USWHC -Chapter 473 In Disarray (Part 3)

As soon as Princess Lanyi heard this, her anger flared instantly. “How dare you! I’ll tear your skin off!” she shouted, charging straight at the children.

Just then—smack!—a lump of mud hit her square in the face. Her vision went black for a moment. Heavens, what is that smell?!

Before she could even steady herself, more mud clods came flying like rain, striking her again and again, making her stagger helplessly.

“Madwoman! Beat the madwoman!” The children formed a circle around her, laughing gleefully. One after another, they treated Princess Lanyi like a target, pelting her wildly.

“Stop! Whoever dares to continue, I’ll exterminate your entire clan!” Princess Lanyi shrieked hysterically.

Surprisingly, that shout worked. The children abruptly stopped and turned to look behind them in panic. Had someone arrived?

Princess Lanyi quickly turned around in excitement. From the alley behind, three young men strolled in lazily. They looked to be about eighteen or nineteen, walking with a careless swagger—nothing like guards, let alone the imposing imperial shadow guards. Who were these people? They didn’t look like her own men at all.

The one in front kicked a child on the backside and barked viciously, “Get home, now!”

The children, clearly intimidated, immediately scattered like frightened animals. It was obvious this man held quite a bit of authority over them.

Seeing the men approach her with smirks, Princess Lanyi heard the leader ask, “You’re a princess?”

“Since you know that, why haven’t you knelt before me?” Princess Lanyi felt a surge of pride, though she tried to maintain an air of dignity.

But the men suddenly burst into mocking laughter. “She really is a lunatic!”

“See, brother? I told you,” said one of the shorter men.

“Not bad, not bad. A lunatic’s good,” the leader said with a sly grin, rubbing his hands as he stepped closer. “Do you know who I am?”

“Who… who are you?” Princess Lanyi’s heart tightened at his lecherous expression, her voice turning timid.

“I’m your prince consort!” he laughed loudly. “Come, my princess, let your husband dote on you properly!”

The others immediately joined in, laughing. “That’s right! Let us take good care of you, Princess!” As they spoke, their greedy hands reached out toward her.

Terrified, Princess Lanyi burst into tears. She was only thirteen, still a child—but even so, she forced herself to shout, “Don’t come any closer! Otherwise I’ll have my imperial father wipe out all nine generations of your families!”

“Hahaha! Then would our children count too?” the man laughed, already moving closer in a thoroughly improper way.

“Ugh, what a stench! Those damn kids!” he suddenly cursed.

Hearing this, Princess Lanyi cried out in sudden hope, “Yes, I smell awful! Let me go! I’m disgusting!”

But in the next moment, the man reached out and grabbed at her skirt with a lecherous grin. “This skirt’s pretty big—perfect to cover that stinky face of yours!”

Before she could react, everything went dark. He had yanked her mud-stained skirt over her head.

Laughter rang out beside her. “Pretty fair underneath, huh?” they jeered, their footsteps drawing closer with wet, squelching sounds.

Panic surged through her. She could feel several hands groping over her body. Terrified, she screamed, “Ah! Help! Help!”

At last, she cast aside all pretense of dignity and cried out at the top of her lungs.

In the next instant—bang!—a loud crash rang out. The hands on her suddenly froze, and the men shouted angrily, “Who is it? Who dares ruin our fun?!”

Then, abruptly, the alley fell silent once more.

Pressed against the wall, Princess Lanyi was too frightened to move. At that moment, she felt another hand reach out and suddenly grab her arm.

A low voice urged, “Why aren’t you running?”