TVLMS Chapter 68

As he spoke, the man’s fingers also touched his jaw, moving gently as if it were a caress. But Gu Xiyu had not forgotten that those long, beautiful, pianist-like fingers had also easily crushed the jaw of the man on the stake.

When the people outside came to collect the corpse of the man on the stake, Gu Xiyu heard them muttering, “The dogs raised by the court are no good, but they have tight lips.”

His eyes subconsciously moved toward the dead man.

So this was someone from the palace. What did the people in this bandit fortress want by capturing him?

Gu Xiyu watched in silence as they dragged the tattered body out. Judging from the content of the conversation, these bandits did not like the people from the palace either.

The man who had asked him a question and waited for his answer seemed to lose his patience, and the dangerous pressure slowly covered him again, pulling his attention back.

Gu Xiyu thought for a moment and calmly said, “I didn’t run away from the marriage.”

His voice was soft, deliberately softened to make it indistinguishable from male and female: “I am the princess of the Dayan Kingdom, I came to the Imperial City with the bridal party to make peace with the third prince of your country.”

“The bridal party was attacked, and the palace will soon send soldiers to investigate the matter. If you can let me go, I will pretend that this has never happened and will not report you.”

Gu Xiyu deliberately spoke the truth.

Generally speaking, it was more dangerous to reveal his true identity. After all, if this group of bloodthirsty bandits knew that he had an honorable status, how could they let him go? According to the world’s background data, bandits were against the people of the palace, so they might even use extreme methods to get him killed, just like the man earlier.

Gu Xiyu thought carefully: given his current state of health, even if these people were suddenly merciful and willing to let him go, it would probably be difficult for him to make it to the imperial capital alone. So he simply didn’t hide it; he was going to die one way or the other, so he might as well just ask the system to make arrangements for him.

He thought that these people would lose interest in him or just kill him when they found out who he was. But to his surprise, the man in black, who clearly had no interest in women and was definitely a lunatic, suddenly had a dramatic change in attitude. Now that he knew who he was, he seemed even more interested.

“You’re quite interesting.” The man suddenly said.

Gu Xiyu paused slightly, inexplicably having the illusion of his inner thoughts being seen through.

“I have also heard a little about the Dayan Kingdom, the marriage should be a reluctant move by your royal family.” The man asked him again, “In that case, you must have been forced to come here. Isn’t it great that you have a chance to avoid this marriage?”

Gu Xiyu had gone to great lengths to become a substitute bride just to have contact with the Great Demon, so he answered, “It’s not forced.”

He adjusted his mood and said in a low voice, “I have been in love with him ever since I accidentally heard his name and deeds from the mouths of the people around me. But the two kingdoms are thousands of miles apart, there are tensions, and their strengths are vastly different, so marriage was just a pipe dream.”

“Perhaps the gods sensed my infatuation, and after this matter came to a head, I voluntarily asked my father for the opportunity to come here.” He said, and his tone took on a plea, “I hope that the Fortress Master will be kind enough to let me go and be able to consummate my marriage with the Third Prince.”

Thanks to his experience in the previous three worlds, he had watched a lot of movies and TV shows and read novels, so Gu Xiyu was now able to tell these lies without blushing or feeling embarrassed.

Unlike those people of Tianyun Zhai, at least he did not see the lust for women in this man’s eyes. His subordinates also mentioned that the women they sent up before were all killed. Although this kind of behavior was cruel, the other party didn’t sound like a creature that thought using the lower half of his body.

After a short silence, the man wearing the small mask raised his eyebrows and asked, “You like Wei Chiyan?”

Gu Xiyu suddenly felt that this seemingly cold and arrogant man loved to gossip.

Without waiting for him to think about it, the other party continued, “You have come from the Dayan Kingdom, so you have never met him before. How much can you like a man you’ve never met?” The tone was accompanied by a touch of sarcasm.

Gu Xiyu recalled Murong Qingwan’s description of Wei Chiyan, an unsurprisingly villainous image.

“The world says he is a cruel and violent man, whose brides never survive the wedding night. That is cold and arrogant, doesn’t have room for rejection, and has reaped several lives. Everyone has cursed him to go to hell after his death and never be reborn.” Gu Xiyu paused for a moment before adding, “But these are only rumors.”

Before he could finish, the man suddenly said, “It’s true.”

His right eye was fixed on him as he said in a faint voice, “Wei Chiyan is such a person.”

Gu Xiyu pursed his lips and said, “What people see is only the surface.”

“They all know that he has killed people and done many evil deeds, but what if there are many dangers in the palace and he might just be protecting himself?”

It was probably the first time he had heard someone defend Wei Chiyan, and the fortress master looked at him with astonishment before adding, “You are thinking too much; he is just a lunatic who does whatever he wants without any reason.”

Gu Xiyu didn’t know how the topic had developed to this point, but having been with the Great Demon for three worlds, he had inexplicably developed a protective mentality towards the rest of the soul fragments. His temper was already on edge, and he immediately blurted out, “This also proves that he is decisive and has the capital to be arrogant; wouldn’t you feel safe with a man like that?”

As soon as he said that, the surroundings fell silent for a few seconds. Even the men who were collecting the corpse and cleaning up the mess cast a few strange glances at him, with eyes that seemed to say he was a foolish woman blinded by love.

Gu Xiyu calmed down, and his ears became red when he realized what he had just said.

Had he spent so much time with the Great Demon that his outlook was also skewed?

