CHAPTER 33: VOW OF REVENGE

Rong Tieshan said nothing. His gaze drifted somewhere distant, lost in thought.

Her anxiety grew heavier.

More tears were spilled down from her eyes and she worried that Yue Mingxuan’s words had damaged her image in the prince’s heart.

She had to fix it somehow.

While taking a few small steps forward, she closed the distance between them and said in a choked voice, "Your Highness, Yue Mingxuan has disliked me ever since last time. It’s only because he knows that Concubine Hua favors me more and that I’m better than him in certain ways that he..."

"Princess Lianhua," Rong Tieshan suddenly interrupted, his tone calm and distant. "I’ve already fulfilled my mother’s order to escort you back. Now, I’ll take my leave."

His indifferent gaze swept over her tear streaked face as he turned to go.

Xie Lianhua panicked.

Last night, Concubine Hua had worked hard to keep both her and the prince at Rouqing Palace.

She couldn’t let it end like this.

This morning, she had even pretended to feel unwell just to have the prince escort her back.

Although Concubine Hua wasn’t pleased, she had finally agreed.

This was the perfect opportunityz how could she let him walk away? If he left now, when would she ever have a chance to be alone with him again?

She ran forward and timidly reached for his sleeve but didn’t dare touch it. Her voice trembled. "Your Highness, do you dislike me? If I’ve done anything wrong, please tell me. I’ll change, I promise."

Rong Tieshan stopped and glanced sideways at her, impatience flickering in his eyes.

His voice turned cold. "I have no opinion about you, Princess Lianhua. I escorted you back by my mother’s request. Now, I must go."

He stepped forward to leave, but she rushed ahead again, blocking his path. "Your Highness, since you’re already here, won’t you at least stay for a cup of tea?" Her eyes shimmered with tears like dew. "Or... do you really despise me that much?"

Rong Tieshan’s patience finally broke.

He had only escorted her back because of his mother’s orders.

If not for Xie Lianhua’s persistence, he would never have come.

If he really stayed now to drink tea, the palace rumors would spread like wildfire.

At that moment, a scene flashed through his mind, Yue Mingxuan who is trying to explain himself but no one listening, his face full of despair that turned into bitter laughter.

So that was how frightening rumors could be.

Looking down at the tearful woman before him, Rong Tieshan’s expression hardened.

"Princess Lianhua," he said firmly, "you and Yue Mingxuan are both guests of Beirong. From now on, stop spreading words like ’Yue Mingxuan is impure’ or ’unclean.’ It will only harm both of you."

His words struck her like a heavy blow.

Xie Lianhua’s face turned pale as snow and she stumbled back several steps.

Tears fell uncontrollably as she watched the tall and cold figure walk away without looking back.

Tears finally stopped falling from Princess Yanru’s eyes only after Rong Tieshan’s figure completely disappeared from sight.

She bit her red lips hard and the soft gentleness on her face was slowly replaced by a cold and bitter expression.

She lifted her handkerchief and wiped away the traces of tears at the corners of her eyes and her heart filling with resentment.

"Prince Rong, how could you say that to me?" she thought angrily.

Did he not know that for so many years, she had always followed in his footsteps?

Yet their closeness had always been blocked because of his engagement to that hideous Yue Mingxuan.

Did he not know how much effort she had put in to make such an outstanding man as him break free from that unwanted engagement?

In order to win the favor of Concubine Hua, she had spent countless sleepless nights thinking and planning.

Concubine Hua once said that Prince Rong was a man with a strong sense of duty.

As long as the engagement with Yue Mingxuan was broken, he would begin to look at her differently.

Now the engagement was finally over. But could it be that he still had lingering feelings for that ugly man?

He even took Yue Mingxuan’s side to scold her, the one who truly loved him!

Was Prince Rong out of his mind?

What kind of madness made him defend that ugly man instead of cherishing the beauty standing right before him?

She once believed that once the engagement was broken and she had Concubine Hua’s approval, there would be nothing standing in their way.

However, now, she realized how wrong she had been.

She had been too focused on pleasing Concubine Hua and plotting to break the engagement and had ignored Prince Rong’s own feelings.

Now it was clear that the path ahead was far from smooth.

Even without the engagement, she still couldn’t get rid of Yue Mingxuan’s shadow.

Yue Mingxuan, that haunting, lingering presence why must he always stand in her way?

Even though he was foolish, ugly, and so notorious that everyone in the city despised him, he still made Prince Rong defend him and scold her because of him!

Her teeth sank into her lips until a trace of blood appeared, but the hatred in her heart refused to fade.

If not for that incident years ago, when she had ordered her maid Su Jin to ruin Yue Mingxuan’s face and failed to guide things properly, the title of "most beautiful person in the kingdom" might have belonged to Yue Mingxuan instead of her.

Her hatred only grew stronger.

She hated that Yue Mingxuan did nothing yet was born with such a perfect and otherworldly face.

She hated that no matter how hard she worked, Prince Rong still would not look at her the same way.

No, as long as Yue Mingxuan existed, she would never let him win!

"Just wait, ugly man," she hissed under her breath. "For the humiliation I suffered today because of Prince Rong, I’ll make sure you pay it back a hundred, no, a thousand times over."