Chapter 88: Public Opinion

At that moment, the King of Nie was holding Yun Zui in his arms. When the others appeared and saw such an astonishing scene, they all thought their eyes must be playing tricks on them.

The King of Nie, that noble prince, was dressed in such tattered clothes, and even his topknot was tied with startling eccentricity. And the woman in his arms was the former emperor’s consort!

They felt utterly disoriented. They had searched for the two of them for so long, and once they were finally found, they should have been relieved at once. Yet why were they now so stunned?

Where had the two of them been all night?

How had they ended up like this?

That man, so much like a banished immortal, was actually carrying a woman...

One impossible thing after another pressed upon them, leaving them in disbelief.

It was simply too absurd.

“Your Highness Nie...” someone called out.

Yun Zui was still in the king’s arms, and neither of them seemed to think there was anything improper about it.

The sight was hard to accept. And yet, although Yun Zui had once been the former emperor’s consort, she was still only a young woman, just coming into the first stirrings of love. As for the King of Nie, he was the most captivating ruler on the entire continent. For her to be bewitched by him was hardly strange.

But Yun Zui’s identity was that of the former emperor’s consort. This was all in utter disorder...

The King of Nie possessed supreme authority; any woman he wanted, he could have. So even if they could see that Yun Zui and the King of Nie had some vague, ambiguous relation, they still did not dare say a word.

Among the guards assigned to search for them were several young nobles who had come out of curiosity. They were about the same age as Yun Qiang, and each held a slingshot in hand, clearly having been playing together. Yet when Yun Qiang saw Yun Zui return with the King of Nie, she immediately turned and ran off.

From the look in their eyes, Yun Zui knew that in the minds of these people, what she and the King of Nie were doing was improper. But she cared nothing for the rituals of this age.

Still, she could not allow them to imagine things wildly. At once she snapped, “You lot of guards are all good-for-nothings. I shouted myself hoarse crying out about assassins, and not a single one of you heard me. If it had not been for the King of Nie rescuing me, I would already be a corpse!”

Yun Zui was talking nonsense entirely, yet somehow it sounded extremely plausible.

They exchanged glances and immediately wiped away the image they had formed in their minds of the King of Nie and Yun Zui in some improper intimacy. At the same time, their respect for the King of Nie deepened all the more.

The King of Nie was far too formidable! Twenty-five top-class assassins, and he had actually subdued every single one of them!

“We deserve death,” they said at once, dropping to their knees and bowing their heads.

They looked thoroughly chastened.

Yun Zui raised an eyebrow, then said, “My foot is injured. Do you still expect the King of Nie to keep bearing the strain? Hurry and bring something to carry me in, whether a sedan chair or anything else.”

Only then did they remember that the King of Nie was still overburdened. They hurried off in a fluster to fetch something for transport.

The King of Nie looked at Yun Zui with a faint smile in his phoenix eyes. This girl was quite the fabricator.

Still, this way no one would suspect anything. She truly was a clever girl.

Yun Qiang had nearly run the whole way. She rushed into a tent, where a large group of female relatives was gathered, seated together peeling grapes and eating them, chatting and laughing among themselves.

“I think Yun Zui is in grave danger this time,” Yun Mo said as she peeled the grape skin away. Her neat white teeth, pure as jade, made even the grapes look brighter and more lustrous when she tossed them into her mouth.

Such a beauty, and yet her heart was as vicious as its opposite.

Like a snake: the prettier it is, the more venomous. Beautiful women can be like poppies too—poisonous tumors.

To fall in love with her was destined to be a tragedy.