His Duchess

"So… you wanted to marry me while hiding your ability?" Wang Rouyun said after she warned Adelfa not to come any closer. It would be dangerous if Li Qiang would poison her, too.

"Bingo."

"Bingo?"

Li Qiang rolled his eyes. "Yes. I wanted to marry you."

"Bingo is Yes?"

He fought a smile. "Let's move on, Lady Wang?"

"Alright."

Right now, they are already sitting at the table. Li Qiang's threats worked. This man had been hiding another Li Qiang behind the lecherous man that everyone knew. If he was able to hide an ability like this for years, then there is a possibility that someone else is backing him.

Someone might be teaching him in secret.

For the first time since the King declared that they marry each other, Wang Rouyun looked at Li Qiang. She observed his mannerisms, his posture. Everything that he was showing now was different from the Li Qiang, whom Ouyang Jing fought.

It felt like she was in front of a different person!

"It's called Quid pro quo Lady Wang. I do you, you do me." Li Qiang smirked. Alright, maybe that came out wrong. "It means you do me a favor, I do you a favor. Isn't that a fair deal?"

"You do me a favor?"

"Marrying me is the best thing that you could do. It could make the King lower his guard down against your father."

"How is that possible? Duke Li, I think you are thinking too highly of yourself."

"You really are a little naïve." He clicked his tongue before shaking his head in dismay. "The King wanted you to kill me. Killing me would make him do whatever he wanted to your father. He knew your temper was short, and he was waiting for me to get a new concubine to make you angry. Once you killed me, he would immediately tell everyone that it was your father who did it. And your father, who loves you, wouldn't say no."

"You mean— "

"To prevent the Wang Family from gaining more power, he needed to get rid of your father. Once that happens, he could easily control you and the rest of the Wang Family." Isn't this simply politics? This woman was too brute; she is still a bit lacking in the scheming department! "Honestly, this mover was really calculating, but everyone could easily see it. He was already mocking you and the Wang Family by making you marry me. He was just waiting for you to explode and mess everything up."

Wang Rouyun blinked. And blinked again. "You already thought about everything."

"Lady Wang… If one wanted to survive, one needed to be smart about everything. Did you think I survived until now because of luck?" Scam. His words were nothing but a scam.

Obviously, the previous Li Qiang survived because he was stupid, talentless, and because of his luck. Yep, this man was definitely lucky!

"Why are you doing this? Your brother…"

"Please. The only reason I am still alive is that I am good at acting. Did you think he wouldn't hurt me once he knew that I am not as stupid as everyone thought? Why did you think he sent me away? So he could secretly kill me. Obviously, he failed miserably. But that's not the point." Li Qiang got up.

"Chose a wine."

"What?"

"One bottle."

Wang Rouyun stared at Li Qiang before he pointed at the wine with a silver bottle. In response, Li Qiang grabbed the wine from the bar and started drinking it using no glass.

Then he put the bottle back and went back to his seat. Closing his eyes, he slowly regulated his bloodstreams using his Qi and fused the poison that was on the wine. He then grabbed a teacup and spat the black and sticky liquid.

"You— "

"Everything in this house was poisoned by the King."

She squinted at the black liquid on the teacup. The smell seemed to make her dizzy. "This poison…"

"I didn't know if he was planning to accuse you of poisoning your own husband. All I know was that man had been planning to kill me for a long time now."

"King Zenu… he…"

"I will give you time to think about it."

"Did you know that he wanted you to marry me?"

"No. However, the accident a few months back was enough proof that he was getting impatient. He sent more than ten talented men to kill me. I was injured and had to recuperate for a couple of weeks. This got me thinking… why do you think he would suddenly become so aggressive in killing me? I thought he would at least stop wanting to kill me while I was away from the Capital. I had no descendant so I am not a threat to the crown. I have no talent or brains. Why did he want to kill me?"

Wang Rouyun lowered her gaze. She said nothing. Unlike the King, Li Qiang didn't have any talents for elements. With his previous attitude, he was considered a waste, and everyone in the Kingdom was laughing at him.

Despite this, the King still wanted to kill him. Why?

"I heard rumors."

"Rumors?" Li Qiang lifted an eyebrow. "Do tell."

"In the north, some people whispered things. No one knew who said it first."

Well… the previous Li Qiang heard a lot of rumors about him. But all of them were about his evil deed and, of course, everything was true.

"It was said that you weren't the King's son."

Eh?

This rumor was indeed new!

"In the north, you say?"

"Yes. The… tribes… knew about those rumors. Because of that, the King became a laughingstock before his death, before Prince Zenu became the new King."

Interesting. Very interesting indeed.

Well… who cares if he was the King's son or not? His lips lifted into a sinister smile. "Well… I would love to go to the north with you, Lady Wang. But first, you need to become my duchess."

.....

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