Chapter 171: Chapter 171: Let Them Die Together! Let Them All Die

Recalling what had triggered the ’cooling-off period,’ Cui Lingyao pressed her lips together. "Do you remember the autumn hunt in the second year of our marriage?"

"At the time, your Love Value was already high enough, but my mission still hadn’t registered as complete. I didn’t know why. The only thing I could do was continue to trick you out of your true feelings."

She had spent an immense amount of patience on her mission to win him over those few years.

"That time, I killed a black bear with a single arrow and personally sewed you a pair of gloves. Then I threw myself into your arms and we shared a long, tender moment. And on that very day, your Love Value maxed out. You gave me all of your heart... every last bit of it."

At this, Cui Lingyao’s voice finally faltered. She seemed unable to bear it herself, her expression complex. "That’s a level of devotion that is incredibly difficult to achieve. Even the ’thing’ that brought me to this world said it had never encountered a situation like it."

"But I wasn’t impressed in the slightest. In fact, it was a nuisance. Your feelings were so deep that after I completed my mission, I was forced to stay here for an entire extra year for no reason..."

She said softly, "In my world, only couples who are getting a divorce need something like that. I didn’t think I needed to ’cool off’ about anything. My desire to leave never wavered. It had nothing to do with Li Wanrong. Her being here or not changed nothing."

’Her desire to leave never wavered...’

Xie Jinbai had been listening to her in silence. Only now did his expression finally twist for a fleeting moment.

His crimson pupils trembled, a neurotic twitch as he stared fixedly at the woman before him. A murderous aura surged in his eyes, and the air around him grew terrifying.

Even the old, seasoned ministers of the imperial court, who had navigated the treacherous political seas for decades, would find their legs trembling and fall to their knees to beg for mercy if they saw him like this.

But Cui Lingyao was completely unfazed. Her expression didn’t change as she continued to speak.

"Your suspicions weren’t wrong. I never once planned on truly loving you. Once the mission was complete, you were no longer of any use to me, so my patience with you gradually wore thin. That’s why you sensed..."

"Shut up!" Xie Jinbai could no longer restrain himself. He shot his hand out and viciously wrapped it around her throat. "Do you have any idea what you’re doing?"

He’d never been a good-tempered man. His hands were stained with the blood of countless people.

He had killed more people than he could count.

’Did she think he was made of clay?’

’That he had no temper? That he would just let her humiliate and mock him?’

’He had already said he wouldn’t hold it against her!’

’He wouldn’t hold it against her!’

’Why did she have to dissect everything she’d ever done and lay it all bare before him?’

’Was she trying to trample on his dignity to show off how clever she was? Was this all to mock the fool she had wrapped around her little finger?’

’Or was it that, as the one she had defeated, he was destined to have no dignity before her, to be trampled on as she pleased?’

Xie Jinbai’s fingers tightened, his palm closing around her neck.

’So fragile.’

’He could encircle it with one hand. It wouldn’t take much force to snap it.’

’Once it was broken, she could never again say these things that were shattering his very soul.’

’She wouldn’t be able to torture him anymore.’

’They could die together!’

’Let them all just die!’

Xie Jinbai’s sanity shattered. For the first time, he felt a genuine desire to kill the woman before him. He glared at her viciously, his eyes bloodshot, his emotions teetering on the very edge of collapse.

And yet, subconsciously, he remembered not to squeeze too hard.

The hand on her throat was trembling.

Cui Lingyao felt it.

The man who could command an army of thousands with perfect composure... his fingers were trembling.

Her struggles froze mid-motion. All the strength suddenly drained from her body.

Xie Jinbai looked at her, his eyes filled with a tragic despair.

Neither of them spoke.

After a long moment, the hand on her throat loosened.

As if saving himself, Xie Jinbai let her go. He fell back against the bed, half-lying, and raised a hand to cover his eyes.

As his chest heaved, moisture seeped from between his fingers.

Cui Lingyao lowered her head, watching in silence.

’She’d made him cry so many times.’

’Before, she’d found it novel that a man who didn’t even fear death could actually shed tears.’

’But now, watching him cry, she felt a dull ache in her chest.’

"What is it you’re trying to do?" Xie Jinbai asked, his voice hoarse from behind his hand. "Surely, humiliating me can’t be what brings you pleasure, can it?"

He still couldn’t believe that the woman he loved was so malicious by nature.

Cui Lingyao said nothing.

Not a single word of explanation.

’So heartless.’

When it came to being hard-hearted, Xie Jinbai had to admit he was no match for her.

He scrubbed a hand over his face and looked up at her. "Then what you said about liking me this time... was that a lie too?"

He had already regained his composure.

But the rims of his eyes were still red and damp.

"...I’m not lying. I really do like you. Maybe I have for three years."

Cui Lingyao kept her eyes downcast, not looking at him. Her lips moved as she said, "Three years ago, when you married Li Wanrong, I was actually a little sad. But I didn’t dare admit it."

Before she had fallen into the water and left this world, she had already suspected there was more to Li Wanrong’s presence than met the eye.

That was why she hadn’t dared to accept the system’s offer to stay for three days and witness the truth.

Because no matter what the truth was, it wouldn’t change her decision to go home.

But now, in this moment, she admitted her feelings nonetheless.

She said she truly liked him.

Her words sent a faint ripple through the dead calm in the man’s eyes.

It was like a sliver of shimmering light, enough to make one’s heart tremble.

Cui Lingyao didn’t dare meet his gaze, forcing herself to ask, "Do you know why I came back this time?"

Xie Jinbai’s lips tightened. ’Here it comes.’ His heart plummeted. "I don’t want to know. You don’t have to tell me."

He grabbed her wrist and yanked her into his arms. "I only need to know that you are the eldest daughter of the Cui Family and my properly wedded Princess Consort. I only need to know that we love each other, that we are devoted to one another, and that we went through countless hardships to be where we are today. I don’t want to know anything else."

"Let’s not talk about the past," he said, his voice strained as he held her tightly. "Your origins, your secrets, your purpose... I don’t care about any of it. All I care about is our future."

’...We don’t have a future.’

’How can people from two different worlds talk about a future?’

Cui Lingyao’s eyelashes fluttered. She swallowed the bitterness in her throat and ignored his words completely, pressing on. "I came back this time with another mission. You’re a smart man. You must have guessed what it is, haven’t you?"

Determined to avoid the subject at all costs, Xie Jinbai didn’t take the bait. Instead, he lifted her chin and examined it closely.

There were two finger-shaped bruises on her slender neck.

"I’m sorry. Did I hurt you?" He bent his head and kissed the marks, whispering, "Those words are too cruel. Don’t say them again."

’He was human, too.’

’He could feel pain.’

He cared for her too deeply. A few sarcastic words from her were enough to drive him mad with pain.

He would rather take two more knife wounds than listen to her soul-crushing words.

His lips pressed against the side of her neck, lingering there.

He was avoiding it.

Avoiding the topic she had raised.

This blatant display of weakness made a lump form in Cui Lingyao’s throat.

’She even thought about just letting it go.’

But the words were already on the tip of her tongue, and they spilled out.

She heard her own voice say, "If I can’t complete that mission... I’ll die."

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