Venerable Demon King & The Doting Immortal (QT) novel Chapter 8

Chapter 8: A withered rose

Li Hua could feel the water slowly entering her lungs, the pressure building inside her chest. The panic was overwhelming, the helplessness crippling. Thinking of how she had almost achieved her goal and could now live the life that she always wanted she was unwilling.

This was the reason she left her village. This was why she refused to help with the farm work. This was why she abandoned her elderly parents and chose to be a courtesan. Years of learning the guqin and improving her penmanship in poetry was all to attract a nobleman or rich merchant to make her a concubine. It was all because she deserved the best. She deserved to live a lavish life and have servants serve her.

She struggled raising her numb hand to grip the edge of the bath. Her hand gripped on tightly as she pulled herself up, the water spilling over the side. The air was thick and hot, making it hard to breathe. But even as she clung on to the edge of the bath, the water was still pulling her down. In a haze, she spotted a shadowy figure standing in the corner of the room watching her.

She raised her other hand with a hopeful glint in her eyes. She opened her mouth to call out, but no sound came. But the figure just watched her like a sick sadistic person here to witness her death.

As the water rose to her chin, Li Hua felt the strength draining from her body. She wanted to cry, to beg for help, but she couldn't make a sound. No one was going to save her. Her hands lost strength her grip slowly loosening. Her eyes were unwilling but she lost all control of her body.

Her slender fingers slipped off the edge and the water swallowed her whole. Her body sank to the bottom, and the last thing she saw was the dark shadow slowly disappearing into the steam.

Her heart slowed, her eyes staring blankly ahead. "Xiang Yu," she mouthed silently air bubbles emerging from her lips.

Her body lay lifeless at the bottom of the bath, her skin growing paler by the second. The steam curled around her like a blanket, wrapping her in a shroud of silence.

***

"Xiang Yu."

Xiang Yu jolted awake, body aflame with a fever and cold sweat. In his dream that was more of a nightmare his mother's voice, eerie and haunting had called his name from the abyss.

He groaned from the sharp pain his complexion turning sickly pale with sweat dripping down his brows. The door roughly swung open almost falling off its hinges. The proprietress stormed in with a ferocious expression but before she could open her mouth she froze.

How could she have possibly thought that he had committed such a heinous crime in his state? Her eyes darted to his severe injuries and her momentum deflated.

"You," she began, her voice a blade. "You couldn't have—"