Chapter 7

His body went rigid, his feet felt like lead, and he stumbled, crashing heavily to the ground.

“No… impossible! This is absolutely impossible-!”

How could it be? How could the one in the political marriage be Jiang Huiyin?

He was… he was already preparing for their wedding! He had even hired the most renowned seamstresses from the south at great expense!

He had to stop this! Now! Immediately!

Zhou Yanzhi shot up from the ground and charged recklessly toward the glaringly red sedan. “Stop!” he roared. “Huiyin-!”

He snatched the reins of a nearby guard’s horse, practically throwing himself onto its back, and brought his whip down hard. The horse whinnied in pain and bolted toward the procession.

“Stop him!” the captain of the Imperial Guard bellowed.

The well-trained guards instantly formed an iron wall, trapping Zhou Yanzhi and his horse in the center.

The lead commander’s face was like stone. “Lord Apparent! Dismount immediately! The Fifth Princess is departing for her political marriage by imperial decree. The auspicious hour is upon us. No one is to cause a disturbance.”

Zhou Yanzhi yanked the reins, and the horse reared up. His eyes were bloodshot, his voice raw and distorted. “Get out of my way! I need to see the Fifth Princess!”

Several imposing guards moved at once, their hands clamping down on Zhou Yanzhi like iron vices. With immense force, they dragged him from the horse, brutally twisting his arms behind his back and forcing him to his knees.

“Let me go! Let go-!!!”

His eyes were fixed on the wedding sedan, which was growing smaller and smaller, about to disappear through the city gate. “Your Highness-! Jiang Huiyin-! Stop! I’m begging you, please stop!!!”

His desperate cries were answered only by the sight of the sedan shrinking into the distance.

“Lord Apparent!” the guard holding him applied more pressure. “This marriage was personally decreed by His Majesty! If you continue this treasonous talk and defy the edict, you will be committing sedition! Do not drag us down with you!”

Zhou Yanzhi snapped his head up, his eyes laced with red. “Then what about the previous marriage edict?! His Majesty gave his sacred word, betrothing the Fifth Princess, Jiang Huiyin, to me! How can he go back on his word like this?!!”

The captain’s face was grim. He wasted no more words. “Take him away! To the imperial prison to await judgment!”

As he was being dragged away, Zhou Yanzhi twisted his head, his gaze locked on the city gate, which was now empty.

“Stop!” Jiang Lingyi rushed to the captain’s side and whispered a few urgent words. The captain hesitated, weighed his options, and finally waved his hand, signaling the guards to release him.

The restraints suddenly fell away. Zhou Yanzhi stumbled, his body swaying. His face was as white as a sheet, his eyes vacant, as if his soul had been ripped out. He stared lifelessly toward the city gate.

“Zhou Yanzhi!” Jiang Lingyi ran to him, her voice shrill.

Seeing his lack of response, she raised her hand and, with all her strength, dug her sharp nails into the flesh of his arm, nearly drawing blood.

“Zhou Yanzhi! Wake up! Look at me! I am your fiancée! Decreed by imperial edict! It’s official! Jiang Huiyin is gone! She doesn’t want you anymore!!” She was practically screaming, each word a lash against his heart.

The sharp pain finally made Zhou Yanzhi’s vacant eyes move, and they slowly focused on Jiang Lingyi’s face. “…What did you say?”

He grabbed another horse and galloped back to his estate like a madman.

Bursting into his study, he opened the edict with trembling hands.

Next to the deep red imperial seal, a name was written with absolute clarity, searing itself into his eyes-Jiang Lingyi!

On the marriage edict, from beginning to end, the name written was Jiang Lingyi!

So… it was like that!

Then all this time… what had he done to Jiang Huiyin?!

“Pfft-” Zhou Yanzhi spat out a mouthful of blood.

“My Lord…” The steward’s timid voice came from the doorway. He was holding a letter. “Someone from the Fifth Princess’s palace… delivered this just now…”

Zhou Yanzhi spun around and snatched the letter. His hands were shaking so violently he could barely tear open the envelope.

When he finally saw the familiar handwriting on the page-

Boom! It was as if a bolt of lightning had exploded in his mind.

He read it again and again. “Impossible! Huiyin loves me so much, how could she not want me anymore!”

“…Reborn into this life, I am unwilling, and I do not dare, to love you again.”

He could no longer stand. He collapsed to the floor.

Scalding tears streamed silently down his face, blurring everything before him.

His mind was flooded with memories of the past.

The proud little princess at five years old, peeking at him from behind the Empress, sticking her tongue out playfully.

At eight years old, seeing him injured during martial arts practice, clumsily bandaging his arm until he looked like a dumpling, then wrinkling her nose and arguing, “It’s because you’re too fat!”

That stunning moment at fifteen, when he caught her as she fell from a tree. She had wrapped her arms around his neck and said with a laugh, “Zhou Yanzhi, I’m going to marry you!”

“Then I won’t be a princess anymore! I just want to be with you, forever and ever!”

“Why?”

“Because you can protect me! Zhou Yanzhi, you have to protect me just like this from now on! Otherwise… I won’t want you anymore!”

And just as she said, she didn’t want him anymore.

Zhou Yanzhi looked up, choking back a sob, his eyes filled with helplessness.

He was the one who couldn’t see his own heart.

“Hgh…” A raw, agonized sound ripped from his throat.

A violent pain shot through his head, and fragmented images flashed before his eyes.