The Double

Jiang Li said nothing, and at this moment, the expression on Yin Zhili’s face was truly terrifying. Gone was his usual gentleness, and even his previous indecisiveness now seemed a semblance of kindness. His face looked as if he were about to do something dreadful, filled with sharpness and determination.

"All say that Duke Su is capricious, shrewd, and ruthless. I think perhaps he won’t come to rescue you. In this way, though it is regrettable I cannot kill him, enabling you to see his true colors is not a bad thing. Since I am already a villain in Miss Jiang the Second’s heart, it’s best that he doesn’t fare much better in her eyes."

His words were full of spite; if one did not look at his expression, Jiang Li might have found them childishly funny. Unfortunately, Yin Zhili had become very paranoid, stubbornly believing it was everyone else’s fault, and that he must take this path, unmoved by any persuasion.

"Why must you kill Jih Heng?" Jiang Li asked. "The grudge of the previous generation has been settled."

"Not settled!" Yin Zhili interrupted Jiang Li, "My father killed his parents, and he killed mine in return. To avenge my father, I must kill him. The Yin Household and the Jih family are destined to be mortal enemies, either I die or he dies until one side is completely extinct. The reason my father left behind a problem is that he spared lives when killing the Jihs. That mistake will not be made by me."

Jiang Li watched Yin Zhili with a cold gaze, her last shred of sympathy for him vanishing. Hatred blinded people, turning them into someone else. Now, Yin Zhili was nothing like he used to be – bent on killing Jih Heng, unmindful of whether Yin Zhan was at fault, and regardless of the countless lives lost in the warfare he started.

"You will regret this," Jiang Li said.

"I only regret not killing him sooner." Yin Zhili laughed heartily. "I even let him get the imperial decree and you! But," he laughed again, "as long as he dies, you will still be mine."

"But I will never be able to love you."

"Then why do you love Jih Heng?" Yin Zhili stopped laughing and pressed her with a glare. "He has countless lives on his hands, a merciless murderer! Just because you like him, his sins are not sins? Just because you don’t like me, I am a villain in your eyes? The greatest difference between Jih Heng and me is that his father did not leave him with infamy, whereas I, born into the Yin family, am destined to sacrifice for it!"

"Not true," Jiang Li replied coldly, "Jih Heng is feared as an evil man by everyone, but he has never hurt me. While you, praised as a good man by the world, have used me. You are, of course, different from him, but this has nothing to do with your parents."