Rage boiled over.
Liya’s vision seemed to turn blood red. He had never been so angry in his life. All he wanted now was to kill the Seventh Prince and avenge his sister.
“Liya, calm down!”
Sensing Liya’s fury, Liya grabbed his arm tightly.
“Sister is fine.”
Liya slowly turned to look at his sister’s exquisitely made-up face. He had been wondering why she had been keeping her profile to him. It turned out the other half of her face was swollen.
Even with heavy makeup, it couldn’t hide the swelling.
“Fine?”
“You’d gasp and inhale sharply in pain just from opening your mouth slightly, and you call that fine? If this is fine, then I’ll let that scumbag feel the same thing. Is there a problem with that?”
Just opening her mouth slightly caused her such pain.
One could only imagine how much pain his sister must have been in when she received that slap.
Thinking of this, Liya felt as though his heart was being twisted by a knife. The anger within him grew like a bonfire fueled by coal, becoming more intense until it threatened to consume his sanity.
“I’m really fine.”
Liya nodded solemnly, a smile on his face.
“Come, let’s go to your room.”
Liya, being pulled, didn’t move. Liya pursed his lips and frowned.
“What, you don’t listen to your sister anymore? Sister wants you to come inside, but you insist on standing out here. Fine then, Sister will stand out here with you.”
Only then did Liya slowly exhale, suppressing the anger in his heart as much as possible, and walked towards the room.
Before leaving, Liya glanced at the maids in the courtyard.
“You saw nothing, and you heard nothing. Remember?”
The maids nodded repeatedly. Liya clenched his fists and pushed open the door. Liya sighed slightly and followed him inside.
“You, always following Father, yet you haven’t improved at all.”
The moment they entered the room, Liya shook his head, a hint of disappointment in his eyes. He walked to the table, poured Liya a cup of water, and pushed it towards him.
“Have some water.”
As Liya held the cup, he saw the ice in the room that hadn't melted yet. The image of his sister applying ice to her face in the room involuntarily flashed through his mind.
Thinking of this, Liya’s anger surged instantly, and he crushed the cup in his hand.
“How dare he hit you?”
Liya pointed outside the door and shouted in a low voice.
“Back then, he knelt on the ground and crawled all the way from the inner city to our doorstep to marry you. After just a few years, he dares to lay hands on you? You were the one who kowtowed all the way to get him here. Now that he’s made some progress in the competition among the princes, he thinks he’s untouchable?”
“Control your temper. You haven’t learned anything from Father’s abilities,” Liya said softly.
“How can I control it!” Liya stood up with a ‘swish,’ pointing at the ice in the room and shouting, “He hit my sister, and made her use ice to cool her face. What is he, a minor prince? If it weren’t for our family’s support, he might have died at the hands of other princes long ago. He reached his current position step by step because of you, ah… Just because the eldest is out of favor, and he has the Grand Preceptor’s support, he can disregard our family?”
Liya couldn’t stop shaking his head and laughing, tears streaming down his face.
“Does he think our family is easy to bully? That now that he has more weight in the royal family, even our Father can’t control him, so he can do whatever he wants? Isn’t she your sister? Doesn’t he know you’re the only daughter of the Chief Financial Officer? He really doesn’t take us seriously, Sister!”
“Then what do you want to do? Kill him?”
Liya watched the continuously crying Liya with a frown.
“Sister believes you have the strength to avenge this slap. But after that, what will happen? You killed a prince in the inner city, and our family will also be implicated. Father’s decades of planning will be ruined, and all the grievances I’ve suffered since marrying into the royal city will be in vain?”
“Go!”
“Liya, Sister won’t stop you. If you truly want to kill him for me, then go. But Sister will hate you for the rest of her life.”
Hearing this, Liya clenched his fists, angrily struck the air a few times, and sat down.
Seeing that Liya had somewhat controlled his emotions, Liya breathed a sigh of relief and poured him another cup of water, pushing it towards him.
“Liya, endure what ordinary people cannot, and gain what ordinary people cannot gain.”
“Sister marrying the least favored Seventh Prince was a crucial part of our family’s plan. For the family to continue, sacrifices must be made. Our family is at its peak in the Kingdom of Tatu. If we were to form alliances through marriage with the First Prince or the Fourth Prince, we would become the target of everyone’s envy.”
“Only that Seventh Prince is the most suitable.”
“I considered this outcome even before marrying him. Among the many princes, his past obscurity was enough to prove his character and capabilities.”
“Precisely because of this, he lacks virtue and talent, making him more susceptible to our family’s control.”
“You know all of this.”
“The problem is, this dog has started to bite its master!” Liya said, clenching his fist. “If he had remained a docile dog, I wouldn’t have said anything. But he hit you!”
“So what if he hit me?”
Liya smiled and shook his head dismissively.
“I only took a slap, and the pain will pass in a few hours. But he will be living in fear for a while after hitting me. Later, when he encounters you and Father, he will feel guilty… and won’t dare to openly oppose you. You must understand, although he has the Grand Preceptor’s help, our family controls the national treasury. He still fears us. I think it’s a worthwhile trade, using my slap to make him tremble for over a month.”
“Did he touch you?” Liya suddenly frowned.
“How could that be? My marriage to him was a part of the plan, but it doesn’t mean I am his,” Liya said with a cold sneer and a smile. “He might have had the thought, but he would never dare. I still intend to find a good husband to spend the rest of my life with, so I naturally want to save the best for my future husband.”
“That’s good then.” Liya finally felt relieved, grumbling with a clenched fist.
“Sister, I really wanted to kill that brat.”
“I know you care about your sister. But any action now would have far-reaching consequences. Father hasn’t finished setting his traps, and I need to stabilize things here,” Liya said with a smile. “Don’t worry, this day shouldn’t be too long. According to Seventh Prince, Father supported the eldest at court today.”
“Ah?!”
Liya looked astonished, and Liya frowned.
“You don’t know?”
“How could I know? I went to Hurricane City a few days ago. I came directly to find you as soon as I returned to the royal city and haven’t even returned to the mansion yet,” Liya said with a furrowed brow. “Why is Father moving so fast? According to the plan, shouldn’t we have waited a while longer to support the eldest?”
“You’ll have to go ask him about that.”
Liya pursed his lips, smiling slightly, his eyes bright as he looked at Liya.
“I heard you and Father found a new path, and that person is an outsider. Can you tell Sister? Sister is quite curious about someone who can make Father praise him so highly.”