Chapter 95: Trusting You

Si Nuosang trembled all over as she looked at Xuanyuan Juesi. She never imagined they would reach this point.

"That's right, this Prince is arrogant. But I have the capital to be arrogant. Do it, Si Nuosang! Pick up your blade and do it!"

Xuanyuan Juesi walked toward her step by step, while she retreated step by step. He walked forward fearlessly, and she kept backing away until she truly had nowhere left to go. Xuanyuan Juesi reached out and guided her hand, which held the blade, toward his own chest.

"Stab it in right here, and you can avenge Ye Xuan. How about it?"

"Don't think I won't dare."

Si Nuosang was shaking uncontrollably. She didn't want to repeat such a thing. She had already hurt Wen Su'an; was she now to kill Xuanyuan Juesi as well? She had been running from this very fate. She shook her head, caught in a storm of rage and conflict.

"In your eyes, I always see the shadow of someone else. You never spoke of your past to me before. Who is that person? I know it isn't Ye Xuan."

Xuanyuan Juesi placed his hand against the wall beside her head, while Si Nuosang kept the blade pointed at his chest. Si Nuosang felt an overwhelming pressure as she stared at him. Why was history always so alarmingly repetitive? Why did these events unfold again and again?

"My past? Do you know? History is always alarmingly similar. I once pointed a blade at someone I loved deeply, too. And I went through with it! Do you think you are so special that I won't go through with this?"

"Then do it!"

Xuanyuan Juesi showed no fear. Si Nuosang raised her blade. Even if history was repeating itself, so what? She was not wrong. She was not wrong. Just as she was about to thrust the blade forward, Ye Xuan rushed in from outside and pulled her away.

"Si Nuosang, don't do something you will regret."

Ye Xuan pulled her into his arms, preventing her from acting recklessly.

"Let go! I want to kill him!"

"My injury has nothing to do with him. Si Nuosang, you will regret it if you kill him. If Xuanyuan Juesi wanted to kill me, he would do it openly and honestly. You should understand that better than anyone, shouldn't you?"

Why, after being told so many times, did Si Nuosang still refuse to believe it?

"Don't speak for him anymore; he admitted it himself."

At these words, Ye Xuan looked up at Xuanyuan Juesi. Xuanyuan Juesi wore an expression of indifference.

Ye Xuan truly could not understand why Xuanyuan Juesi would confess to something that had nothing to do with him.

"It wasn't him. He only admitted it because you wouldn't believe him! Come on, let's go back."

He hurriedly tried to pull Si Nuosang away, but she refused to budge. However, Ye Xuan could not let her do something she would regret for the rest of her life.

"Ye Xuan, let her go," Xuanyuan Juesi said, watching them. "Since you weren't the one who injured me, why are you confessing? Do you want to make Si Nuosang regret this for the rest of her life?"

Ye Xuan glared at Xuanyuan Juesi, unsure of what he was planning.

"You're the one who wants her to regret it forever! Ye Xuan, is there any point in you speaking for me like this? Si Nuosang is so clever; you can't possibly deceive her. Besides, I don't need your pity."

Xuanyuan Juesi said this deliberately. Ye Xuan could hardly believe the Xuanyuan Juesi he saw before him was actually lying and intentionally manipulating the situation. Si Nuosang was furious. "Ye Xuan, let me go!" she cried to the man holding her. The situation was clear; Ye Xuan was trying his best to protect them both, but Xuanyuan Juesi seemed not to care, even going so far as to provoke Si Nuosang repeatedly.

With no other choice, Ye Xuan struck her unconscious and carried her away. Si Nuosang had never expected Ye Xuan to turn against her. Ye Xuan looked at Xuanyuan Juesi.

"What exactly are you trying to do?"

"Letting you play the part of a good man."

"I don't need it. Xuanyuan Juesi, I am not as despicable as you think."

"Is that so? You don't seem much better yourself!"

Xuanyuan Juesi's hatred for Ye Xuan only deepened; because of Si Nuosang, he hated him enough to want him dead. But now, it was no longer necessary, because Si Nuosang’s heart was not with him at all. If he could not have her love, then he would have her hatred. That, too, would make her remember him deeply for a lifetime. Regardless of the method, the result would be the same.

Ye Xuan looked at Xuanyuan Juesi, knowing that while the other man loathed him, he himself was not without self-loathing. "You have such a deep misunderstanding of me," he said, shaking his head helplessly.

"A misunderstanding? Tell me, are you not one of the Ming Tower? Tell me, was your approach to Si Nuosang truly innocent? Tell me, were you not here for the gemstone?"

Xuanyuan Juesi hurled question after question at him. Ye Xuan could not answer a single one, for they were all facts. Every one of them was the truth.

"I know... I know what my situation is. But I am not that evil."

Ye Xuan wanted to be a good man, though he knew he wasn't. Yet he understood that he wasn't as villainous as he was being painted.

"That is for this Prince to define. Now, leave. Otherwise, I will surely kill you. I mean what I say."

Ye Xuan knew that continuing this conversation would change nothing, so he carried Si Nuosang away. Watching them go, Xuanyuan Juesi clenched his fists, terrified that if he lost control for even a moment, he would kill them both.

With no other choice, Ye Xuan carried Si Nuosang away. When she finally woke up, she found herself no longer at Xuanyuan Juesi's residence, but back at the inn. She immediately rose, intending to go and settle the score with Xuanyuan Juesi.

"Enough, Nuosang. That injury really wasn't caused by Xuanyuan Juesi. He only wants you to hate him!"

Ye Xuan explained calmly. Si Nuosang looked at him. In truth, if she thought about it carefully, Xuanyuan Juesi indeed had no reason to injure him in the shadows. Xuanyuan Juesi had always acted openly and honestly. Yet, aside from him, she couldn't think of anyone else.

"Then tell me, who exactly injured you?"

"If I tell you, you will surely hate me. I don't want to say it, but I promise it has nothing to do with Xuanyuan Juesi. Really. This time, you really did misunderstand him."

Ye Xuan didn't want to say it, because the result would be clear: Si Nuosang would despise him.

Si Nuosang stared at him. "What exactly are you hiding, Ye Xuan?"

She looked at him earnestly. Why could she not know the truth of this matter? Unless it really was Xuanyuan Juesi who had struck the blow.

"I'm sorry, Nuosang."

He hesitated, unable to speak, and dared not meet her gaze. Si Nuosang watched him, truly looking at him. Before, she seemed to have always ignored him, but seeing him like this now, she realized he had been hiding many things—and he was not at all skilled at hiding them. It was clear at a single glance.

"You don't need to apologize to me. What are you hiding? Ye Xuan, tell me. I have always trusted you."