Chapter 7

Chapter 7

I pushed Pei Heng’s wheelchair as we headed together to the Crown Prince’s birthday banquet.

Pei Heng said, “You intentionally arranged to meet me here because you knew she would come looking for trouble?”

“Hmph. She’s been watching me for two years; cornering me at the Treasure Pavilion isn’t a first or second-time occurrence,” I mocked. “When she causes trouble for me, you tell me to be magnanimous. But the moment she makes things awkward for you, you blame it on me. Pei Heng, I am merely your fiancée, not your slave.”

My sister once told me that the institution of marriage is the smallest form of slavery.

I didn’t quite understand it before, but now I’m starting to.

Because I am Pei Heng’s fiancée, I am expected to unconditionally tolerate all his flaws, endure all his anger, and accept his discipline. I cannot complain, I cannot get angry, and I cannot leave-otherwise, I’m in the wrong.

That isn’t a fiancée; that’s a slave.

Pei Heng’s face darkened.

“I don’t think of it that way. I just don’t like this.”

“You think I like it?” I asked, feigning surprise.

“It’s only because you’ve refused to resolve this issue for two years.”

“If you had done anything at all to address this, Zhao Sanniang wouldn’t have dared to flaunt herself in front of me today.”

“At the end of the day, it’s because you gave others the impression that your fiancée can be bullied at will.”

“When others don’t respect me, they won’t respect you either. You’re the one who doesn’t understand that we share the same honor and the same disgrace.”

“That’s why I’m unwilling to take a blade for you. You aren’t good to me at all.”

“While I’m a young, beautiful, and healthy girl, you still refuse to solve these problems for me.”

“If I were to become unwell, or lose an arm or a leg, you would only join the others in bullying me.”

“Pei Heng, I don’t trust you.”

Pei Heng’s fingers gripped the armrests of his wheelchair so tightly it seemed he might snap them.

“Is that really how you think of me?”

I rolled my eyes and pouted.

“Should I think of you any other way?”

Pei Heng’s eyes turned red with anger.

“All the things I’ve sent to your house over these past two years have been fed to a dog!”

I turned my head away and said sarcastically, “I was just blinded by those small favors of yours, which is why I ignored Zhao Sanniang’s provocations.”

“That’s why I thought things weren’t easy for you and tried to be considerate of you in every way.”

“You have money and power; material things are the easiest things for you to give. Time, energy, and patience are what’s truly precious to you.”

“You haven’t given me the things you value most, so don’t come trying to swindle me out of what I value most.”

Two years. Two whole years.

I lost count of how many times Zhao Sanniang had mocked me.

He only had to deal with it once and he was already miserable.

I was the one who should be miserable.