Chapter 329: What He Wants Is Her All-Encompassing Love

"Your Majesty."

A Silver Armor Guard approached. "Reporting to Your Majesty, the Feng Family claim they have the antidote for the poison afflicting Mr. Feng. They wish to make a deal with Your Majesty."

"No."

Feng Yin suddenly wrapped his arms tightly around Xiao Li’s neck.

"Your Majesty, I’ve already taken that antidote. It’s useless."

Xiao Li said coldly, "We are not making any deals. Either they hand it over, or all members of the Feng Family will be executed on the spot!"

Feng Yin shifted his head but said nothing.

’He didn’t want the Feng family to be exterminated, but even now, they were still trying to use him. They were practically digging their own graves.’

’As for the others who would be implicated, he was no longer part of the Feng family. He was a dying man. He couldn’t worry about so much.’

Xiao Li carried him out of the room. Feng Yin coughed up several more mouthfuls of blood, causing Xiao Li to frown and wrap her cloak tightly around him.

Xiao Li took Feng Yin to an inn on horseback, and the Silver Armor Guards brought the two best physicians in the city.

But after taking his pulse, both of them just shook their heads.

"This young master is too deeply poisoned. This humble one is powerless to help."

Xiao Li didn’t kill the two physicians to vent her anger just because they couldn’t save him. She dismissed them and sent the Silver Armor Guards to find others.

’Just because these two couldn’t help didn’t mean no one else could.’

"Your Majesty..."

Feng Yin struggled to reach for Xiao Li’s hand. Seeing this, Xiao Li extended it, and he immediately grasped it tightly.

"Your Majesty, don’t trouble yourself. No one can save me."

He pulled Xiao Li down to sit, then nestled against her, wrapping his arms around her from behind and resting his head gently on her shoulder.

"They gave me aphrodisiacs twice... they wanted me to be with someone else, to give up on you... I had no choice. To fight the drug’s effects, I took an even deadlier poison..."

He wanted to live, too. He had seen physicians, but they all said there was nothing they could do.

Even the Imperial Physicians from the palace, using the best medicine available, could only extend his life by a few more days.

That was why he had come to Yizhou. He tried every possible means, gave everything he had, all for one final gamble to rescue his mother.

His older sister had a child and was completely devoted to them. He didn’t know how to face her, but he couldn’t worry about that anymore. All he wanted was to, before he died, at least help his mother escape the quagmire of the Feng Family.

Everything went smoothly, just as he had wished. But just as he had fallen into despair and begun to await his death, Your Majesty actually came.

His only regret was no longer a regret.

To die in Your Majesty’s arms... he couldn’t ask for anything more.

He gently nuzzled against her. "Your Majesty, I... can you kiss me?"

The shy, introverted, stuffy little fool of the past was now, on his deathbed, finally choosing to follow his heart, making his request in a small voice.

Xiao Li turned her head slightly. They were already embracing, and now their faces were extremely close.

Xiao Li didn’t speak, but Feng Yin, growing bold, no longer waited for permission and kissed her himself.

Feng Yin’s lips trembled, and the very tip of his heart quivered.

He had dreamed of this kiss for over two years.

Xiao Li didn’t refuse him, but concerned for his condition, she only responded gently. Feng Yin, however, was not satisfied. He explored urgently, craving a more intense response from her.

"Your Majesty..." He kissed her until he was so flustered that tears welled up in his eyes. "Please..."

Feng Yin didn’t have any peculiar tastes, but he knew what Your Majesty was like when she desired him.

She would kiss him on her own initiative—domineeringly, passionately. And she had a wicked habit of teasing him until he cried.

But he never found it unpleasant. When she was like that, she poured all her emotion and attention onto him. Her heart and her eyes held only him.

What he wanted was for her to be completely and utterly captivated by him.

In the past, he had worried too much. His upbringing, etiquette, status, his family’s opinions, the judgment of the world—layer upon layer of shackles made it so that even the slightest bit of sweetness he received from Your Majesty felt like something stolen, leaving him in constant fear.

But now, he didn’t have to worry about anything.

He was not a member of the Feng Family. He was just Feng Yin. No one could restrain him, and nothing could stand in his way.

Right now, he only wanted Xiao Li to desire him, and only him.

’Xiao Li was still trying to figure out how to save him, but this little fool was treating this as the final carnival of his life, intent only on getting intimate with her.’

He was even getting upset that she wasn’t kissing him properly.

Helpless, Xiao Li cupped his face and kissed him earnestly.

’The little fool was still as sweet as ever, so obedient and so easy to tease.’

When the kiss ended, he was panting for breath, his eyes brimming with tears, but his face was full of joy.

But one moment he was smiling blissfully, and the next, he opened his mouth and spat out blood.

His last act of restraint was to lunge to the side in that instant, so he wouldn’t spit the blood on Xiao Li.

And after coughing up that mouthful of blood, he collapsed completely, losing consciousness.

Xiao Li watched helplessly as he fell, watched as his breath abruptly ceased.

She froze for a moment, then scooped him up into her arms. He had only just stopped breathing. His body was still warm, his face smeared with blood, and his brows were tightly furrowed, as if he had only fainted.

A transparent soul, invisible to mortal eyes, slowly began to float out of his body. But just as half its head had emerged, Xiao Li reached out and pressed it right back in.

She looked down at Feng Yin’s face, leaned in to kiss the corner of his lips, which still held a trace of blood-red color, and a wicked light flashed in her cool, dark eyes.

"Feng Tangtang... now you really have to become a phoenix of nirvana..."

* * *

Time was short. Xiao Li’s signal flare had only summoned the two hundred Silver Armor Guards who could arrive within a day.

Although Pei Chang’en valued civil matters over martial ones, Yizhou still had a considerable number of soldiers guarding the city.

Xiao Li had the Silver Armor Guards infiltrate the city in disguise, then strike directly at the wedding hall in the Prince Manor, catching them completely off guard.

Unfortunately, while Pei Chang’en seemed to command great prestige, his actual ability to intimidate was lacking. Even with Xiao Li capturing his entire family, it wasn’t enough to make the others in the city surrender.

Pei Chang’en had a son, but he had left him in another city to hold power.

Princess Huairou had two sons. Pei Chang’en was the Commandery Prince, but the only thing separating him from his brother, Mr. Pei, was the title.

Seeing that something had happened to Pei Chang’en, the others rushed to support Mr. Pei.

After discovering that the Empress had only brought about two hundred people with her, they actually decided to try and turn the tables.

A large force surrounded the inn and attacked directly with fire arrows, intending to burn the Empress to death inside.

Watching the great fire blaze, everyone was both thrilled and nervous. They were thrilled at the possibility of having killed the Empress, but nervous that her people might fight their way out.

Especially that cannon. They knew they couldn’t withstand it.

However, they waited on high alert for a long time without a single sign of movement.

Would the formidable Silver Armor Army and the ruthless Empress really let themselves be burned to death inside so meekly?

Only when the fire had caused the inn to collapse and there was still no sign of anyone did they finally confirm that the Empress had long since departed.

Xiao Li was ruthless, but she wasn’t stupid. Her entire strategy was based on the element of surprise.

If a real battle broke out, no matter how formidable the Silver Armor Guards were, two hundred men couldn’t kill ten thousand, much less intimidate that many people.

Rather than get stuck in a difficult standoff, it was better to retreat for now.

Once she regained control of her forces, taking back territories like Yizhou would be a simple matter.