Chapter 3: The Princess Consort’s Thought Is Too Loud!
[Please believe me. Please believe me. Please believe me.]
[If he asks me why the wheelchair only slipped when I was standing behind it, I’m finished.]
[Should I faint? Would fainting make me look more innocent?]
[No, no, what if the Imperial Physician checks my pulse and finds out I’m perfectly healthy?]
[Dear heavens, why is he so quiet?]
[Say something! Yell at me! Throw a cup at me! Anything is better than this silence!]
[This is exactly how villains die in novels. First comes the silence, then comes the execution.]
[I knew I should’ve read more survival guides instead of romance novels.]
[Please don’t turn me into a hot pot. Please don’t turn me into a hot pot. Please don’t turn me into a hot pot!!!]
Rong Shuyan stared at the woman kneeling on the floor. His expression remained cold, but he felt a headache coming on.
The room was completely silent, but unfortunately, the silence only existed for everyone else. Meanwhile inside his head, Lin Xueyi’s voice continued to chatter nonstop until he felt as though his head was about to explode.
What kind of black magic was this? For a moment, he even wondered if Lin Xueyi had secretly learned some forbidden technique to torment him.
[Why isn’t he saying anything?]
[What if he thinks I’m annoying?]
[Ah, I’m definitely dead.]
The vein on Rong Shuyan’s forehead twitched. Annoying? For once, he agreed with her. She was indeed very annoying.
Unfortunately, all of those words existed only inside her head.
"Princess Consort," Eunuch Shen suddenly said.
Lin Xueyi nearly jumped out of her skin. "Y-Yes?"
"If Princess Consort is truly here to apologize," Eunuch Shen said calmly, "perhaps you should explain why Prince Rui’s wheelchair suddenly slipped the moment you stepped behind him."
The color instantly drained from Lin Xueyi’s face and she felt as though her soul was about to leave her body.
Her mind was already in complete chaos. She didn’t know whether it was because of the sudden transmigration or because she knew exactly what kind of person Rong Shuyan would become in the future.
"T-That’s just a coincidence!" Lin Xueyi stammered. She looked at Rong Shuyan with pleading eyes. "Yes! Yes! Your Highness, this consort believes it was only a coincidence."
[Stupid. Stupid. That was such a stupid explanation!]
If she were standing in Rong Shuyan’s shoes, she wouldn’t believe herself either.
[Heaven! Out of all the characters in this book, why did I have to transmigrate into the body of the stupid villainess? And why couldn’t it have happened a few days earlier?]
[Why did I have to arrive right after the real Lin Xueyi tried to murder her husband?!]
There were many strange things that Rong Shuyan didn’t understand, but at the very least, he understood that this woman was not his scheming wife because she was less cold, less arrogant, and far more expressive than his usual wife. Yet that alone was not enough to earn his trust.
After all, Rong Shuyan had survived the imperial palace for many years, so he knew better than anyone that appearances could be deceiving.
At first, he had intended to hire assassins to kill his scheming wife. But now that something unusual had happened, he was no longer so certain.
If her body truly contained some kind of dark magic, then killing her without understanding the situation first could create even bigger problems. If a curse was involved, there was no telling what might happen once the vessel died.
"We can discuss this another time," Rong Shuyan said at last. "I need to rest." His gaze shifted to Eunuch Shen. "Escort the Princess Consort back to her chambers."
Eunuch Shen immediately lowered his head. "This servant obeys."
Meanwhile, the color drained from Lin Xueyi’s face.
[What? Why is he telling me to go back to my room?]
Her mind immediately jumped to the worst possible conclusion. [Don’t tell me... is it because he already hired the assassins?!]
[No, no, no!]
[I don’t want to go back to my room! I don’t want to go back to my room! Period!]
"I want to stay here!" she blurted out.
Lin Xueyi quickly got to her feet and hurried toward Rong Shuyan’s bed. Before anyone could stop her, she grabbed one of the bedposts with both hands, holding onto it so tightly that it looked as though someone was trying to drag her away.
"T-This consort feels guilty about what happened to Your Highness," she said with a stiff smile. "So... so this consort wishes to stay here and take care of you."
The servants stared at her in disbelief. Take care of Prince Rui? The same woman who had spent months treating him coldly? The same woman who had nearly pushed him to his death?
No matter how they looked at it, something felt terribly wrong.
Meanwhile, Lin Xueyi continued clinging to the bedpost for dear life. [If I stay here, the assassins probably won’t come to my room.]
Several servants tried to convince her to let Rong Shuyan rest in peace, but no matter how hard they pulled at her, Lin Xueyi continued to cling tightly to the bedpost like a koala holding onto a tree branch.
[Yes! Yes! I believe I’m safer here. After all, if word gets out, his reputation will become even worse.]
[Gossip is terrifying. They might even come up with a headline like, "Prince Rui’s Wife Was Kidnapped While He Slept: Is the Disabled Prince Even Worse at Protecting People Than He Is at Walking?"]
Rong Shuyan twitched the corner of his eye. The headline sounded ridiculous, but knowing how gossipers worked, he was certain that it wasn’t impossible.
But more importantly, why did she know that he was about to hire assassins to eliminate her? That decision had never been spoken aloud. He had never mentioned it to anyone, not even Eunuch Shen knew about it.
Could she predict the future as well?
Interesting.
If he played his cards right, something he had initially thought was dangerous might become a powerful weapon in his hands.
"Let her stay."
Rong Shuyan’s cold words silenced everyone in the room. "But remove anything that could be used to harm someone," Rong Shuyan added calmly. His gaze briefly swept over her. "The hairpin as well."