TSFLIP Chapter 888

Baili Shu was, after all, still just a child. The moment he saw Yuan Luo, his expression changed.

There were no obvious signs of injury on Yuan Luo. He was simply kneeling weakly on the ground, yet he mustered the courage to lift his head and say, “I am now the leader of the Villains’ Alliance. Whatever I did has nothing to do with anyone else!”

Fengguang looked at Baili Shu and saw him biting his lip, his expression clearly troubled.

When she had first learned that Baili Shu was the leader of the Villains’ Alliance, she’d been shocked. Now, seeing the look of pain and reluctance on his face, she inexplicably felt a pang of sympathy. She couldn’t help thinking that the bond between this master and his subordinate was really quite deep.

Song Wuxia watched Baili Shu, who was doing his best to pretend none of this concerned him, with interest. As if casually, he said, “Since he claims that what he did has nothing to do with anyone else, then as for today’s matter of forcibly abducting a civilian woman, I’ll execute him on the spot. What do you think, Fourth Prince?”

“No!”

Those two words didn’t come from Baili Shu—they came from Fengguang.

Somewhat surprised, Song Wuxia turned to look at her. “Why does the Crown Princess think that’s inappropriate?”

“Because I don’t like seeing blood!”

“Rest assured, Crown Princess. I have many methods—killing someone doesn’t necessarily involve blood.”

“That still won’t do!”

“And why is that?”

“Because…” Fengguang blinked sincerely. “It wouldn’t be good if killing someone got your hands dirty.”

That answer… Song Wuxia found it rather pleasing. So he changed his mind. “In that case, lock him in the imperial prison and then exile him to the borderlands.”

Baili Shu finally couldn’t hold back. “If he’s sent to the imperial prison, will he even come out alive?”

“Of course,” Song Wuxia replied, a smile spreading across his face. “Half a month ago, His Highness the Crown Prince was locked in the imperial prison. Didn’t he come out alive?”

“What!?” Baili Shu exclaimed in shock. “Eldest Brother was thrown into the imperial prison?”

He had been away from the capital for the past six months, so there were many things in the palace he didn’t know. Even after he returned, no one had taken the initiative to tell him that his imperial brother had once been imprisoned on charges of treason.

A faint, inscrutable smile hung on Song Wuxia’s lips. “Fourth Prince need not worry. From what I see, Yuan Luo is strong-willed and unyielding. Staying in the imperial prison for seven or eight years shouldn’t be a problem at all.”

Ten days or even half a month in a place like the imperial prison was enough to break a person mentally, let alone seven or eight years.

Baili Shu glanced at Yuan Luo kneeling on the ground. This was the personal guard who had protected him since childhood. Because Baili Shu liked painting, Yuan Luo would search far and wide for suitable models for him. People said the Villains’ Alliance abducted innocent women, but aside from Bingqing as an exception, all the women had been lured by generous rewards. After staying in the prince’s residence for a while, they were unwilling to leave. So apart from that one case of freeloading—and symbolically collecting “protection fees”—the Villains’ Alliance really hadn’t committed any truly heinous crimes.

As for minor misdeeds, of course, they did some. After all, their organization was called the Villains’ Alliance.

Baili Shu might act rebelliously, but his heart wasn’t truly cruel. He stepped forward. “Song Wuxia, let Yuan Luo go. I admit it—I was the one who ordered him to kidnap that woman!”

“Fourth Prince!” Yuan Luo shouted.

“You don’t need to say anything more,” Baili Shu snapped, glaring at Song Wuxia. “I know Song Wuxia isn’t a fool.”

Song Wuxia smiled faintly. “The Fourth Prince understands me quite well.”

“Let’s all just talk this through,” Fengguang said, sensing the tension and stepping in to mediate again. “Song Wuxia, the Fourth Prince, is still young. Of course, it was wrong of him to order someone to kidnap your… lover…”

“Crown Princess.”

A chill seemed to sweep over her. Fengguang shivered and looked at Song Wuxia. “I’m here…”

Song Wuxia’s face was dark. “I thought you knew that I don’t have something like a lover.”

He had overestimated her intelligence.

“Isn’t Miss Bingqing your lover?”

“Rather than saying she’s my lover,” Song Wuxia replied with a meaningful smile, “it would be more accurate to say that the Crown Princess is. After all, the things I’ve done with the Crown Princess—I’ve never done with anyone else.”