Jiang Rongyin didn’t know how she made it out of Donggong.
Just as she stepped out of the hall, she twisted her ankle and nearly fell, but luckily Baoyin caught her.
“Princess, are you all right?”
Baoyin looked at the red marks on Jiang Rongyin’s delicate neck and felt like crying.
His Highness was like this every time, never sparing the princess any consideration. Who knew how many days it would take for these marks to fade.
Xiang Ming watched the dazed and distraught Jiang Rongyin and followed behind them without a word.
“Don’t follow me!”
With that, Jiang Rongyin stopped in her tracks, then lowered her head and said in a muffled voice, “I can go back by myself.”
Hearing her words, Xiang Ming did not follow any further.
Jiang Rongyin walked hurriedly, and only after leaving Donggong did she seem to lose all strength and lean against the rockery.
The bright moonlight illuminated her panic-stricken face. She gasped for breath, then looked down.
In her outstretched palms were ten stark crescent-shaped blood marks.
When she heard Jiang Yun say he was going to send her out of the palace to be a waishi.
Jiang Rongyin truly wanted to throw caution to the wind and kill Jiang Yun, or kill herself.
But after calming down, Jiang Rongyin felt that she was not the one who deserved to die.
Using pain to force herself to stay calm, she left with the words, “I will do as Your Highness says.”
Waishi. Jiang Yun indeed had no intention of letting her go.
Even though he was about to marry, he still had no intention of letting her go.
“Princess, are you all right? Does it hurt?”
Baoyin supported Jiang Rongyin and looked at her open palms covered in blood marks, and even the exposed skin was covered in red marks.
“If it really comes to it, just soften your stance with His Highness and beg him to be gentler.”
Baoyin’s voice was choked with sobs. She only hated that she could not help at all.
The Crown Prince had fought his way out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. Her princess had been raised in the deep palace for sixteen years—how could she have ever suffered such hardship.
Baoyin was afraid that Jiang Rongyin’s body would be ruined by Jiang Yun’s torment.
Hearing Baoyin’s words, Jiang Rongyin revealed a bitter smile. “If he cared about how I was, he would not do such things to me.”
Pinning her down on the bed in Donggong, kissing her tear-reddened eyes, tormenting her over and over.
Forcing her to say one unspeakable thing after another, and still refusing to let her go.
Jiang Yun treated her as a plaything for venting his anger. In his hands, she was nothing more than an object that was still somewhat handy to play with.
So he would never care about how Jiang Rongyin was.
Even if they were discovered, the only one who would die was Jiang Rongyin.
But today Jiang Yun’s words forced Jiang Rongyin to reconsider her plans.
She absolutely could not become Jiang Yun’s waishi, still less his caged bird, trapped here for a lifetime.
She had to run, and she had to make Jiang Yun unable to find her ever again, so that he would give up entirely.
But the matter with Qin Shiyan had made Jiang Yun even more guarded. For this period, she would have to keep her head down and behave, to put him at ease, and also to use the time to think of a way out.
“Let’s go back to Guanghua Dian.”
Taking a deep breath, Jiang Rongyin straightened up and returned with Baoyin.
The next morning, just as dawn broke, Jiang Rongyin woke up. The red marks on her body had already turned somewhat purple, and unfortunately it was summer now, with thin clothing that could not hide her collar.
Especially the bite mark on her collarbone—there was no way to cover it.
Jiang Rongyin lowered her eyes, grasped the hairpin on the dressing table, and under Baoyin’s cry of alarm, slashed the mark open.
Anything Jiang Yun gave her, she did not want a single one.
This bite mark was something that could cost her her life, yet Jiang Yun never cared whether it would be discovered on her body.
“Princess, this servant will go get medicine for your wounds.”
Baoyin wiped her tears and rose to fetch the medicine.
In the bronze mirror, Jiang Rongyin’s ashen face was reflected. She curved her lips into a smile, like a female ghost who had died a miserable death.
“If you’re alive, there’s hope.”
So she would definitely be able to escape, leave the palace, leave Jiang Yun.
