“I’ve always been here,” Xue Zi Ning said.
“Zi Han, is this true?” Xue Chang Yi asked her grandson, Sun Zi Han, in disbelief.
Sun Zi Han did not reply. Xue Chang Yi took a few steps back and asked, word by word, “So you all knew, and I was the only one kept in the dark?”
“His Highness didn’t tell you, it was rather…”
“Enough…” Xue Chang Yi shook her head and walked into the inn.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.”
Sun Zi Han shook his head, “It has nothing to do with you, this is between me and Xue Chang Yi.”
“Are… are you alright?” he asked.
“Yes, I am!” she said with a smile, her face blooming like a flower.
“That’s good then…”
“What’s past is past, including the people who are past. We must look forward, mustn’t we?”
Sun Zi Han froze.
She continued, “We can’t stay in the same place. Perhaps what I want is ahead.”
“Yes, it will be,” Sun Zi Han nodded.
Li Chao walked over and bowed to Xue Zi Ning, “Miss, His Highness is waiting for you.”
“Lead the way!” she said, casting a glance at Sun Zi Han before leaving.
Sun Zi Han’s body felt stiff. After a moment, he returned to his room.
Closing the door, Xue Chang Yi stepped forward and asked in a low voice, “How did it go?”
“He shouldn’t have suspected,” Sun Zi Han replied.
Xue Chang Yi breathed a sigh of relief. She looked at Sun Zi Han and said, “Why didn’t you tell me earlier? We almost slipped up.”
“Your reaction is the most normal one. If you had pretended, he would have certainly noticed.”
Xue Chang Yi nodded, “You’re right. He’s no ordinary person. To be able to endure for so many years is truly remarkable. But you hid this from me for so long. I never knew Xue Zi Ning had been with us all along.” She couldn’t believe her own husband had loved someone unattainable.
With that, what reason did she have to be angry? Her husband was Sun Zi Han, her Prince Consort, and that would never change.
Sun Zi Han stepped forward and put his arm around her shoulders. “I was afraid you’d overthink it, Chang Yi. Whether you believe me or not, what’s past between Xue Zi Ning and me is in the past. I admit I liked her in my youth, but as soon as I knew she liked Yan Zhao, I let go.”
“I know, I understand.” Hadn’t she experienced the same? She had liked Hua Yun Jin, only to find out later that Hua Yun Jin didn’t like her at all. Although she had felt resentment, she had come to terms with it.
Now, she was very happy, so she wouldn’t give up her happiness easily. No one could take it away from her.
Xue Zi Ning entered the room and saw him sitting there. Today, he wasn’t wearing a mask. She felt as if she had returned to that day, to the gentle and refined Young Master Hua, Hua Yun Jin.
Alas, everything had changed.
“Do you feel like everything I did before was just an act?” he asked, not hiding anything.
“I was just remembering the first time I met you. You were wearing a dark purple brocade robe, your face like jade, gentle and refined. At that moment, I thought, how could there be such a gentleman?”
He froze. He knew the day Xue Zi Ning was referring to, because on that day, he had seen those eyes, clearer than the vast sky. One glance, and he was already lost.
“It’s a pity we can never go back,” she said slowly.
“You can go back if you want to,” he said. She shook her head, “We can’t go back because neither you nor I are the same people we were then. We’ve changed, changed so much that we’re unrecognizable.”
“We can, as long as you are willing,” he said, standing up and walking towards her step by step.
“Unfortunately, I’m not willing anymore. What’s past is past. We can’t go back, Hua Yun Jin. We can’t go back. You need to wake up!”
“We can, why can’t we? In the past, there was no one else between us. Now you like Yan Zhao, that’s why you’re saying this,” he said, looking at her.
Xue Zi Ning frowned, looking at Hua Yun Jin. “Hua Yun Jin, what exactly are you clinging to?”
He trembled all over. Was he clinging to something? He just didn’t want her to be taken away. He wanted things to be like before, where she cared about him, where she smiled when she saw him, her eyes full of him. That was enough.
“I…”
“Hua Yun Jin, learn to let go!”
He gave a low laugh, which grew louder. His tone was filled with unwillingness and jealousy. “Let go? How can I let go? Do you know how hard I’ve worked for this day?
Do you know that since I was a child, the thing my mother told me the most was, ‘Look at the Crown Prince, how capable he is.’ Do you know that for fifteen years, I lived through each and every day like this? Later, I thought, if one day he were gone, perhaps my mother wouldn’t say that anymore?”
“So, you made your move…” Xue Zi Ning stated with certainty.
Hua Yun Jin’s expression turned somewhat sinister as he laughed wildly, “Yes, but I didn’t do it alone. The Crown Prince’s talent was something even the Emperor feared. At that time, I noticed that whenever the Emperor saw ministers surrounding the Crown Prince to discuss matters after court, I could see that mad jealousy in the Emperor’s eyes. So I knew I wasn’t the only one who didn’t like the Crown Prince.”
Xue Zi Ning shook her head. She never knew that even the Emperor of Hua would be jealous of his own son. What a tragic thing.
“So, on the day of my coming-of-age ceremony, I got the Crown Prince drunk. But I knew he wasn’t that drunk, and then I took him back to my sleeping quarters.
Later, the Emperor also came. I don’t know what the Emperor said, but when he left, he patted my shoulder. It wasn’t until I accidentally touched a candle that I realized the Emperor had already made arrangements. At first, I thought about saving the Crown Prince.
But when I walked in, the fire had already reached me. At that moment, looking at the raging inferno, I felt an inexplicable sense of exhilaration. I left, leaving the Crown Prince behind.”
Xue Zi Ning shivered all over. She couldn’t imagine what that Crown Prince must have felt at that moment, being killed by his own father and brother, the people closest to him.
“Do you think I’m despicable?” she nodded without hesitation, “Very despicable. Extremely despicable.”
“Hahaha…”
He burst into laughter, “Xue Chang Ning truly shows no respect for me. But it’s the truth. Since you know this, then you should know that I will not give up. Xue Chang Ning, no one can take away what I want. The throne, women, everything.”
“Unfortunately, you’re fighting with someone who doesn’t exist. Don’t you find it pathetic?”
He froze. He saw a look of pity in Xue Chang Ning’s eyes, and he roared, “You are not allowed to look at me like that! You are not allowed to pity me, not allowed!”