Chapter 48 (Part 2)- I Want All of You

Smiling faintly, he pressed his bloodied hand to the Seventh Prince’s face. The thick blood smeared across the prince’s features, making him look gruesome and terrifying.

Rong Shang pulled his hand away and wiped it with a silk cloth. “The spider is dead. He was only exposed to its venom.”

Though it was just venom seeping through his skin, if left untreated overnight, the Seventh Prince wouldn’t survive.

His blood couldn’t neutralize the poison but could temporarily suppress its effects, ensuring that the Seventh Prince would not lose his life.

Rong Shang used a layer of silk cloth to lift the Seventh Prince by the collar and unceremoniously tossed him into a wardrobe.

Yu Zhengzheng stared at him in a daze, unable to react for a long while.

He had planned everything meticulously, even predicting the Seventh Prince would hide under the bed.

If she confessed now that she had been acting all along, would he believe her?

Before she could think of an answer, Rong Shang picked her up effortlessly and placed her on the bed.

His hands, cool and slender, traced a deliberate path down her elegant neck.

She heard him ask, “How much do you like me?”

Her breath hitched, unsure of how to respond.

Did she like him? She wasn’t certain.

Previously, she never cared about his life or death—if anything, she had hoped for his early demise. But now, she found herself unconsciously worrying about his safety.

Maybe she liked him.

But how much? She had no answer to that question.

He didn’t seem to care for her reply. As if handling a delicate piece of art, he began removing her clothing with unhurried precision.

She wanted to stop him but then heard him say, “I want all of you.”

She froze.

All of her?

His movements halted momentarily, his icy palm resting on her skin, seeming to absorb a trace of her warmth during the pause.

He had given her time to refuse, but she didn’t take it.

By the time she wished to resist, it was already too late—he had intertwined their fates, binding her to him irrevocably with his actions.

Sweat dampened her hair, clinging in strands. She wanted to cry out, but he silenced her.

By the time she was too exhausted to protest, his lips wandered, and the stillness of the palace was punctuated by faint whispers of water-like sounds.

…

The candlelight flickered faintly, casting shadows on the palace door, where a figure lingered outside.

The silhouette remained motionless, listening to the faint murmurs from within, the corners of its mouth curling into a smile.

As dawn broke, veiling the sky in hazy light, Rong Shang leaned lazily against the bedpost. His fingers toyed with her long hair, twisting it idly.

Yu Zhengzheng was still asleep, having spent the night in a semi-conscious state. By the time he finally let her go, the gentle orange hues of morning had already painted the sky.

After a simple bath to cleanse them both, the day had fully arrived.

He couldn’t sleep, but watching her serene slumber left him faintly dissatisfied.

Rong Shang pulled back the quilt, revealing her pale, porcelain-like skin. She shivered from the cold and instinctively shifted closer to him.

He leaned down slightly, his gaze languid as he toyed with the red tassel, as though bored and seeking amusement.

But as he played, his expression darkened.

Rong Shang’s finger brushed against a damp bead of sweat, and his intent shifted.

Just as he was about to act, a voice called out from outside the door: “Your Majesty, the Heavenly Emperor has invited everyone to view the Reincarnation Mirror. Are you getting up?”

It was Xiang Feng’s voice.

The Reincarnation Mirror was a sacred treasure of the heavens. When gazed upon, it could reveal all of a person’s past—everything, including events unknown even to the individual but which had truly transpired.

Rong Shang narrowed his eyes lazily. That mirror was carefully guarded by the Heavenly Emperor, yet today, he was willing to display it for others’ amusement?

He glanced at Yu Zhengzheng, her body marked with faint traces of their intimacy, before casually donning his robes. He responded unhurriedly, “You go ahead.”

Xiang Feng didn’t press further, leaving after delivering the message.

Rong Shang looked at the woman sleeping like a log beside him. He pinched her nose, watching as her face turned red from lack of air. Instinctively, she opened her mouth to breathe.

And he sealed her lips again.

Yu Zhengzheng jolted awake, gasping like someone who had just run an eight-hundred-meter race. “Are you trying to kill me?!”

Rong Shang glanced at her indifferently. “Get up. Serve me as I wash.”

Yu Zhengzheng: “…”

Could anyone be more outrageous?

After being tormented all night, not only was she denied rest, but now he wanted her to serve him as he washed and dressed?

Yu Zhengzheng felt an explosion of frustration rising within her. In every story she had read, the male lead would tenderly tuck the female lead in after such a night, perhaps even personally cook her a nourishing meal.

Was her treatment so lacking because she wasn’t the female lead?

Reluctantly, she turned away. He could still touch her, which meant his divine power hadn’t yet recovered.

Without his powers, he was nothing more than an ordinary mortal. Meanwhile, she had already reached the Golden Core stage in cultivation.

If she refused to obey him, what could he do?

As it turned out, Yu Zhengzheng underestimated Rong Shang’s shamelessness.

He pulled a palm-sized dead spider from his dimensional pouch and dangled it before her face with a smirk. “Look at it. Aren’t its patterns beautiful?”

The hall echoed with a scream so piercing it resembled a wild boar being slaughtered.

Yu Zhengzheng gave in.

She fetched a basin of water, her expression defiant as she slammed it onto the table. “Wash yourself!”

Rong Shang sat leisurely on the stool, tilting his chin slightly. “You do it.”

Yu Zhengzheng glared at him, her teeth clenched, but she reluctantly began scrubbing his face.

Her fingers pressed into his skin with such force it felt like she was scrubbing pig hide.

Rong Shang lazily opened his eyes. “You missed a spot.”

Yu Zhengzheng clenched her fists, suppressing the urge to slap him, but the memory of the furry black spider made her grit her teeth and comply.

She scrubbed his face with all her might, imagining she could peel off his skin.

Whether it was coincidence or fate, as she scrubbed, a piece of his face actually peeled away.

Yu Zhengzheng was so frightened that her hair stood on end, but her curiosity ultimately overcame her fear. She cautiously pinched the thin skin under his jaw with her fingertips and carefully peeled it upward.

What she saw next was a flawless face—one so familiar, it left her stunned.

After all, it was the face of her senior brother, someone she had liked for seven years.