CHAPTER EIGHT

Lines in the Sand​

I returned to my residence, irritated and disappointed, to find a rather peculiar sight

.

"What is this?" I asked as stared at the two plates set before me

"Dinner, My Prince," Ma Yili answered, her voice a timid, barely audible whisper.

"I can see that," I grunted. "I meant... why?"

The girl blinked. "Is the food not to your liking?" she asked.

With a tired sigh, I retrieved a pair of silver chopsticks from my spatial ring before making a show of poking the bowl of stir-fried chicken, nuts, and vegetables. Swirling the painstakingly prepared meal with the utensil, I found myself unamused as I watched Ma Yili's seemingly docile expression slowly fade away to make way for a dark scowl.

I hummed as I toyed with the blackened utensil dangling from my fingers before plucking a particularly succulent-looking chunk of meat and tossing it in my mouth. "Who got you the ingredients?" I asked, swallowing.

"A servant from the kitchen," the girl answered with a shrug, her voice a flat, unenthusiastic drone. "The rest are the from the garden."

I hummed again even as her scowl only deepened as I made a show of eating another morsel of the poisoned meal.

"...I forgot your mother was your village's most skilled apothecary," I told the girl as I plucked a crisp-looking vegetable from the bowl before tossing it in my mouth. "It must not have been hard for you to trick those fools in the kitchen to procure all the herbs you would need to craft the poison you used to lace this meal you just served to me. Tell me, girl, what were you thinking would happen?"

"...Go find a hole to die in, you sick bastard!" she snapped, her tone venomous.

"Let me tell you what you were thinking would happen," I continued, completely disregarding her outburst. "In that pretty little head of yours, you might have imagined me gullibly eating this and keeling over the next second. Well, let me tell you—urk!"

Clutching my chest, I fell to my side, my eyes growing bloodshot as my body spasmed on the floor. My guards watched the display passively, seemingly unconcerned about my well-being. Ma Yili on the other hand stared blankly at me, her scowl morphing into confusion and then disbelief as she reached for my suddenly still body, vengeful hope glinting in her eyes.

I snatched her outstretched arm, yanking her towards me. The girl collided into my chest with a muffled scream as a disappointed sigh broke free from my maw.

"Darling, did you really, for a second, believe that mortal poisons could work on a cultivator?" I asked the girl; her scowl returning with full force. The girl squirmed as she felt my hands wandering, groping at the more succulent parts of her body. I brushed aside the poisoned bowls of spirit rice and kung pao before simply laying her on the cushion and sliding on top of her. Her resistance as usual was a brief and utterly ineffective affair; an aroused gasp escaped her lips as I sheathed myself in her moments later.

"You should know this Prince has very little patience for stunts like this," I told her as I fucked away. "Go bring the maid that got her the ingredients," I instructed the warrior eunuch behind us. "I want her flayed for her negligence."

Comprehending the order, Ma Yili started struggling frantically beneath me, her eyes pleading; desperate. "Please!" she screamed. "Stop! *ah* Stop him! *ah* Zhou Xun didn't know! She is innocent! *ugh* Please punish me instead—"

"You ought to know by now that things can never be so simple, My dear," I whispered into her ear, silencing her as I fucked her still, my strokes long and deep. "Of course, I could pardon you both and let this slide, after all, the fact that my guards let you even put this before me is a testament to how little a threat you pose to my well-being ... I would normally ignore your little antics, Ma Yili, allowing you a little defiance now and then—after all, I am a benevolent master—but this?

"...This is crossing a line."

"Then punish me instead!" she gasped desperately as I fucked her into the futon beneath us.

"I am punishing you. I just won't hurt you, Ma Yili; you are far too important to me. But, that doesn't mean I can't hurt those you care about."

"...Then I kill myself!"

I paused, allowing one of my brows to rise in amusement as her dainty legs subconsciously tightened around my waist; she probably didn't even notice.

"You would commit suicide?"

"Yes! I will bite my tongue off if you don't pardon Zhou Xun!"

The girl in question was brought in at that moment. I turned my gaze to regard her. "You provided the ingredients my concubine used to prepare my meal?" I asked the beautiful, pale-faced girl.

Had the sect not recently stooped to needlessly provoking me I might have been deceived into believing they welcomed my presence here with how all the maidservants sent to serve me possessed all the characteristics my predecessor was infamous for seeking out when hunting for a new member of his vast harem.

"...Y-yes, My Prince," the maid stammered fearfully, apparently confused. I had mostly ignored her and her fellow servants since my arrival to the sect so it was not surprising she would find the sudden attention she was receiving from me unnerving.

"Well? What are you waiting for," I drawled as my gaze swivelled to the guard standing menacingly behind her. "Flay her."

"Stop! I will—"

"You will what?" I interrupted the girl beneath me as my guard slowly unsheathed his blade, much to the profound horror of the maid before him. "You want to commit suicide?" I chuckled. "Go ahead. But, I will have you know that this Prince is not one to take a loss lightly. If I can't have you for whatever reason, you can be certain the people of Baiyun will be the ones to bear my wrath...

"You haven't yet seen my wrath, Ma Yili."

I held the girl's gaze as she slowly fell silent, her eyes watering, possibly at the thought of having to choose between her village's safety or the well-being of the innocent woman she had just willfully implicated.

"Smart as you are, sometimes I forget you are still just a foolish little girl lacking in wisdom," I told her as I resumed having my way with her.

"Once you are done," I said to the guard behind us, "tan and hang the hide on the bedroom wall where my beloved here won't miss it; a reminder of where exactly I drew the line in the sand."