“Jiang Mingyue, my brother treated you so well. Why did you kill him?”
The dense mist before her eyes cleared, replaced by piercing screams all around.
As soon as Song Luo looked up, she saw her sister-in-law, Jiang Mingyue, along with her lover, Duan Xingzhi, forcing poison down her brother’s throat.
Her brother was bleeding from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Amidst his struggles, he never stopped begging Jiang Mingyue to let Song Luo go.
“Brother—” Song Luo’s eyes widened, and the tears she could no longer hold back burst from her eyes.
She wanted to rush forward to save him, but her body was restrained by an unseen force, leaving her to watch everything happen helplessly.
“Let go of my brother!”
“Jiang Mingyue, you aren’t human! You and your lover will go to hell together!”
Jiang Mingyue turned to look at Song Luo, her head leaning on her lover’s shoulder. She gave Song Luo a provocative smile and said, “Song Luo, everything in the General’s Residence belongs to me now.”
“Now, it’s your turn, Song Luo.”
Jiang Mingyue moved suddenly, walking toward Song Luo.
Song Luo still couldn’t move. She saw Jiang Mingyue reach out toward her with a cruel grin.
“No!”
Song Luo snapped awake on the soft couch, drenched in a cold sweat.
She gasped for breath, her slender fingers gripping the brocade quilt beneath her so hard that her knuckles turned white.
In her mind, that heart-wrenching, bone-deep pain had yet to fade.
It took Song Luo a long while to realize she had been having that nightmare again.
She touched her face; sure enough, it was wet, covered in tears.
In her dream, the world she lived in was nothing more than a storybook titled Cherishing Mingyue Alone.
Her brother, Song Nian—a man of extraordinary talent whose name was known throughout the capital—was merely a “devoted male supporting lead” in the book, a workhorse meant only to serve as a foil for the female lead.
The female lead of the book was none other than the “cousin” currently staying at the Jiang Residence, Jiang Mingyue.
Song Luo could never understand it.
Her brother had been so good to Jiang Mingyue. For every casual “I want this” she uttered, her brother would go through fire and water to get it for her.
When Jiang Mingyue was attacked, her brother protected her, and in the process, his once peerless and handsome face was ruined by bandits.
The proud young master who once rode through the Imperial streets became nothing more than a laughingstock for the people of the capital to gossip about over tea.
Of the noble young ladies who once harbored secret crushes or admired him, not a single one dared to look at him again.
When Jiang Mingyue was unhappy at the Jiang family home, her brother practically emptied the entire General’s Residence just to coax a smile from her.
When Jiang Mingyue’s adultery with her lover, Duan Xingzhi, was discovered, leaving her reputation in tatters and her with nowhere to turn, it was her brother who braved the world’s scorn.
He married Jiang Mingyue and brought her through his doors with a grand eight-bearer palanquin wedding.
And what did Jiang Mingyue do?
She accepted her brother’s sacrifices as a matter of course, only to turn around and throw herself back into the arms of the heir, Duan Xingzhi. She climbed to the highest position of power by stepping over the corpses of the entire Song family.
Song Luo’s family was destroyed, and she herself eventually died a miserable death on the streets.
Thinking of this, Song Luo trembled with rage.
She abruptly threw off the covers and sat up.
“Miss, you’re awake.”
Her close maid, Yun Xiang, pushed open the door and walked in.
“You’ve broken out in a sweat; you must have had another nightmare.”
Yun Xiang helped Song Luo up from the couch.
Song Luo felt deeply uneasy. The recurring, ominous dream had left her haggard in just a few short days.
She had a premonition that if she delayed any longer, the dream might actually come true.
She had to do something to stop the scenes from the dream from happening.
“Yun Xiang, where is my brother?”
Yun Xiang looked at her mistress’s pale face with pity and took out a handkerchief to wipe away her tears. “Miss Mingyue came by this morning saying she was in a bad mood. To cheer her up, the Eldest Young Master went with her to Treasure Pavilion to look at jewelry.”
Song Luo’s brow furrowed tightly, a fire smoldering in her heart.
Here we go again. If Jiang Mingyue coughed twice, Song Nian would open his private treasury and send carriage after carriage of precious medicinal herbs to her.
If she was unhappy, Song Nian would take her to Treasure Pavilion to buy jewelry or to Baojin Pavilion to buy fine clothes.
Song Luo felt that Song Nian simply had too much free time.
The reason her brother ended up like that was entirely because she, his sister, had been too well-behaved and sensible since childhood.
She never caused trouble and never gave her brother anything to worry about. As a result, other than studying, her brother’s only duty was his idle post at the Dali Temple. With too much leisure time on his hands, he had the luxury to fret over Jiang Mingyue’s trivial nonsense.
If she were a troublemaker who forced Song Nian to constantly clean up after her, would he still have time to care whether Jiang Mingyue lived or died?
Since being well-behaved and sensible only led to the destruction of her family, she would stop being the “good sister.”
“Yun Xiang, help me dress.”
“I’m going to Treasure Pavilion.”