Desecrating Imperial Power in a Female-Dominated World. [Yuri/GL]

☆, Chapter 21: Yimeng

Chaoyang came to the girl's side without a sound. The girl did not notice her arrival and was screaming and then laughing, her laughter becoming increasingly frenzied, as if venting all her anxiety.

The blood on the girl's body had not yet dried, and the strong smell of blood indicated that she had been in contact with a significant amount of fresh blood.

"Did you kill someone?" Chaoyang asked calmly.

The girl was taken aback and looked at Chaoyang with those large eyes of hers, but compared to the lively disposition she exhibited two hours earlier, her eyes now appeared lifeless.

The girl remained silent, and Chaoyang didn't press for a response, simply watching the girl quietly.

Chaoyang didn't know why she was paying attention to this girl, who was nothing particularly special. Perhaps it was those eyes. Whether it was the vigorous spark in her eyes from before or her current struggling appearance in the abyss, both had caught Chaoyang's attention.

"I killed my father and mother..." the girl said in a hoarse voice, her tone wistful, and the curve of her lips seemed eerie. Her men's hat had fallen to the ground, and her long hair cascaded down.

Chaoyang said nothing, silently listening to the girl's seemingly unconscious words.

"I actually knew that they weren't our biological parents... They made us do a lot of heavy work... and often hit us... But after all, it was they who gave us water and steamed buns, so we wouldn't starve to death... My older brother is two years older than me, and he's really handsome..."

The girl revealed a proud look. "I worked hard to earn money, but I never expected those animals to still sell my brother..."

The girl remembered her frail brother, and tears finally streamed down her face.

"I secretly drugged their food and then killed them... It was so simple to kill them... Why didn't I kill them yesterday? If I had done so, my brother wouldn't have been sold..."

"It's all my fault. I'm so stupid. Why didn’t I realize earlier, when they sent my brother to tutoring? I naively thought that they had finally had a change of heart. I even thought that as long as I raised the tuition fee, my brother could continue going to school..."

The girl covered her face, her shoulders shaking.

A child from a poor family matures early, especially someone like her, but ultimately, she was only a 12-year-old child. The last glimmer of hope had been extinguished, leaving her in utter despair.

As Chaoyang listened to the girl's fragmented words, she probably understood what had happened.

Chaoyang looked at the despair in the girl's eyes, wondering if she had also had such an expression in her final moments before death. When Chaoyun repeatedly targeted her, putting her in life-threatening situations each time, did Chaoyang also gradually transform into this state of despair? Although the girl's situation was different from her own, it did not stop Chaoyang from feeling a tinge of compassion for her.

"I will help you resolve the matter of the murders and find your brother. How does that sound?" Chaoyang spoke in a gentle yet somewhat cool tone, removing her veil and making direct eye contact.

As the girl heard the words "help you find your brother," she looked at Chaoyang with excitement, meeting her gaze with those infinitely deep black eyes. In return, she saw a face that was astonishingly beautiful—so beautiful that it couldn't be easily described in words. However, what remained in the girl's heart was the pair of eyes filled with compassion, gazing at her as if she were her savior.