Feeling something cold slipped past her earlobe, Ning Xueyan widened her eyes in surprise. She then saw a handsome face which was as delicate as being carved. The eyes on this face seemed to be emitting bone-chilly coldness.

Ning Xueyan just found herself in the arms of Ao Chenyi, Prince Yi. His face was so close to her, as handsome and cold as Asura’s.

"Why is he here?" she wondered.

Nobody told her that Prince Yi would visit the Lord Protector’s Manor today. Normally, a man as powerful as he would be accompanied by a guard of honor group to come at least. How could she know nothing about his coming?

She pushed Ao Chenyi away quietly with a flushed face. It was not the first time for Ao Chenyi to hug her. However, he had done this just for performing in front of others. Now since they didn’t have to show, Ning Xueyan felt uneasy in his arms.

"Prince Yi, why did you come here?" Ning Xueyan asked with a smile. She managed to calm herself down and restore her indifference.

"I’m just hanging around," Ao Chenyi replied slowly, looking at Ning Xueyan. The fragility in her eyes had been replaced by indifference. She had hidden all her emotions behind her smile. If he wasn’t confident enough, he would think that he might have seen incorrectly.

It was hard for him to believe that the fragile, pained expression had come over the face of a girl who had always been so calm, and even cold in front of him.

"Hanging around? How powerful this man is! He could even hang around from the Prince Yi’s Manor to the Lord Protector’s Manor! " Ning Xueyan thought.

"Come on! Hang around with me." Ao Chenyi wrapped his arm around Ning Xueyan’s waist before she could know what was happening. Then he leaped forward and landed on the wall carrying her.

Before landing, he glanced at the opposite corner coldly.

Someone was hiding in the corner. He was so scared at the sight of Prince Yi that he almost fell to the ground.

"Prince Yi, where are we going?" Ning Xueyan didn’t break free from his grip. She shrank her neck subconsciously when a gust of chilly wind blew over.

She knew it was no use to struggle, because this aggressive prince had never taken other people’s opinions into consideration.

Ao Chenyi took off his black robe and wrapped her slim figure with it. His temperature was still on the robe. Before Ning Xueyan could see everything clearly, Ao Chenyi had leaped up and down several times at an incredible speed with her. The wind grew stronger, so she closed her eyes subconsciously.

"Open your eyes!" Ao Chenyi said, touching her face, cold and red from wind. He was amused when he saw her close her eyes and bite her lips tightly. She was so scared, but she still pretended to be afraid of nothing.

Ning Xueyan’s long eyelashes fluttered a few times, then she opened her beautiful jet-black eyes. A gust of cold wind blew over, she couldn’t help but sniff. She felt that she seemed not to be standing on a firm land, so she looked down. When she found that beneath her feet were shaking tree branches, she tightly held the waist of the man beside her.

She had never stood on any trees before. The branches creaked when a strong wind blew over. Although she was very brave after her rebirth, she had never expected that she would have stood on a tree someday.

"Ah!" she cried out in surprise, holding Ao Chenyi with her arms tightly. She was really scared. She had no idea what this proud prince was going to do. She wondered why he didn’t stay in his comfortable manor, but took her on a tree instead in such cold weather.

"Prince Yi, what are you doing here?" Ning Xueyan asked. She gritted her teeth when she uttered every single word. Her eyes were filled with anger because she was really scared. She had never been so angry.

With his robe on her body, she didn’t feel very cold. However, she was afraid she might fall off the rickety branch.

"Yan’er, don’t you think it’s very clear and quiet here?" Ao Chenyi said slowly, letting go of his arm around her waist.

To prevent herself from falling off and becoming a meat pie, Ning Xueyan had to hold him firmly. She raised her head, but could only saw his chin. Sensing that she was looking at him, Ao Chenyi looked down and narrowed his eyes. Nobody could tell what he was thinking about.

"Prince Yi, it’s clear and quiet on the high building in your manor," Ning Xueyan said, managing to hold back her anger. She heard that there was a tall building in the Prince Yi’s Manor which was the tallest building in the whole city. "Can’t you see far enough from up the building in your manor?" she wondered.

Ning Xueyan believed that in his manor, if he wanted to be quiet, no one dared to make any noise.

"Besides, I don’t like here," she continued, ignoring the coldness in his eyes.

After a short while, her hands and feet went numb. She was physically weak, so if she stayed here any longer, she would fell off soon.

Compared to falling onto the ground, she felt being gazed by Ao Chenyi were not as terrible as usual.

However, anyone wouldn’t be happy to be carried here and put on a rickety tree for no reason. Ning Xueyan had always reminded herself that Ao Chenyi was a man of moods, but at this point, she seemed to have forgotten about that and began to protest.

"Oh? You think I’m spoiling you, so you are contradicting me?" Ao Chenyi pinched her chin, his face darkened. Ning Xueyan felt a sharp chill passed from his palm to her chin.

"He is really unreasonable!" Ning Xueyan thought angrily.

She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down. Then she raised her head and said sincerely, "You’re kidding on me, Prince Yi. I really have no strength to hold you, so I’m going to fall off soon!"

