Luo Wuhen stood up numbly, the surrounding officials remaining silent…
She stiffly looked in the direction of the Sword Sect, the urge to chase after rising in her heart, but the scars on her back throbbed faintly, and a wave of helplessness surged within her.
The power that had just been kindled suddenly dissipated…
Walking forward, she picked up Su Qianqian’s discarded Hong Gaitou. This was supposed to be something she would have unveiled.
She caressed the silk fabric, still lingering with Su Qianqian’s scent…
“Your Majesty…”
Shun and Ying came to Luo Wuhen’s side, but Luo Wuhen simply shook her head, stepped past the two sisters, and walked step by step toward the Household…
Ying silently lowered her head, while Shun raised a hand toward Luo Wuhen, wanting to say something comforting, but in the end, no words came out…
Walking along the narrow path of the Household, Luo Wuhen was lost in a daze.
She passed the pavilion where she and Su Qianqian often played chess.
On the stone table, an unfinished game remained—perhaps, it would never be completed.
In a trance, absent-minded and weak, Luo Wuhen wandered past the familiar scenery.
When she finally came to her senses, she was already standing before that familiar room.
Looking at the house she knew so well, an uncontrollable fear suddenly rose from the depths of Luo Wuhen’s heart… The person who always used to be inside would never return!
Fear spread through her heart, her heartbeat grew frantic, and Luo Wuhen suddenly felt nauseous, unable to stop herself from dry heaving!
After vomiting, she took deep breaths of air, but even the air seemed to carry that familiar scent… Luo Wuhen’s legs grew weaker. Clearly, she was the strongest in the world, yet now she felt as if she could no longer stand firm…
She pushed open the familiar door. The room was as peaceful as ever… A few finished books sat on the bedside table, alongside a half-eaten box of pastries.
The bed was unkempt, scattered with someone’s discarded clothes. Everything looked as if its owner might return at any moment…
Everything was so familiar, so warm, so beautiful. Luo Wuhen’s vision spun, and she stumbled to the bedside, collapsing onto the sheets.
Her unhealed wound stained the bedding, dyeing it the same color as her wedding robe. What a striking red…
Before exhaustion forced her eyes shut, Luo Wuhen summoned her last bit of strength to instruct the Hundred Officials to continue their usual duties.
Her fiery red wedding robe and long hair spilled chaotically across the sheets.
Luo Wuhen curled up weakly, her once-dominant aura utterly shattered, like a rose slowly withering away…
Luo Wuhen lay there like a stunning statue, slowly drifting into sleep.
Her wounds gradually began to heal, the blood already ceased to flow. Yet her “shattered” heart had lost its vigor.
It was unknown how much time had passed before Luo Wuhen’s fingers began to stir gently.
She was the Empress of this Kingdom. She could not remain lost like this forever.
As ruler, if she fell into silence, perhaps chaos would soon return to the land.
Forcing herself to wake up, Luo Wuhen sat up, hair disheveled.
She needed to erase Su Qianqian’s traces—this time, to truly and completely forget. Perhaps, this was what would be best for them both.
But… Luo Wuhen’s hand unconsciously touched her lower abdomen again. This was the greatest trace left, and the one she least wanted to erase…
She let out a long sigh, deciding to deal with other things first and make up her mind later.
Her eyes first landed on the completed novel lying on the table—the one she had forced the Author to write with a Perfect Ending.
She picked up the book, complicated emotions swirling in her eyes. She had forced a happy ending in fiction, and yet she herself ended up like this. How ironic…
Slowly, she opened the book, wishing to look one last time at that ending that only existed in dreams.
Yet on the final page, she found a sheet of paper tucked inside.
Luo Wuhen picked up the paper, puzzled. Was this a bookmark Su Qianqian made?
Glancing at it, she saw the beginning of a letter: For Luo Wuhen—
Luo Wuhen suddenly slumped onto the bed, her hands trembling as she held the paper, continuing to read…
“For Luo Wuhen—This letter is written the day before the wedding. I can’t be sure when or in what state you will read it. Maybe Lin Muxue will have already rescued me, or maybe I’ll still be here. Perhaps you opened this book out of anger or confusion because I left, or maybe you stumbled across the ending by chance…”
“But I am writing this letter with the assumption that you are reading it after I have left, so please continue reading…”
“First, I must say—Luo Wuhen, you are a completely self-centered, selfish person! From the very beginning, you forced me to do all sorts of things I didn’t want to, exhausting all the goodwill I once had toward you!”
“You did act better later on, but don’t think I didn’t notice! You still never stopped treating me as your possession, as a ‘doll!’ In your heart, you always thought you had everything under control, and everything you did was to fulfill your own purpose. To you, I was nothing more than an untamed pet that belonged to you alone…”
“Given all this, I hate you! I even resent you! No matter how good you act on the surface, you can’t change the arrogance in your heart! Someone like you doesn’t deserve my love!”
“Phew… That felt good to say! I only hope you didn’t find this letter while I was still here, otherwise with your personality, I’d be in trouble… You’re always so rough in bed too, never considering my feelings—always like that—cough, let’s not talk about that anymore.”
“Finally, let me say goodbye… Even though I said all that above, I have to admit: even if you had your motives, your cooking was really good. Being able to eat different delicious meals every day felt quite nice.”
“Playing chess with you was also fun. I’m not stupid; later on, I realized you were letting me win on purpose so I could enjoy myself. Even though your motives were crude, I genuinely enjoyed those games.”
“You’re also a good book companion. It’s rare for me to find someone to discuss stories with. That felt pretty nice too.”
“If only we were just friends, maybe… never mind, there’s no ‘maybe’ in this world…”
“Anyway, farewell, my Empress. Just consider this a lost chess match—don’t let it weigh on your mind. I owed you in my past life, so consider these days as my way of making it up to you…”
“In the end… I really can’t bring myself to hate you, but I don’t want to see you again either… Farewell… Our lives are still long, even counting my previous life, it’s just a century or so. There’s no need to cling to such a short hundred years—these things will all be worn away by time and buried in the corners of memory…”
By the time she finished reading, the letter was already soaked with tears, drops as large as beans falling from Luo Wuhen’s eyes like rain…
“It’s not like that, it’s not like that… I really loved you! I was just afraid to lose you again, I just wanted you to stay…! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have treated you that way, I’m sorry…”
“But… but I really wanted to see you again—! If I had been gentle with you from the very beginning, would you have chosen to stay…?”
Luo Wuhen clung helplessly to this farewell letter written ahead of time, endlessly wiping the tears from her face.
Even a dignified Empress could not hide her fragility in this moment.
Regretful tears flowed unchecked… but in this world, there has never been such a thing as ‘if’…
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