I'm Competing With The Male Lead For A Woman - Chapter 11

“Hand the sword to you?”

Chu Shao looked directly into Xiao Jin’s eyes, a smile on her lips. “Why?”

It was only then that Chu Shao reacted. She realized she could still hear Xiao Jin’s heartbeat. The rhythm was very regular, like a series of urgent drumbeats.

At first, this heartbeat made her feel a sense of falsehood, but now, meeting Xiao Jin’s forced calm expression, she suddenly found it incredibly interesting.

Chu Shao even wanted to reach out and place her hand on Xiao Jin’s heart, curious if this area would beat even more wildly with her proximity.

Xiao Jin didn’t find it interesting at all. On the contrary, her mind was filled with shock and confusion.

Since the female lead’s martial arts were so strong that she could instantly kill dozens of experts, why didn’t she secretly escape during the wedding procession?

Xiao Jin felt that it was ridiculous. She even came up with a guess: Maybe Chu Shao felt that it was all the same no matter where she went, so she was simply too lazy to escape.

Although Xiao Jin didn’t understand Chu Shao’s bizarre way of thinking, the only thing she knew right now was that if she couldn’t give a convincing answer, she would most likely die here today.

Fortunately, before saying this, she had already figured out what to say.

Chu Shao’s gaze on Xiao Jin’s eyes put her under a lot of pressure.

But luckily, Xiao Jin was always good at talking nonsense with a straight face. Even when she met Chu Shao’s eyes, she tried to shift her focus to the other’s tear mole. She said calmly, “In less than the time it takes for a stick of incense to burn, the cavalry from the Shenji Camp will arrive at Fuqiu Street.”

This was the glimmer of hope for Xiao Jin in her struggle with Chu Shao. As long as she could hold out for a few minutes, she would win.

After hearing this, Chu Shao’s eyes curved in a smile, but she still didn’t put down the sword in her hand. “I understand all that. So?”

Chu Shao believed that her sword was faster than the cavalry from the Shenji Camp, but she found it really interesting to watch Xiao Jin talk nonsense.

Xiao Jin was more interesting than many people, so she wanted to tease her a little more.

In the distance, dust was flying, and the neighing of horses could be faintly heard.

Xiao Jin’s heart was filled with joy, but her face remained expressionless. She continued, “So…”

While saying this, Xiao Jin reached out and gently placed her palm on the back of Chu Shao’s hand that was holding the sword.

Chu Shao’s skin was full of the smell of blood. It was cold and slippery, as if she had touched a barren swamp.

Xiao Jin knew very well that getting close to a lunatic who killed people without batting an eye was a very dangerous thing. But what was even more dangerous was that this lunatic was smiling and staring at her.

However, her mental fortitude had already been honed.

The closer she was to the brink of death, the calmer Xiao Jin became. She could even feel Chu Shao’s hand move slightly in hers.

So she was sure that Chu Shao was very much looking forward to her answer.

She then lowered her eyes, leaned close to Chu Shao’s ear, and said softly, “So these people can only be killed by me, not you, Princess Consort.”

After saying that, Xiao Jin pried open Chu Shao’s fingers that were gripping the hilt of the sword and took the blood-soaked sword.

For a moment, Chu Shao was stunned and didn’t even stop Xiao Jin from taking the sword from her hand.

Because the meaning of those words was very clear.

It meant that Xiao Jin had wiped the blood from her hands to get rid of the evidence of her killing. And now, taking the sword was to help her hide the fact that she knew martial arts.

These actions were indeed what accomplices would do.

Chu Shao was just a little confused. She had only been with Xiao Jin for one day. There was no reason for the other person to help her to this extent.

But if it was to stay alive, she believed it.

The surviving guards stood there, staring blankly at Chu Shao and Xiao Jin. They were completely dumbfounded.

As soldiers of the Shenji Camp, it was a heavy crime for them to be ambushed and fail to protect their master.

But when they saw the Princess Consort holding a plain sword and casually taking care of all the assassins, the shock in their hearts was simply indescribable.

Did His Highness really marry a princess of a fallen kingdom? She’s a fcking valkyrie reborn.

The guards had no idea that Xiao Jin was even more confused than they were.

Chu Shao’s character had been completely shattered and couldn’t be pieced back together. But she still couldn’t figure out what had caused Chu Shao’s combat power to skyrocket and her personality to change so drastically.

Even if she was reborn, the female lead wasn’t this amazing at the end of the original novel.

Xiao Jin fell into a deep state of self-doubt: Did I read a pirated version back then?

