Di Ronghua curved her lips into a faint smile, “What, afraid I’ll fall and there’ll be no one left to save your little childhood sweetheart?”
The man’s handsome face stiffened abruptly in her line of sight.
The arc of Di Ronghua’s lips deepened, but the chill in her heart grew colder. She had considered the tiniest possibility—one in ten thousand—that she’d misheard that day’s conversation, misunderstood it, or that the physician tending to Mu Qingshuang had been bribed to deceive her.
But judging by his reaction now, none of that was true.
Xiao Hanjin’s Adam’s apple bobbed, “Ronghua, I don’t know who told you what, but no matter what it was…” He pressed his lips together, his low voice carrying a hint of cautious illusion, “Come over here first, and I’ll explain everything to you slowly.”
“Can’t you explain from where I’m standing?”
“Don’t you see how dangerous it is?” The man suddenly snapped, his low, menacing tone laced with suppressed, taut anger, “You, a pregnant woman, insist on standing at the edge of a cliff to talk?”
“The breeze here is pleasant.”
She tilted her head, speaking softly and calmly, “I just tested it—this spot has the best view.”
Xiao Hanjin’s brows knotted tightly, “Ronghua.”
The smile on the woman’s lips didn’t reach her eyes, her stark black-and-white gaze glinting with icy coldness, “Xiao Hanjin, back when I wasn’t even the real Princess of Xiliang but still used that title to try to help you, didn’t you find it utterly laughable?”
Xiao Hanjin flinched slightly, his pupils constricting, “Who told you this?”
“Does it matter?”
“I don’t know how much you’ve heard.” His breathing grew heavier, his eyes sinking darker with every moment, “But someone’s clearly trying to sow discord on purpose. Don’t believe them, alright?”
Sow discord?
Di Ronghua’s gaze turned mocking, “Then who should I believe? You? Were you not approaching me with an agenda? Did you not lie about losing your memory and forgetting me? Or… were you not planning to use my body to save Mu Qingshuang?”
Xiao Hanjin’s face darkened instantly, “I never intended to use you to save her!”
“Oh.” She responded lightly, “So the first two are true, then.”
“…”
Xiao Hanjin closed his eyes briefly, “I was wrong, Your Highness.” His dark eyes fixed on her, his low, hoarse voice struggling as he spoke, “But don’t punish yourself for my mistakes. It’s really dangerous here—come over first, and we’ll talk!”
The last few words erupted in an almost uncontrollable shout.
Di Ronghua met his deep, dark eyes, strained with obvious worry, and a careless, cool laugh slipped from her red lips, “Do you think you still have any credibility left?”
Xiao Hanjin shuddered again.
Watching her slowly step back, her red gown striking and vivid, her fluttering hem once more evoked the image he’d seen when approaching—as if she might vanish with the wind at any moment.
His gaze darkened heavily, “Then what do you want?”
“Me?”
She pondered for a moment, “You destroyed my love, so I’ll destroy the hope of your beloved living on. Fair, isn’t it?”
With that, she even gave him a slight smile.
The taut string in Xiao Hanjin’s mind snapped completely, his handsome face twisting into a stormy distortion, “Di Ronghua!”
He roared her name, but the figure in red before him turned without a shred of hesitation.
Di Ronghua spread her arms, her body tilting forward.
Xiao Hanjin’s pupils contracted sharply.
