Pain.
It was all Hua Jing could feel now.
The lack of air, the freezing water, the burning pain in her throat—it was an endless cycle of torture.
She wanted to scream, fight, curse, but she couldn't. Not yet.
Not when she had to survive.
Not when she had to get out of here.
Her body shook uncontrollably as she was yanked out of the water again, her wet hair clinging to her face, her lips trembling violently.
She gasped, coughed, choked, her chest rising and falling erratically.
The iron grip on her arms forced her upright, yet her legs barely held her weight.
A voice—cold, dangerous, merciless—cut through the damp air.
"Who ordered you to poison the Crown Prince?"
The Emperor.
Seated on his regal throne, golden robes draped over his broad frame, his gaze burned with unrelenting fury.
