Just hours before, the royal scion had been arrogant and brimming with majestic authority, but now he groveled abjectly at her feet, stripped of all prestige, utterly humble and devoid of any lingering nobility.
In contrast, the man overpowering him radiated an unbridled, audacious menace—the cold-blooded murderous aura forged on the battlefield, backed by the fearless self-assurance born of absolute power.
Compared to that face, Yao Yingying preferred this about him.
And his robust, lean physique.
Sensing something in Yao Yingying's gaze, Quan Yuanwu unhesitatingly shrugged off his outer robe, opening his arms wide before her, inviting her inspection.
Under the candlelight, the well-defined, chiseled muscles of his rugged torso took on a hint of licentious charm.
His voice was seductive and dissolute. "Your Highness, put your hand here."
In two lifetimes, Yao Yingying had never encountered anyone so openly, unabashedly uninhibited.
Clearly, she still had much to see of the world.
"Yao Yingying! Get him the hell away from me...!"
Zhou Wei had finally managed to force the words out through the pain.
Displeased by the interruption to his seduction, Quan Yuanwu pressed down harder with his foot, wringing a spine-chilling shriek from Zhou Wei.
Too noisy.
With a single kick, Quan Yuanwu flipped Zhou Wei over and dislocated his jaw.
The screaming instantly ceased.
Kicking the man a little further away, Quan Yuanwu boldly took Yao Yingying's hand and guided it across his alluring physique.
Nearby, Zhou Wei's whimpers had not stopped; he was likely cursing them.
Outside, the clash of weapons had long since died away. Duijin stepped out to take a look.
The two sides had fought for ages without even piercing a single garment.
"Tomorrow, Her Highness and the Prince will enter the palace to pay their respects. You all should know what to say and what not to say."
The palace maids and eunuchs in Anguo attire lowered their heads in unison. "This slave understands."
The guards of the Prince Jing of Dashang wore expressions of dark fury. "Even if the Prince made a mistake today, she is now the Princess Consort and ought to serve her husband and consider his interests. How can she be so vicious?!"
Long before this, when they saw her infuriate Zhou Wei on their wedding night, they had realized this eldest imperial princess born of a concubine to Anguo was not someone to be trifled with.
Back then, they had merely thought her somewhat willful, but the agonizing screams they had just heard from Zhou Wei sounded like far more than a domestic dispute!
A smile touched Duijin's fair face, which seemed ill-matched to his sturdy build. "As the Prince's guards, you dared to indulge Prince Jing and the Dashang Crown Princess in making such a scandalous provocation right in the bridal chamber on the very day of our nations' peace marriage. That our Princess did not order the execution of every last one of you is already giving Prince Jing face."
"Lord Wang, you should understand who will be running this residence from now on, and whether the Prince will ever fall out with my Princess over the likes of you."
Wang Yong's face turned a mottled shade of blue and red.
As the estate's guards, they were naturally well aware that this wasn't the first or second time between Zhou Wei and Yao Mengtao.
Yet for such a thing to happen on a day as momentous as this...
Wang Yong truly did not dare to offend these people any further.
A quarter of an hour earlier, when they saw Zhou Wei return to the main courtyard, they had all breathed a sigh of relief. Yet, deeply uneasy about the chaos stirred up beforehand, they had all remained hidden in the vicinity.
Sure enough, within a few breaths, they heard Zhou Wei's angry roar from inside the room. Wang Yong was just about to lead his men rushing in when they were abruptly blocked by Anguo's people.
Before Wang Yong could even bark a demand, Duijin had said, "Our Princess has anger in her heart that needs venting. Once she vents it, today's affair will be put behind us, and in the future, the Princess and the Prince will still be one family."
"But if you meddle today, the matter between the Princess and the Prince becomes a political affair between Anguo and Dashang. The Prince is impulsive—are you lot impulsive as well?"
Wang Yong certainly couldn't shoulder the consequences of a diplomatic incident between the two nations. After pressing with questions for a long time, he finally extracted Duijin's assurance:
"There are only eunuchs like us inside the room; what other men could there be? It's merely a little trick played by our Princess out of jealousy to throw a tantrum at the Prince."
"We are servants too; when the Princess is angry, naturally we must vent her spleen for her. Once the Prince admits his mistake and the Princess's anger subsides, the two of them will go right back to how they were."
"If you truly burst in there, the Prince won't let it rest, and the Princess's wrath will be compounded. Then this matter will be impossible to smooth over."
"If this reaches the imperial court, the root cause was still provoked by your Prince. It's bad enough that you failed to advise him, but you would only be exacerbating the fallout..."
Though Wang Yong didn't know whether Emperor Zhou would deal with the eldest princess of Anguo, he did know that Emperor Zhou had been itching to put Zhou Wei in his place for a long time.
If this matter was brought to light, there was no guarantee the Emperor wouldn't seize the opportunity to blow it out of proportion and make Zhou Wei suffer.
What's more, their lives were utterly worthless in the face of imperial power. At a single word from Emperor Zhou, none of them would escape execution.
Thus, held back by their own misgivings, the fight outside had been nothing more for show.
Later, when Zhou Wei took his sword and went inside, Wang Yong had been convinced that subduing the Anguo eldest princess would be child's play for their Prince.
At the time, Wang Yong even harbored some scorn for Duijin's recklessness, secretly thinking that if Zhou Wei could straighten their Princess out and make her understand her proper place as a Princess Consort and her duty as a wife, so much the better.
Yet, to his shock, only a few breaths passed without hearing a single plea for mercy from the woman—instead, they heard Zhou Wei's agonizing screams.
However, since their Prince hadn't called out to them and none of Anguo's men made a move, Wang Yong truly didn't dare barge into the room uninvited.
Right at that moment, a muffled groan from a man suddenly drifted out from the room.
It carried a lingering, pleasurable cadence, deliberately raised so it could be heard.
The smile froze on Duijin's face.
That man was getting a bit too arrogant while he was out here lying to cover for them.
To Duijin's surprise, however, upon hearing that sound, Wang Yong's face took on a look of awkward embarrassment.
Finally, after casting Duijin a grateful look, he ordered all the guards to withdraw.
Duijin instantly understood: Wang Yong must have assumed that the ungodly noise had been made by Zhou Wei.
As the guards in the main courtyard scrambled to leave, Duijin was just debating whether to re-enter the room when a crisp sound of slapping echoed from within.
Relieved, Duijin strode into the bedchamber.
"Noisy."
Yao Yingying withdrew her hand from his abdominal muscles.
Quan Yuanwu laughed in spite of himself. He clamped a hand around Yao Yingying's wrist, pulling her back onto the bed, his tone hovering dangerously between exasperation and amusement.
"This subject was wrong. Please continue, Your Highness."
Quan Yuanwu lowered his brow slightly. Were it not for the unyielding arrogance in those eyes, he might have almost seemed sincere.
Yao Yingying raised a hand and gave his cheek a light slap. "Get lost."
The unbridled, licentious aura instantly transformed into cold hostility.
Quan Yuanwu's dark eyes locked onto Yao Yingying, his voice dropping low. "Does Your Highness wish not to betray him? Or do you dislike him being here?"
At that moment, a trace of confusion stirred within Yao Yingying's heart.
She lifted her eyes to look at Quan Yuanwu and asked, "You seem to know this Highness quite well. When could you possibly have met me?"
Quan Yuanwu seemed to freeze for a split second, then abruptly released Yao Yingying's wrist, his expression snapping into one of absolute, upright innocence.