Chapter 144: Satisfy his Greed

The confusion that everyone felt when they heard her voice died down when an arrow flew towards a minister, directly hitting him in the chest. Chaos ensued. Lyca didn't tarry. She ran towards her father and used her dagger to slash a man's neck when he tried to move his sword towards the emperor.

"Take him inside his quarters," Lyca called out to one of the guards. "Protect him!" Her eyes roamed around. Men and women were now panicking, as they ran towards the exit. The appearance of men wearing black made a lot of people forgot that this was still their empire, protected by soldiers and shadow guards. "Men!" Lyca yelled. Almost immediately five men wearing black appeared in front of her. The men bowed and waited for her order. "Make sure the emperor survives."

Her eyes roamed inside the hall, looking for Xu Ke. Unfortunately, the latter was already gone. Suddenly, she felt the back of her head tingle, her head instinctively turned towards her left, and she moved her body towards the right, just avoiding the arrow by a few inches. She stared at the source of the arrow and wasn't surprised to see a man in white, smiling at her. 

She frowned and started running towards Xu Ke. This body was equipped with both martial arts and Qi as well as a few elemental abilities. She had gone through wars and killed people, making this body's aura really bloody. She had masked this by not showing herself in events and using the identity of the general. However, now that she was in front of Xu Ke and his men, Lyca wasn't able to stop the body's bloodlust from reeking. She jumped, rolled, and ran as she followed Xu Ke. It didn't take too long for her to catch up when Xu Ke suddenly stopped moving.

Lyca immediately noticed that they have run as far as the outskirts of the empire. They were currently in the tea house surrounded by bamboos. "Why do you want my necklace?" Xu Ke asked. The gentleness in his eyes was gone. It was replaced by something she was very familiar with. Fury.

The first time that Lyca saw this fury was when Xu Ke pulled the arrow on their wedding night. This was after he actually missed his target. When he didn't hit her. "Because it's important to Young Master Xu." She responded with a smile.

"Your moves… the way you killed that man. Why do you have her killing moves?"

"Whose killing moves?" she frowned.

"Don't you dare act like a fool with me! Your eyes, your voice, even the way you jumped on the walls! Did you know her?"

"I see…" Lyca nodded. "So you thought… I am someone else. Who is she? A lover?" His face darkened at her words. Seeing this, Lyca continued taunting. "Ah… did you kill a woman that you really love?" she didn't hide the mockery in her tone.

"I will kill you." Xu Ke hissed before he disappeared from where he was standing. Lyca's eyes turned alert before she jumped a few steps back and eyed the dagger on the ground. She raised her head and immediately saw Xu Ke on one of the bamboos. Smiling, Lyca jumped, following the man as she released her own daggers towards him.

"I pity you, Young Master Xu." She said as she dodged one of Xu Ke's kicks. "You are actually this crazy." Her hand, however, was not aiming any of Xu Ke's major organs, instead, she was trying to grab the necklace that hung freely from Xu Ke's neck.

"Why do you want my necklace?"

"It doesn't belong to you. Why can't I have something that is not yours?" she countered. Kicks, punches, and daggers were thrown as the two continued talking.

"It is mine."

"It belongs to the woman that you killed. Aren't you afraid that her ghost will haunt you?"

He snorted at that. "Tell me who you are, and I will give you the necklace. Tell me how you met her!"

She chuckled. Would he even believe her if she told him who she was? "Foolish," she released another dagger that made him jumped a few bamboos away. Xu Ke hooked his left leg on the bamboo as he stood and narrowed his eyes at Lyca.

"If you won't tell me… then just forget having the necklace."

"Or… you can just die, and I can have that necklace." She sneered and once again started attacking the man. Xu Ke was considered the best in the Xu Family. However, Ye Bai's constitution was also perfect for Lyca's skills. Moreover, Ye Bai was actually more powerful than the previous Lyca. With these, Xu Ke found it hard to even touch a strand of her hair.

However, this wasn't enough to make Lyca happy. Xu Ke and her were actually evenly matched. She eyed Xu Ke's still clean clothing and perfectly kept hair. "Did you even love her?" Changing her tactics, Lyca asked Xu Ke with a smile on her face. "Did you think you deserve to have her necklace?"

As expected, Xu Ke's face darkened when he heard her words. She continued. "You promised to love her… and only her. But what did you do? Your arrows killed her along with the poison. Tell me Young Master Xu, was she someone important to you? Or just another woman that you wanted to use for your dreams to lead this continent?"

"How did you know all that?" Xu Ke asked. "Answer me!?"

"Why does it matter?" she asked. "You killed her because you wanted to swallow her family's resources and make the Xu Family stronger! Because the Huang Family was an ancient secret family, no one even noticed that they vanished. Did that satisfy your greed?" she taunted. "Was their deaths enough to satisfy whatever it is that you wanted?"

"SHUT UP!" Xu Ke's face turned red. The next thing she knew, he was already standing in front of him. His hand clutched her neck, enabling her from breathing. "You think you know me?" He hissed, his crazed eyes bored into her. "Who are you to act as if you know everything!?"