Wu Yanyao lay prone on the bed, the fabric of her back stained a deep, vivid red by blood. After all, she was the adopted daughter of the Grand Princess. Out of respect for the Grand Princess, the palace servants tasked with the punishment had not dared to strike with lethal force. Otherwise, twenty solid blows would likely have cost her her life. The waves of sharp pain radiating from her back caused her body to tremble slightly, yet the physical pain was nothing compared to the agony in her heart. The scathing remarks from Wei Shian stung even more.
She gritted her teeth, her voice forced out through clenched jaws, laced with bitterness and venom. "It is not that I am useless. It is that they are too cruel. One by one, they have all abandoned me. That fool Zhao Yunhe, and that old hag the Empress Dowager—none of them are good. I want them dead." She spat out the final sentence with gnashing teeth.
Wei Shian could not empathize with Wu Yanyao's hatred. He spoke in a flat, indifferent tone: "Eliminating the Princess and the Empress Dowager is not such an easy task."
Chapter 209