Chapter 217: I Beg Your Majesty... for Punishment

In the brief moment Xiao Li was stunned, Lou Yan had already loosened his robes. Beneath her palm, his muscles were clearly defined and scorching hot.

His breath was ragged, the kiss full of lust.

Xiao Li turned her head to avoid him, but he simply moved his kiss to her neck. Having reached her limit, Xiao Li threw a punch and followed it with a vicious kick.

She trained in martial arts daily, so the kick was not light. Lou Yan was sent flying from the force of the blow.

Xiao Li was furious. ’How could I let a eunuch force himself on me?’

However, when she looked up, Lou Yan was slowly getting to his feet. One side of his robes had slipped completely off, revealing a large expanse of his chest and shoulder.

Years of martial arts training had sculpted his muscles to near perfection. He had broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and fair skin, emanating masculine power.

He had been stabbed in the chest. The wound wasn’t deep, but blood smeared half his torso.

The stark white of his skin and the vivid red of his blood created a dazzling, arresting image, like some mysterious, painted totem, exuding a brutal and bizarre beauty.

Xiao Li couldn’t look away.

Lou Yan stood there without moving, just looking at her. His androgynously handsome face was also spattered with blood. His eyes held a hidden, dangerous, predatory hunger, tinged with lust and provocation.

He no longer threatened or initiated. Instead, he dangled temptation before her, having perfectly grasped her desires.

Xiao Li didn’t want to become an irrational madwoman, but the personality lurking within her very soul was crazed.

A calm, rational madness.

That was why she appreciated Feng Yin’s compliance and Song Junzhan’s ethereal aura. It was an appreciation for their beauty, unclouded by any deeper desire.

But Lou Yan was different. Dangerous, greedy, fierce, and obsessed, he effortlessly awakened her desire to conquer and her lust for blood.

Xiao Li stood there impassively, her gaze turning to ice, but she didn’t move forward.

Then, under her gaze, Lou Yan suddenly dropped to one knee. "This servant has committed a grave transgression, a treasonous offense. I beg Your Majesty... to bestow punishment."

Xiao Li didn’t know how long she stared, somewhat dazed. By the time she came to her senses, she had unconsciously walked up to him, her hand closing around his neck.

Lou Yan was very tall. Even kneeling, his head was nearly level with her heart. She easily grasped his vulnerable throat and squeezed, instantly choking off his breath.

Lou Yan didn’t resist, letting her take his breath and his life.

A vicious glint appeared in Xiao Li’s eyes; she truly wished she could just choke him to death right then and there.

But just as Lou Yan’s gaze started to lose focus, she suddenly bent down and kissed him.

Finally free, Lou Yan desperately claimed the air from her mouth.

SPLASH.

The two of them fell into the water.

Xiao Li was already wearing thin clothes, and Lou Yan instantly stripped off his own.

Skin to skin, they were entangled in a passionate kiss.

Xiao Li stood up from the water, gulping in large mouthfuls of air. But Lou Yan gave a bewitching smile and dove back under the water.

A jolt went through Xiao Li, and she almost couldn’t catch her breath.

The sword she had just dropped was now not far from her hand. She could easily pick it up again, but her hand felt weak, and her vision was a blur.

A moment later, Lou Yan rose from the water, smoothly scooping the unsteady Xiao Li into his arms.

He lowered his head to kiss her cheek but was met with a SLAP.

Lou Yan wasn’t annoyed. Instead, he smiled smugly. "Thank you for the punishment, Your Majesty."

’How shameless.’

Xiao Li tried to push him away, but her hand brushed against something startling.

HISS!

The previously smug Lou Yan’s expression changed instantly. He lowered his head and gasped, "I beg you, Your Majesty, don’t move. Let this servant just hold you."

Xiao Li: "..."

’This fake eunuch.’

Xiao Li deliberately put on a stern face and snorted coldly. "This is the crime of deceiving the Emperor."

Her face was flushed pink with desire, and her voice was slightly hoarse. The threat held no menace at all; instead, it sounded unspeakably charming and flirtatious.

Lou Yan planted an impatient kiss on her shoulder. "Which Emperor is Your Majesty talking about? If it’s the former one, he’s already dead. Deceiving him or not, he can’t do anything about it now. If it’s Your Majesty... didn’t you know already?"

"This servant did say... that my skills would certainly leave Your Majesty... utterly captivated."

Xiao Li: ... ’Back when he said that, I had no idea he was a fake eunuch.’

Xiao Li fell silent, but it was as if Lou Yan had opened the floodgates.

"Your Majesty seems quite concerned about Song Junzhan. But did you know? Before the Song Family, another of the great founding families was the Lou Family."

"The Lou Family followed the Grand Ancestor Emperor to found this empire. An ancestor, Lou Buwen, though a civil servant, was enfeoffed as a Marquis and ranked among the seven great founding Marquises of the empire. But twenty years ago, the head of the Lou Family, the Marquis at the time, diverted military funds for disaster relief. A single memorial was submitted to the late Emperor, accusing the Lou Family of arrogance born from their achievements, of embezzling military funds, and of plotting rebellion."

"I don’t know how the late Emperor conducted his investigation, but he declared the Lou Family guilty. The entire family was executed, with not even the women and children spared."

"This servant was six years old at the time. I only remember someone holding me, running for their life. The air was thick with the smell of blood and that person’s sweat."

"The entire city was under martial law, with orders to spare no remnant of my family. The person carrying me tried to get us out, hiding for days, but we couldn’t escape. We were almost caught several times. Then he came back, gravely injured, but he grabbed me and ran without a second thought. He locked me in a cellar, and I never saw him again."

"I was locked in that cellar for ten days. I survived on the sweet potatoes and wheat stored inside. After ten days, an old eunuch opened the cellar and brought me into the palace."

"Lou Yan is not my real name. ’Yan’ was a name the old eunuch gave me. He said he detested me, that I was a living nightmare. He must have hated my family, yet in the end, he still chose to save me."

"He taught me how to be a servant, how to survive in the palace. When I was twelve, the old eunuch was dying. He took my hand and made me kill him. That was his final lesson: in this palace, if you want to live, you must learn to kill."

"I am twenty-six now. I’ve been in the palace for twenty years. Even a fake servant becomes a real one after so long."

He lowered his head and kissed Xiao Li’s neck, lingering on that patch of fair, vulnerable skin.

"This servant is luckier than Song Junzhan. I sent my enemy to hell myself."

Xiao Li’s hands, about to push him away, paused. She was truly a little surprised. "You killed the late Emperor?"

Hearing the surprise but no hatred in her tone, Lou Yan couldn’t help but let out a low laugh, his chest vibrating with it.

"Yes. The great aristocratic families had already forced the late Emperor’s hand, making him kill and then retreat. They had already won, so none of them would kill him. But the late Emperor grew depressed after being forced to concede. He refused to accept reality and took to drink. At the time, I was just a servant who scrubbed the floors. Who would notice a little eunuch who was practically invisible?"

"This servant just added a little something to the late Emperor’s incense each day and brought him a few extra jars of wine steeped with medicinal herbs. Silently, without a sound, without even using poison, the late Emperor died."

He smiled, his eyes tinged with red. He held her tightly, his tone crazed. "Your Majesty, will you kill this servant to avenge the late Emperor? If Your Majesty does it herself, this servant will not resist."