Two neighboring clans. A raging war. Amidst the threat of defeat, the matriarch proposes a truce by marrying her daughter to the enemy clan.
However, the princess suddenly dies before the marriage ceremony. The matriarch forces Luwen, an orphan, to...
He exchanged a knowing look with them, who bowed their heads respectively before resuming their task. "You're getting your wish. We shall head back to the manor."
He turned and walked off, forcing her to catch up to him.
She breathed a sigh of relief. One, she was glad that he was heading for shelter and getting some rest. Two, she was feeling extremely cold from being in the rain for a long period. She had just recovered from her fever, but she could feel it returning.
Luwen, who only fell sick once every two years in her own body, wasn't used to being ill this often.
She could only imagine what the princess's life was like before; filled with nothing but pain, helplessness, and loneliness. How neglected she must have been.
The matriarch had several husbands and birthed a son and a daughter. Clearly, she had already chosen her successor. She favored her son more than her daughter.
When the war came, she hid her son in a safe and unknown location. As for her daughter, she considered her insignificant when the healer proclaimed her weak since she was an infant.
Luwen felt more fortunate than the princess. She may have lost her parents, but she knew the taste of a parent's love.
Princess, if they had assigned me to serve you, I would have been your friend.
Trudging after Dai Yichen, they walked in silence as the rain poured around them. Not once did he turn to look back at her, but he knew she was following him closely.
A wave of dizziness hit her suddenly. Her body trembled. Her skin flushed hot, feeling her forehead and the back of her eye sockets burning. She forced herself to take steady breaths, willing herself to be strong enough to reach the manor.
However, Dai Yichen's form seemed to grow smaller. She couldn't keep up with his pace.
Her knees trembled. She slowed to a stop to catch her breath. As soon as she closed her eyes, she felt herself swaying on her feet.
Soon enough, she fell forward into a pit of darkness.
***
When Luwen regained consciousness, she was surprised to find herself in her room. In her warm and comfortable bed.
She laid a hand on her forehead, realizing that her fever had gone down. She couldn't remember how and when she returned to the manor, much less her own room.
Was it Dai Yichen who brought her back?
The doors to her room swung open, and there was a shuffle of footsteps entering. Her maid brought along a tray with a porcelain bowl of warm medicine. She served it to Luwen, who drank everything despite the intense bitterness.
She handed the empty bowl to her maid. "It's really bitter this time," she told her. "Who changed the prescription?"
The maid signed back her words. "The lord. He requested the healer for stronger medicine. Something better."
Her pulse quickened. "Was he the one who brought me back?"
"Yes."
Luwen gnawed on her bottom lip, surprised that he didn't abandon her. He even carried her back. "How long did I sleep?"
"A day."
Now that the lord was beginning to pay her attention and her well-being, Luwen knew her maid would tell the matriarch about her progress. The news would make the woman thrilled.
However, what brought about the sudden change in Dai Yichen's behavior? Had her words reached him that she wasn't anything like the matriarch? Or was he showing sympathy for her?
She shook her head to clear her thoughts. No, she was just as scheming as the matriarch.
After all, she was planning to kill the man.
Her own soul and life were at stake. There was no room in her heart to feel guilt towards him.
Luwen rested in her room for a week, taking regular strolls in the garden and doing an exercise routine every day to keep herself fit and healthy. Even though Dai Yichen didn't visit her once, he had asked the healer to brew medicine that would boost her immunity and health.
At the end of the week, she felt more vitalized than she ever was in this body. And right on time, her maid arrived to deliver an important message to her.
"My lady, the lord summons you for a banquet."
Luwen's stomach lurched in uneasiness. A banquet? Together with the rest of the clansmen who hated her to their very core?
The news gave her a sense of foreboding. Whatever this event was, it would not end well. Apart from Dai Yichen and her maid, she had never spoken to anybody else in this mansion. They wanted her dead, much more than the lord himself who could barely stand her presence.
As her maid pulled out several beautiful dresses from the wardrobe, Luwen chose one absentmindedly. Her maid brushed and pinned her hair with pretty accessories, and applied makeup that made her face radiant with beauty.
However, Luwen couldn't focus on her reflection in the mirror. Her nerves kept her on the edge.
All she could think of was the attention they would drown her in.
And she hated it.
As the banquet hour approached, her maid ushered her to the banquet hall, where she nervously searched for Dai Yichen. Regardless of how much he hated her, she needed him to be her pillar of support. The wall she could hide behind from hateful eyes.
But he was nowhere to be seen.
Left with little of a choice, she entered the banquet hall alone. Almost instantly, the crowd's lively ruckus fell to a deafening silence. Rows of heads snapped to where she stood, their gleaming murderous eyes had her frozen in her stance.
Oh heavens.
This was going to be a tough battle for her.
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