This answer is more embarrassing than hurtful.
What she thought was heart-wrenching pain and grief were all illusions, and all that was left was a blunt knife cutting back and forth in her heart.
She refused to accept it, she refused to give in, she couldn't believe that all this was just her illusion.
Maybe, maybe he said that on purpose to make her give up.
She raised her head stubbornly and looked directly into the emperor's eyes.
"Since Your Majesty has suspected me from the beginning, why did he invite me to watch the stars every night by Yueqi Lake?"
However, the other person's eyes were clear, perhaps because they were too clear that it was impossible to explore anything. It was like a mirror that only reflected her own shadow.
"Watch the stars every night? Have you seen clearly? Is the person watching the stars with you really lonely?"
Cui Xingyao froze, the light in her eyes gradually fading. She recalled the fleeting spring evenings of the past few months. She'd been so engrossed in the tenderness and kindness that she hadn't even considered a single question.
Why did the emperor always have to see her through a veil every time he saw her?
"But...your voice..."
"If seeing is not believing, how much less hearing?"
Cui Xingyao's body stiffened and she remained kneeling on the ground.
He had never fallen in love with her, and had never even stayed in her world. But she had already spent the years with him in those long dreams in the deep nights.
She suddenly remembered that before dawn last night, when she tossed and turned again and got up to go to the window, she accidentally heard a woman's voice faintly coming from the yard where he was.
At the time, she thought it was the voice of a servant from the other palace, but now she realized it was different. When had he ever been served by a female official?
Suddenly, as if a person who was dreaming suddenly woke up, Cui Xingyao murmured and asked.
"Is it because of the people in His Majesty's courtyard last night?"
The moment she said that, the expression on the young emperor's face changed.
It was like a long-held mask shattered in an instant, perhaps in the slightest lift of an eyebrow, or perhaps in the slightest tremor of an eye. Only then did she realize that the face she had always seen was nothing more than the monotonous stone statue that the Buddha transformed into when facing all living beings.
"Did you notice her?" He smiled, a chill in his eyes that he couldn't hide. "I used the boots as an excuse to lure her here. I only kept her for one night, but someone unrelated noticed something."
boots?
The stubborn figure covered in dust and standing in the mud beside the carriage flashed before his eyes, and a layer of confusion and madness rose in Cui Xingyao's heart.
How could it be her? How could it be her?!
"How can she be compared to me?! She was born a military officer, has a crude mind, and is completely superficial in her actions..."
"I believe love is superficial." The cold light in the emperor's eyes gradually dissipated, leaving only a cold smile. "She can die for me, can you?"
She raised her snow-white neck as if grasping at the last straw and made an open accusation.
"Xingyao once blocked an arrow for Your Majesty on the Yue River. Doesn't Your Majesty remember that?"
"Oh, really?" He tilted his head slightly, as if seriously recalling what happened that day. "How come I remember that arrow was originally aimed at you?"
Even though he had been skinned and whipped several times before, Cui Xingyao had never expected that this matter would come out of the other party's mouth so easily.
Even she herself took a long time to accept this fact.
"The young girl of the Bai family is precocious, skilled at manipulating people's hearts and minds, and she's always one step ahead. She knew I was protected by top experts, and even if Yan Zi took action, she wouldn't be completely sure of success. So why would she carry out an assassination alone during such a grand ceremony?"
Her tears stopped on her face, gradually turning from warm to cold.
She wanted to cover her ears to block out the sound that sounded like the whisper of an evil spirit, but the sound refused to stop.
"On the last day of the festival, you asked me to take you to the ceremony on behalf of your father, and sat next to me. This is the moment you've been waiting for."
He picked up the bowl of cold soup, opened the lid, and stirred it with a porcelain spoon. The crisp sound of jade and porcelain hitting each other, along with the sound of soup dripping, echoed in the tent.
"She shot that arrow to send you to me."
The man turned his wrist, and the honey-colored soup in the soup bowl poured out, wetting the brocade carpet on the ground. However, the next second, a puff of green smoke rose from the carpet, accompanied by a pungent smell, burning the entire carpet into a black and charred state.
"It's a pity that I already have someone else by my side."
The black hole on the silk carpet grew bigger and bigger until the black and smelly edge stopped spreading. Cui Xingyao finally smiled.
The reason why fate is called fate is because it is so difficult to shake and cannot be changed.
Her life has actually never been changed.
"I don't want this to happen either. King Kang's lineage has been cut off, and the Yu family's foundation has been completely destroyed. This time... this is the last chance. If it succeeds, my mother's family will have a chance to make a comeback. If it doesn't..."
Cui Xingyao suddenly pulled out the hairpin that she had been holding in her hand and stabbed it hard into her neck.
That was what she had prepared for herself early in the morning. She wanted to preserve her dignity.
Pop.
Her hand paused, and her gaze slowly shifted downwards, only to see the bare head of the broken hairpin pressed against her neck. Besides that, there were also two broken fingernails.
She didn't even see what broke her hairpin in two, nor did she see who did it. The delayed sharp pain swept over her, shattering the dignity she had maintained for a long time in an instant.
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