CHAPTER 255: CHAPTER 253: THE ONE WHO BETRAYS SINCERITY MUST SWALLOW TEN THOUSAND NEEDLES

Seeing that Shen Yinning showed no intention of lowering her bow, Luo Wanzhao urged, "What are you all standing there for? Hurry up and seize her! Teach her some proper manners! What are you afraid of? She’s just a weak woman—how could she possibly handle a bow and arrow?!"

The mamas hesitated no more and rushed forward.

A murderous glint flashed across Shen Yinning’s face. Without hesitation, she nocked an arrow to her bow.

The arrowhead gleamed coldly, whistling as it shot toward the leading mama!

With a dull thud, the arrow pierced straight into her heart!

The old mama froze in place, then wavered unsteadily before collapsing with a heavy thud.

Shen Yinning did not spare the other mamas.

One arrow for each of them, shot through with precision.

Inside the cold, opulent Zhaoyue Tower, a somber aura of death began to spread. Blood trickled along the cracks in the floor, soaking the fallen drapes and staining Luo Wanzhao’s embroidered shoes.

Luo Wanzhao’s feet seemed rooted to the spot; she couldn’t take a single step backward.

Her face was pale as a sheet. Her lips trembled. "You... how dare you..."

Shen Yinning tilted her head, the icy arrowhead aimed directly between Luo Wanzhao’s brows.

She curved her lips into a smile. "From the moment we first met in the Capital, Princess, you’ve always claimed to want to be my sister, always insisted that taking me to Jiangnan was for my own good. You put on the guise of the virtuous and magnanimous lady of the house, offering concubines to your husband and calling me your sister. But Princess, did you ever truly wish to be my sister? I think not."

"Shen Yinning, have you gone mad?" Luo Wanzhao clung weakly to the antique shelf, her face full of grievance and incomprehension. "I was genuine when I arranged your marriage to the Prince, and I sincerely wanted what was best for you. How could you trample on someone else’s sincere intentions like this? No wonder your family was destroyed!"

Shen Yinning leaned against the window, smirking faintly. "Stop lying to yourself. When we first met in the Noble Consort’s palace, the way you looked at me—it was like you were assessing a corpse, not looking at a living person. Talking about doing anything for the sake of the Prince? Luo Wanzhao, deep down, you’re unwilling too, aren’t you? Unwilling to accept that the man you’ve loved for years has another woman in his heart. Unwilling to hand him over to her of your own accord.

"But you had no other choice. To earn his respect, to secure the long-desired child, you had to act according to his wishes. Yet you are not a woman with a deeply calculative nature. Out of your inferiority complex, you tried to make trouble for me, using your status as wife versus my status as concubine to prove you were superior to me.

"When you realized I had no love for Lu Shiyan, you completely broke. You couldn’t bear the fact that the woman you saw as a rival didn’t even care about you or your man, didn’t want to fight or compete with you. So you forced the label of ’adulterer’ onto me, as if only through this could you convince yourself you’d triumphed over me.

"Luo Wanzhao, aren’t you pitiful?"

Silence enveloped Zhaoyue Tower.

Outside, the moon hung high, and pear blossoms drifted like snow.

Luo Wanzhao trembled all over. Her waxen face gradually flushed with a strange, feverish red.

She slowly shook her head. "Shen Yinning, you’ll never understand..."

Never understand how wonderful her Prince truly was.

Never understand to what extent one could sacrifice for the one they loved.

A rapturous smile suddenly curved across her sickly, haggard face. "When I first met the Prince, it was also a spring day like this. Xiang’er and I were flying kites in the garden when the string broke. Chasing after the kite, I stumbled into his courtyard and discovered it filled with all sorts of kites, each one handmade by him. He was dressed in snowy white, his hair secured with a green hairpin, sitting quietly in his wheelchair. Behind him, verdant bamboo swayed, and he was sketching something on paper. Soon, he finished drawing a beautiful green bird.

"He noticed me and, upon learning that I came to retrieve my kite, instructed his guards to search for it. Though they didn’t find it, he allowed me to choose another kite from his collection. I examined them one by one, only to find that each had a girl’s name written in elegant calligraphy—Zhaozhao.

"I asked him who ’Zhaozhao’ was. He said she was the girl he loved, but she was thousands of miles away. He could only write her name on the kites and release them into the sky, hoping that one day they’d carry his love to Gan State, to her side.

"At that moment, as I gazed at his refined and gentle face, I tasted jealousy for the first time in my life. No man had ever handmade kites for me, let alone secretly written my name countless times. I couldn’t help but think—how deeply must he love this girl? If only I were her, how wonderful it would be.

"Bitterness welled up in my heart. So I told him that he must compensate me for my broken kite, but he couldn’t just give me one from his collection. I wanted him to make me a new one with an image of the Qianyou Lake sunset and my name written in the corner. He was such a kind and accommodating man. Smiling with his eyes, he agreed."

As Luo Wanzhao reminisced, a genuine joy surfaced naturally on her face. "Shen Yinning, can you even understand how I felt in that moment? I fell for a man who was truly exceptional. Different from the corrupt officials of Jiangnan, different from my debauched elder brother—he was like a towering pine, fresh bamboo, a bright moon and a gentle breeze. I pursued his figure recklessly, feeling as though if I just reached a little farther, I could grasp his hand and have this noble, devoted man to myself..."

Her smile vanished suddenly as her eyes burned with jealousy. She glared at Shen Yinning. "To this day, I still don’t understand why you rejected the Prince—he’s so wonderful, and he loves you so much! Shen Yinning, do you even know we have a saying in the south? That those who betray true love must swallow ten thousand needles?!"

Shen Yinning regarded her coldly, her face devoid of emotion.

True love...

She did not believe that Lu Shiyan now felt much true love for her.

How could someone truly in love disregard her wishes?

How could someone in love force her into becoming a concubine?

He was merely lost in his own delusions of infatuation, fixated on playing a role that moved no one but himself.

She lowered her bow and said lightly, "I have my own matters to tend to. I don’t have time to get entangled in your romantic entanglements or act in your farcical love triangles. Princess, you may leave."

Luo Wanzhao clenched her teeth tightly.

Farce?

Meeting the Prince, she realized her previous decades had been wasted. Only this man, Lu Shiyan, could make the rest of her life vibrant and meaningful.

She had resolved to love the Prince for her entire life, until her very last breath!

A glint of determination flickered in her eyes as she advanced step by step toward Shen Yinning. "Shen Yinning, you’re the coldest, most heartless woman I’ve ever met. You’ve grown up without ever truly loving a man! Someone like you, who has never experienced the sweetness of love, is completely incomplete!"

Shen Yinning gripped her bow tightly.

Truly love a man?

Her family was gone, her father, brothers, and mother all brutally slain. Should she not seek revenge but instead love a man?!

What was she—a beast?

Luo Wanzhao pressed closer, her waxen, frail face clouded with malice. "Shen Yinning, I’ll expose your true colors to the Prince and make him see that you’re a woman unworthy of his deep love!"

Shen Yinning instinctively furrowed her brow. "What are you planning?"

Luo Wanzhao stopped in front of her, suddenly fixing her with an eerie smile before leaping out the window!