Chapter 67: You Can't Do It Either, Can You?

She propped her head in her hand, mirroring his pose, and gazed deeply into his captivating, soul-stirring peach-blossom eyes. Her voice carried a profound depth, "Only when you drop the act of playing dumb can you tell me the truth about the murder of Li Gole. Did you have any part in it or not?"

Her gaze was sharp yet lacked any harshness, as if she merely wished to peer into the depths of his eyes and see straight through his heart.

He sneered, his words dripping with sarcasm and mockery, "Why ask me? Aren't you quite the expert at investigating cases? Go on, investigate then! If you fail to find anything, why not just pin the crime of murdering the princess on me?"

This ruthless woman wanted to make him take the blame for someone else—she was dreaming! He would never admit to it. If she truly ended up pinning the crime on him, he would drag her down with him as a scapegoat; he would never let her off easily.

She looked at him and said with a hint of dejection, "Shangguan Ning, I only want to help you."

"Ha, help me?" He laughed as if he had just heard the most ridiculous joke in the world, laughing until tears streamed from his eyes. With a sweep of his long white sleeve, his hand clamped around her jaw. His brows and eyes were alluring, his tone bone-chilling, "Tell me then, how do you plan to help me?"

The corners of her lips curved into a reassuring smile, and her dark, bright eyes flickered with a glimmer of hope, "As long as you tell me everything you know, I will uncover the truth and clear your name."

"There's no need to clear my name. If the princess says I did it, then I did it." He wore a flowing, luminous white robe, his hair as white as snow, and his facial features possessed an enchanting, heaven-sent beauty. A piercing chill surged within his bewitching phoenix eyes, and a bewitching smile played at the corners of his lips, resembling a seductive poppy—dazzling and beautiful, yet laden with a fatal poison.

A flash of white light cut across her chest as Yun Xiange suddenly grabbed the man's wrist. Shangguan Ning was clutching a dagger, its sharp, icy glare seeming to pierce her vision. She raised her eyes to look at his chilling gaze, her voice tinged with melancholy, "You still want to kill me."

The man's phoenix eyes narrowed slightly, and hatred burst forth from his gaze, his tone as icy as an Asura crawling out from the depths of hell, "There isn't a single day I don't want to kill you."

The smile at the corners of the woman's lips froze slightly. With a mixture of bitterness and self-mockery, she said, "Even... even when I want nothing more than for you to let go of your hatred, you still can't do it?"

Like an enraged lion, he roared at her hysterically, "Let go of the hatred? Ha! If you hadn't humiliated me publicly on the streets, how could my father have died? If you hadn't forced me into marriage while my father's body was still cold, I wouldn't have missed catching a final glimpse of him!"

She raised her head, trying earnestly to persuade him, the light in her eyes gentle, "We cannot always live in the past; people must look forward. As for what happened to your father, it was never my intention, and I will find a way to make it up to you."

Shangguan Ning's eyes turned bloodshot, and he trembled all over with rage, "Make it up to you? What could possibly make up for this? Give my father back to me!"

Her heart gave a jolt, and she loosened her grip, allowing the sharp dagger to plunge straight toward her heart.

She lowered her head, her voice trailing off in a hollow, defeated tone, much like a child who had given their all for something only to return empty-handed, "I only wanted to pull you out of the abyss of hatred... You can't do it either, can you? Just like I once couldn't?"

Her words struck him like a heavy blow, landing hard against his face. He looked stunned, asking, "What did you say?"

Just like her once? What was that supposed to mean?