Before Xiao Jin could figure out what went wrong, she saw the coachman driving the carriage, leading a hundred cavalry soldiers from the Shenji Camp, returning with a beaming face.

Not only was Xiao Jin’s heart calm, but she also felt a slight urge to laugh.

The battle had been fought and won by Chu Shao alone. Now that they had arrived, they were only there to clean up the bodies.

This was an ending she had never expected.

The coachman, with a great sense of mission, led the cavalry to Fuqiu Street. He was about to report back but found dead bodies everywhere as soon as he got off the carriage.

He looked at Xiao Jin holding the sword, then at Chu Shao standing beside her with a kind smile.

For a moment, the coachman’s throat felt dry, and he didn’t know what to say.

Did His Highness kill all these people?

Although the coachman knew that His Highness the Prince of Yan had been practicing martial arts and was skilled in horsemanship and archery since he was a child, he really didn’t expect that His Highness would still be so heroic even with his crippled legs and serious illness.

In fact, he was a little too heroic to be believable.

At this moment, Xiao Jin was forced to hold the blood-soaked sword. Her heart was full of sorrow, but she still had to maintain the Prince of Yan’s arrogant aura on the surface. She glanced at the cavalry soldiers. “You’re here.”

“…”

The cavalry soldiers looked at Xiao Jin sitting in her wheelchair. They felt that although His Highness’s legs were crippled, his inherent arrogance hadn’t changed at all.

They had already arrived at Fuqiu Street as fast as they could, but they were still a step too late. At this moment, they could only bow and cup their hands. “We are late, and we are willing to accept the punishment!”

After the series of events just now, Xiao Jin’s heart had become a little fragile. Now, with the sudden shock from the voices of a hundred people, she couldn’t catch her breath. She frowned and coughed up blood again.

While coughing, she thought, These people probably came to assassinate me because they thought I hadn’t died yet.

The cavalry soldiers looked at their former commander, who had become so weak. They sighed in their hearts and even began to wonder who had taken care of all the bodies.

However, Xiao Jin wouldn’t give them any room for doubt.

After coughing, she put down the handkerchief and said in a low voice, “Although I have already taken care of the assassins, since you are here, you can help clean up the bodies.”

Upon hearing Xiao Jin’s words, the royal residence guards stood to the side, their eyelids twitching.

Under Xiao Jin’s half-casual, half-threatening gaze, they didn’t dare to make a sound.

They would have to be crazy and suicidal to expose Xiao Jin’s lie at this moment and publicly slap her in the face.

The cavalry soldiers, however, were a little dumbfounded when they heard this. They were all elite soldiers from the Shenji Camp with top-notch combat skills. The Prince of Yan summoned them just to clean up bodies?

Although they knew that the Prince of Yan had always been arrogant and domineering, this was a bit too childish.

If an imperial censor wrote a memorial about this, who knows how long they would be talked about.

Xiao Jin was too lazy to explain too much to the cavalry. “These assassins had been plotting for a long time and intended to assassinate me. So you just need to carry the bodies to the Dali Temple. I want to see what the Dali Temple can find out.”

In reality, she didn’t expect the Dali Temple to find anything. After all, in the original novel, the Grand Minister of the Dali Temple was also a follower of the Crown Prince.

Xiao Jin didn’t know who the mastermind behind this assassination was yet, but she felt that the Crown Prince and the Fourth Prince were the most suspicious.

In the Imperial Study just now, she didn’t go along with the male lead’s wishes and even sang a different tune. She might have displeased him. It was very possible that he sent the assassins to test her.

As for the Fourth Prince, although he was naive and foolish, he had at least formed a grudge against her for snatching his wife.

Even a cornered dog will jump over a wall. It was not impossible for him to try to assassinate her in a fit of rage.

But the most suspicious thing was that these assassins didn’t seem to want her dead. From this perspective, the Crown Prince seemed more suspicious.

After all, as a follower of the male lead, an assassination attempt would probably be a warning, not a kill order.

So Xiao Jin sending the bodies to the Dali Temple was also a kind of a return gift to the Crown Prince, to see if the mastermind was indeed the male lead.

But before the test…

Xiao Jin saw the cavalry soldiers preparing to carry the bodies and stopped them in time. “Wait. Before you take them away, search them for anything.”

These cavalry soldiers from the Shenji Camp were a disgrace to their status as people from an ancient-style web novel. They didn’t even understand the tropes.

