Coldly eyeing her, Xing Liehuo's face was devoid of any emotion, neither angry nor happy, and he blandly said, "The revolution needs it, what's there to argue about?"
Damn it... Lian Qiao silently cursed his entire family in her heart, feeling indignant, "It's a matter of a lifetime, don't I even have the right to ask?"
The Crown Prince, looking down from his lofty position, had an unsurpassed arrogance in his eyes and expressed himself with utter ostentation, "I don't repulse you, count yourself lucky."
"Ha, ha, really funny! Why don't you ask me? I repulse you, not only that, but I extremely detest you!"
His gaze turned icy, and he strode forward fiercely, grabbing her collar and lifting her from the bed with a violent tug. Amid her cries of alarm, he shouted, "You little wench, who gave you the audacity?"
As soon as his words fell, he threw her onto the bed and then fiercely pinned her down, biting her lips fiercely in an attempt to make her submit.
Lian Qiao turned her face away and raised her hand to his face, but in the next second her wrist was seized and pinned above her head. He said in a stern voice, "Keep making a racket and I'll confine you!"
"This is forced marriage, coercion, house arrest!"
"Oh!?" Xing Liehuo's eyes grew colder, his burning heat swelling with unrestrained aggression, threatening her with a posture ready to violate at any moment, sparks flying from his gaze directed at her, "Don't like it soft? How about I give it to you hard?"
Their gazes collided, and for a moment, smoke filled the air.
"You're insane!" Lian Qiao snarled in pain, wanting to struggle but he was just too strong, immediately losing some ground in terms of momentum, "Is it not against the law for a soldier to play the rogue?"
With a cold snort, Xing Liehuo's face was stern, his voice dripping with utmost coldness, "Soldiers have needs too!"
Her long lashes quivered slightly, and without a second thought, Lian Qiao opened her mouth to bite at his shoulder.
However, her chin was clamped down.
The next second, she lifted her leg to kick, but her ankle was caught too.
She couldn't win the fight. She was seething inside, helplessly watching, having turned over every possibility in her mind without finding a way to accept the fact that, overnight, she had become a married woman.
This was just too absurd!
Yet, he wasn't a three-year-old child, nor was he someone to mess around without reason. What was his purpose?
She couldn't figure it out.
Grinding her teeth internally, she finally relented, "Stop making fun of me, okay? Marriage is a serious matter. Let's not joke about it. Now, if you let go of me, we can talk... Besides... Besides, look at me now, are you seriously interested? Hm? Hm? Hm?"
While speaking, Lian Qiao smiled slightly, signaling him to take a look at her current state.
He shook his head, sighed!
Little did he know until he saw it and was shocked! From the training ground, she hadn't tidied herself up at all. Soaked with sweat and rain, she was filthy, and apart from her lively eyes, her appearance was nowhere near attractive.
Xing Liehuo was stunned!
Accustomed to the military life, he didn't have a fetish for cleanliness, but even as a man of high status who cared about such things, he couldn't understand how he could tolerate such a dirty thing under him, almost having an accidental discharge.
The air froze.
After staring at her for a few seconds, he suddenly sprung up from the bed and ordered with gloomy malice, "You have five minutes to clean up quickly and come downstairs to eat, or else don't wait for me!"
Having said that, he walked away as if fleeing a plague, the bedroom door slamming behind him with a bang that reverberated loudly.
Who was he angry with anyway?!
She sighed in relief, sat up, and no matter how reluctant, obediently went into the bathroom. The hot water pouring over her body, bruised from military training, was so painful it stung, and her whole body ached as if it were falling apart.
Living like this was really inhuman!
After taking a quick "combat shower," she wrapped herself in a towel and dashed out, quickly rummaging through the wardrobe for a men's military black T-shirt to put on before running downstairs.
She had no choice; she didn't have any pajamas to wear. The T-shirt covered her just enough, reaching down to her thighs—it made a pretty good nightshirt.
The dining room.
Seated at the head of the dining table, Xing Liehuo wore a grim expression.
The black T-shirt, the white-skinned woman—it was a visual impact that vexed him deeply. He waved his hand to dismiss the twinkling-eyed orderly and glanced at the time, then swept his cold gaze over her, "You're one minute and twenty seconds late."
Lian Qiao didn't even lift her eyelids as she pulled out a chair and sat down to eat.
It was said that this girl feared nothing under the heavens but an empty stomach. Having been exhausted at the Sky Hawk Squad drills today and not having had a single drop to drink, she was now so hungry she felt her stomach clinging to her back.
Little did she expect that just as she started eating, the tyrant erupted, "Are you deaf?"
"..." She chewed and eyed him, not having time to respond.
"Speak."
"Don't talk while eating," she muttered vaguely and kept on eating.
Her behavior was really weird.
Xing Liehuo felt his anger rising furiously, but when he caught sight of the scrapes and bruises on her wrists and the backs of her hands, the words on the tip of his tongue got choked back, leaving him with a bellyful of fire and nowhere to vent it.
In the dead of night, when the moon was obscured and the wind was high.
Lian Qiao, half-awake and confused, woke up and caught her breath in fright—
By the window, the man stood in an unnaturally silent pose, the ambiguous and hazy light casting deep shadows over his chiseled features, and the smoke from his fingertips spiraled up, enshrouding him in a cold layer of night.
She was certain he was very lonely!
However, she soon realized her mistake... as he turned his head and walked towards her, those proud eyes as haughty as ever.
Yeah, still the cold-hearted and unpredictable tyrant.
Her hand was suddenly grasped, and Lian Qiao was slightly annoyed, "Are you sleepwalking? Step aside, you're blocking my reception of Duke Zhou's signals!"
At her words, the Crown Prince's gaze turned icy to the extreme, as he yanked her out of bed, "Ungrateful wretch."
"Ah!"
"Don't move."
Since she couldn't struggle free, of course, she stopped moving. Then she felt a cool ointment being applied bit by bit to her feet, legs, and wrists, easing the soreness substantially.
He was staying up late just to wait for her to wake up and apply medicine?
Just as she thought to say thanks, the savage man pressed down on her and stripped her bare, causing her such embarrassment she convulsed. She really wanted to kick him dead.
"Lord, can you not be such a beast, okay?"
"Shut up," he growled coldly.