Chapter 39: Regret
The bowl of medicine in Ru Yi’s hand shook as she fed its contents to Shen Yexue. She could see the dark circles under Yexue’s eyes and the exhaustion that was overly painted on her face.
Yet, all that was in her mind’s eyes was that fierce, soulless gaze that had been in Yexue’s eyes before she attacked her.
She fed Yexue another spoon.
From what she’d heard, she’d been under the influence of a certain powder, but Qingyue hadn’t elaborated more on it.
Instead she’d been tasked with nursing Yexue to strength, like the third triplet hadn’t almost cut her down to death the night before.
"Enough," Yexue whispered, pushing the bowl away. "Was this made from cow dung? Why does it smell so damn awful?"
Ru Yi put the bowl down and wiped the corner of Yexue’s mouth with a napkin. "I wouldn’t know."
Yexue caught the bite in Ru Yi’s tone. "I don’t expect you to. There’s something called a rhetorical question."
Ru Yi sighed under her breath, before standing up.
Yexue caught her wrist before she could move away. "About last night..." she trailed off. She’d never ever had to apologize to someone before, not even her sisters.
Whenever they were mad at each other, they just waited until one of them came around and all was forgotten.
Yexue knew it’d be easy to blame the powder or whatever and call it day. But she could no longer stand the look in Ru Yi’s eyes—one that had been there since she opened her eyes.
Usually Ru Yi looked at her with contempt, especially when Yexue forced her to sleep beside her...for some reason Ru Yi was able to keep her nightmares at bay.
But now?
Ru Yi looked at her like she was some kind of monster. It shouldn’t have any effect on her, but it did.
"I’m..." Yexue couldn’t bring herself to say it. "I’m—"
The door opened and Qingyue walked in, Lieyin trailing in after her.
Ru Yi immediately pulled her wrist out of Yexue’s grip. And as usual, she walked to the other side of the room and tried to make herself invisible as the triplets talked.
Shen Yexue who was already working up courage to say her apology groaned loudly. "Better tell me you cut that godforsaken maid who did this to me."
"You were careless," Qingyue scolded her like she would a little kid. "What if it had been something more dangerous, or worse—an ambush?"
Yexue looked away, eyes automatically locking on Ru Yi’s small form. "At least nobody was hurt." She proceeded to give them a thorough breakdown of all that had transpired that night.
"Will you be able to recognize the maid if you see her?" Qingyue asked, worried that the chance to prove that Shen Lihua was poisoning the emperor could slip out of their fingers.
"Yes," Yexue answered. "But we have to move quickly. The Empress must’ve caught on by now."
"We were only able to get Minister Cui Mingde on our side, that should be enough to plead our case. Lin Yuexin must’ve tried to confront the Empress herself after she figured everything out."
"Must be why she murdered her," Lieyin mused. "I mean, I’d do the same thing if I didn’t want my secret out." That was the heavy cost of meddling.
"The final trial for the case is scheduled two days from now. We have to strike then." Qingyue’s expression turned vicious. "We have all the paperwork and letters proving that Lihua orchestrated our mother’s assassination. And she had murdered Princess Lin Yuexin for finding out the truth."
"Do you think it’ll work?" Lieyin asked, "most of the ministers are on her side."
"It doesn’t matter, the truth will speak for itself." Then in a hushed voice she continued, "We’ll hand the maid over to Zhao Chen tomorrow night and convince him to run away with her."
Lieyin made the connection quickly. "You want to have our men capture him while he’s trying to run away and pin him down as the Empress’s accomplice?" She asked in an equally low voice.
"You’re smarter than you look," Qingyue teased, which was unusual.
"We look alike," Lieyin bit back.
Yexue watched their banter without a word. The only thing stuck on her mind was the fact she’d have to part ways with Ru Yi soon.
-
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Ru Yi was startled when the door opened and it was the crown prince that walked in. Following closely behind was Shen Lieyin, her face free from any expression.
