Li Ming was staring at the culprit who had nearly made her a suspect of committing treason against the imperial family.
If she had any idea that her decision of sending Snowy for the task of finding cultivation books would bring her to such a terrible situation, she would have found another solution.
When she first opened her eyes, she found herself in a pavilion at the outskirts of the Capital City.
The owner of this Pavilion was no one other than his highness the Fourth Prince.
She went into the back garden to teach her kidnapper a proper lesson this time, but everything went down the hill when she saw Snowy in Zhang Yong's arms.
And his next words nearly made her kill herself in embarrassment.
It's one thing to steal something after being all high and mighty in front of the people but it's entirely a different situation to get caught in the act.
It took her a few minutes to realize that if the Fourth Prince wanted, he could kill her right at that moment.
Zhang Yong looked at Li Ming with a small smile on his face. The embarrassed look in her eyes at the moment was priceless.
If it was someone else who had committed such a crime against him, he would have killed that person without even blinking twice. But of course, Li Ming was not just someone for him, Not Anymore!
He couldn't kill her but that didn't mean he couldn't tease her for a while. Moreover, he wanted to see what she was going to do now.
"Have you ever seen this little snowball before, Ming'er? I found it sneaking into my study. It was actually trying to steal my books of early level cultivation." Zhang Yong asked as he pointed to the little dog in his arms.
Li Ming looked at Snowy and after thinking about her current situation she finally decided to play innocent.
She was sure as long as she would not accept the accusations, Zhang Yong couldn't prove her guilty.
After taking a deep breath she looked at the Prince and said in an innocent voice, "I have never seen this dog before. I don't know what you are talking about!"
'Heartless Monster!' Snowy cried through their bond after he heard her words.
'Who told you to get caught in the wolf's claw? If you can't even save yourself, then don't expect me to save you.' Li Ming replied with a cool voice.
Zhang Yong smirked and said in a serious voice, "Alright! Since it's not yours then there is no problem. It's my bad to misjudge you. Don't worry, I will find out the real culprit and punish him for committing such a high crime."
"Put this dog in the boiling water." He ordered his guards.
Before the guard could take the dog in his hand, it was snatched away by a fuming Li Ming.
Li Ming pulled the shivering Snowy tightly in her arms and started rubbing his ears. She then pulled him inside the mansion before anyone could snatch him away from her.
Zhang Yong signaled his shocked guards to leave and looked at Li Ming.
"I thought it was not yours. Looks like I was wrong again."
Li Ming looked straight in his eyes and said, "I also judged you wrong. I have never thought that you will be such a cruel person to kill an innocent animal in such a terrible way."
"I was not going to really boil him. And he was not really innocent. It was just a stunt to make you accept that you are the owner of the dog." Zhang Yong said with a smirk.
"You...." Li Ming didn't get to say another word as Zhang Yong suddenly stood up from his seat and in the next blink, he was standing behind her, closing her within his arms.
Li Ming could feel his hot breath on her nape.
Zhang Yong looked at the girl in his arms. She neither tried to get out of his hold nor turned around to look at him. She just stayed standing still.
It had been a complete week since he had last seen her and even more longer since he last felt her in his arms.
He tightened his hold around her waist and said in a low voice in her ear.
"You have been found guilty of committing treason against this Prince. How do you think you should be punished?"
Li Ming pulled herself out of his arms and turned around. Although Zhang Yong was reluctant but he still let her go.
"Your Highness, don't beat around the bush! It's clear that you don't want to kill me, then please say what's your demand." Li Ming said while looking straight in Fourth Prince's eyes.
Zhang Yong looked at the girl who was staring at him. In his whole life, there was not a single person who had not feared him except his father Emperor. Even the Empress and the Crown Prince were afraid of him.
But this girl, who was standing before his eyes, had never shown any hint of fear from the first time they met. Rather she had contradicted him on nearly every point.
After meeting Li Ming, he had thought that he had finally found his equal. And he was determined to not lose her.
"Umm.....let me think! What about becoming my personal cook and spending the rest of your life in the glory of cooking those delicious dishes of yours for me!" Zhang Yong suggested.
"Your Highness, I have already made this clear before that I have no time to fulfill this fantasy of yours. I will trouble you to please ask for something else." Li Ming said sweetly.
Zhang Yong pretended to think for a while and finally said. But this time his tone was serious and although he was only suggesting Li Ming could hear the demand behind his words.
"I have two things to ask from you." Zhang Yong moved behind her as he said.
"The first one is that from today onwards, you will always inform me about your whereabouts. Deal?"
Li Ming rubbed her forehead with irritation but she knew that she could not get out of this situation unharmed without accepting his demands. Therefore, though reluctantly but she nodded her head in surrender.
A slightly bigger smile appeared on Zhang Yong's face but he soon hid his expression. "Great! And the second one is...."
The next second, the veil on Li Ming's face became loose and before she could do anything, it already fell on the ground.
"...that you should not wear that veil whenever you are alone with me." Zhang Yong completed his second demand as he turned Li Ming around to face him.
Li Ming looked at the Fourth Prince with a frown. Although he looked charming and down to earth most of the time but she was not one to be deceived by this.
Zhang Yong looked at the beautiful girl in front of him and said with a soft tone, "Look like my Ming'er is a peerless beauty."
"I thought you were not into children!" Li Ming said with a smirk.
"And I told you to grow up quickly." Zhang Yong said sweetly as he rubbed her head.
Li Ming pushed his hand away and said with a mocking tone, "Then I think you are in to wait for a long time."
"Right, since everything is sorted out, let me go. I have things to take care of at the inn before leaving. And I will also take you with me tomorrow morning to the place where I have been for the past one week, but you have to leave your guards behind."
"As you wish, I will meet you at the inn tomorrow morning." Zhang Yong said and Li Ming nodded her head.
Then she didn't wait any longer to let Zhang Yong change his mind and teleported back to the inn.