Your Highness, Please Love Me Tender

77. Exposed

Translator: Flying Lines

“Why don’t you want to see more of them? Are you scared of being tainted by the corpses’ bad luck?” A warm smile appeared on Xiao Shengnian’s face.

To Xiao Shengnian’s surprise, Su Jie just nodded. “Yes, I am scared but I am not scared of being tainted with bad luck. I’m scared of seeing their decayed corpses. I’m scared of seeing them dead. I’d rather pretend that they are still alive, only that they are living in a different place.”

Spending a while deep in thought, Xiao Shengnian ordered, “Zhui Xing, bury the couple.”

“Yes, Your Highness.” Zhui Xing received the order expressionlessly.

Yet, Su Jie suddenly said, “I want to bury them in our hometown myself.”

“That’s fine.” Xiao Shengnian nodded.

At this time, Zhui Xing ordered for a scroll to be brought here. He didn’t wait for Xiao Shengnian to ask questions and said, “Your Highness, this is a painting of Young Master Wen’s parents when they were alive. Should this be buried alongside them?”

“Leave it here. Little slave can have it as a memento.” Xiao Shengnian opened the scroll. There was a man and a woman with gentle smiles on their faces as they strolled in the picturesque scenery of the painting. They seemed to be deeply in love. They were probably the Wen couple.

Su Jie took the scroll to have a closer look at it. In any case, he’d like to know what the couple looked like. The man and the woman in the painting were very young. Perhaps the Wen couple had a painter to portrait them when they were younger.

Su Jie gloomily rolled up the scroll again. He did so in silence and did not offer any comments.

Neither he nor the Guqin Master had expected Xiao Shengnian to be so meticulous in the way he handled matters. He even brought two corpses here – wasn’t he scared of bringing back bad luck to his residence?

There shouldn’t be any slip-ups in his performance just now, right?

Su Jie thought carefully as he held the scroll in his hands, feeling that he hadn’t done too shabby a job at acting.

“You may all leave.” There was the faint smile on Xiao Shengnian’s face as usual. Once he waited until everyone had left, he suddenly gave a light sigh.

“Wen Nianxuan, do you know what I hate most?” he asked.

When Su Jie heard the tone Xiao Shengnian spoke, he immediately knew that the situation was far from good… There must have been some slip-up just now.

“I hate liars the most.” Xiao Shengnian’s gaze was frigid like a blade, there was not a hint of warmth.

Suddenly, Su Jie smiled. He placed the scroll on the table and said mildly, “I’d like to know where I slipped up?”

“I thought you would explain. Never would I have expected that you would admit to it so quickly.” The rage inside Xiao Shengnian’s heart was unparalleled. Damn it! His little slave was a spy?!

What about the time they had spent together these few days?

Were they all fake?

The angrier Xiao Shengnian became, the more serene he looked on the surface. His smile resembled a spring breeze brushing past yet his clear eyes were glowing with a spark of frostiness. He said coldly, “Your acting was indeed perfect but the people in the painting were not the Wen couple, yet you didn’t know.”

Su Jie silently nodded, not saying anything else.

“You don’t have anything else to say?”

“… I did indeed have harmful intentions when I approached you.”

“Do you know the consequences of saying so?”

“I’m not sure. Perhaps I would die?” Su Jie tilted his head and let out a peal of light laughter.

“Do not assume I won’t kill you.”

“For people like me who are often in danger all year round and could lose their lives at any given moment, death is nothing but a relief.”

“Who are you working for?”

“This, I will not say.” Su Jie was not willing to tell Prince Rui that he had been working under his enemies for so many years. He didn’t want to tell anyone about that experience. Other than Zhou Zaiyue, he would not speak about it to anyone else in the future.

“Fine, that’s fine!” Xiao Shengnian’s every word was as cool as a stone soaked in water. There was an elegant smile as warm as jade on his lips. He said coolly, “You’ve been to my dungeons before, perhaps you would like to live there from now on. Since you have told the truth, I can allow you to die a quick death.”

Xiao Shengnian was now in the midst of his fury. The amount of rage he felt was the same as the affection he held towards Su Jie before.

To Xiao Shengnian, the most painful thing to experience was none other than being lied to by the person he loved.

This was simply… unforgivable!

“Zhui Xing, take him away!”

“Who did you want to take away?” Zhou Zaiyue entered through the door without waiting for Zhui Xing. He was livid and immediately moved in front of Su Jie to protect him.

“Did you also approach me with some purpose?” Seeing Zhou Zaiyue enter, Xiao Shengnian narrowed his eyes slightly. He repressed his anger and there was no trace of a smile on his lips. He looked ruthless and severe.