[Long-planned scheme] [Take by force] [Mutual suspicion] Linzhou has fallen. Pei Yanran stands atop the city wall, watching a woman leap to her death. From that moment on, she has no family left in this world.
A debt for saving my life keeps me in Linzhou, while the debt of being raised weighs on me until I can barely breathe. I am trapped, unable to move, like a walking corpse.
I’ve been confined in the palace for a month. As I stare at this airtight cage, I seem to see Qin Wan, the woman who once leaped from the city wall. But I’m not as brave as she was. I still long for the splendors of this world.
“There’s no genuine affection between you two. You’re only using each other. Why not come with me?”
That night, a gentle breeze stirred beneath a bright moon and a sky full of stars. I saw the person before me.
“You just said it yourself: expecting genuine love and a promise to spend a lifetime together when you’re rooted in the mud is wishful thinking. All I can promise is that you won’t die by my hand.”