Normally, in a large-scale event like an assassination, the assassins would always leave behind some token or evidence for the protagonist to find.

Although Xiao Jin was not the protagonist but an insignificant cannon fodder, the female lead was standing beside her. So she felt that she could at least borrow a little bit of the protagonist’s halo.

Don’t ask why. She just knew the tropes of web novels so well that she could recite them backward.

Although the cavalry soldiers were reluctant, they couldn’t disobey Xiao Jin’s orders. They could only put down the bodies and search them.

Just as Xiao Jin expected, after a search, a cavalry soldier found a token on one of the assassins.

He held the token, wiped the blood from it with his sleeve, and respectfully presented it to Xiao Jin. “Your Highness, this subject found a token on this person.”

At the same time, he was in awe of Xiao Jin, exclaiming that His Highness the Prince of Yan was indeed a brilliant strategist who could predict everything.

Meeting the cavalry soldier’s worshipful gaze, Xiao Jin’s scalp tingled. She thought, These are just common knowledge points in web novels. What’s there to worship?

But she still nodded with a feigned solemnity and took the token.

Xiao Jin was only familiar with web novel tropes, but she was a layman when it came to identification. She looked at the token carefully but couldn’t find anything unusual.

The entire token was made of bronze. The front was engraved with a crape myrtle flower and seemed to be quite old. The back had several worn-out scratches.

This thing must have been an important token. Even though the bronze was almost as old as an antique, the owner of the token had never changed.

Just looking at the outside, there was nothing too out of place.

Xiao Jin simply picked up the token and sniffed it with her nose. She didn’t notice anything at first, but when she got closer, she could not only smell the blood but also a very pungent odor that was almost suffocating.

Xiao Jin frowned. She decisively wrapped the token in her handkerchief, deciding to study it slowly after she returned to the residence.

Chu Shao stood beside the wheelchair and saw Xiao Jin take out a handkerchief to wrap the token with a hint of disgust.

Although she knew that Xiao Jin was the infamous “Ghost Rakshasa,” seeing her lower her eyes and fold the handkerchief so skillfully didn’t seem as hateful as the rumors.

On the contrary, this kind of girlish behavior performed so skillfully and naturally by a god of death had a certain charm.

Thinking of this, the smile on Chu Shao’s face gradually faded.

What did “charming” mean?

To be charming was to be worthy of deep love. But she neither loved nor wanted to love anyone. Why would she think Xiao Jin was charming?

Chu Shao felt a little ridiculous, but when she thought of the faint scent of mint on Xiao Jin, she felt better again.

She smiled because she had decided to find a way to preserve that scent before their bet was over.

At first, Chu Shao had wanted to turn Xiao Jin into a corpse that would obediently lie in a coffin. But now, looking at the vibrant Xiao Jin, she suddenly changed her mind.

Now Chu Shao wanted Xiao Jin’s body to still retain its warmth after death. That kind of skin should be very soft and very warm.

Thinking of this, Chu Shao’s eyelids trembled slightly.

She could almost foresee that she would be happy about this for a very long time.

On the other side, after putting away the token, Xiao Jin felt that there was something strange about this matter. So she ordered the cavalry to carry one of the bodies back to the royal residence.

She had stolen a body and a token. She tried her best to imitate a domineering CEO’s tone, casually striking a chord with the cavalry and guards. “You are all people I trust. But if anyone dares to leak a single word about today’s events, I will make sure they experience the methods of the Prince of Yan’s residence.”

As for what methods the original character had, she had no idea. She could only rely on these poor employees to use their imagination.

After doing all this, Xiao Jin looked at the three bodies at her feet and was silent for a long time.

Although she had never met these guards before, one of them was very young. In her time, he would probably still be in school.

Just now, she had told them that they didn’t have to risk their lives for her, but in the end, they still didn’t listen to her.

Xiao Jin didn’t know what kind of person the original character was, but she could vaguely feel that these guards were willing to die for her.

But the original character had been dead for a long time. They had, in the end, given their lives for nothing.

After a long time, Xiao Jin finally shifted her gaze and said to the guards, “Buy a few good coffins, send them back to their hometowns, and give them a proper burial.”

“Yes!”

Xiao Jin couldn’t help but sigh. The missions in the future would probably become more and more difficult.

But when she looked up and saw Chu Shao’s arm, she felt that she had been overthinking things.

It wasn’t the future that was difficult. It was every single moment.

Because Chu Shao’s wound was not only stained with blood, but… it was also turning black.

Oh. My. God.

The sword was poisoned.