Chapter 3: What Use is Innocence?

After everyone had left the room, Shen Ning coldly ordered the two bound maids to come closer.

The two maids, tied up like meat dumplings, approached trembling: “Eldest… Eldest Miss…”

Shen Ning loosened the rope around Shen Shian’s neck without a word, silently untied the two maids, and then commanded them to get out.

The two maids scrambled out.

Shen Ning turned her cold gaze, grabbed one end of the rope, and rewrapped it around Shen Shian’s neck, a sneer crossing her lips: “Just now, Grandmother said I couldn’t protect my own chastity and that I was wasting food by living. Since that’s the case, I’d like to see if you, Eldest Brother, the legitimate firstborn son of the Shen family, can escape alive from the hands of this weak woman.”

Old Lady Shen probably forgot that the bandits were numerous and extremely vicious, and that Shen Ning, a woman who had gone out to burn incense, could never be their match.

But it didn’t matter.

She would prove to them one by one with her actions that everyone in the Shen family, from top to bottom, was a waste of food.

“Shen… Shen Ning…” Shen Shian clutched the rope around his neck with all his might, his voice squeezing out from his throat, “Let me go, I… I’ll let you leave…”

“When Eldest Brother shows his power, he really has a bit of presence.” Shen Ning mocked, “If you could use this kind of attitude towards your own sister elsewhere, I would definitely admire you as a man. Unfortunately, you’re just a cowardly and incompetent wimp who can’t even protect his own sister, only bullying those weaker than you. It’s truly pathetic and laughable.”

Shen Shian wanted to speak, but Shen Ning didn’t give him the chance.

A handkerchief was stuffed into his mouth, and Shen Ning dragged him to the foot of the bed, tying Shen Shian securely to the bedpost before turning to stand by the window.

Visibly, there were many more guards in the Begonia Courtyard.

Originally, these guards were not allowed into the inner courtyard, but with the Shen family’s precious Shen Shian in Shen Ning’s hands, neither the old lady Shen nor Shen Yunlin cared about any rules.

If they had the privilege, they would probably wish to deploy archers as well.

Shen Ning stood still for a moment, silently gazing down at her own hands.

A pair of slender, fair, and delicate hands.

The thin layer of calluses on her palms was the result of long-term martial arts training.

Shen Ning, the legitimate daughter of the Shen family, was a woman who had practiced martial arts.

Therefore, the two previous instances of her using force against Qin Yanshu, and easily subduing Shen Shian in front of Shen Yunlin, did not arouse suspicion from the other party.

Shen Ning raised her eyes to look at the ink-like night outside the window, her dark and profound eyes flickering with a cold light.

The Shen family was the residence of the Duke of the State, and Shen Yunlin was the Duke himself. He had become a favored minister of the late emperor due to his military achievements and his support during the imperial succession.

Shen Ning was the legitimate eldest daughter of the Duke’s residence, once a noble and wealthy young lady of the family. However, when she went outside the city to pray for her grandmother’s blessing, she unfortunately encountered bandits. All the servants and maids were killed, and only Shen Ning survived.

When her family found her, her clothes were disheveled, she was weak and powerless, and her body was drugged, appearing as if she had been violated.

But only Shen Ning herself knew that her innocence was still intact.

That group of people, for some unknown purpose, only created the illusion that she had been defiled to achieve some unspeakable goal.

It was just that Shen Ning’s temperament was fiery, and during the intense struggle, she could not bear the humiliation. The person was already gone, and now this shell was occupied by a different soul.

The current Shen Ning was not the former Shen Ning.

The Shen family’s relatives were not her relatives.

However, if the real Shen Ning were still here, facing such a loathsome attitude from her family, she probably wouldn’t be able to continue living either.

What use is innocence?

Being humiliated in broad daylight is enough to drive a woman who has lived her entire life in a grand mansion to despair and seek death.

If those bandits weren’t really going to defile her but deliberately created the illusion that she had been defiled, then what was their true purpose?

Were they so cruel as to kill everyone around her, including her maids and guards, just to achieve the current outcome?

Shen Ning’s gaze was as cold as ice as she pondered in silence.

Who was the mastermind behind this?

Why did they go to such lengths to ruin her reputation while preserving her innocence?

Was it to give Qin Yanshu a reason to demote his wife to a concubine?

From the status of a legitimate wife to that of a concubine…

Shen Ning silently closed her eyes, leaning against the window frame, contemplating her current situation.

After returning yesterday evening, she had already accepted Shen Ning’s memories. This was the Great Yong Kingdom, where the emperor was only fifteen years old. According to the ancestral laws of the Yong, he would be able to govern personally in another year.

Currently, the power of the government was in the hands of the Regent, Ji Yucang.

And almost everyone in the Yong Kingdom knew that the Regent was an extremely cold and ruthless person. Holding military power and control over the government, the entire Yong Kingdom was under his control.

But the Regent had a fatal weakness.

He was afflicted with a severe poison and did not have long to live.

Before the late Emperor passed away, he entrusted the throne to the current underage Crown Prince. Fearing interference from the Empress Dowager’s family, the Qin family, he appointed the Regent to oversee the country.

However, the Regent already held military power, and the late emperor was also concerned that he might use his troops to assert his own authority, threatening the throne, so he poisoned him.

The antidote was in the hands of the emperor, one pill per month.

As for what kind of poison it was and what symptoms it caused, no one knew except for the young emperor and the Regent himself.

In addition to the Regent, the Yong Kingdom also had three pillars: the Duke of the State which is the Shen Family, the Left and Right Prime Ministers, and the Grand Tutor Wu, who stood in a tripartite balance of power.

Among them, the Left and Right Prime Ministers held the most actual power, as the Regent had loyal generals under his command who were responsible for quelling internal rebellions. The Duke of the State’s residence, which relied on military generals, had shown signs of decline in recent years.

The Qin family, on the other hand, was the Imperial Uncle’s residence.

The Imperial Uncle Qin was the biological brother of the current Empress Dowager and the young Emperor’s maternal uncle. Therefore, the Shen family clung desperately to this marriage alliance, unwilling to let go, even after being rejected by the Qin family and having Shen Ning demoted from wife to concubine.

Especially after Shen Ning’s reputation was completely destroyed, they even considered it a great favor that Qin Yanshu was still willing to take her.

In their eyes, Qin Yanshu was a deeply affectionate and responsible man, while Shen Ning, the victim, became the sinner.

What a laughable affection and responsibility.

The most insincere thing in this world is a man’s promise of deep affection.

Shen Ning unconsciously caressed her wrist.

The excruciating pain of having her tendons cut seemed to linger, and the feeling of helplessness from having her shoulder blades pierced by chains washed over her like a tide. The humiliation and abuse she suffered in front of thousands, the miserable experience of being trampled in the rain, wishing for death—she had experienced all the pain and humiliation of falling from grace to disgrace. What were these setbacks compared to that?

Shen Ning opened her eyes, her pupils like an abyss of cold, and after a moment, she turned and walked to the bed to lean against it, closing her eyes to ponder.

The night wind blew, and the flickering flames cast a light and shadow on her stunningly beautiful face, inexplicably reflecting a sinister and eerie sheen.

In less than two hours, dawn would break.