Yu Lingxi was extremely nervous, struggling with a white jade belt for quite some time.
Ning Yin was in no hurry. His index finger tapped unhurriedly on his thigh, not changing his posture by even a fraction.
In the bright candlelight, from Ning Yin’s angle, he could see her fragile, fair neck extending into the depths of her collar, more alluring than the finest white jade.
He saw through everything, his expression languid as he leisurely enjoyed Yu Lingxi’s clumsy attempt to please him.
Despite his coldness, even Ning Yin had to admit that Yu Lingxi’s appearance was extremely beautiful. Though her status was no longer noble, her ice-like skin and jade-like bones remained radiant, as if even her hair strands glowed under the lamplight.
This light bothered Ning Yin, making him want to pull her down and crush her between his fingers. Moreover, she was trying to please him for the sake of another man.
He quietly watched the beauty whose cheeks had flushed red in the lamplight, and said coolly: “Yu Lingxi, you’re overestimating yourself.”
His eyes were like black ice—handsome, profound, and filled with darkness and coldness.
Beads of sweat appeared at Yu Lingxi’s temples, and she felt aggrieved: “Whether I’m overestimating or not… I have to try to know.”
The silk sash around her waist loosened, her skirt hems piling at her feet. She shivered slightly in the chilly spring air.
Then, trembling, she wrapped her arms around his neck, leaned closer, and held her breath as she pressed her soft, fragrant lips against Ning Yin’s slightly cool thin ones.
Seeing he made no sound, she grew bolder and moved upward, licking his straight nose tip.
Having been with him for two years, she knew how to appease a madman.
If his mood was good that night, it would just be difficult to endure; if his mood was bad, there would be blood.
Unfortunately, the madman had been triggered by something tonight and was not in a good mood.
Compared to his neat clothing, Yu Lingxi was much more disheveled. Her whole body felt uncomfortable, her stomach burning. She tried to move the corners of her mouth but couldn’t manage a smile.
Ning Yin raised his eyebrows, clearly dissatisfied.
He pinched Yu Lingxi’s lips and pulled them apart. Her lip had been bitten and was bleeding, a color more enchanting than rouge.
Only when he had stretched her mouth into an awkward false smile, and she was in so much pain that her eyes blurred with tears, did Ning Yin release her and burst into laughter, laughing so hard his chest shook.
He leaned against the couch, supporting his temple, extending his finger to press on Yu Lingxi’s lips, slowly spreading the seeping blood droplets, his voice low and hoarse with amusement: “Such a small mouth, how dare you try to swallow the Prince?”
The mocking words made Yu Lingxi’s cheeks sting.
Once she had been the radiant noble daughter of the General’s family, dignified and proud. For two years she had endured fear and pain, thinking she had nothing left to care about, but when she heard Ning Yin’s scornful words reminding her how lowly she had become, tears of humiliation still fell.
The burning pain in her stomach, the discomfort in her body and heart, something tense about to break—Yu Lingxi didn’t know where her courage came from.
She glared with her reddened almond eyes, trying hard to break free from Ning Yin’s grip, wanting to leave, but she was easily pulled back to the bed and restrained.
She refused to submit, and in her struggle, she kicked Ning Yin’s left leg. For a moment, both of them froze.
The permanently disabled left leg was his sore spot; no one dared to touch it, let alone kick it.
Ning Yin’s handsome face instantly darkened. He clicked his tongue and sneered as he pinched Yu Lingxi’s jaw: “With such thin skin, why climb into my bed?”
Yu Lingxi knew she had crossed his bottom line and was frightened stiff like a frozen quail.
She wanted to say something but only felt a surging pain in her abdomen.
Then her vision began to blur and scatter. Her whole body gasped like a fish out of water, unable to make a sound.
Ning Yin stared at her ugly expression, thinking that ever since she had seen Xue, she was no longer willing to even pretend to appease him.
In the past, she would have clung to him coquettishly by now, coaxing him with soft words.
“You’re only beginning to despise me now. Isn’t it a bit late?”
When Ning Yin was unhappy, he naturally wouldn’t let others be happy either.
He involuntarily grasped Yu Lingxi’s wildly kicking ankle and said with a sinister voice: “Why don’t I break your legs too, chain you up, so you won’t even have the strength to crawl out of the mansion to meet your old lover? Then you’ll behave…”
His voice stopped abruptly.
The last thing Yu Lingxi saw was a mouthful of black blood shooting out like an arrow, splashing onto Ning Yin’s snow-white collar.
Then her abdomen twisted violently in pain, her eyes darkened, and she lost consciousness.
…
Yu Lingxi never expected that her life would end just like that.
She pondered for a long time but couldn’t understand how she had suddenly died. Surely she couldn’t have been frightened to death by Ning Yin?
It was ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!
For three full days, her soul floated beneath the rafters, watching her strange corpse lying on the ice bed, going from disbelief to panic, and finally to numbed acceptance…
She finally thought dejectedly: It’s good to be dead; the madman can’t be angry with me anymore.
She wondered where Ning Yin would discard her corpse—would he burn it to ashes, or wrap it in a straw mat and throw it in a mass grave?
But she never imagined that Ning Yin would not hold a funeral for her, and would not set up a mourning hall.
He couldn’t even be bothered to spare a straw mat, leaving her corpse forgotten in a dark chamber, lying day after day.
Perhaps because she hadn’t received a proper burial, Yu Lingxi’s soul couldn’t enter the underworld for reincarnation, so she drifted around Ning Yin like a wandering ghost, watching through gritted teeth as he caused trouble at court and killed people afterward.
On the third day after Yu Lingxi’s death, Ning Yin went to her uncle Zhao Hui’s mansion.
He entered without saying a word, only having people list more than ten crimes of corruption and misconduct, and detained several dozen members of the Zhao household.