The Cannon Fodder Was Pampered By The Tyrant - Chapter 4

“You want to jump into the river with that little bit of courage?”

Si Yan’s strength wasn’t great, but Lin Yutian’s skin was tender, and the area turned slightly red.

She immediately covered her head, her anger rising steadily. However, fearing the criminal laws Si Yan had mentioned, she could only ask timidly, “You… aren’t you going to punish me? Why did you save me?”

She couldn’t even bring herself to say “Your Majesty” anymore.

Si Yan chuckled softly. “Whether I want someone to live or die is entirely up to my word.”

Lin Yutian licked her lips and asked hesitantly, “Then… do you want me to die?”

Testing me?

Si Yan raised an eyebrow. “Depends on your performance.”

Performance?

Hadn’t her performance been terrible enough?

She had messed up the room, smashed the porcelain, slept with the Emperor, argued back, threatened her, and even vomited.

Was that performance not disastrous enough?

Wasn’t it said that palace maids could be dragged out and beaten to death just for blinking the wrong way? Why was it different for her?

Was she doing it wrong?

Lin Yutian pondered, slowly looking up at Si Yan. She pursed her lips and blinked her eyes at her.

Si Yan stared at her fixedly, showing no reaction.

Lin Yutian blinked again.

Finally, Si Yan moved.

Seducing me again.

The next moment, Lin Yutian was pinned against the bed, her back pressed firmly against the wall.

Si Yan narrowed her eyes, her voice very light: “Don’t think you can please me by acting spoiled.”

Lin Yutian’s face suddenly flushed, the temperature of her cheeks rising. “Who’s acting spoiled with you!”

Si Yan said with certainty, “This is acting spoiled.”

Lin Yutian grumbled in her heart. She felt the book must have forgotten to mention that Si Yan was actually a moody psychopath. Clearly, she had done everything she should and shouldn’t have, so why was Si Yan still acting like this?

Lin Yutian felt frustrated.

“Since you won’t kill me, why exactly did you save me?” she asked, suppressing her inner fear.

Looking at her, Si Yan only found her adorable. She didn’t mind making things clearer. “The sixteenth year of Qingli, Hushu Alley on Chang’an Street.”

She waited for Lin Yutian’s reaction, expecting shock or joy to surface in her eyes.

But Lin Yutian looked completely blank.

The sixteenth year of Qingli? What?

She suddenly became alert. Had Si Yan realized she wasn’t a local and was testing her on purpose? If she found out she was a fake, she’d probably be even angrier.

“What are you saying?” Lin Yutian said sincerely. “This servant is illiterate. I don’t understand.”

The flame of hope in Si Yan’s eyes gradually faded.

She had been observant since childhood and could tell that the person before her truly had no memory of the events back then. It turned out she was the only one who remembered those promises.

But if that were the case, why did Lin Yutian dare to approach her? Or was someone pulling the strings from behind?

She reached out and covered Lin Yutian’s hand. “If you have any difficulties, you can tell me.”

Si Yan hinted darkly, “There is no one else here. As long as you are by my side, you are forever safe.”

Lin Yutian was naturally wary. She immediately sensed something was wrong. When a boss who frequently fires people suddenly asks if you’re tired, there’s definitely a catch.

But what kind of plot direction was this? Why was everything different from what she predicted? Where did it go wrong?

And being by your side is the most unsafe place! I just wanted a simple death, but you’re talking about lingchi and dismemberment. She couldn’t even get a simple way to die.

“I… have no difficulties,” Lin Yutian said, hiding her thoughts. “I simply hate you. Since Your Majesty knows I want to kill you, why keep me?”

The more she spoke, the more her voice wavered. Si Yan smiled and pinched the soft flesh of Lin Yutian’s cheeks. “Hate me?”

Lin Yutian stared back stubbornly. “The person I hate most in this world is you!”

“That serious, huh?” Si Yan laughed, revealing a tiny canine tooth on the left side.

Why aren’t you killing me yet? Lin Yutian suffered internally. She was reaching her limit. Her courage was finite, after all.

“Wouldn’t killing you like this be too easy?” Si Yan leaned into her ear and whispered, “You took my innocence and expect to just die and be done with it?”

Hearing this, Lin Yutian froze. An inexplicable sense of guilt filled her heart. The only variable from yesterday was that she had somehow ended up sleeping with Si Yan.

“Then what do you want?” Lin Yutian decided to play the “scumbag” to the end.

Si Yan: “Heh.”

Lin Yutian’s heart jolted. If you’re going to kill or torture me, just do it! What does ‘heh’ mean?!

Just as Lin Yutian was about to speak, a soft voice came from outside: “Your Majesty, Prince Ye requests an audience.”

Si Yan retracted her gaze and tucked in the messy corners of Lin Yutian’s quilt. “Rest in the room. Don’t go anywhere.”

Lin Yutian didn’t answer. Once Si Yan left and closed the door, she rushed to find her clothes, blushing as she threw on the wrinkled garments.

Only a fool wouldn’t run! That person clearly intended to torture her!

When she tried to get off the bed, her legs felt weak, and she nearly collapsed. Lin Yutian’s eyes welled with tears from the pain. What a terrifying person.

She couldn’t stay here, she had to go back today!

Lin Yutian tried to control her body, attempting to walk as normally as possible. As she stepped out, the eyes of the maids in the courtyard fell on her. As she limped toward a corner, a maid slowly approached.

