Chapter 206: Everyone Has a Weakness

Princess Yalan lifted her eyes coldly at Xiao Yin; even though she was gravely wounded by Xiao Yin, she gritted her teeth and climbed to her feet, staring fixedly at Xiao Yin and said: "Prince, you can have me taken to the authorities."

"Although I'm not worth much of a bounty, I am still the princess of Fu Yu Guo, the last bloodline of the Fuyu royal family; surely the bounty would be generous, and it could let the Prince enjoy a few drinks."

Xiao Yin gave a light chuckle: "The price of selling you is not worth my regard."

Princess Yalan's face stiffened momentarily; she had thought that if her identity were discovered by the Southern Qi imperial family, she would have nowhere to bury herself.

But seeing that Xiao Yin had no intention of sending her to the authorities, she furrowed her brows and softly laughed: "Prince, are you thinking of taking me in?"

"Your Highness, have you forgotten my identity? Aren't you afraid of being exposed, dragging you into trouble as well?"

Xiao Yin stared at her, not wanting to waste more words, and said slowly: "Do you want to avenge the annihilation of your clan?"

Yalan's face flickered with surprise; she had hidden her name and even sacrificed her own face, just to stay where her relatives' bones lay, guarding their remains for a living.

She spent years collecting them, finally gathering each scattered bone of her relatives and sending them back to their homeland for burial.

Initially, the entire royal family of Fu Yu Guo was slaughtered; Xiao Wei ordered the massacre of the city, even taking pleasure in killing, having her royal brother, father, and mother tortured to death in separate places.

Moreover, the surviving members of the royal family were exiled to the borderlands of Southern Qi, dying one by one in foreign lands.

She had long grown numb, wishing to die with them, but the custom of Fu Yu Guo holds that if a person is not buried in their native soil, their soul cannot ascend to heaven and cannot find peace.

She had now nearly finished gathering the royal family's remains, preparing to die and go to the Underworld to reunite with her family beneath the Nine Springs, when Xiao Yin's people found her.

Speaking of which, the mute slave she had once rescued forcibly brought her to the Rui Wang Fu in Shang Jing.

This time someone said her deep-seated blood feud could be avenged; the speaker was none other than the dignified Ninth Imperial Uncle of Southern Qi, so Princess Yalan's eyes reignited with a spark.

Xiao Yin stared at Princess Yalan and said: "When I was besieged in Qi Sha Gu, with Bei Di's pursuers hot on my heels, it was thanks to your Fuyu Tribe taking me in for a few days; this favor I will not forget."

"Hah!" Princess Yalan gave a light laugh, "The result is that your Southern Qi cavalry trampled the gates of my Fuyu state—is this your repayment?"

A trace of guilt appeared on Xiao Yin's face for the first time as he said slowly: "I'm sorry; back then I was seriously wounded, and the Third Prince Xiao Wei, eager to establish himself in the army, would massacre the city whenever he attacked the Fuyu Tribe."

"But that was not my intention; your Fu Yu Guo lies between Bei Di and Southern Qi, a small nation that nonetheless serves as a buffer zone."

"I have always opposed destroying Fu Yu Guo; although it was destroyed, we also lost the buffer between Bei Di and Southern Qi, and the two countries could at any moment erupt into large-scale war, which is no good for the peoples of the three states!"

"What use is saying this now? They're all dead! Dead!!" Yalan snarled, her eyes bloodshot.

Xiao Yin paused, waiting for her to calm down, then said: "I've said before, all this was caused solely by Xiao Wei; when he first followed his uncle into the army as an officer, he desperately needed military merit, no matter how bloody the achievement, he truly needed it—do you understand what I mean?"

Princess Yalan lowered her head slowly, then looked up at Xiao Yin: "Prince, can you help me? I want to kill him!"

A slight curl appeared at the corner of Xiao Yin's lips; in that instant he was utterly charming and exquisite.

Even Princess Yalan, looking at this alluring man in the chief seat, felt a bit dazzled.

Xiao Yin's tall frame leaned forward slightly to face Princess Yalan before him, and suddenly his expression gained a touch of amusement.

He said slowly: "I have been investigating the affairs of Fu Yu Guo, and what I found is quite interesting."

"Back then, Xiao Wei relied on the Duan family's White Tiger Battalion to almost sweep through the capital of Fu Yu Guo; the entire Fuyu royal family was slaughtered to the last, even the cats and dogs kept in the palace were killed; palace maids and servants either died or were injured, leaving nothing intact in the flood—everyone perished much the same, and even those slaves who luckily survived were turned into slaves and slaughtered one by one."

Xiao Yin's voice was calm and even, as if recounting a tale that had nothing to do with him, yet it made Princess Yalan standing before him tremble uncontrollably.

Xiao Yin paused and said: "Logically, with such a massive extermination of a clan, you, especially as the little princess of Fu Yu Guo, should not have survived."

"I have always wondered, how did a little girl like you manage to escape?"

"At the time, only one person could have kept you alive…… Xiao Wei?"

Princess Yalan's face drained of all color, a flash of humiliation crossing her eyes.

The silent Gu Jiu Ling instinctively glanced at Xiao Yin, but a troubling thought arose in her mind: could it not have been that ruthless Xiao Wei who spared Yalan all those years ago?

But to think that person would let her go easy……

Gu Jiu Ling dared not think further.

A frost settled in Yalan's eyes, her hands clenched into fists, her whole body swaying on the verge of collapse.

Xiao Yin had no intention of exposing her humiliating past; he rose slowly and looked at Yalan Zhu, saying: "I will help you kill Xiao Wei!"

"Really?" A chill flashed across Princess Yalan's eyes, her pupils betraying a hint of madness as she fixed her stare on Xiao Yin.

Xiao Yin smiled faintly: "But… I think killing him would be letting him off too easily."

"That man is very proud; we must grind his proudest possessions bit by bit to show him—are you interested?"

"How?" Princess Yalan asked eagerly.

Xiao Yin gave a light chuckle: "In this world, as long as someone is a person, they have flaws; having flaws means you can catch hold of their weakness."

"He is ruthless and unjust, his martial arts are superb, seeming impregnable, but his greatest flaw is—lust!"

Princess Yalan froze for a moment, then suddenly laughed, pointing at her own face: "Prince, you wouldn't be thinking of having me seduce Xiao Wei, would you?"

"Yes!" Xiao Yin admitted directly, and Princess Yalan found herself unable to speak.

Xiao Yin stared at Princess Yalan: "When Xiao Wei attacked Fu Yu Guo, he was still an innocent youth; in that situation he dared to bring you into his tent, hide you, humiliate you, and then inexplicably let you go."

"He likes you! You are the first woman he encountered when his emotions first awakened; you say if your face were healed and you swayed before him again, would he go mad? Would he come looking for you?"

"I've heard Xiao Wei uses a stand-in; how could we know whether he would really come, or if the person arriving is his true self?" Princess Yalan still thought Xiao Yin's idea was utterly terrible.

Xiao Yin let out a light sigh-laugh: "Ah! After all you've been through, how can you still be so naive?"

"When it comes to matters between men and women in bed, if Xiao Wei sends a stand-in to handle other affairs, he might use a substitute; but for this matter he must meet you in person, and he would bring only few guards."

"Do you understand what I mean?"

Princess Yalan secretly drew a sharp breath, suddenly realizing that the man before her was an even more dangerous presence.