Walking to the front courtyard, Xu Wanning smelled a strong scent of blood from afar. As she approached one of the courtyards, the bloody smell in the air became even more intense.

She covered her mouth, enduring the discomfort, and continued to walk slowly under the stern gazes of the two old grannies.

She couldn’t walk fast at all. Her legs were already uncomfortable, and those two had secretly harmed her, making it even more unbearable. It was a testament to her strong will that she could even stand.

Perhaps because the occasion was inappropriate or they had softened, the two grannies didn’t say anything, just followed quietly behind her, watching from a distance, really giving off the air of loyal servants serving a leisurely master.

But who could see that Xu Wanning already hated those two grannies to death? If the situation wasn’t so unfavorable to her, she would definitely give them a hard time.

Stepping over the courtyard gate, two servants walked out to meet her. They were carrying a person covered in blood, one grabbing the hands and the other the feet. Seeing Xu Wanning and realizing she wasn’t dressed like a maid, they stopped to give a salute.

As they stopped, Xu Wanning happened to meet the wide eyes of the person being carried. The whites of his eyes revealed the terror and fear of his impending death. The cloth stuffed in his mouth was soaked with blood, fresh blood covering half of his face. His tattered clothes revealed the skin underneath, which was no longer intact… covered in blood, unable to rest in peace, his expression as fierce as a demon.

Where had Xu Wanning ever seen such a scene? She froze on the spot, staring with wide eyes, and only after watching the person being carried away did she softly collapse against Xi Yun, gasping for breath, tears flowing uncontrollably again.

Feeling the wetness on her face, Xu Wanning couldn’t help but purse her lips, hating this body’s tendency to cry at everything. It was simply pathological.

Crying from pain was understandable, but being scared by a dead person, why cry?

“Miss!” Seeing her tears, Xi Yun quickly supported her. Although she was also very scared, it wasn’t the first time she had seen such a situation, so she was relatively okay.

Xu Wanning raised her eyes, desperately trying to ignore the bloodstains on the ground and the bloody smell in the air, but she couldn’t help but feel fear towards the Young Master she was about to meet.

Didn’t the book say that the Young Master was handsome and had an extraordinary bearing? How was he like a god of slaughter?

She pursed her lips, shook off the impressions in her mind, and tried to immerse herself in the original owner’s persona, otherwise, she really wouldn’t even know how she died.

“Miss!” Xi Yun called out worriedly again.

“Let’s go in,” Xu Wanning said in a low voice, tugging at the corner of her mouth.

Bypassing the long corridor covered by flowers and plants, Xu Wanning finally saw that there were no fewer than twenty people kneeling in the center of the courtyard, all covered in blood. Judging from their injuries, they must have been whipped, no wonder the bloody smell in the air was so strong.

Even though they had been beaten bloody, they could only continue kneeling on the ground waiting for their fate, as they had not yet been ordered to move.

Their mouths were stuffed with cloth, so no matter how painful or uncomfortable they were, they couldn’t make a sound, because they couldn’t disturb the noble’s ears.

“Ugh!” The scene was truly too bloody, and Xu Wanning couldn’t help but grab the beam of the house and start dry heaving. She dry heaved so hard that tears couldn’t help but flow out again.

When she stood up after vomiting, her originally fair face had turned red, and her eyes were flushed, which contrasted with the purplish bruises on her slender and delicate neck, making her look pitiful and lovable.

Huai Dan, who was standing at the door in charge of overseeing the punishment, saw Xu Wanning in this state. Seeing the mistiness in the corners of her eyes, her small face flushed, and her soft and boneless charming posture, his eyes flickered slightly, and he quickly realized her identity.

After hesitating again and again, and seeing her obviously strange walking posture, he turned around and walked in.

After Xu Wanning finished vomiting and dragged her weak legs to the door, wanting to ask for instructions, Huai Dan, who had already come out, clasped his fist in front of his chest and bowed his head, gesturing to the side and said, “Miss, the Young Master asks you to go directly in!” His tone was calm, without any joy or anger.

Xu Wanning couldn’t help but glance at him, “You are?”

“This subordinate is Huai Dan, greetings Miss, please come in!” Huai Dan turned his head, avoiding her gaze, and stepped aside again, gesturing for her to enter.

A trace of surprise flashed in Xu Wanning’s eyes.

Huai Dan, she knew him. He was the Young Master’s personal guard, and could be considered a very important character in the book, and also one of the rare characters she liked.

The book said that after the female lead experienced the bed-climbing incident, she quickly became pregnant, and it was he who was responsible for escorting the female lead to the capital. Because of his kind heart, the female lead suffered much less on the road, and he also blocked the approach of many ill-intentioned people. It could be said that because of him, the female lead suffered a lot less.

She didn’t expect to see him so soon.

Thinking of this, she couldn’t help but smile at him, her watery round eyes curved into a pair of crescents, her fair little face flushed, like a bright rose, delicate and dripping with dew. She said in a low voice, “Thank you!”

Looking at her gentle and kind smile, Huai Dan raised his eyebrows.

How could someone who could smile so gently be a bed-climber?

No wonder others would rather offend the Young Master to send her into his room.

Her beauty was unparalleled, her charm bewitching.

Even he couldn’t help but feel joy when he saw her!

Unfortunately, the Young Master wouldn’t like someone who was so greedy and had such improper thoughts!

Thinking in his heart, his expression didn’t change at all, and even became more serious.

He stepped aside, signaling for Xu Wanning to enter.

Xu Wanning nodded slightly and was about to go in, but Huai Dan reached out his hand again. He looked at Xi Yun, lowered his eyes, not looking at Xu Wanning’s face, and reminded her again, “Miss, the Young Master only asked you to go in alone.”