"Do you... need my help?" Ao Chenyi acted as if he had just found out that Ning Xueyan was about to fall off. He shifted his eyes from her face to her hands which held him tightly, and after quite a while, he asked before she was about to lose her hands.

"Of course!" Ning Xueyan squeezed these words from her throat. Her hands began to tremble, and she knew she couldn’t hold on any longer.

"Then why didn’t you tell me earlier?" With that, he wrapped his arm around her waist again. Withdrew her strength from her arms, Ning Xueyan heaved a sigh of relief, and she felt much better.

"Thank you very much!" Ning Xueyan said. She didn’t know why Prince Yi brought her here, but being cautious would never go wrong.

"Shh!" Prince Yi’s voice rang out over her head. "Look down," he continued.

Being so close with him, Ning Xueyan just found that Ao Chenyi was so tall, even more than a head taller than her. In his arms, she felt much safer, and even the waving branch beneath her feet didn’t seem that horrible.

It was not until she relaxed that she heard what seemed to be a faint sound from below.

Since it was in winter, there were only several leaves left on the tree, and there was nothing could block her vision. Ning Xueyan lowered her head and saw a courtyard below. Two women were tied to two posts in the courtyard. In the dim light, Ning Xueyan could see that they had long hair and they looked weak and thin.

"We’re not spies. Please report to the prince and let... go of us!" a woman pleaded weakly.

However, the one who answered her was nobody but the whip!

Her head draped, and nobody could tell if she was still alive.

"You b*stard! Don’t beat her! She knew nothing. I, I’m the spy," the other woman suddenly shouted furiously.

She struggled hard, and the post she was tied to creaked terribly.

She had great strength. Obviously, she was a martial arts practitioner!

A middle-aged man walked over to her, with a whip in his hand. From the black cloth he wore, Ning Xueyan knew that he was an imperial guard. Was the imperial guard interrogating and torturing prisoners? She wondered.

Then why didn’t Ao Chenyi, the head of the imperial guards sleep at night, but brought her here?

Ning Xueyan raised her head and looked at Ao Chenyi.

"Do you think they look familiar?" Ao Chenyi looked at Ning Xueyan from the corner of his eyes and asked coldly.

Ning Xueyan decisively shook her head. She had never heard such miserable screams before.

"Ao Chenyi, you’re such a cruel man! If you’re a true man, just come at me! Stop torturing the innocent people! You, you will die in your boots..."

Before the woman could continue, she was kicked in the chest. Although she had cultivated martial arts, after being tortured for such a long time, she was already at her last gasp. She let out a miserable cry, and then everything was quiet.

There was a stain of blood on the ground covering with snow.

The smell of blood lingered in the air.

Ning Xueyan’s heart beat fast. She held her breath subconsciously so that Ao Chenyi wouldn’t find her panic. The two women were untied from the posts and dragged away, left a trail of blood behind them.

"They were sent here by Third Prince. They have a lot of guts!" the cold voice from Ao Chenyi mixed with the blood smell in the air made her grow extremely nervous, and the hair on the back of her neck stood up straight.

"The two women were sent by Third Prince?" Only now did Ning Xueyan know she had seen the two women before.

She remembered that Third Prince had sent these two women to Ao Chenyi when she pretended to be Ao Chenyi’s pet concubine for the first time. At that point, Third Prince’s expression was very complex, and she couldn’t tell he was happy or sad.

One of the two women was a martial arts practitioner, so obviously, Third Prince didn’t send them to Ao Chenyi out of goodwill.

"What’s so special about them?" Ning Xueyan asked, trying to ignore the blood smell in the air. Ao Chenyi could choose to refuse to accept the two dancing women, but he hadn’t done that. Combined with what she had just seen just now, Ning Xueyan could tell that he must have some special purpose.

Ao Chenyi was a little surprised by her keen insight. He glanced at her and found her lips had turned even paler because of the cold wind. She seemed to be trying to withstand the coldness and she was a little breathless. "This strong-willed little woman!" he thought, a complex expression appeared on his face.

He put more stress on his arm so that he could hold her more firmly. Then he looked down and said, "Don’t ask. Just accompany me quietly."

Ning Xueyan could only saw his handsome profile from aside. She couldn’t figure out what he was going to do, but she could feel that he was emotionally unstable tonight, so she didn’t move, allowing him to hold her tightly. To prevent cold, she leaned her head against his chest. She heard the steady, powerful beating of his heart.

Somehow she felt secure, so she closed her eyes.

Ao Chenyi had been moody, but he seemed even more abnormal this night. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have brought her here in such a cold winter night to watch an interrogation that puzzled her.

She didn’t know whether it was because she had been too nervous, or because his arms were so warm that she had grown sleepy. She pressed her body closer to him and found a more comfortable place for herself.

They didn’t notice from when the snow began falling off again. Between heaven and earth in whiteness, a man and a woman embraced each other, standing on a branch of a bare tree. The handsome man had been watching what happened in the courtyard below the tree. Then he shifted his gaze to the woman in his arms. Looking at her face, which was red with warmth, a warmth came into his eyes.

After a short moment, he flickered through the air and disappeared into the distance, only left the snow on the tree.