"Manluo Sha, why did you hang up on me just now?" The King of Yin Country questioned her with a dark face.

"The signal at sea was bad," Manluo Sha said. "Father, please don’t be mad at me."

"You’re not allowed to do that again." The King of Yin Country scolded, "How should I put it, I am the ruler of a nation, and you hung up my call without permission. That is disrespectful. As a woman, the most important thing is to observe propriety. You must not be as shameless as your mother."

"Only then will you be worthy of the way I’ve raised you."

"Pff—" Manluo Sha’s expression twisted in pain. She paused, then gritted her teeth and said, "Fa... Father is right."

"What? Looking at that face, did you think of that cheap whore of a mother of yours?" the King of Yin Country added.

"N-no... no, Manluo Sha wouldn’t dare."

Manluo Sha’s voice trembled, then she lowered her head and started to sob, her fragrant shoulders shaking rapidly.

Seeing her like this, the King of Yin Country looked impatient, but he merely assumed Manluo Sha was remembering that concubine he’d had executed long ago, whose name he’d already forgotten; overcome by a moment’s longing for her mother, she couldn’t control herself.

"Enough, I won’t mention her again. When you get back to Yin Country, I’ll send someone to pick you up immediately. Remember, don’t get too close to those guards around you."

"For lowly people like them, being able to serve our Royal Family is their honor. I know you have a kind heart, but you must not feel any pity for those inferiors, or they’ll just kick their noses up to their faces!"

"You’re a Princess, and also the Holy Daughter. You must keep your distance from these men, keep yourself pure. Do you understand?"

"I... I understand. I’ll keep my distance from those filthy men."

Manluo Sha vowed solemnly.

Though in her heart, she silently added: negative distance is still a kind of distance.

Only after the King of Yin Country hung up did Manluo Sha finally lose control and burst into tears, her body shaking even harder, as if she wanted to vent every last bit of emotion.

Chen Xiao also let out a sigh. Looks like Manluo Sha was pitiful too. The reason she’d gone so extreme was, at the core, just her wanting revenge on that life of hers controlled by that perverted Old Deng.

At this point there wasn’t much he could do. All he could offer was a bit of sincerity to soothe her wounded heart.

——

Over an hour later, in the bathroom, Chen Xiao walked out holding Manluo Sha, whose face was full of satisfaction.

Manluo Sha’s face was all bliss; after that brief pain came nothing but pleasure. The feeling had her completely hooked. If she’d known being a woman was this enjoyable, back then she’d rather die than obediently go be some Holy Daughter.

But now, the water was already spilled.

If she dared say half a "no," the King of Yin Country and the Holy Temple would never spare her. They’d put her to death in the name of disgracing the Royal Family and the Holy Temple.

Looking at the marks all over her body, Chen Xiao couldn’t help sighing. This woman’s tastes were really something—she just liked being humiliated, being ravaged; the harsher he was, the more excited she got.

On Manluo Sha’s hair, her face, her lower belly, even her perky butt, there were traces he’d left behind—and all of them had been at her own request.

If Zhang Yaqing did it for beauty, then Manluo Sha purely liked being humiliated in this way. It excited her, gave her pleasure.

Still, he’d had a great time too.

Though it was her first time, Manluo Sha had been insanely wild, to the point that even the rage he’d had earlier, provoked by that Old Deng of a King of Yin Country, had all been worn away. His whole body felt relaxed.

If that Old Deng found out his daughter had been rolling around with the very man he wished he could tear to pieces, and that she’d willingly served the other side as her master, who knows what kind of expression he’d make?

Manluo Sha, however, looked full of regret. "I really can’t bear to wash it off. Falling asleep with Mr. Chen’s scent on me like this would keep me in a good mood all day."

"I’ll keep the clothes, and the sheets too. That way I can remember Mr. Chen’s scent for the rest of my life."

Manluo Sha inhaled the masculine scent on Chen Xiao’s body with a look of intoxication.

Chen Xiao asked, "You’ve stayed here this long—won’t your guards get suspicious?" 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"They will, and quite a few of them are my father’s informants. So I have to put on a show with Mr. Chen." Manluo Sha narrowed her beautiful eyes and smiled. "We’ll pretend negotiations fell apart and have a fierce quarrel, then I’ll have them drive you out. That way, there’ll be no suspicion."

"Smart!" Chen Xiao was impressed.

"Now..." Manluo Sha hooked her arms around Chen Xiao’s neck. "Mr. Chen, take a lovers’ bath with me first."

Twenty minutes later, Chen Xiao and Manluo Sha followed the plan and had a heated argument in the room. Then Manluo Sha made a call and had all the guards rush in to throw Chen Xiao out.

Chen Xiao dusted his sleeves and left under Manluo Sha’s "resentful" gaze.

Back in his own room, Lu Rugao and Luo Qingli immediately asked, "We heard that Princess of Yin invited you over as a guest. What did she talk to you about?"

"She tried to seduce me," Chen Xiao said bluntly.

"Seduce you?" Lu Rugao snorted. "She seduced you after just one meeting? You think you’re Wu Yanzu or something?"

Chen Xiao: "..."

Okay, he wasn’t Wu Yanzu, but he was Chen Yanzu.

Besides, Manluo Sha really had tried to seduce him. Why was it that when he told the truth, they refused to believe him?

Then again, "seduce" wasn’t quite right—too crude a word.

What Manluo Sha did was something worthy of praise. It was a brave act to break through the feudal cage, rush toward freedom, and live as her true self. How could such a low, vulgar word be used on her?

Chen Xiao felt a bit ashamed of his own coarse phrasing just now.

After all, he’d enjoyed himself too; he couldn’t just pull his pants up and pretend nothing happened.

"It wasn’t much anyway. I’ve already made things clear with her. From now on, we’ll mind our own business and not cross each other’s paths," Chen Xiao said. "Next, we should be able to move around much more freely on the cruise."

Luo Qingli frowned. "We made such a big scene earlier. Won’t Princess Manluo look into our backgrounds? With their intelligence network, it wouldn’t be hard to find out who we are, right? Once we land in Yin Country, will that cause trouble for us?"

Leng Baiyu was also a bit worried about this. "Qingli’s concern isn’t unreasonable."

Even though they were at risk of having their identities exposed now, if they had to choose again, they still couldn’t just stand by and watch Luo Benchang and his daughter suffer!

Lu Rugao sneered, "Didn’t someone just now brag that he’d been seduced by Manluo Sha? Let him go use his pretty-boy charm. I’d love to see how capable he really is!"

"Oh right, I just looked up Manluo Sha’s background online. She’s not just some ordinary Royal Princess; she’s got an even more badass identity—the Holy Daughter of the Yin Country Holy Temple!"

"That Holy Daughter of the Yin Country Holy Temple is the highest of the clergy, known as God’s spokesperson. Since childhood she’s required to strictly observe the codes of conduct, remain pure as ice and clean as jade, untouched by dust, and she can’t touch a man for her entire life! If a certain someone really manages to ’handle’ her, I’ll be impressed!"