Didn’t You Say You Didn’t Love Me? Why Is the Crown Prince Panicking Now That I’m Dead?

[BG, angst before sweetness, mutual firsts, groveling redemption]

[Sincere little fool x slow-witted blockhead]

At sixteen, Lin Zhao entered the Eastern Palace. She wasn't clever and didn't know how to compete for favor. Her whole heart belonged to one person: Shen Jun.

When he ignored her, she would cheerfully go over to him. When he found her annoying, she would squat in the courtyard and grow vegetables while waiting for him to return from court.

Lin Zhao thought that if she were sincere enough, Shen Jun would eventually look her way.

But Shen Jun was the Crown Prince. The realm came first, the throne second, and she last.

Of course he liked Lin Zhao. He just thought there was plenty of time. Once he was crowned and securely seated on the throne, he could still spoil her.

He secretly kept the purse she made for him. He had people quietly protect the vegetables she grew. The night she had a fever, he sat by her bed and worked through a whole night of memorials.

Lin Zhao didn't know any of that.

She only knew that when her fever wouldn't break, Shen Jun didn't come. When she carried ginseng soup to his door, she heard him say, “She's just the daughter of a disgraced official. Keep her around, that's all...”

She gathered her disappointments one by one until the day of his coronation.

As the coronation ceremony began, the palace attendant was about to make a report when Shen Jun said without turning around, “I don't care how important it is. Swallow it for now.”

When the ceremony ended, he eagerly asked, “Where is Lin Zhao?”

“Your Majesty, the side consort drowned this morning. She's gone!”

…

Three years later, a silk shop opened in Jiangnan. The proprietor's surname was Lin.

Shen Jun waited outside the shop all night, but all he got in return were eight words:

“I waited for you once. I don't have to now.”

For the first time in his life, Shen Jun learned how bitter it felt to be abandoned.

But Lin Zhao had waited for him so many times without ever complaining. Now it was his turn to wait.

So he would stand there and wait, no matter how long it took.