"Brother Bei Yang... where are you going?"
After Yue Bei Yang lifted her veil, he acted as if he had completed all his duties and left immediately.
There was no room for any persuasion.
Even with Ade blocking the door, he couldn't be swayed.
Xing Ru's heart gradually grew cold.
A hole had formed somewhere.
"Miss, do you want to tie up the Second Prince?"
This time, Xing Ru clearly did not call out Ling Ye's name.
But he appeared before her just like that.
Still dressed in black, the half mask still covered half of his face.
"Ling Ye, tell me, did I do something wrong?"
The young girl raised her head, curling herself into a ball, her eyes now bloodshot.
She looked helpless and pitiful.
Ling Ye's eyes flickered, a certain spot in his heart aching fiercely.
"You did nothing wrong! They are the ones who are wrong!"
It was those who had trampled her genuine feelings without a second glance!
It was her father! And that cold-hearted Second Prince!
Killing intent flashed in Ling Ye's eyes. If he killed them, would she feel any better?
But reality told him, it was impossible!
This was not something that could be resolved with mere fighting and killing; it was much more difficult than him taking a life!
Ling Ye's eyes shone in the dim light. The young girl before him was clearly so radiant and captivating.
She would tend to his wounds when he was hurt, and she would smile at him.
No one had ever been like her, so small, yet always possessing inexhaustible energy.
Xing Ru's taut nerves suddenly relaxed at his words.
Along with them, her tear-streaked face relaxed.
Ling Ye stood beside her, perfectly straight, watching her silently.
His heart ached for no reason...
He seemed to be ill.
...
Although Yue Bei Yang treated Xing Ru as if she were invisible, thankfully, there was Yue Nan Sang in the palace.
Queen Yue was very affectionate towards Xing Ru. She attributed all of this to Sang Sang's merit.
She felt that because Sang Sang was on good terms with her, Queen Yue's affection extended to her as well, treating her exceptionally well.
It was as if the Queen's ambiguous glance during the wedding ceremony had been her own misperception.
Until—
That day, she heard that Yue Bei Yang had returned to the palace.
Yue Bei Yang usually stayed in the military camp, eating and living with the soldiers. Even when he returned, he would go directly to the side hall, never staying overnight in the main hall.
Their wedding night was merely a beginning.
Even though Xing Ru racked her brains and prepared meals in advance, it was all in vain.
Over the past year, she had stayed in the palace, but she had also become more mature and steady.
But the price of maturity was becoming increasingly reticent.
Xing Ru felt that she increasingly did not want to confide in others...
Each time she faced Yue Bei Yang's smiling face, it made her look like a clown.
Over time, her smiles no longer reached her eyes.
"Royal Consort, the Second Prince has returned to the palace. Won't you go and see him?"
Xing Ru shook her head. He would be unhappy to see her!
"The Second Prince is at Lan Hall now. Why don't you go to Lan Hall to find the little princess?"
Ade seemed to have even found an excuse for her.
But...
Xing Ru hesitated for a moment, then finally changed her clothes and headed towards Lan Hall.
At this time, it was already late.
But as she looked at the sky, a part of Xing Ru's heart felt increasingly empty.
Why was he going to Lan Hall so late, instead of his own Second Prince's Hall?
Something had taken root and blossomed somewhere in her heart.
She had seen Yue Bei Yang's meticulous care when Yue Nan Sang was ill, the urgency with which he searched for Yue Nan Sang when she ran away from An Zhou, and the way he personally carried her, sleeping, into Lan Hall...
She knew her thoughts were unreasonable.
But something had bloomed in her heart like a poisonous flower.
If she wasn't careful, she would be pricked by its poisonous thorns.
Under the moonlight, the young girl walked hurriedly.
Suddenly, she stopped again.
From the Second Prince's Hall to Lan Hall, one would necessarily pass by the Queen's Hall.
She happened to stop at the entrance of the Queen's Hall at this moment.
Looking inside, there was silence.
King Yue had not visited the harem in recent years, and even on the rare occasions he did, he would not visit the Queen's palace.
But in the silent night, Xing Ru seemed to hear a sound.
"Hurry! Her Majesty wishes to retire!"
"Why is Her Majesty retiring so early today?"
Someone's voice faded into the darkness, somewhat indistinct.
...
The two things Xing Ru regretted most were marrying Yue Bei Yang, and secretly entering the Queen's Hall that night.
From then on, Xing Ru seemed to have lost her soul, her entire being radiating decay.
Something in her heart collapsed, and could never be repaired.
This year, Xing Ru turned sixteen.
A year could pass so slowly.
The five years from the age of ten to fifteen, due to her secret admiration for Yue Bei Yang, had flown by.
But the year from fifteen to sixteen had passed so slowly.
In this year, she had learned too much...
The memory of that night was vivid—Queen Yue and her father, having an illicit affair in the harem, and she herself was born from their clandestine arrangement.
It turned out that her mother, who had died in childbirth for her, had been killed by her own parents. She bore so many sins...
Yue Bei Yang's life had been so tragic because of Queen Yue.
If he knew all this, what would he do?
He would probably want to kill her, right?
But Xing Ru no longer cared about these things.
She just wanted to leave the palace.
When did freedom become such a distant prospect?
Perhaps it was destined at the age of ten, or perhaps at the age of five.
She had learned the truth of everything—her identity, and this marriage.
Her father had sought the King's decree for the marriage for the sake of profit, using her to restrain Yue Bei Yang and keep him forever under his wing.
Yue Bei Yang's black hair and dark eyes were because his father was from the Central Plains, and he had half Central Plains blood.
And his mother, Consort Li, had been conspired against and killed by Xing Zhan and the Queen.
Therefore, he hated these two immensely, yet he still had to recognize his enemies as his parents.
The most brutal fact was—Yue Bei Yang had been deeply in love with Yue Nan Sang since childhood.
His love was profound yet fervent.
It allowed no one else to interfere.
And she, because of her unrequited feelings, had become the third party interfering in his relationship.
Perhaps, before their marriage, he hadn't even remembered her name.
He only knew that she was Xing Zhan's daughter.
Even the so-called nine-life debt was due to power.
That kidnapping incident involved great implications.
Xing Zhan had abandoned her life for power, and Yue Bei Yang had saved her to gain a foothold.
And all of this was told to her by the mysterious National Preceptor.
After her father asked her to monitor Yue Bei Yang.