Chapter 63: Why Insist on Seeking Death?

Pei Ji was provoked by her indifferent attitude and said coldly, “If you want your maid to die, you can just keep standing there.”

Hearing his threat, Jiang Huaiyue’s eyes flashed with impatience as she took a few steps forward.

“What did you do to Qiuchan?”

He was always ruthless, and Qiuchan definitely wouldn’t get away from him unharmed.

Seeing that she still cared about that maid, Pei Ji felt a surge of frustration.

He grabbed Jiang Huaiyue’s wrist and pulled her forward.

Caught off guard, Jiang Huaiyue fell into his arms, inhaling the crisp scent on him.

After several days apart, holding her again filled Pei Ji with satisfaction. He buried his face in her neck, his hot breath brushing her skin.

Jiang Huaiyue snapped back to reality, pushing him away with a cold expression: “What are you doing? Let me go.”

Pei Ji didn’t respond. He lifted her chin and pressed her down, a harsh gleam flashing in his eyes. “Why do you insist on seeking death? Why not just obey?”

Unable to resist, Jiang Huaiyue raised her eyes stubbornly. “Just keep me as your possession, then?”

He was unpredictable and guarded against her at every turn. Whether in words or actions, he treated her like a plaything. She must be crazy to stay here.

“That’s what you think.” Pei Ji tightened his grip, forcing her head up.

“Isn’t it?” Jiang Huaiyue sneered.

His expression darkened. “If that’s so, the King will show you what real possession means.”

He concentrated his inner energy, and the clothes Jiang Huaiyue had just changed into turned to pieces, scattering on the floor.

Her flawless white body was clad only in pale yellow undergarments, her soft curves faintly visible from the sides.

Feeling a sudden chill and realizing what he intended, Jiang Huaiyue kicked and hit him, both ashamed and angry.

“Pei Ji, what madness is this?”

Her slender legs trembled as she kicked, as if teasing him on purpose.

Pei Ji grabbed her hand and pinned it above her head, pressing his body against her legs as he lowered his head to kiss her.

His strength was immense, his grip on her waist almost crushing, as if embedding her into his very bones.

Jiang Huaiyue winced in pain and whispered, “Pei Ji, are you insane? You’re a madman, a lunatic. You pretend to be noble, but you’re just a hypocrite who can’t resist common desires.”

Since the last time he used medicine to suppress the poison inside her and helped her detoxify, he seemed addicted to their entanglement, and their conflicts grew more frequent.

“Shut up. Do you really think the King won’t kill you?”

Pei Ji’s brow darkened. He bit her neck and shoulder, leaving a clear mark on her pale skin — oddly alluring.

Tears instantly spilled from Jiang Huaiyue’s eyes as she whimpered in pain, “If you want to, just kill me.”

Despite her tear-streaked face, flushed at the eyes and nose, her soft lips kept uttering harsh words.

Pei Ji lowered his head again, covering her mouth. He held her hands and pressed her into his embrace.

Her struggles felt like tickling to him. Jiang Huaiyue was furious, almost wanting to bite him, but held her breath in silence.

Seeing this, Pei Ji immediately understood her thoughts.

He tormented her cruelly, and although she refused to cry out, he still wanted her to beg.

In the end, Jiang Huaiyue lost — the pain was too much for her to bear.

She fainted, and before losing consciousness, she thought Pei Ji was truly a curse to her — in every way, they were mismatched.

---

When Jiang Huaiyue woke again, she was still in the waterside pavilion, but this time she wore a sheer, delicate dress like cicada wings. Her feet were bare, and golden chains were locked around her ankles.

She looked up, her heart startled. What did Pei Ji mean by this? Did he really intend to tie her up in the bedchamber every day and indulge in pleasure endlessly?

Looking down at the chain on her foot, she reached out to pull it. But whatever this thing was, the more she pulled, the tighter it got.

After thinking for a moment, she got up and took a hairpin from the nearby dressing table.

She inserted the hairpin into the keyhole and fiddled with it for a long time, but instead of unlocking it, the lock tightened even more, leaving red marks on her ankle.

Jiang Huaiyue angrily threw the hairpin to the ground. She really wanted to tear that dog Pei Ji to pieces.

After struggling for a while, she grew tired and slowly dragged the jingling chain behind her as she poured herself a cup of tea.

In the past, when reading novels, she envied those female leads who lived freely and brilliantly after transmigrating. She had even found those stories where the male lead forced love on the heroine thrilling.

But now that it was happening to her, all she wanted was to run as far away as possible.

She wondered if she would never escape Pei Ji’s grasp in this life, destined to be trapped by him forever.

Lowering her eyes, she looked at the ambiguous marks on her arms and remembered last night, her heart suddenly terrified — she had not taken any birth control medicine.

“Is anyone there? Someone, please?”

After shouting a few times at the door, it was pushed open. A young woman entered, her eyes lowered.

“Princess, do you have any orders?”

Jiang Huaiyue, seeing a maid she had never met before, asked, “Who are you?”

“I am Yuan Zhi, sent by the prince to serve the princess,” Yuan Zhi said respectfully, bowing her head.

Jiang Huaiyue frowned, displeased but helpless. “Where is my bundle?”

“Princess, do you mean the bundle brought here the other day?” Yuan Zhi asked.

“Yes. Where is it? Bring it to me.”

That bundle still contained half a bottle of the birth control medicine left unused last time.

Now she was imprisoned and unable to leave. If she didn’t take the medicine and got pregnant, wouldn’t she truly be trapped for life?

Yuan Zhi replied, “Please wait a moment, Princess. I will fetch it.”

After saying that, she gently closed the door.

After a while, Yuan Zhi came back holding the familiar bundle. Jiang Huaiyue took it, found what she needed, and silently put it aside.

“Yuan Zhi, do you have clothes? Bring me a set.”

The clothes Pei Ji forced her to wear were barely any better than nothing. Luckily, no one had come to his room lately.

Otherwise, if anyone saw her like this, she would die of shame.

Yuan Zhi lowered her head. “Princess, the prince ordered that you may only wear these.”

Upon hearing this, Jiang Huaiyue bit her teeth and cursed silently, crazy, idiot.

“I’m hungry. Is there any food?”

She decided to turn her sorrow and anger into appetite. No more words, she just needed to eat first.

“Please wait a moment, Princess.”

---

In the study.

Pei Ji and several others were discussing who should sit on the throne.

By rights, Xiao Qingrong was the crown prince of the previous dynasty. If they had rebelled in his name, the throne would naturally and legitimately be his.

But from the very beginning, he refused to use his own name for the rebellion.

So outsiders only believed that Pei Ji rebelled to avenge his family.

“Pei Ji, I have no interest in the throne,” Xiao Qingrong said calmly.

“You’ve been navigating court politics for many years; now you’re just going with the flow.”

He had fought many battles outside and was used to his own freedom, and really didn’t want to take that position.