Just when tensions were running high and they were about to completely break off relations—

"His Majesty has returned to camp!"

A loud, drawn-out announcement, like a gong to save the day, abruptly shattered the tense atmosphere over the hunting grounds. In the distance, dust rose slightly as Emperor Xiao Qihong, surrounded by guards and high-ranking officials of the imperial family, rode back, his face beaming with the joy of a thoroughly enjoyable hunt.

The announcement was like a bucket of cold water poured over her head, instantly sobering Luo Qingrou from her rage. She realized how impulsive and outrageous her actions had been. Tearing up the marriage certificate in front of His Majesty? This would undoubtedly bring enormous trouble to the royal family, her father, and herself! Her outstretched hand froze in mid-air, her fingertips icy cold, her face turning from the flush of anger to a bloodless pallor, a flicker of fear crossing her eyes.

Lu Zheng snapped back to reality, looking at Luo Qingrou's face, which had instantly lost all color, and the panic in her eyes. The rage in his heart strangely subsided, replaced by a more complex emotion that even he couldn't quite grasp. He quickly glanced at the approaching imperial procession, then glared fiercely at Luo Qingrou, lowering his voice with a warning and a barely perceptible urgency: "Have you gone crazy enough? Stop acting like this! Do you want your father to be embarrassed along with you?"

Luo Qingrou felt a tightness in her chest from his words, but reason ultimately prevailed over impulse. She bit her lip, abruptly withdrew her hand, and quickly lowered her head to hide her disheveled expression. Her fingers gripped the hem of her riding outfit tightly, her knuckles turning white.

A dramatic annulment of an engagement was abruptly halted by the emperor's imposing return. However, the rift had already deepened, and the atmosphere under the pavilion remained eerily tense. Lu Zheng, his face stiff, refused to look at Luo Qingrou, turning and striding towards his horse's tether, his back exuding a cold, unapproachable aura. Luo Qingrou, under the worried and inquisitive gazes of several familiar women, forced herself to keep her back straight as she walked towards her carriage, her steps unsteady. The hunting grounds buzzed again, but it could no longer conceal the immense shadow cast upon everyone's hearts by the brief yet breathtaking scene that had just unfolded.