Chapter 104: Hatred

"If that's the case, I understand everything now." He suddenly laughed, his laugh hoarse and tinged with self‑mockery, "At the palace banquet that day, you already knew my true identity?"

Wan Tang nodded, eager to explain, "I wanted to find a chance to tell you, but I've constantly been blocked."

"So you risked your life to save me?" He cut her off, his voice suddenly high, anger blazing in his eyes, "Then why didn't you say it earlier? Must I have to kill you with my own hands before you are satisfied?"

His roar echoed in the cell, the iron chains clanged as he struggled, his wound split open, blood dripping down his wrist bones.

Yet he seemed not to feel pain, staring at her intently, tears silently streaming down.

Wan Tang reached out to wipe his blood, but he abruptly turned his face away.

"Get out." His voice was so low it was almost inaudible, yet each word cut like a knife, "At this very moment... the person I hate most is you."

The chill in the dungeon seeped into the bones, the torchlight reflected on Xu Yanchuan's face, making his indifference starkly clear.

Wan Tang's fingertips trembled slightly, but she forced her voice steady, "Yanchuan, I know you're upset, but can you let me finish?"

"No." Xu Yanchuan's voice was cold as ice, "From childhood to now, I've never understood why, among children of the same mother, she treats me like a thorn in her eye."

He let out a low laugh, self‑mockery in his eyes, "So... she didn't kill me; that was mercy."

"No!" Wan Tang interrupted urgently, tears spilling, "It's not her mercy! It's Xu Chengyuan who values his son; you're the bloodline of the Xu Family, and he wants you to return to your roots!"

Her nails dug deep into her palm, yet she felt no pain, "Wang Jingyi used this vicious method so that mother's spirit tablet wouldn't be placed in the ancestral hall."

"If mother had known, she wouldn't have given birth to a stillborn, nor would she have suffered such a massive blow and hemorrhage."

"If Wang Jingyi hadn't deliberately pretended to be a veterinarian instead of a doctor, mother wouldn't have died."

At this point, she could no longer hold on; the moment she closed her eyes, tears poured out.

Xu Yanchuan looked at her and suddenly laughed.

The laugh was low and hoarse, as if forced out of his chest, laced with bone‑deep sarcasm.

"It's fine if you didn't know," he slowly lifted his gaze, a scarlet hue in his eyes, "But after you found out, why didn't you tell me?"

His voice was light, yet each word cut like a knife.

"I value family ties, dare not defy my 'parents' wishes, respect my 'elder brother', and surrender everything willingly."

His breathing grew increasingly rapid, as if years of suppressed emotion finally found an outlet, "Do you know how much my life feels worse than death?"

"I kept telling myself over and over, it's okay... at least they're my family." His voice suddenly rose, almost a howl, "But now you tell me that the one I risked my life to protect is actually my enemy?"

Wan Tang's heart felt clenched hard, pain nearly suffocating her.

Yet she could not collapse, could not fall now.

She inhaled deeply, forcing herself to stay calm, "It's not that I wouldn't tell you, it's that I couldn't."

Her voice was low and hoarse, laden with deep fatigue, "All factions are watching my every move, even the Emperor is monitoring."

She lifted her head, tears blurring her sight, "In the Emperor's eyes, I'm only an orphaned girl. Once my identity is exposed, both you and I will die."

She sobbed, whole body trembling, as if all the grievances and fears of these years poured out at this moment.

Had Su Yanci not intervened in time, she would have nearly caused a disaster.

Yet Xu Yanchuan's gaze remained indifferent.

"What about the Emperor?" he suddenly asked, his voice frighteningly calm, "Isn't he the one who favors you the most?"

Wan Tang slowly raised her head, meeting his gaze.

In those eyes, there was no anger, no resentment, only a dead, still ice‑cold emptiness.

That stare chilled her heart, as if a bucket of ice water was poured over her head, even her blood freezing into frost.

The air in the dungeon seemed to solidify.

Wan Tang's fingertips trembled slightly, her throat feeling as if an invisible hand clutched it, and after a long moment she strained out, "I... am merely a pawn in the Emperor's hand."

She gave a low laugh, bitterness in it, "Do I still dare hope that he could love me?"

Xu Yanchuan stared at her, a mocking curl at the corner of his mouth, "What does he want you to do?"

His gaze was icy and sharp, like a blade, cutting her disguise inch by inch.

In that instant, Wan Tang vaguely saw herself.

The self who had once pressed relentlessly and mercilessly against Xu Luoyan.

It turned out being scrutinized with such a gaze by a close relative hurt more than death.

She closed her eyes briefly, finally spitting out the cruel answer, "Destroy the Xu Family."

"Ha, isn't that enough!" Xu Yanchuan suddenly laughed, his laugh carrying a biting chill, "If I hate the Xu Family, wouldn't everything become simple?"

Though Xu Yanchuan's face still bore a youthful air, the composure and scheming in his eyes made one's heart tremble.

"If the Emperor learns all this," he pressed forward abruptly, the iron chains clanking, "won't everything fall into place?"

Wan Tang gradually regained her senses, listening to Xu Yanchuan's words, her eyes also filled with shock.

"Or perhaps... our Lady Wan Bin never intends to be anyone's puppet, but wants to be the one who moves the pieces?"

His gaze coiled around her like a poisonous snake, "So whether I'm your brother is irrelevant; as long as I can give you a powerful family background, right?"

He hadn't expected that, in the end, Xu Yanchuan would think of himself that way.

Wan Tang's heart felt as if someone had stabbed it hard.

"Shut up!" Wan Tang snapped her head up, fractured watery light in her eyes, "You... truly make me sad."

"You aren't any different either," he replied coldly.

In the instant their gazes met, the air seemed to crack with invisible blades.

Anger, pain, disappointment, and deeper still... that lingering, unbreakable blood‑tie.

Wan Tang's chest rose and fell violently; after a long pause she whispered hoarsely, "The Emperor must never learn of our relationship."

She clenched her sleeves, knuckles whitening, "Mother was the daughter of a traitor. Our maternal clan was exterminated back then; mother escaped with her life on the brink of death."

"Mother repeatedly warned me, urging me never to reveal my identity."

"The reason Wang Jingyi has constantly blackmailed me is partly because of that."

"If our identities are exposed, it will be a total ruin. Not only the two of us, even Xu Chengyuan cannot escape the connection!"

Xu Yanchuan's gaze suddenly trembled, the sharp chill gradually faded, replaced by a complex vibration.

"Time's up," Consort Hui's voice suddenly rang out. She stood outside the cell door, her eyes dim and unreadable.

Wan Tang took a deep breath, gave Xu Yanchuan one lingering look, then turned to leave.

"Leaving just like that?" Xu Yanchuan's voice suddenly came from behind, carrying a hint of playful coldness. "Returning empty‑handed, to the Emperor, how will you report?"

Her steps abruptly halted, yet she did not look back.

Xu Yanchuan let out a low laugh, his voice laced with a beguiling danger: "I know quite a lot about Xu Chengyuan."

He slowly lifted his head, his gaze blazing, "I want to see the Emperor."