Transmigrated Female Official

202 Then that's all I can do.

At this moment, Ji Qili was sitting upright at the table, his clothes were clean, his hair was neatly tied, and he was leisurely practicing calligraphy, showing no signs of being about to die.

Chu Qingluo approached the fence, staring at him silently, and suddenly felt that this scene was very familiar...

She couldn't help but recall that more than a year ago, she had stood in front of the fence in the same way, visiting Ji Jie who was imprisoned. Ji Qili's current composure only added a touch of irony to Ji Jie's pathetic state back then.

When the birds are all gone, the good bow is put away; when the cunning rabbit is dead, the hunting dog is cooked. The heartless and ruthless Ji Qili of that time could never have imagined that he would have such a day. Apart from Chu Qingluo, no one came to visit him, and his end was death, even more tragic than Ji Jie's.

Ji Qili acted as if he hadn't seen the newcomer, continuing to wield his brush with abandon...

Chu Qinglu glanced coldly at the paper he had written, and saw that he had written the word 'wish' at the end, but he stared at the word for a long time without looking up.

She took a breath and said impatiently, "So the Fifth Prince specially invited me to appreciate calligraphy. Now that the writing is finished, I will go back."

Seeing that she was about to leave, Ji Qili raised his head and smiled faintly: "Even at the end, Qingluo is still afraid of me."

"Fear?!" Chu Qinglu sneered, "He's only been here a few days, and the Fifth Prince can't even distinguish between fear and hatred. How pathetic and pitiful."

Faced with her sarcasm, he calmly raised an eyebrow and said, "Whether you admit it's hatred or not, at least I'm already in your heart."

"...You really have a knack for making people feel disgusted." Whether before or now, Ji Qili can always easily make her feel uncomfortable all over!

"Thank you." He was still as shameless as ever.

"What a waste of time." She realized she really shouldn't have come; Ji Qili would never have come to his senses in the end.

"Qingluo, may I come in and have a drink with you?" Ji Qili called out to her, trying to persuade her to stay. "I have never had the honor of drinking with you before."

After hearing this, Chu Qingluo turned back to him and asked, "Are you disappointed?"

"...Hmm?" He raised his eyebrows slightly, not understanding.

"I'm asking, does the Fifth Prince feel regretful that we've never drunk together like friends?"

"Of course," Ji Qili did not deny it.

"That's good." Chu Qinglu smiled mysteriously and said, "Regret is something that's meant to last until death, so you can have a few more days of regret."

“…” He looked at her silently and said, “Whether you believe it or not, I never intended to really hurt you.”

Although he fired three arrows simultaneously, aiming at Chu Qingluo, his true target was Ji Qiran. The sword that pierced her waist was also a hasty act, not part of his plan.

"What's the point of saying all this now?!" Chu Qingluo simply couldn't understand. "You're the one who made me lose the most important person, and now you're spouting hypocrisy about not wanting to hurt me?!"

Ji Qili knew that no matter what he said at this point, she wouldn't listen, but he still wanted to speak. "Have you ever thought about why I personally went to the outskirts of Nanyu City?"

"Who knows what you're up to!" she sneered. "Perhaps you want to witness the bloodshed of the Ram River firsthand? Cruelty is probably just your nature."

"I just don't want them to hurt you! They..." Ji Qili shouted this out. But before he could finish, he stopped himself.

"Them?" Chu Qingluo keenly sensed something unusual and asked suspiciously, "Princess Xile and Lady Longkui?"

Chu Qingluo simply couldn't believe that these two people weren't involved in this matter.

“…I mean the assassins.” He remained adamant.

"Fifth Prince, that's a really lame excuse." She continued, "If you don't let them hurt me, would they dare to? The only people who won't listen to you are those of higher status than you, right? Like... those two I just mentioned."

Ji Qili avoided her eyes and continued to stubbornly insist, "The assassins don't know you, which is why I have to go in person."

“Fine, even if you don’t admit it, you didn’t say that in front of the Emperor. I clearly remember that our ‘grudge’ had deepened to the point where you wanted my life.” Chu Qingluo still looked directly into his eyes, trying to see through him. “Isn’t this quite a contradiction?”

"..." Ji Qili did not explain further, but instead asked, "I invited you here today only to ask if you can grant me a request?"

"Ha!" She took it as a tacit admission of her earlier conjecture and sneered, "Forget about it. No matter what you say, I won't agree."

“I just want a quick death!” He looked at her and said, “If you hate me so much, you can ask the Emperor to let you kill me with your own hands. There’s no need to wait until the day of your public hanging.”

"..." Chu Qingluo was taken aback by his request. She had indeed considered killing him with her own hands, but when she realized that even if she killed him, she would not find redemption in her heart, she gave up the idea. So she said, "That would be too easy for you! I won't do such a thing, I'm afraid of dirtying my hands."

"Qingluo, are you really going to be so cruel?" Ji Qili walked over quickly, his hands gripping the chains of the fence with excitement.

"You're the cruel one!" she practically roared. "You deserve to be judged by everyone! You deserve to walk down that path to eternal damnation, bearing the scornful gazes of the masses!"

Ji Qili looked at the extremely grief-stricken Chu Qingluo with despair, and gave a self-deprecating smile: "You're not even willing to kill me with your own hands."

Chu Qingluo said, "If you were afraid of the world's opinion, you shouldn't have done so many wrong things in the first place."

Ji Qili didn't reply. From his perspective, if he were to do it all over again without knowing the outcome, he would probably still repeat the same mistakes...

He said, "Since you are unwilling to grant my request, then this is the only way I can do it."

Chu Qingluo wasn't sure if Ji Qili meant "wait for death" when he said "so," but even now, he showed no remorse whatsoever!

She frowned slightly and said one last thing to him: "Repentance may not necessarily bring forgiveness, but perhaps Yama (the King of Hell) will be more lenient with you. There are still some days left; I hope you will feel remorse." After saying this, she prepared to leave.

Chu Qingluo had only taken two steps when she heard a 'click' sound, followed by a gust of cool wind whistling past...

By the time she realized what was happening, the chains on Ji Qili's cell door had fallen to the ground, and he was standing right behind her, one arm around her waist and the other around her neck.