’s heart pounded wildly.
Li Xin! Just last one night…
“Of course,” Ye Lan’s tone shifted, cruelly shattering the hope that had flared for an instant, “if you fall…”
She didn’t state the consequence, but that icy tone was more terrifying than any explicit punishment.
Mu Xi clenched her fists.
She knew what Ye Lan meant. Failure meant getting nothing, perhaps even losing more.
There was no way back.
She took a deep breath, suppressing the sob in her throat and the churning hatred, and walked towards the hanging hemp rope.
The rope was thick, its surface rough. Just holding it made her palms ache from the abrasion.
Mu Xi tried to hook one leg over it, using the strength of her arms to support her body, attempting to climb onto the knot.
It had been too long since she’d done any physical activity like this.
During the days she’d been “kept” by Ye Lan, her body had become weaker than she’d imagined.
Her arms quickly began to ache, her legs trembled uncontrollably, and her breathing grew ragged. Sweat slid from her forehead, dripping into her eyes, bringing a stinging pain.
Ye Lan sat not far away, watching quietly. Her very presence was an invisible pressure, making Mu Xi even more tense.
“Heh.” A light laugh escaped Ye Lan’s throat, carrying undisguised mockery. “Can’t even climb a rope? It seems all my previous ‘training’ of you was wasted.”
Mu Xi gritted her teeth, using Ye Lan’s mockery as fuel.
She used all her strength, suddenly pushing off the ground with a kick, finally managing to barely hang her body on the knot.
Balance was the next challenge.
The rope swayed incessantly with her movements.
She had to tense all her muscles, carefully adjusting her center of gravity to avoid falling immediately.
The rough hemp rope rubbed fiercely against the inside of her arms and thighs, a burning pain.
Time passed, second by second.
In the bedroom, only Mu Xi’s ragged panting and the occasional creak of the rope remained.