“Yutian, are you okay?” asked the maid who had given her a chicken leg yesterday, looking worried.

Thinking of last night, Lin Yutian shook her head weakly. “I’m fine.”

The maid said, “You broke porcelain last night, publicly embraced His Majesty, and then His Majesty called for the imperial physician. We were scared to death.”

“I… it was an accident. I slipped,” Lin Yutian said guiltily.

“You have to be more careful next time,” the maid warned. “Fortunately, His Majesty was in a good mood last night otherwise, the consequences would have been unthinkable.”

Lin Yutian pursed her lips and nodded gratefully. “I understand, sister.”

“It’s okay,” the maid waved it off, her eyes sparkling with gossip. “So, why did you stay in His Majesty’s room for so long?”

In the three years since Si Yan took the throne, no maid had ever stayed overnight in that room, let alone one who had been carried in.

Lin Yutian didn’t dare say she had been tossed around until her legs were weak. But she wasn’t good at lying, so remembering Si Yan’s threats, she decided to spread a little rumor of her own.

“She made me scrub the floor with a rag all night, and after that, the bookshelves,” Lin Yutian said indignantly. “She’s very mean.”

The maid gasped. “Then why did she call the physician?”

Lin Yutian looked miserable. “I was too tired and fainted. She had the physician needle me awake so I could continue scrubbing.”

In a few words, the maid’s expression changed. She patted Lin Yutian’s shoulder, a look of silent understanding in her eyes. “As long as you’re okay. Scrubbing the floor all night is better than losing your life.”

Lin Yutian nodded and asked softly, “Sister, do you know when His Majesty is most likely to get angry?”

The maid immediately shook her head. “I don’t know. One must not gossip about the Emperor in the palace.”

Lin Yutian quickly pivoted. “Then do you know what the maids who were killed before did wrong?”

The maid hesitated, but her gossipy nature won out. “I heard one trimmed the leaves of a sapling His Majesty was raising in the study. Others dirtied her robes, didn’t make the incense smell right, or made a noise that disturbed her sleep while on duty.”

“But most were assassins sent by other countries.” Speaking of this, the maid grew serious. Though they were lowly servants, they paid attention to the state of the world. “Don’t let the three years of peace fool you. Many want to assassinate His Majesty. Two years ago, a spy was caught and publicly beheaded.”

Lin Yutian sucked in a breath. “They were killed immediately upon discovery?”

The maid nodded. “I saw it with my own eyes a year ago. His Majesty personally drew her sword and took the person’s head. It was terrifying.”

Lin Yutian felt both shocked and suspicious. “Has there ever been a case where an assassination failed and His Majesty didn’t kill them on the spot?”

The maid thought for a moment. “Unheard of.”

Lin Yutian’s face paled. “I see. Thank you, sister.”

“No need for thanks,” the maid said. “Ask me if you need anything. You’re new making mistakes is normal.”

Lin Yutian nodded earnestly.

Once the maid left, Lin Yutian endured her weak legs and slowly walked out of the courtyard. Since Si Yan wasn’t killing her, she must be planning to torture her. She had to run while Si Yan was away. Even if it was painful, she had to escape.

Taking advantage of the moment no one was watching the gate, she slipped away. She hid and dodged through the palace until she finally found a remote pond. The water was very green jumping in would surely be fatal.

Lin Yutian kept prepping herself to jump, waiting for the courage to actually do it. She couldn’t delay anymore.

She didn’t notice the pavilion nearby, hidden by green leaves.

“The Rouran are attacking the northern border and sent a message saying if you want a ceasefire, Your Highness… could marry their prince.”

Prince Ye, named Si Xun, was two months younger than Si Yan. The Si family’s secret support was a major reason Si Yan had successfully seized power. Although Si Yan was on the throne, the surrounding nations still looked down on her, not just for her age, but for her gender. In their minds, a woman should not rule.

After hearing this, Si Yan said flatly, “Continue the attack.”

Si Xun: “Yes, Highness.”

Just as Si Yan was about to say more, she heard a sound nearby. Si Xun heard it too and looked over curiously. They saw a girl in a maid’s outfit by the pond, fists clenched, squatting and standing repeatedly as if about to jump.

Si Xun asked curiously, “This is…?”

Si Yan narrowed her eyes and didn’t speak. She told Si Xun, “You are dismissed.”

Si Xun looked at her in surprise, then at the little maid, before leaving with a knowing glint in his eyes.

Si Yan stood silently to the side, watching.

Lin Yutian had truly summoned her courage this time, yet she still lacked the final resolve to plunge in. But she was certain Si Yan was plotting some way to torment her.

“It’s so hard, ahhhhh!” Lin Yutian crouched by the pond, frustrated. “If I knew, I wouldn’t have provoked her.”

She had tried to take a shortcut, but now the shortcut had become a deadlock. However, she realized she absolutely could not go back alive today. Si Yan definitely had some twisted tricks up her sleeve. What if they were worse than lingchi? She had finally overcome those memories; she didn’t want to remember them again.

Thinking of this, she gritted her teeth and stood up. She had to jump! She had to go back!

But as she stood, she realized her legs were numb. As she tried to move, she stepped on some moss, her whole body pitching forward and falling straight toward the lake!

In the next instant, her collar was grabbed, and another hand slid around her waist. Lin Yutian was pulled back to shore, her back landing firmly against a warm chest.

A familiar, teasing voice came from above: “You want to jump into the river with that little bit of courage?”