Chapter 7
Chapter 7
I woke up to find the world had changed overnight.
The emperor had bestowed Bai Ruohuan in marriage to Liang Qingci.
Apparently, because the Crown Prince remained unconscious, they had chosen an official’s daughter with a compatible fate to marry him and ward off ill fortune.
And what a coincidence. The decree had only just been issued when Liang Qingci woke up.
The matter was settled.
I was so furious my vision went dark. I decided to deal with my own situation first.
For some reason, Bai Ruohuan hadn’t been calling for me much lately. I was happy to have the freedom, and decided that when the right moment came, I would simply take her away.
I wasn’t particularly willing to have much more contact with her.
The feeling she gave me was very strange. She held this inexplicable fondness and affection for me.
After we became acquainted, she actually dismissed the maids who kept night watch and stayed shut up in her rooms, clinging to me day in and day out.
The moment I seemed displeased, she would immediately panic, tears in her eyes as she coaxed me. “Yanyan, it was my fault. Please don’t be angry.”
It was too strange.
After all, I had observed her through three lifetimes.
Though Bai Ruohuan was so love-addled that she would disregard life and death for Liang Qingci, deep down she still possessed the pride of a scholarly young lady. She had never deigned to lower herself and curry favor with others. So why, with me, was she so gentle and eager to please?
I couldn’t figure it out, and I had no desire to wade into her muddy waters.
All I felt for her was pity as one woman for another. If I could pull her out, I would. And I wanted to use her to break open this dead end of an endless cycle.
Unexpectedly, only a few months later, Bai Ruohuan summoned me before her as if calling back a soul.
“What is it?”
Bai Ruohuan sat on the wedding bed, not daring to look at me. Guilt made her lower her eyes. “His Highness is looking for you.”
“Your Highness, please come in.”
Liang Qingci pushed the door open and entered. Dressed all in red, his pale face finally seemed to have a little life in it.
I found it utterly absurd. “Why are you calling me here on your wedding night?”
What kind of special fetish was this? Inviting an outsider to watch on their wedding night?
Liang Qingci glanced sideways at Bai Ruohuan. “You may withdraw.”
Telling the Crown Princess to get lost on their wedding night. Truly, only he could manage that.
Bai Ruohuan’s face went white. She shot him a resentful look, then withdrew in a daze, as if her soul had left her body.
“What do you want?” I asked warily.
Liang Qingci got straight to the point. “Do you also know that this world is trapped in a loop?”
My pupils practically quaked. “Don’t tell me you…”
“You’ve been preventing me and Bai Ruohuan from meeting,” Liang Qingci explained. “And you don’t seem unfamiliar with me. This is our first meeting in this lifetime, isn’t it?”
He could infer from that that I knew the world was looping?
I looked at him doubtfully.
Liang Qingci lowered his eyes to glance at my hand, then said frankly, “I have memories from the previous loops.”
“You want to break out of this, too. Don’t you?” he said with certainty.