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001: Explicit Nightmare
The smell of blood. The strong, nauseating smell of blood…
Firmly bound on two huge copper pillars in the plaza was a man and a woman whom were both badly mutilated. The m.u.f.fled sound of miserable breathing came from their nostrils as both their mouths were stuffed with hemp cloth; unable to say a word, yet their faint groans sounded like rolling thunder to everyone who was forced to watch them being tortured.
Several tens of splendidly made up beautiful women sat on both sides of the plaza, with many beautiful palace eunuchs standing behind them. At the moment, they all wore expressions of shock, and completely lost their bearing.
The women who sat there were all imperial concubines of the current crown prince. Just a few days ago, the woman currently being persecuted to an inhuman state had once been one of them, yet she had become like this. Even those who were previously jealous of her, who hated her to the bone, couldn’t bear to watch her tragic situation at this time.
The two naked bodies on the copper pillars were tightly wrapped up by fishnet; the two in charge of the execution each clutched at the handle of a willow leaf saber. With every flash of silvery light, came the fall of a piece of b.l.o.o.d.y flesh on a copper plate held by an a.s.sistant who stood by their side.
The expressions of the two executioners and each of their a.s.sistants were cold and detached, as though the ones receiving the torture of death by a thousand cuts was not of their own race, and were only two non-living logs. There was no hesitation in their precise slashing of cut after cut…
The crown prince had ordered the thousand cuts punishment on the audacious male and female pair who dared to commit adultery behind his back, so they have to properly complete these thousand cuts to be free!
She sat on a platform in front of the plaza, held in the embrace of the crown prince who wore a black robe embroidered with a golden dragon. Under the bright sun, she did not feel any hint of the temperature, and only felt cold.
Each and every groan was like a chant of death, causing her to continuously trembled all over, from head to toe. She really wanted to cover her ears and run away from everything, but she didn’t dare… and couldn’t.
The arm wrapped around her waist was like an iron band which constricted every one of her movements. She could only try her hardest and curl up, try her hardest to force herself to ignore the terrifying thing that was happening, force herself to ignore the terrifying man she was being tightly embraced by, who had ordered this cruel torture to happen.
Sensing her trembles, the crown prince uttered a deep laugh, drew her closer to him, lowered his head to nibble at her ear, and said lazily: “My poor beauty’s scared stiff? Don’t be scared… As long as you obediently listen to me, I’ll properly love you.”
Listen… listen… what if she didn’t listen? She did not dare to imagine what would be waiting for her then…
Her ear was nipped to the point where it itched and ached, as scorching hot breath blew into her ears, causing her to shudder once more… She tightly closed her eyes, wishing that the two executioners would hurry up and end the tortured victim’s misery. She also wished for the crown prince holding her in his embrace could end her misery… She felt that in the next instant, that man would ruthlessly bite her ear, and would then readily eat her alive.
The crown prince enjoyed her weak, trembling appearance she showed while in his embrace Both his hands began to wantonly shift his hands upwards. In the manner of a hungry wolf having captured delicious prey, he complacently inspected his harvest, considering where he’ll be able to take the most delicious first bite.
She tried her best to control her body to not dodge in her great fear and humiliation. She was was very clear that every unconscious slight evasion she made would be met with punishment, and the more she thought about escaping, the harsher her punishment would be.
The tingling pain did not end; the crown prince seemed to especially enjoy nibbling on her earlobe…
She still remembered two years ago, after discovering that she had never pierced her ears, the Empress sent a wet nurse to p.r.i.c.k two holes so she could wear dangling pearl earrings. Later on, when he found out, he sent out a command to have both of the wet nurse’s hands chopped off, reason being that she “touched his stuff”.
From then on, the palace maids who waited upon her grew increasingly fearful, and never had a trace of warmth of intimacy when they looked at her. The only thing left was a careful cautiousness, nor did they dare to lightly touch her.
The two on the platform appeared to be closely intimate with each other. If it were some other time, it was not know how many Eastern Palace concubines would be envious. But currently, everyone’s mind was shocked into disarray by the b.l.o.o.d.y spectacle before them, and faintly sympathized with the girl within the crown prince’s embrace from the bottom of their hearts
Accompanying a sovereign was like accompanying a tiger! Especially a moody, vicious tiger who indulged in slaughter!
The plaza’s torture continued to proceed, and many of the concubines who were forced to “attend this ritual” could not help but retch, some had even fainted directly, but none dared to leave first.
The crown prince’s meaning was clear, he wanted everyone in the Eastern Palace to know the consequences of betraying him!
The thick smell of blood seemed to greatly stimulate his mood as he slid his hands through each layer of her clothes in broad daylight and willfully stroked and pinched her body.
Can someone save her? The strong sunlight dazzled her eyes, but from the corner of her eyes, she saw each and every one of the beautiful eunuchs waiting upon this platform retreat further away, turning their heads to the side, not daring to look their way…
“Obediently listen, alright?” The deep low sound of the warning resounded in her ears. Her body was lifted, then pressed against an ice-cold cyan colored jade table that had been in front of them…
This is a nightmare, it’ll be fine as long as she wakes up! As long as she wakes up!
Using all the strength in her body, Zhu Zhu suddenly opened her eyes. What entered her line of sight was a mosquito net made of yellowing cloth. The smell of fresh clean vegetation that was distinctive in mountains floated in the air, not that thick smell of rot that seemed to drown her in…
She stabilized her mind, and contemplated to herself: “That’s only a dream so it’s alright…”
Her uncontrollable heartbeat slowly calmed. Zhu Zhu sat up and looked at the simple arrangement of her room and felt a bit better, like the feeling that she had become free after a calamity.
She casually put on clothes, got off her bed, and walked to the kitchen like a roaming spirit. She tilted her head, thought about it many times, but still didn’t understand why a perfectly fine person like her always had that sort of dream. She couldn’t see the faces of those people in her dreams, yet she knew their ident.i.ties and the relationship between them very clearly, so much that when she was trapped in the leading female role, she seemed to have another person’s memory, and knew what had happened to “her” previously.
Once she woke up, everything became fuzzy again.
After looked down at her reflection in the copper plate, Zhu Zhu felt depressed —— a model face of a small unsophisticated small village girl, and even the kind of yellow face that spelled malnutrition. Big lively eyes, spa.r.s.e eyebrows, with a small flat nose. Those little palace maids in her dream were probably a hundred times prettier than her! The crown prince or whatever liked such a rustic type? How heavy of a taste did he have?
Zhu Zhu was baffled. She clearly remembered that she was only an orphan girl who lost both her parents, then followed her maternal grandmother to this little village to escape a famine. Grandma had left half a year ago, and in her meager memories, forget about an imperial crown prince, she had never even seen something that looked like a government official.
That scene which felt hazy yet real, how the heck did she randomly imagine that out?!