After tending to her wounds, Jiang Rongyin wrapped a piece of fine gauze around her neck, and only then did she bring Baoyin to Xuezhiguan.
Xuezhiguan was the imperial academy, exclusively for the princes and princesses to study.
It also had the children of court officials as study companions.
If it had been a year ago, Jiang Rongyin standing there would have been the center of attention like the moon surrounded by stars, but now, standing there, everyone avoided her as if she were the plague.
Jiang Yun kept her in the palace, yet had never spoken a word to protect her.
To curry favor with the Crown Prince, others naturally showed Jiang Rongyin no pleasant expressions.
Jiang Rongyin ignored these strange looks and took the book box from Baoyin’s hands before walking in.
Xuezhiguan had been on break for the past two days, and today was the first day of classes.
But when Jiang Rongyin walked to her seat and saw the torn books on the desk, the frustration she had suppressed for days could no longer be contained.
“Who did this?”
She asked coldly. After sweeping her gaze around, she saw the Sixth Princess, Jiang Xueping, looking at her with a smug expression.
Jiang Xueping’s birth mother, Consort Wan, belonged to Empress Wei’s faction, and so in Xuezhiguan, Jiang Xueping always targeted Jiang Rongyin.
She took pleasure in bullying Jiang Rongyin, but most of the time, it was to curry favor with Jiang Yun.
Because of the relationship between Consort Wan and Empress Wei, Jiang Yun would also pay Jiang Xueping a bit more attention.
However, Jiang Rongyin felt that when Jiang Yun looked at Jiang Xueping, it was because he thought she was stupid.
“Jiang Xueping, did you do this?”
Jiang Rongyin’s gaze locked onto Jiang Xueping. She slammed the book box heavily onto the desk and walked toward her.
Jiang Xueping looked at Jiang Rongyin’s calm face, those clear eyes still carrying anger, and stood up: “Jiang Rongyin, don’t you dare drag me into this.”
“You couldn’t even keep an eye on your own things, and you blame me?”
Jiang Rongyin listened to Jiang Xueping’s words without refuting her, instead walking toward her step by step until she had Jiang Xueping cornered.
“Apologize to me.”
“Why should I?! Ah! Jiang Rongyin, you mad dog, let go of me!”
When Jiang Xueping reached out to push Jiang Rongyin, Jiang Rongyin directly grabbed Jiang Xueping’s hair.
Over and over again—even a clay figure has some temper.
Last time Jiang Xueping had smashed her inkstone, and this time she had torn her books. Did she want to see her humiliated, so she could step on her dignity to claim credit from Jiang Yun?
Before long, the two were tangled in a fight. If others hadn’t intervened, Jiang Xueping probably would have been pinned down and beaten by Jiang Rongyin.
“Jiang Rongyin, you’re a lunatic! I’m going to tell the Crown Prince—you’re dead!”
Jiang Xueping clutched her face, swollen red from Jiang Rongyin’s slaps, crying and shouting that she would find Jiang Yun.
Jiang Rongyin stood there with her hair in disarray, like a stubborn little tiger cub, staring fixedly at Jiang Xueping.
“What is all this commotion?”
Just as the two were locked in dispute, a voice—gentle yet carrying a trace of authority—came from the doorway.
Everyone turned to look at the entrance and cupped their hands in salute: “Master Sheng.”
Jiang Rongyin looked up and met Sheng Huaian’s gentle eyes.
“Master! Jiang Rongyin attacked me in Xuezhiguan.”
When Jiang Xueping saw Sheng Huaian, even in her panic she did not forget to tidy her appearance, and she walked toward Sheng Huaian, weeping and wailing.
“Ninth Princess, is this so?”
Sheng Huaian was holding a book in his hand. Hearing this, he asked Jiang Rongyin.
Jiang Rongyin was stunned for a moment. She had thought Sheng Huaian would punish her directly, but she had not expected him to ask.
She lowered her head and replied, “She tore my book, and for a moment I could not hold back my anger.”
The torn book was her dignity, trampled underfoot by Jiang Xueping as well.