—Act Three—
—The princess had not gone back on her word. On the day before the engagement, she had planned everything, and tonight, she was going to flee with Karan.
—They would run away to a place where no one knew who they were, a place where no one would ever find them.
The bright stage lights dimmed for this scene. Wuli gazed into the gloom, her emotions gradually sinking into the role as well.
Timing it perfectly, she grabbed Glenn’s wrist and ran onto the stage. The white-haired girl looked tense, while the black-haired boy followed behind her, his expression impossible to read.
Combined with the narration and the actors’ performances, the audience immediately understood what kind of scene this was.
The little princess was trying to run away with her attendant.
Unfortunately, judging by the usual course of such stories, their elopement would soon be discovered.
And that was exactly what happened.
“My dearest daughter, where do you think you’re going?”
The voice drifting from afar was like a spell, freezing the princess in place. The moment she heard it, her face turned deathly pale.
Everyone knew it.
She was done for.
The white-haired girl tightened her grip on the black-haired boy’s hand.
The Emperor slowly emerged from the shadows. His gaze swept over the pair with the scrutiny of a ruler judging those beneath him, carrying an unmistakably sinister intent.
The white-haired girl did not let go of Glenn’s hand. Instinctively, she stepped forward and shielded him behind her.
“Father.”
The girl watched the Emperor’s entrance warily. She called him Father, yet the distance in her eyes was impossible to hide.
That look struck a nerve with the Emperor, filling him with anger. He began shouting at the white-haired girl.
“For this man, you’re actually willing to give up your status as a princess and elope with someone like him? Have you lost your mind?!”
The princess shook her head vigorously, provoked by his words.
“No. That’s not it. I only want to pursue my own love. I only want to live the life I choose.”
The Emperor was nearly beside himself with rage. A cold laugh escaped him.
“Good. Very good, my dearest daughter.”
The noble Emperor gave up trying to reason with his daughter. Looking past the princess, his gaze landed on the servant he loathed, the one who had stolen his daughter’s heart.
If not for the princess, the Emperor would never have deigned to speak to someone of such low status.
He gritted his teeth. His eyes darkened with menace, carrying the weight of a ruler’s pressure.
“Karan, it seems I underestimated you.”
“You’re quite capable. Let’s make a deal.”
The white-haired princess immediately sensed danger.
The Emperor slowly approached the two of them, his expression stern.
A warning the Emperor had once given her flashed through the princess’s mind. She bit her lip.
—”If, after today, I discover even the slightest sign that you’re planning to elope with that wretched servant again, I’ll have him killed. You know what the consequences will be.”
“How about this? As long as you leave my daughter, as long as you tell her that you don’t love her, that you will leave her sooner or later, that the two of you can never be together…”
“I’ll grant you land and more wealth than you could ever spend.”
“Your life will no longer be limited to that of a mere servant. You’ll gain your freedom. You’ll become a wealthy man. You can even take a wife.”
“All you have to do is leave her.”
“You know this as well as I do. She’s a princess, while you’re nothing more than a lowly servant. A noble princess is born with countless choices before her. One day, she may cast you aside without a second thought. Such are your stations. Such are your fates.
“So accept my offer. Let go of the princess. Spare the royal family. And I will give you the freedom you desire.”
The white-haired girl turned to him in panic.
The black-haired boy’s expression remained unchanged. He revealed neither his thoughts on the offer nor any trace of joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness.
That very indifference frightened the princess.
“No.”
Both of the white-haired girl’s hands clasped tightly around his.
“Don’t agree to it.”
Before the last word had fully fallen, the Emperor’s voice rang out again like a curse.
“If you refuse my offer, then I will kill you.”
The Emperor’s voice was as cold and merciless as Death itself.
The princess’s pale blue eyes trembled.
Never had she imagined that her father could be so heartless.
Why?
Why was he treating her this way?
She only wanted to pursue the person she loved.
Even the audience below the stage began to feel anxious for the pair.
“So this is the classic lovers-torn-apart-by-force scene every play needs?”
“He’s using the man’s life as leverage. At this point, no matter how much they love each other, they’ll have to separate.”
“But in dramas, aren’t there usually more scenes where they’d rather die than give in? I think there has to be another way out.”
“What do you think?”
Amid the hushed discussions, someone turned to Xilin with the question.
