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Before Ling Fengyang died, Princess Pingyao went to see him for one last time.
This time, he appeared calm. The omnipresent injuries and pain had tormented him to the brink of death. He looked disheveled and unkempt, more wretched than the beggars on the streets.
However, Princess Pingyao could understand.
No matter how noble and handsome a person may be, once they become a prisoner and endure severe punishment, no one can maintain their dignity. This is something that applies to everyone equally.
“The Sheng family was destroyed because of my scheming.” Said the motionless figure leaning against the wall, his hair in disarray, covering his original features. “Back then, the late Emperor ordered me to fake my death and go to Nan Dynasty. I hesitated because you were already twenty years old, past the usual age for a woman to marry, with not many years of youth left to waste.”
Princess Pingyao’s gaze was cold, and the corners of her mouth curled into a mocking smile. “This Princess’s youth will always be there. Even at thirty, forty, fifty years old, I can still live like a teenage girl. But you harmed the Sheng family. Even if you had returned three years ago, do you think this Princess would have forgiven you?”
So, don’t even mention hesitation or doubt, they were all just excuses.
He was probably also worried that after returning, she would see through his deceit, leading to a falling out. That’s why he went along with the plan to fake his death, thinking that three years later, when she saw him return alive, she would be overjoyed at his resurrection and no longer pursue his conspiracy from three years ago?
Ling Fengyang acted as if he hadn’t heard her words, his tone devoid of emotion. “Because I knew your temperament, marrying at twenty wasn’t an issue, but once I went to Nan Dynasty, no one knew how many years I would have to stay there. After my death was reported to the Yong Kingdom, I wasn’t sure if you would remain faithful to me, if you would be heartbroken, if you would consider dying for me… I had considered the worst possible outcomes, but the late Emperor said that time is the best medicine and forced me to fake my death…”
Princess Pingyao’s expression grew more sarcastic. “Remain faithful? Die for love? What a ridiculous assumption.”
“Pingyao, I’m sorry. Today, all of this is what I deserve.” Ling Fengyang’s voice grew increasingly dim and desperate. “If there’s a next life, I will never let you down again. I will love you properly—”
“There is no next life.” Princess Pingyao interrupted him, her tone cold and heartless. “This Princess will never make an appointment with anyone for the next life, especially since you are not worthy.”
Thinking that this man was about to die, Princess Pingyao decided to say a few more words to him. “If I am reborn as a human in the next life, then you will surely be an ox or a horse, if I am a noble, you will be a servant kneeling at my feet, if I am a man, then you will be a eunuch serving in the palace… In short, there is absolutely no chance that we will ever have the opportunity to rekindle our past relationship. If by some stroke of luck I still have memories of this life, I will definitely kill you before you can recognize me.”
After these words were spoken, the figure crouched by the wall remained silent for a long time. His face, hidden by disheveled hair, was expressionless, with only a sense of deathly stillness slowly enveloping him.
Princess Pingyao threw a dagger inside. “Kill yourself.”
Ling Fengyang’s body finally moved. With difficulty and slowness, he turned his head and stared blankly at the dagger on the ground. After a long time, he extended his injured hand and picked up the dagger with a stiff movement.
“So… I don’t even have a chance to redeem myself?”
“Yes.” Princess Pingyao’s voice was indifferent. “If you can bring back to life those who died three years ago, I will give you a chance to redeem yourself.”
The glimmer of light that had just appeared in Ling Fengyang’s eyes was extinguished by this sentence.
“I really miss those years at the border.” He said, a look of reminiscence in his eyes. “Those were probably the happiest years of my life.”
Because she was with him, they were carefree, dressed in fine clothes, and rode spirited horses without a worry in the world. Even when faced with war and rivers of blood, they were filled with ambition, believing that being wrapped in a horse’s hide after death was also a glory.
Ling Fengyang had imagined his death countless times, but he had never imagined he would die so miserably in prison.
His wrists had long been worn raw by the shackles, covered in bloodstains. The slightest movement caused excruciating pain, and the hand holding the dagger trembled violently.
Ling Fengyang slowly raised his head, looking at the face outside the prison cell that he had once longed for day and night. He stared without blinking, as if trying to imprint this visage into his mind, to remember it for all eternity.
“Now you know how to show deep affection?” Princess Pingyao raised an eyebrow, her sarcastic smile tinged with frost. “What were you thinking when you plotted to kill my uncle’s family back then? Ling Fengyang, your posture is truly disgusting.”
Ling Fengyang’s body shuddered. Disgusting?
He made her feel disgusted?
His eyes lowered slightly, and as he thought about his actions over the years, Ling Fengyang suddenly felt that her disgust was justified.
Even he found himself disgusting.
So, even killing him, she found it dirty?
Ling Fengyang looked down at the exquisite dagger, its cold light capable of cutting through iron like mud. The hilt of the dagger had the mark he had carved in the past.
This was the token of love he had given to her.
It was truly tragic and laughable.
The token of love he had once given to her was now the instrument of his death.
Ling Fengyang closed his eyes and tilted his head back slightly. With his right hand, he fiercely slashed across his own neck.
Crimson blood splattered.
He opened his eyes and fixed them on the face outside the prison cell, his lips moving: “I’m… sorry…”
Princess Pingyao stood in silence, watching as he fell to the ground with a thud, his eyes open as if he were unwilling to close them in death. A hint of bewilderment flashed across her eyes, and then she turned and left without hesitation.
Several jailers knelt respectfully on the ground.
Princess Pingyao commanded coldly, “Only collect the body after he’s completely dead.”
“Yes.” They replied.
After leaving the prison of the Ministry of Justice, Princess Pingyao patrolled the palace and found herself outside the Fengtian Gate, where she heard a commotion: “How dare you! After eating a few days of soft rice, you don’t know what you are anymore? How dare you be rude to this Princess? Do you believe I won’t whip you to death?”