After Becoming the Hero's Ex-fiancée

Trigger Warning: attempted sexual assault

Bloodstone (3)

Luodai didn’t find this a strange request.

Not long after, a white-feathered kingfisher landed on a branch of the plum tree outside the window; then, in a flash, it landed lightly on the dressing table.

A pair of black beady eyes looked left and right, before it finally pecked at the water in the porcelain cup on the table.

Zheng Wan reached out to play with the kingfisher, smiling so much that her eyes narrowed into crescents.

Luodai followed suit and smiled too.

“This bird is not afraid of humans at all.”

She hadn’t seen the young lady smile like that for many years.

This smile reminded her of the time when she was six years old. She had fearfully followed a trader into a magnificent mansion, then saw the noble porcelain doll who was the mansion’s mistress. At that time, the little lady was only three years old; her hair was in double buns, and her smile was as innocent as it was now.

“Yes, it’s not afraid at all.”

“But, my lady, your zan…”

The zan had been sent by the lord early in the morning yesterday. It didn’t seem to Luodai to be very valuable, but the young lady was delighted with it, and played with it the whole day, and even held it in her sleep.

“It fell off.”

“But—”

“It’s fine,” interrupted Zheng Ivana. “Don’t tell my mother, I don’t want her to worry.”

“But then, my lady, there isn’t anything to hold your hair together with.”

Zheng Wan smiled and reached out a hand. She pointed at a branch with red blossoms in the thick snow. “We can just use this plum blossom.”

The kingfisher suddenly beat its wings and flew out of the window. In the blink of an eye, it disappeared into the clouds.

Zheng Wan watched in awe for a while, then she heard a voice come from behind her,

“My lady, it’s done.”

The bronze mirror reflected the faint image of a human figure.

They were short on time, so it wasn’t a complicated hairstyle. A silk ribbon the same colour as her cloud brocade was tied into a clever bow at the top of her head; the rest of the long black hair draped down her back.

Dainty pearl earrings, plum blossom huadian, long skirts that trailed behind her on the ground—she looked graceful and elegant, and there was not a trace of the wretchedness earlier.

“Not bad,” praised Zheng Wan.

An identical cloak had been prepared as a spare. When it arrived, Zheng Wan put it on, tucked her hands in the sleeves, followed the covered corridor out, and made her way to Lanze Court.

There were already many people in the courtyard. They were all familiar faces, but there was something strange in the looks they gave Zheng Wan.

Zheng Wan walked down the corridor; before she entered the door, she saw a noblewoman in a goose yellow dress come quietly from the side. She held her fan against her lips and said in a very low voice, “Wan’niang, don’t go. The Crown Prince… is also inside.”

The Shanglin banquet was an annual banquet where all the officials got together to celebrate the good year. It was also a banquet for boys and girls to meet, and men and women to mingle, irrespective of etiquette; naturally, there was also the tradition of exchanging tokens of love.

It wasn’t unusual for the Crown Prince to be there.

Zheng Wan recognised the person.

She was Rong Yi, the daughter of the Eldest Princess, Anqing. She didn’t know how the domineering Eldest Princess raised such a timid and cautious daughter. She had even been bullied by the daughter of a mere fifth rank official; Zheng Wan couldn’t stand it and told the bully off, and Rong Yi had remembered this kindness ever since.

In her dream, this person was also the only one who dared to offer wine to send off the deceased after the Zheng family’s exile.

She couldn’t help but soften her gaze.

“It’s fine.”

“D-don’t go. They’ve already discussed and agreed to shame you!” said Rong Yi in a hurry, red-faced, when she saw that Zheng Wan was still going to head in.

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The nobility and the aristocrats had always been separate factions.

However, now that the Zheng family was in the face of disaster, the only one who came to inform her was this completely unrelated noblewoman from the nobility. Zheng Wan sighed inwardly.

“It’s really fine.”

This was the moment she was waiting for.

The bait has been laid, the play has begun; Cui Wang, are you coming, or not?