"Ru Yi!" Zhao Chen exclaimed as he rushed over to her. "You look so pale, are you alright?"
Ru Yi tried to duck her head when Zhao Chen reached up to touch her cheek but he was faster. Her answer was clipped, "I’m fine."
He grabbed her hands next, breath hot against her face. Ru Yi found herself wanting to recoil from his touch.
She’d regarded him as this annoying creature that was stupidly in love but was unfortunately standing in her way before.
Right now? He was downright nauseating. It was a pity this was the type of person her character had originally died for.
"I’ll get you out of here very soon, I promise. Shen Qingyue is helping me find a way we can both be together happily."
Such stupid words coming out of his mouth.
In all her annoyance, Ru Yi wanted to reach over and smack the back of his head. Instead, she settled for a smile that seemed foreign to her face.
"I understand," she replied, "I can’t wait to put this all behind me." She flinched when Zhao Chen touched her stomach.
"And the baby? Are you feeling any discomfort?" The hopeful gaze in his eyes made him look even more pitiful. "He’s not showing yet, maybe it’s because you’re not feeding properly." He mumbled the last part to himself, his eyes roaming over her frame.
Ru Yi wanted to slap him hard across and hide away forever. Still...she had to be grateful. He was the sole reason she was still alive.
The triplets would’ve long gotten rid of her after she told them everything she found out while spying on Empress Shen Lihua.
With that thought she gave him a small smile that bordered on a grimace. "Then hurry up and get me out of here."
That made Zhao Chen grin so much he resembled a cheshire cat. "Everything will be in order soon, you don’t have to worry, my love."
Ru Yi forced herself to remain still when he leaned in and placed a chase kiss on her cheek.
"Looks like you’re not angry with me anymore," he replied, his front teeth on full display. "That’s good, we need to start our journey together on a new slate." He squeezed her hand, "I’ll come very soon to get you before the trial."
Ru Yi managed a nod, sighing in relief when he finally pulled away.
"I’ll see you soon."
With that Zhao Chen left the room, but a new fear engulfed her as the door closed with a thud and she was left all alone with Lieyin.
Shen Lieyin took slow, deliberate steps towards Ru Yi who started to back away.
"What did you do to Yexue when you two were alone?" she asked, lips set in a hard line.
Ru Yi’s brows drew together in abrupt confusion. "I did nothing to her."
"Then why—" Lieyin groaned, like she was in pain. "Did you seduce my sister?"
There was no way Ru Yi had heard correctly. "Seduce?"
Lieyin stopped in front of Ru Yi, the space between them almost nonexistent. Her hands trembled from anger that she contained, only because she’d promised Qingyue that she wouldn’t do anything rash.
"Don’t play dumb with me! Were you hoping that she’d save you from the mess you got yourself into?"
Ru Yi was shaking her head, unable to even imagine someone like Yexue taking a liking to her. "I promise, I don’t know what you’re talking about."
"Can you at least try to be more convincing?" Lieyin almost snapped. "First, it was Zhao Chen, no doubt you wanted to climb out of your poverty and up the social ranks. At first I thought you must be really clueless or plain stupid for aiming for someone of his rank."
Lieyin leaned in, eyes blazing in fury. "But it looks like your plan worked alright, you might be a bit smart. Having a whole prince running around trying to save you. I had no plans to interfere but now that you’re trying to dig your claws into Yexue..."
Ru Yi took a step back.
"I’m going to make sure I cut them off, and bring her back to sanity."
"You’re mistaken! Just last night she tried to kill me, how could she possibly like me and charge towards me with a knife."
"She tried to hurt you because she liked you!" Yexue yelled, her patience snapping. "But I will put an end to it."
Pure horror rained on Ru Yi. Was Lieyin going to kill her?
"I want you to remember that nobody wants you. Not even your own family." The smile on Lieyin’s face could be considered an ultimate kill. "That was why they sold you, right? Because they know you’re just as worthless."