Xu Wanning turned her head, glanced at Xi Yun, gently patted her hand to comfort her, released her hand and slowly walked in.

Looking at the slender figure slowly entering, a trace of complexity flashed in Huai Dan’s eyes, but when Xi Yun’s gaze came over, it had already returned to calm.

Bypassing the screen, what came into view was a luxurious hall. The originally open space was filled with more than a dozen people kneeling or standing. Xu Wanning only recognized the two people in the center, one was the Prefect, and the other was the Head Steward.

Even though there were more than a dozen people, the entire room was so quiet that you could hear a needle drop. Even Xu Wanning’s intrusion didn’t cause any disturbance.

Everyone was as quiet as chickens, quietly waiting for the man sitting at the head of the table, who hadn’t said a word, to issue his verdict.

The man sitting at the head of the table was wearing a black brocade robe, with intricate golden embroidery on the collar, cuffs, and hem. A delicate embroidered pouch hung from his waist, and an exquisite jade pendant the size of a palm, crystal clear, was attached to it. The long tassels were casually thrown aside, allowing them to fall to the ground.

The man wore a cyan jade crown, his eyebrows and eyes were as beautiful as a painting, and his black eyes were cold, like the Grim Reaper in the dark night.

When Xu Wanning raised her eyes, she happened to meet his black eyes that were like cold stars in the night. The familiar eyes made her immediately recall the experience of last night, and she couldn’t help but feel a tremor in her heart. Her slender and soft hands clutched at her skirt, and after a long hesitation, she endured her fear and walked to the center, curtsying and saying, “This servant Xu Shi greets the Young Master, may the Young Master have myriad blessings.”

Her voice was delicate, with a slight tremor in her tone.

This caused Yan Xiangze to lower his eyes and look at the woman in front of him.

Her eyebrows were lightly painted, her eyes were watery, her hair was like clouds, her skin was like condensed fat, her lips were red without being painted, and her eyebrows were green without being drawn. A light green dress couldn’t hide her beauty. The crimson at the corner of her eyes was like a hook, stirring people’s hearts.

With such a captivating and beautiful face, no wonder someone wanted to send her to his bed.

Even he had to admit that the moment she appeared, she disturbed his heart.

Silence, no one spoke.

Xu Wanning smiled bitterly in her heart, wanting to steady her trembling body, but the half-kneeling posture was the most tiring, not to mention that she was full of injuries. In less than the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, she lost her strength and fell to the ground.

Her small face was delicate and exquisite, her eyelashes were long and dense, and her round eyes, which had become watery due to the pain, were full of determination. She slowly got up with her hands on the ground, and even if she accidentally touched the bruised areas on her body, she only frowned slightly, and quickly knelt up.

Xu Wanning knelt on the ground, her waist straight, her hands clasped in front of her abdomen, her eyes lowered, looking at the ground three steps away.

Her demeanor was dignified and beautiful, gentle and quiet, and her every move was slow and methodical but not lacking in order. If Yan Xiangze didn’t know what kind of person she was, he would have thought she was the daughter of some noble family.

From falling to getting up, and then changing to a kneeling posture to plead guilty, the whole process took less than five seconds. Apart from the sound of the collision when she first fell to the ground, Xu Wanning didn’t make a single sound.

The reason she didn’t speak was because she knew that this Young Master was old-fashioned and completely a stickler for rules, and he disliked pretentious women the most.

Although she didn’t know what the female lead looked like, judging from her slender waist that could be grasped with both hands, her skin that was covered in bruises after just one intimate encounter, and her delicate and artificial voice, she could tell that she was definitely extraordinary.

Moreover, the book also said that the female lead had a charming and voluptuous appearance and a graceful figure.

Such a person must be charming and beautiful. He already disliked this kind of appearance. If she had let out a delicate moan when she fell, she would probably be dragged out of this room immediately.

However, she felt quite wronged in her heart. It wasn’t her who climbed into bed, so why did she have to bear the consequences of the original owner’s actions?

Thinking this, she couldn’t help but raise her eyes and take a look at the man’s reaction, but when she met the man’s tightly furrowed eyebrows and dark eyes, she was so frightened that she quickly lowered her eyes, her eyelashes trembling non-stop, like a frightened deer.

Xu Wanning, who was like a quail with her head down, didn’t see that when the man at the head of the table finished watching her entire smooth action, his eyebrows were slightly raised, and a look of amazement flowed in his eyes.

She clearly looked like a delicate woman, and tears were streaming down her face after falling, but she was still able to be strong and quickly make the best response.

Pretending to be strong to attract his attention, she was really a cunning woman.

Yan Xiangze couldn’t help but think of last night.

The short gasps were unspeakably charming and alluring, her small waist that could be grasped with both hands, her delicate and smooth skin… Thinking this, he couldn’t help but put his eyes on the woman in front of him again. Her red face, the touch of red at the corner of her eyes, and the large patches of purple revealed by her collar… He clearly didn’t use much strength, but she was too delicate. His thoughts suddenly became chaotic, his heart was racing, and his breathing suddenly became difficult to control.

Seeing that the person still didn’t speak, Xu Wanning’s heart was pounding. After hesitating again and again, she couldn’t help but raise her eyes again, wanting to take a peek.

Just as she raised her eyes, she met the man’s dark eyes. The desire in his eyes made her unable to help but recall the pair of black eyes last night. Fear made her unable to help but exclaim. Her originally straight waist softened, and she sat down on the ground.

“Ah!” The delicate call awakened the man’s sanity. Looking at the woman kneeling on the ground, covering her chest, her ink-like hair scattered, her slender neck with fair and smooth skin… Yan Xiangze leaned his body slightly forward, his hands on his legs clenching into fists, his eyebrows tightly furrowed.

This woman, could she be the enchantress in the legends?