The hope that got ignited in her heart immediately vanished the moment she noticed that there was a shadow that moved near to the window. "Someone"s here!"
Jiang Ying Yue held her breath, gaze momentarily zeroing in on that shadow. Recognizing that the shape and figure belonged to a man, she unconsciously looked around the room. Her lips trembling and chest heaving from fear.
In just a couple of seconds, all sorts of thoughts ran through her head before a look of determination flashed across her eyes. With a decision set in mind, the girl hurriedly jumped from the bed and ran barefooted towards the low table on her left!
The fellow leaning against the wall next to the window did not move, only watching her with great interest. Even after guessing her intention, his expression did not change.
When she grabbed the blue and white ceramic vase from the wooden table, all it made him do was tilt his head to the side and admire the resoluteness he saw from the girl when she swung it down.
"BREAK!"
A second after that, noises made by the shattered ceramic vase echoed throughout the place. The girl swiftly bent down and picked up one of the biggest shards. Then without caring for her messy long hair and wrinkled dress, she turned around, her fingers trembling when she placed the sharp edge of the shard against her wrist and let a little amount of blood flow from the cut.
She ignored her pounding heart, the acute pain, the metallic smell, and the flowing red that contrasted beautifully against her white skin.
a.s.suming that the man was one of the traffickers or the mountain bandits, she took a deep breath and said. "Don"t come near me. Or else... I"ll kill myself!"
Her purposive emphasis on each word relayed her determination to the man standing before her.
In her mind, she was also drafting lines and simulating all possible routes to take depending on the other party"s reaction.
"There should be no other people rus.h.i.+ng in since I made sure to modulate my voice properly, not loud and just enough to be heard by this n.o.bleman."
"Still, I need to hurriedly go out of here."
"I... I am already on the point where I can do anything just to get out of here alive... Even if I have to use the layouts of the Jiang residence or information about that family as a bargaining tool."
The girl fiercely raised her head. Her shaky fingers stabilized a little, still, her face showed seriousness about taking her own life for anything that would shock or agitate her.
Jiang Li praised that expression in his mind. However, when he caught sight of her bleeding wrist, the admiration instantly vanished, replaced by a cold sneer. One of the things he disliked the most was being misled or threatened. He would only show a bit of tolerance for that girl. However, as of now, Jiang Ying Yue was only confirmed to have the same face.
So he replied without any change in his face, "Miss, you sure know how to bluff. In that angle, no matter how many times you slash your wrist, you won"t die. Also, even if your feeble strength miraculously enables you to cut the correct artery, you"ll still need at least ten minutes to bleed to death, maybe more. If I may say, you"ll probably only manage to shorten that duration into a few minutes if you slash your neck instead. It"s not advisable though. I think the reason most girls, especially those in the palace, chose to commit suicide by poison is so they won"t look ugly once they die."
The man glanced at her thin arm and delicate hand, then put on a look that said "h.e.l.lo, naive girl. I"m telling the truth.."
The confidence Jiang Ying Yue built up with great difficulty started to crumble down because of that stare and the sarcasm in his voice.
"In all the tragic plays I have watched from tea parties before, the girl died immediately after she slashed her wrists. Is he deceiving me?"
She blinked and then looked at him doubtfully. "How did you know about that?"
"Researched about it." Jiang Li nonchalantly responded. With his arms crossed above his chest and back leaning against the wall, he looked like somebody who came out of a cla.s.sic painting. Casual and handsome... He was completely the polar opposite of what she initially pictured in her head as her buyer.
Despite this though, her face blanched. "... A crazy murderer?"
"..."Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.
Her thoughtless remark only elicited silence from him. The research he was talking about was the casual one that anybody from the cyber era could do. To be honest, he was not even sure if he remembered correctly. However, he did not explain. There was no way to do so. Moreover, in a sense, she was correct. He was a military officer. Which bonafide soldier of this time period had yet to kill anyone?
"You..." She gasped.
He frowned. Then realized that the smell of blood was starting to irritate his nerves. "Miss Jiang, put that down already, alright? If me guarding you put you on edge, just say so. I can easily leave and only go back for a talk once you calm down."
Even though a bit shaken after knowing that the person before her had little regard for people"s lives, she still didn"t put away the shard. She didn"t dare. The stubbornness in her bones also surfaced so since cutting her wrist wouldn"t do, she brought the sharp edge near her right cheek, intending to disfigure herself so she could at least save herself from being a plaything if it was her beauty that pushed this guy to buy her.
To her extreme shock, when her makes.h.i.+ft weapon was only five centimeters away from her face, the man just suddenly appeared in front of her and s.n.a.t.c.hed away the sharp tool in her hand.
She froze in fear, not understanding how someone at least six meters from her position crossed that distance in just two or three seconds.
His face was now so close to hers. This caused Jiang Ying Yue to close her eyes, feeling very helpless. He was towering over her. With just a stretch of his hand, it would be very easy to slap her, or punch her!
"I"m done for. I heard most men who buy slaves have weird habits and are violent. Should I apologize and act submissive for now, then bide my time to escape?" While thinking of this, she subconsciously backed away.
The person standing in front of her threw the b.l.o.o.d.y thing outside the window, eyes not leaving her frightened face. He wore an annoyed expression. But when he patted her head, his action was quite gentle, or at least it was, in his dictionary.
"Don"t do that again."
Jiang Ying Yue opened her eyes, both her hands moving to catch the big hand on her head.
It was an instinctive reaction.
And when she realized and regretted what she did, it was already late.
The man already had a scary blank look on his face.