Chapter 380: Chapter 378 She Lost Lu Ying
The faint, bitter scent of cedar lingered in the tent.
The turmoil and emotion in Shen Yinning’s eyes gradually faded away.
The quilt and the man’s firm, muscular chest felt like a burning furnace. Even though every inch of her body was aflame with heat, a chill crept from her heart and lungs, silently spreading to her limbs and bones.
Cold.
Her crimson lips parted slightly, instinctively wanting to utter the word, but she abruptly stopped it at the tip of her tongue.
As if saying that one word would place her at a disadvantage in her game with Lu Ying.
She should have foreseen this.
Anyone who ascended to that position would naturally have three palaces, six courts, and three thousand beauties.
What emperor would not?
Moreover, the Huo Family was his maternal clan. Marrying within the clan would further cement his reign.
Not to mention Huo Mingyan, his childhood sweetheart and cousin, who was naturally closer to him than other women.
As she mulled over this, a blazing jealousy ignited in her chest, a fire stubbornly refusing to be extinguished.
She had painstakingly ruined Shen Yunxi, and now another Huo Mingyan had appeared.
The mere thought of Lu Ying bringing Huo Mingyan to sit on the throne beside him as Empress, the thought of the rest of his life spent by Huo Mingyan’s side, even sharing the same tomb in death—those thoughts gnawed at her heart like a swarm of ants, a dense and persistent pain that nearly suffocated her.
She should never have fallen in love.
The proud and unyielding eldest daughter of the Shen Family, capable of summoning countless suitors with just the curl of her finger.
She had every reason to remain an untouchable luminous moon, serenely basking in the adoration and rivalry of men who sought her favor.
How could she? How could she allow herself to feel anything for one man?
Shen Yinning’s profound gaze seemed cloaked in frost and snow. It took all her years of self-restraint to suppress her disheartened and humiliated demeanor.
Her throat felt as if a surge of metallic-tasting blood was rising up.
Her expression remained composed as she sat up and slowly put on her dress.
The luxurious, smooth silk grazed the delicate shoulders of the young maiden.
Lu Ying narrowed his almond-shaped eyes.
He asked, "What are we now?"
Shen Yinning gazed at him with a faint, mocking smile. "What are we? You shouldn’t be asking me that. A plaything? A lover? Either way, I’m not your wife."
"You’re angry."
"No, I’m not."
Lu Ying sat up, reaching out to hold Shen Yinning’s chin, intending to meet her gaze, but Shen Yinning stubbornly broke free. She lifted the spring curtain and climbed out of bed.
With her side profile turned to Lu Ying, she combed her floor-length hair with her fingers, casually draping it to one side. "It’s late. You should leave. If someone sees us in such intimate proximity and word gets back to Huo Mingyan, your new Empress won’t be pleased."
Lu Ying rested one hand on the bed, still staring at her.
The girl thought her mask was firmly in place, yet her voice trembled faintly at the edges.
She lowered her long lashes, and in the dim glow of the candlelight, her eyes seemed quietly reddened.
He refused to leave, speaking slowly, word by word: "If I crown Huo Mingyan as the new Empress, will you be deeply hurt?"
Shen Yinning once loved being the object of Lu Ying’s gaze.
Yet at this moment—at least at this moment—she wished for nothing more than his immediate departure from her bedroom.
Because she feared she might lose control and cry on the spot.
But the proud Zhaozhao of the Shen Family could never shed tears over something like this.
That would be far too humiliating.
The crescent-shaped marks her nails had carved into her palms were deep. She cast a glance at Lu Ying, her tone strained: "That night I said I liked you—Lu Ying—you didn’t believe it, did you? My sadness is only because I can’t become Empress, because someone else can effortlessly claim that title. I’m jealous and hurt for that reason alone. You know it—me, Shen Zhaozhao—I’ve always loved power and riches above all else."
The young woman rattled off words rapidly, almost breathlessly.
As though hesitating for even a moment would cause her tears to spill right then and there.
Lu Ying quietly listened.
Without interrupting, without refuting.
True or false—he couldn’t tell.
This vixen’s heart was more fickle than the tides of a battlefield, leaving him unable to discern her sincerity or her pretense.
After a long silence, he dressed without a word.
Shen Yinning watched him with tear-stained eyes.
The young man’s elegant features and jade-like bearing, his tall figure draped in a jet-black arrow-sleeved brocade robe—he was the epitome of grandeur.
He was on the cusp of becoming Emperor.
Her elder brother and teacher had always said, "Golden scales are not creatures of the pond." He had indeed become ruler of the realm.
Yet his Empress would not be her.
She wasn’t even a concubine.
She was someone who couldn’t stand in the light—a laughing stock among the world.
No family backing, no parental love; every step she took over the years had been arduous.
And yet long ago...
Long ago, she had been doted upon, cherished like the Bright Pearl held in countless palms.
A surge of grievance welled up in her chest. Shen Yinning suddenly picked up Lu Ying’s boots and socks and hurled them out the door.
She shoved him out: "From now on, you’re never to see me again! Never to entangle yourself with me again! Lu Ying, I’ll marry someone else—I’ll be someone else’s proper wife!"
If Lu Jingwei could crown a new Empress, then why couldn’t Shen Zhaozhao remarry?
The girl’s indignation swelled with her hurt and pain.
It seemed only by saying such words could she preserve her dignity.
Lu Ying stood barefoot on the corridor as the intricately carved, vermilion lattice doors slammed shut before him with a "bang."
"Shen Yinning."
He knocked on the door, but the vixen didn’t want to acknowledge him.
She didn’t open the door, nor did she respond to him.
Under the curious gazes of the maids in the corridor, he silently put on his shoes and socks, glanced once more at the firmly closed doors, and then left Shen Garden.
In the bedroom.
Shen Yinning hid behind the mullioned window, secretly watching him fade into the distance until he disappeared.
Her shoulders drooped weakly as she turned, leaning against the window lattice, staring down at the bamboo flooring bathed in moonlight.
Peeking out from beneath her skirts was the tip of an embroidered Shu brocade shoe adorned with Bright Pearls, its edges encircled with tiny pearl strings.
She had wealth now; her every meal, garment, and possession was the finest in the land.
But she no longer had Lu Ying.
After losing her closest family members, she thought she’d never lose anything precious again. Yet tonight, she felt a pain that tore straight to her soul once more.
Tears fell, one by one, onto her embroidered shoes, blooming damp spots on the sapphire-blue satin.
She slowly sank to the ground on her knees, clutching her legs, crying heartbreakingly.
The next day.
Shen Yinning was still slumbering deeply when Haitang hurriedly shook her awake: "Commandery Princess, someone from the palace has come! They’ve summoned you to meet His Majesty! I asked the eunuch who delivered the decree—he said Shen Xinghan accused you early this morning of murdering his father Shen Yan and demanded the Emperor sentence you to death!"
Shen Yinning, who had cried herself to sleep last night, woke in a daze. Upon hearing this, she abruptly became fully alert.
She sat up: "Shen Xinghan dared to report it to the Emperor—he must have evidence... Haitang, is the head stored in the ancestral shrine still there?"
Haitang immediately sent someone to check and quickly returned to report: "The head and seal are both gone!"
Shen Yinning’s expression turned frosty.
It seemed a thief had entered Shen Garden last night!