Chapter 835: Returned wholeheartedly (2/2)

But Long Feiye didn’t stop there.

“Ning Cheng, did you see the phoenix birthmark on her back clearly?” Long Feiye’s voice seemed to be rising from the darkened depths of an abyss, cold enough to make one’s hairs stand on end. “Did you, as the clan head of the Ning Clan, bully and humiliate her, or…” Despite his hesitation, Long Feiye finished the rest of the sentence.

“Or did she willingly show it to you!”

Silence greeted his words. Ning Cheng’s face alternated between shades of red and white. He even forgot to retort as he unconsciously tuned towards Han Yunxi, whose eyes were as red as a rabbit’s. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, wanting to speak to her, but uncertain of what to say.

What kind of talks were these? Who cared about stopping the fighting?

Long Feiye must have come with the purpose of shaming the princess, right? After using her for so long, he was even disgracing her now. How could this be accepted? He prepared to draw his sword when Han Yunxi suddenly rushed in front of Long Feiye with hr hand raised in the air.

“Long Feiye, even if I did it willingly, it has nothing to do with you! Who are you to me?!”

Pah!

A single slap to the face broke the stillness. All of the people behind Long Feiye sucked in a cold breath. No one thought this would happen before the negotiations even began. Baili Yuanlong could only think that Tang Zijin and his sister were overly anxious from the start. How could His Highness Crown Prince ever pine or yearn for this woman?

No matter how much a woman was favored, she wasn’t worth a word in the face of national enmity!

“Impudence!” Baili Yuanlong withdrew his sword first, but Ning Cheng was quick to follow suit with his own. Neither side was willing to yield a step. But Long Feiye and Han Yunxi didn’t move beyond staring at each other. They were so close, yet so far.

Long Feiye lightly rested a hand against his still burning cheek, his face expressionless. He was about to hand off the box to a shadow guard when Han Yunxi said coldly, “It’s my stuff, give it back!”

Before Long Feiye could speak, Han Yunxi had already grabbed the box. No one noticed him exhale in relief at the sight. He knew Han Yunxi all too well, so he’d made her mad on purpose to let her snatch the box. Only then could it pass Ning Cheng without eliciting his suspicions or questioning. This was actually a double layered box. He hoped that this woman would be meticulous enough to check it without wasting his efforts here.

Although his heart was filled with pain, he still pulled away from Han Yunxi’s red-rimmed eyes and pretended that nothing mattered. “Alright. West Qin princess, the old scores have been settled, so let’s get back to the main matters.”

Main matters?

So to him, what happened just then doesn’t count as proper business?

Han Yunxi’s heart was about to break! She used to think she had enough courage to remain calm and rational until the end. She kept telling herself that Long Feiye was using the West Qin princess, not herself, so she still had a chance!

She always hoped that Long Feiye could still be hers alone, her one and only His Highness, if there was no hatred between them. But in the end, her heart was still cut with a knife when facing him.

Long Feiye, do you know how bitterly I waited for you at Medical City when Chu Xifeng put me under house arrest? I hoped that you’d come. But you didn’t!

Long Feiye, do you know how afraid I was when faced with Ning Cheng’s assault? But you weren’t there!

Long Feiye, do you know how much I endured these days by Ning Cheng’s side until this moment when we could meet? But you actually humiliated me!

Long Feiye, all they see is the cool-headed, calm and courageously merciless Han Yunxi.

But...but how can you be like the rest of them? Why can’t you see all the hard work I’ve put in to prop myself up like a fool?

At this moment, Han Yunxi wished more than anything else that she really was the West Qin princess inside and out. This way, love and hate would be so simple. She wouldn’t have to suffer anymore, either.

Long Feiye, if I, Han Yunxi, can’t afford to love you, I can at least afford to hate you!

“There’s nothing to discuss with you lot!” Ning Cheng was so angry, his face turned white. Actually, Ning An had already asked him three times about the same thing. Why was he ash and crude enough to find Han Yunxi himself, then personally inspect her birthmark? If he had brought along a servant girl, or even kidnapped Han Yunxi first and check her later, this awkward situation wouldn’t happen today.

But who could know of his excitement and joy upon hearing of Han Yuni’s origins? He himself didn’t even understand why he was so fixated on her missing acupuncture needle until the news of Han Yunxi’s identity broke. All of his obsession stemmed not from love or hate, but a mixture of both. When he realized the woman he both adored and detested was his own master, it meant he didn’t have to make her his enemy. He could serve her loyally for a lifetime. Why wouldn’t he lose all reason then?

The incident from that night was something he regretted both most and least of all. Every beautiful moment had been etched into his memory like a poison seeping into his life.

“Princess, let’s go!” Ning Cheng would rather deal with the Wind Clan alone than see her face such indignities.