Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Lu Jinghuai pulled me into a tight embrace, his arms like iron bands. His eyes were rimmed with red, and his voice was thick with heavy sorrow, yet his resolve remained unshakable.

“Qinxin, don’t say such things. You know we can’t be apart. You shouldn’t have stayed so close to the Sixth Princess; she’s taught you bad habits. Be quiet for a few days. I will stay with you, and we will calm down together.”

“Sixth Sister has never said a single bad word about you. Lu Jinghuai, you blame everyone and everything else, yet you can’t bear to blame yourself for a single thing. You are the most selfish person in this world!”

Everyone retreated.

I heard the sound of the door being locked from the outside.

In a fit of hatred, I bit down hard on Lu Jinghuai’s hand, the metallic taste of blood instantly filling my mouth.

He let out a muffled groan.

“Qinxin, if biting me makes you feel better, then bite!”

I released him and took a step back.

His palm was bloodied and raw.

Strangely, I felt no pity. I only felt an overwhelming exhaustion, as if I had just suffered through a long, debilitating illness.

In the past, when I touched the scars he had earned on the battlefield, I would feel a pang of distress. I would feel a desperate urge to cherish him, to protect him.

But now, I only wanted him to hurt more.

Yet, I couldn’t let myself turn into a madwoman.

I had to be rational. I had to be calm.

Back then, when our Imperial Father had issued the decree for Sixth Sister to marry Lu Jinghuai, she had clearly been framed.

But she didn’t lose her mind. Bit by bit, she calmly dismantled the Crown Prince, persuaded the Mother Empress, and scolded me until I woke up to reality.

No matter how difficult my situation is now, it cannot be harder than what she faced then.

Why can’t I calm down?

I can calm down. I can handle this.

At first, I was panicked.

But it doesn’t matter. I will find a way to bring the focus back to the fundamental issues between him and me.

At its core, this matter is about a rift that has long existed between Lu Jinghuai and me.

Previously, this divide wasn’t obvious. Meiniang simply acted as the catalyst that caused everything to explode. That’s all.

I found some water and rinsed the taste of blood from my mouth.

Lu Jinghuai sat in silence, his gaze flickering over me from time to time. He likely expected me to find some ointment to tend to his wound.

After rinsing my mouth, I brewed a cup of tea for myself, slowly sorting through my emotions. By the time I had stabilized my feelings, dusk had already fallen.

I looked up at Lu Jinghuai and said calmly, “Can you tell me now why you did this? Don’t say you were drunk, Lu Jinghuai. I know you can hold your liquor better than anyone.”

On the day of our wedding…

My biological brother had come as well.

I didn’t have much contact with him. He had some reservations about me giving up my Princess Title for Lu Jinghuai, and he felt a lingering guilt for not being able to raise me himself.

In truth, I didn’t blame him.

Back then, our parents had both died in battle, and our uncle and aunt were watching us like hawks.

He had inherited the title of Duke of Zhenguo. Not wanting to tarnish our parents’ reputation, and having no desire to waste his life feuding with our relatives, he left for the border.

It just so happened that when he brought me to the palace to offer thanks, I accidentally fell asleep on the Mother Empress’s shoulder.

He saw the Mother Empress’s favoritism toward me, so when she proposed adopting me as her daughter, he agreed.

He couldn’t look after a child at the border, and he didn’t dare leave me in the Duke of Zhenguo’s Mansion. Entrusting me to the Mother Empress was the best solution.

But he still felt guilty.

So, he plied Lu Jinghuai with wine.

Later, he got drunk, and Lu Jinghuai seemed drunk too.

But while my brother was truly intoxicated, Lu Jinghuai was only pretending.

Back then, Lu Jinghuai had said with a grin that no one was allowed to ruin our wedding night-not even his brother-in-law.

Therefore, when I heard him claim he was so drunk that he mistook the person and slept with the wrong woman, a strange sense of distrust took root in my heart.

A man who is truly dead drunk cannot sleep with a woman.

If he could perform, it meant he wasn’t drunk at all.

He was lying to me.