Do You Like Me That Much? Miss Villainess-Chapter 39 : Come, Take My Hand

Inside the dungeon, all was pitch black.
Mu Qinglan looked at the petite girl gently nuzzling against her palm, listening to her somewhat rapid breathing, her eyes downcast and lips curved upward.
The sensation from her palm was very clear.
And very comfortable.
The wrist of her extended hand was being tightly gripped by both hands of the girl beneath her, as if afraid this long-missed touch would suddenly disappear.
Mu Qinglan made no movement whatsoever.
She wasn't even slightly worried about whether this obedient, beast-like assassin miss before her would threaten her safety.
When imprisoning her in the dungeon, the shadow servants had already fed her pills that temporarily dispersed spiritual power. For the past few days, Zhu Yan had neither eaten nor drunk, and being in the dungeon, she had no means to recover her spiritual power.
So Mu Qinglan had no concerns.
With this assassin miss's current strength, she could subdue her with one hand.
Moreover, Ah Qi was watching from the shadows.
These six days of endless darkness, inability to move, and even lack of sound in this desolate world had already completely destroyed the assassin miss's capacity for resistance.
Six days was infinitely close to the final deadline when this type of punishment would drive someone completely insane.
Perhaps her heart wanted to resist.
But surely, at least for now, her body would be very honest.
Even honest to the point of being somewhat submissive.
After all, this was the only ray of light shining into her long, dark world—wouldn't she try to fight for it?
In Mu Qinglan's previous life, there was a psychological effect called Stockholm Syndrome, which referred to the complex where hostages developed psychological dependence on their captors under certain circumstances, even helping them in return.
Zhu Yan wasn't a hostage, and Mu Qinglan wasn't a captor.
But their current positions could be compared to this.
Having been tortured by Mu Qinglan's cruel punishment for so long, it was impossible to say Zhu Yan didn't harbor hatred toward her.
Under normal circumstances, she would definitely scoff at this kind of abrupt, condescending show of favor from Mu Qinglan.
Reaching out to touch her face—
It was no different from treating a pet!
But were these normal circumstances? Obviously not.
Under the prolonged torture, even if Zhu Yan wouldn't say it aloud, psychologically and physically she desperately craved something that could give her a sense of being alive.
So she wouldn't refuse.
She wouldn't refuse this crude, obviously intentional show of favor from Mu Qinglan, and would even allow this feeling to travel along the tender skin of her cheek, breaking into her heart and filling the emptiness within with a bizarrely comforting sense of security.
Of course, this situation wouldn't last too long either.
Given her mental resilience, at most half a day, Zhu Yan would recover from this strange state.
By then, the current dependence would naturally vanish completely.
But the bad woman had countermeasures.
As a bad woman well-versed in human nature, Mu Qinglan had always known that the Stockholm effect could only slightly twist people's perspectives, and even then only had obvious effects on emotionally rich people. But she was merely planning to use it as support.
She knew well that to win this Miss Zhu Yan's loyalty, she could only produce something that would completely shake her worldview.
Everything else was merely kindling to add fuel to the fire.
So she had investigated her past.
And she had not been disappointed.
"What's this, Miss Zhu Yan has nothing to say? I distinctly remember just a few days ago, weren't you going to kill me?"
Mu Qinglan laughed softly: "So this is your assassination—what an eye-opener."
"..."
Zhu Yan's body stiffened, but her small face continued to gently nuzzle.
After a long while, she said in a trembling voice:
"Kill you... sooner or later I'll kill you."
"Hah!" Mu Qinglan shook her head. "Does the Crown Prince have such influence over you? Even though you've never known what evil deeds I've done, you still believe I'm that kind of utterly wicked person?"
"Even without His Highness, I've heard of your evil reputation in the capital."
Zhu Yan's voice was extremely hoarse.
"Evil reputation? What can that kind of thing prove? That I'm a cold-blooded demon who would kill entire families to scheme for innate destiny traits and even pretend to be good while adopting them?"
Mu Qinglan smiled coldly.
In the darkness, she looked at her opponent like prey that had taken the bait.
"Have you heard of the Crown Prince's evil reputation? What do you think—how do the Crown Prince's actions compare to mine?"
"You're talking nonsense!"
Zhu Yan said angrily. Because of her anger, she even forcefully stepped back, breaking away from the warmth enveloping her face.
Mu Qinglan's voice was cold:
"Nonsense? Miss Zhu Yan can look at my evidence and see who the truly heartless, heinously guilty person in Heyang City really is."
In the darkness, Zhu Yan still glared at her angrily.
But because of that lingering satisfaction in her heart, her firm resolve still wavered slightly.
What if.
What if what she said was true?
She had never thought before that His Highness would collude with the demon clan, but from her master's words, she had known about this for a long time—only she herself had been unaware.
So could this deception go even further...
"I want to see your evidence..."
Zhu Yan's voice was barely audible.
Hearing this, Mu Qinglan slowly extended her hand, her tone much gentler:
"Of course. I'm someone who values evidence. Miss Zhu Yan will understand in the future—I never lie.
Come, take my hand. Let's go."
○
Crown Prince's mansion, study.
The mysterious demon clan member called Lady Lou was conversing with the Crown Prince.
"I heard that the whereabouts of some of your people seem to have been inadvertently leaked?"
The Crown Prince looked at the small on the table, expressionless.
Lady Lou said: "Your Highness needn't worry. It's just a small slip-up from having too many subordinates. It can be resolved in the next few days. Our lives and fortunes are at stake here—we're even more unwilling to be exposed than Your Highness.
"That would be best."
The Crown Prince was indifferent, feeling in his heart that lately bad things had been coming one after another. Although cutting losses had eliminated many of his weaknesses, the cost was that his current power had also greatly diminished.
In normal times, such small matters wouldn't even need asking about.
The subordinates managing the gangs and ruffians would naturally investigate the situation clearly and present it to him.
Thinking of this, he hated even more the person who had reduced him to this state.
His hands unconsciously clenched into fists.
"Does Lady Lou need help from the mansion? After the demon clan handles the unexpected situation, my people can also help clean up the aftermath," the Crown Prince asked.
Lady Lou didn't decline:
"Thank you, Your Highness. However, I wonder if there's any news about those two from Skyreach Tower who were captured a few days ago? After all, you schemed for quite a long time to obtain that innate destiny trait," she asked again.
The Crown Prince's face darkened.
"No news. They're probably dead."
Lady Lou said: "Could they leak information?"
"Those two were death warriors I cultivated for a long time. They couldn't possibly betray me. You're overthinking," the Crown Prince said displeasedly.
"That princess has strange and cunning methods," Lady Lou said in a low voice. "We must be on guard."
The Crown Prince hadn't expected that even the demon clan would question him so much when he was down, and became greatly annoyed.
He angrily flicked his sleeves and turned away, looking at the withered yellow leaves falling outside the window, his expression taking on a hint of murderous coldness:
"Just a young girl—does she really think she can threaten me?"
Ridiculous!