The Favored Heiress
Chapter 538: The Choice Facing Li Qiao

Chapter 538: Chapter 538: The Choice Facing Li Qiao

The Earl’s Mansion’s third-floor study room was lined with a wall of bookcases filled with classical literature.

The room’s dark red decor cast an air of solemnity and oppression throughout.

The ceiling light in the room was warm, its glow enveloping the person near the sofa, quiet enough to only hear the occasional crisp sound.

That was the sound of the wine glass shards Li Qiao had dug out of her palm dropping onto a tray.

At that moment, Shang Yu was kneeling on one knee, head half-bowed, holding Li Qiao’s right hand with one hand while using tweezers to carefully search for the embedded shards in her flesh.

The man’s short hair hung over his forehead, hiding his gloomy eyes.

He seemed to be very careful in controlling his strength, but the back of his hand holding the tweezers was already a map of exposed veins.

Li Qiao had not spoken a word the entire time, sitting quietly, even if the flesh in her palm was mangled, she never made a sound.

She sat motionless, staring at the bookcase opposite her as if the pause button had been pressed.

It was as if for her, real disappointment and sadness were always silent and unnoticeable.

After a dozen minutes had passed, Shang Yu finished bandaging her bloody and mangled palm, a fine layer of sweat forming on his smooth forehead.

The emotions of the two seemed to be stretched to the limit, yet neither chose to break the silence of the moment.

Shang Yu still kept his one-knee kneeling posture, his warm fingertips gently brushing against Li Qiao’s ice-cold fingertips.

His gaze fell on her left wrist where the watch had disappeared.

Yet for the past few days, that watch’s location had still been active in Cloud City.

That’s why he hadn’t thought that Li Qiao would come back to the British Imperial, seemingly under a different identity.

After what felt like a long time, Shang Yu’s lips tightened, his Adam’s apple moving continuously before he finally spoke hoarsely, "Do you blame me?"

Li Qiao’s gaze, which had been fixated ahead, sluggishly moved to the man’s face and collided with his deep and obscure eyes.

She curved her lips slowly, shaking her head.

Blame him for what?

Blame him for not telling her about Xiao Yehui’s identity in advance?

How could he bring up such a thing?

Just as with her current feelings, how could she tell Shen Qingye and Xia Siyu that the person who had schemed against them in the shadows could very well be their elder brother Xiao Yehui, who had once shed blood for them.

Even if she did, Shen Qingye would probably think she was an idiot, and Xiaxia would believe she was possessed.

Some things simply cannot be spoken of so bluntly.

This kind of situation and consideration were something Shang Yu would have as well.

At this time, the man’s kneeling silhouette was exactly level with Li Qiao’s gaze, he gently pinched her fingers, his eyes deep, "If you’re feeling hurt, you can blame me."

Li Qiao shook her head again, and then dropped her eyelids.

Shang Yu’s lips slowly tightened, he lifted her chin, his handsome face stern, "Then say something, hmm?"

His action forced Li Qiao to meet his gaze head-on.

The warm color of the light reflected in their eyes, but it couldn’t make one feel any warmth from it.

Li Qiao licked her dry lips, frowning, her tone unwittingly tinged with a petulant and aggrieved charm, "My hand hurts..."

It really hurt.

The moment Shang Yu saw her frown, a sudden tightness gripped his chest, and upon hearing her cry of pain, he immediately stood up to hold her, "To the hospital."

For someone as tenacious as her to cry out in pain left him without any extra energy to ponder other things.

"No need," Li Qiao raised her uninjured left hand to stop his movement, not using much force as she tugged at the man’s arm, pulling him towards herself, "Hold me for a while."

Shang Yu’s body was slightly stiff as he sat down, carefully hooking her shoulder and enveloping her in his arms with an extremely gentle force.

He hardly dared to exert any strength, as if doing so might shatter her.

Li Qiao tonight was filled with a vulnerability he had never seen before.

Naturally, Li Qiao wasn’t aware of Shang Yu’s true thoughts and felt the hug was too light and not intimate enough. She nudged him with her shoulder and said, "Can you put some strength into it?"

The man’s eyes trembled, and the various complex emotions mixed in his chest dissipated significantly.

He lowered his head, saw her with raised eyebrows waiting for him to exert force, and finally curved his thin lips, embracing her tightly in his arms with a strong force.

Li Qiao felt comfortable, and Shang Yu also released a sigh of relief.

"Not afraid of pain now?" The man’s angular jaw rested on the top of her head, his arms warm and strong.

Li Qiao, buried in his embrace, inhaled his unique scent of ebony, and her heavy heart also found some solace.

She leaned her cheek against his chest and said sheepishly, "My hand hurts, not my body."

After her words, another silent pause followed.

Some things can’t be avoided. After collecting her emotions, Li Qiao pulled back slightly to create a moderate distance and asked, "When did you find out he was Xiao Yehui?"

Shang Yu pursed his thin lips, his gaze staring distantly out the window, "I had my suspicions before, but it was only confirmed after your brother’s wedding. The person in the surveillance footage who gave you the wedding gift was Xiao Yeyan’s regular hired bodyguard."

Li Qiao opened her mouth in surprise, "The second son of the Charlman family?"

"Mhm." The man responded solemnly, "The wedding gift must have been Xiao Yeyan’s doing; he and Xiao Yehui have the same father but different mothers."

As she listened to Shang Yu’s explanation, Li Qiao finally had a clearer understanding of the Charlman family.

Xiao Yehui’s mother was the legitimately married Duchess, and he himself was the rightful eldest son of the Ducal family.

As for Xiao Yeyan, he was the result of the Duke’s amorous liaisons outside the family. Only after his own mother died was he brought back into the family fold.

No wonder she hadn’t been able to see any resemblance between Xiao Yeyan and Xiao Yehui back then. His face, perfect as a comic book character’s, was flawless and beyond any criticism.

If he took after his mother’s looks more, then his mother must have been exceptionally beautiful, enough to seduce the Duke of Charlman and lead him astray under her pomegranate skirt; perhaps it wasn’t too far-fetched.

After all, even after the implementation of monogamy, it was a symbol of their status for British nobles and even members of the Royal Family to keep mistresses outside.

However, Shang Yu soon revealed another piece of information: the relationship between these two brothers was far from harmonious, and they were as incompatible as fire and water.

Hearing this, Li Qiao suddenly had an odd thought, "Does Xiao Yeyan intend to let me know that Huizai is still alive?"

The man’s broad palm stroked her head, and he nodded with an icy expression, "Very likely."

But then Xiao Yeyan was severely injured by him in the South Sea and temporarily had no chance to make another move.

...

Meanwhile, outside the study, Feng Yi leaned against the windowsill in the corridor, smoking.

Next to him stood Liuyun and Wang Yue with expressionless faces.

Shang Yu and Li Qiao had been inside for twenty minutes, but they hadn’t come out.

Feng Yi found it rather amusing, even comical.

If he hadn’t asked his own Noble Knight Order, he wouldn’t have been able to guess in a million years that Li Qiao and Duke Charlman were old acquaintances.

Thinking of this, Feng Yi took another fierce drag on his cigarette, feeling a sense of powerlessness as if things were getting out of hand.

The Charlman family and the Parma Shang clan have been rivals for years.

Li Qiao, as Shaoyan’s girlfriend, would have to face far too many choices in the future.

Feng Yi bit his cigarette at the corner of his mouth and took out his phone from his pocket, thinking of making a call.