No, he just believed that the target usually had his reasons for doing what he did.

After a long time, a sneer came from the masked man, and he spoke with a teasing tone, as if mocking him, “It’s quite secure.”

Gu Xiyu’s hand, hidden under his sleeve, clenched into a fist, trying to suppress the feelings of shame and anger in his heart.

He would never say such words again, and he would definitely never let the Great Demon hear them.

“Unfortunately, I am not a gentleman.” The man in front of him suddenly spoke, his tone harsh: “What I like most is to spoil other people’s fantasies, I’m unhappy when I see them in peace and harmony.”

“Tell me, if Wei Chiyan knew that the delicate wife he was supposed to welcome had become the woman of a mountain bandit, he would be very angry, right?”

The bearded man’s eyes darted back and forth between the fortress master and Gu Xiyu before landing on the fortress master with a little more light: “Does the Lord mean…?”

Gu Xiyu watched as the man’s smile deepened, and his fingers rubbed his jaw a few times: “Let the men in the fortress prepare well, I want to choose an auspicious day to marry this young lady.”

The familiar touch made him shake his head, and only after confirming that the target of his mission was the Third Prince of the Yao Kingdom did he wave the strange feeling away from his mind. It happened that the other man’s hand moved to his neck and seemed to find the small bulge hidden beneath the collar.

**He touched the Adam’s apple.

Not really wanting to have too much contact with anyone other than his target, Gu Xiyu smoothly admitted in a volume of voice only the two of them could hear since the other man had leaned over, “That’s right, I’m a man.”

This was an ancient setting, very feudal, and gays were greatly criticized. Besides, not many men in this era would be attracted to the same sex.

Even if there were some, the probability of meeting any was too low.

Just as he finished his thought, a hand suddenly moved to his waist. The hand brought his body forward with a little force, sending him crashing into the man’s hard, firm chest.

In his daze, the man who held him in his arms lowered his head and whispered with a chuckle, “It just so happens that I actually prefer a man to a soft woman.”

Gu Xiyu: “……”

He suddenly realized that he had fallen into this man’s trap.

Gu Xiyu was eventually taken to a simple room and locked up. His body was already very sick and weak, and now that he had been injured and hadn’t eaten much the whole day, he could only lie helplessly on the bed to ease his health.

He had been shot by one of the bandits during the day, but the ruthless fortress master had not even given him a bottle of medicine.

Since his plan to change bodies had failed, he had to escape from this place before he could be married off.

As he thought about this, a voice came into his head.

[Sorry.] The system’s mechanical voice sounded calm: [I did not understand the situation earlier, so I couldn’t answer your query.]

Gu Xiyu pondered for a moment and asked, “So, have you figured it out now?”

[No.]

“……”

He could only follow the process to reintroduce himself to the system before roughly telling it about the execution of the mission. The system seemed to have loaded the data from the main system as well, and after listening to him, it got a general understanding of what was going on.

The system told him, [I asked the… center… about your request, and they said that unless you have an accidental death, you cannot be given another host body.]

The words “accidental death” were more interesting, containing many complex boundaries.

Gu Xiyu said with a headache, ” You helped me draw up a map in the previous world; do you still hold this function now? I don’t want to get married to this fortress master and must leave before the auspicious day arrives.”

The intelligent system did not answer him immediately but asked, [Do you really like Wei Chiyan that much?]

Gu Xiyu listened to the question and breathed painfully a few times before answering rebelliously, “No!”

“Just trying to fool that crazy fortress master.” He said it with an expressionless face.

[…]

The system ended the conversation with the familiar ellipsis, only to give him a cold answer a long time later. [This function has not yet been developed for the time being.]

Gu Xiyu’s head was a little heavy, and he didn’t care if he didn’t get the map, he only asked, “Can the back injury be repaired?”

The system answered quickly and ruthlessly: [No.]

He didn’t question the answer; after all, it was against the laws of the world to do so. Only after the initial crossing can injuries be healed.

He lay in bed for a while, recovering a little before getting up and getting out of bed, moving with heavy steps to the table to pour himself a glass of water. The thirst in his throat had just been quenched when the sound of chains being fiddled with was heard outside the room.

The door to the room was pushed open not long after, and a man wearing a black suit and a silver mask entered. He had the same cold expression on his face as when he first met him; his unemotional gaze wrapped around him like a vicious snake, making him uncomfortable.

Gu Xiyu had little energy to entertain him, not even wanting to give him a look. This sickly look was like that of a lovesick man who was depressed because he could not meet his lover.

The man sneered and said in a commanding tone, “Get on the bed.”

Gu Xiyu’s thoughts failed to turn, and the first thing he thought when he heard these words was that this man wanted to do something to him.

A rare feeling of anger rose in the heart of Commander Gu, who was coveted by a man other than the Great Demon, and he asked the man who had trespassed into his room with incredulity, “I am seriously injured, and you want to do something nasty before we are married?!”

His throat was suddenly itchy, and he coughed heavily, causing his lungs to ache and his eyes to glaze over.

The fortress master was not angered by his accusation. He waited until he had calmed down a little before he brought the hand behind him to his front.

There was a small white porcelain bottle in his palm and he shook it at Gu Xiyu, who was stunned: “My men accidentally injured today, and although the arrow was pulled out, the wound has not been properly treated.”

He said meaningfully, “I asked you to get on the bed because I want to apply medicine; what did you think I wanted to do…?”