Xilin calmly watched the stage. His gaze lingered on Wuli and Glenn before he casually joined the speculation.
“The servant’s fate was sealed the moment he became entangled with the princess. There was never a path to survival for him.”
“As for the princess… that’s harder to say.”
His attention returned to the stage.
—Two roads once again appeared before Karan.
—One led to a new life, free from the shackles of servitude.
—The other led to death.
—For the sake of his own life, the choice should have been obvious.
The white-haired girl began to cry.
This was the second time she had cried.
Tears dampened her lashes, and grief spread across her beautiful face.
This scene was not in the script.
But this was how Wuli understood the character.
The princess was far too likely to break down here.
So she had improvised this moment.
“Karan, go.”
“I don’t want you to die.”
“…”
A collective gasp swept through the audience.
No one had expected this.
No one had expected the princess to be the one making the decision for him in the end.
Though, in their minds, the male lead would never throw away his life over something like this. No matter what, he would choose the first path.
“Xilin, your prediction was wrong. The male lead’s going to survive.”
Xilin merely smiled.
He said nothing.
Onstage, the black-haired boy’s dark red eyes flickered.
“Mm.”
Then he softly called her name.
“Viel.”
The black-haired boy leaned in and pressed a kiss to the princess’s hair.
He showed no overt emotion, yet somehow, everyone could feel the sorrow he was trying to conceal.
“If there is a next life, you should still be a princess. I’ll work hard enough to stand at your side.”
—Act Four—
—The princess and the servant parted ways.
—The princess’s life continued as it always had. She remained showered with endless affection and privilege. Completely cut off from her beloved, she never saw him again.
—Years later, on a day when the princess ventured into the countryside to clear her mind, she finally decided to look for him.
—Only to discover that what awaited her was nothing but a grave.
Wuli stared at the grave.
The name “Karan” was carved into the tombstone.
She fell into a long silence, standing there blankly, as though she no longer knew what she was supposed to do.
Offstage, the audience was stunned by the twist.
Wasn’t the whole point that the male lead would survive as long as the two of them separated?
Then what was this?
Someone was the first to recover and turned toward Xilin.
“So you were actually right. That servant really did die.”
“I was only making a casual guess. I’m surprised myself.”
Xilin smiled gently.
In truth, it was easy enough to understand.
He had simply placed himself in the Emperor’s position.
If he were the Emperor, then regardless of the circumstances, the servant would have to die.
The only question was when.
Separating the princess from the servant had merely been a means to an end.
The servant was always meant to die, preferably somewhere the princess would never see.
—The princess stood there for a very long time.
—She had always believed that after their parting, Karan had gone on to live a happy life.
—Perhaps he had even married, perhaps he had children of his own.
—She had never imagined that from the moment he left her, he had been left with nothing.
—After learning that she had been deceived, the princess returned to the palace.
—A dagger was clenched in her hand. Her eyes were red with hatred as she confronted her father.
—”You said it yourself.”
Wuli’s face twisted with anguish and resentment.
Her eyes were red as she delivered each line word by word.
With every sentence, she stepped closer to him.
She was no longer the naive princess she had once been.
Long ago, she had found the courage to raise a blade and fight back.
But it was already too late.
“You said it yourself.”
“You said that as long as Karan left me, you would spare him.”
The Emperor had never expected his daughter to lose her reason to this extent.
She was actually threatening him with a weapon.
The sheer absurdity made him laugh.
“Princess, oh Princess, you still don’t understand.”
“The moment that servant tried to seduce you, he was doomed to die.”
Those with wicked intentions had to die.
Those unworthy of their station had to die.
“Let it go.”
The Emperor let out a sigh.
“He’s already dead. The sooner you move on, the better it will be for you.”
Silence…
A long, suffocating silence…
The Emperor extended a hand toward her.
“My dear child.”
The white-haired girl raised her dagger and stepped back, avoiding the hand he offered.
Her eyes were filled with boundless hatred.
Never before had the Emperor seen the princess look at him like this.
“Your Majesty, you’re right.”
“You’ve always believed that once something has happened, no amount of regret can change it, so it doesn’t matter how anyone feels afterward.”
“I don’t know what I am to you, as your daughter.”
“Karan may have been a servant, but he was also a living, breathing person. He was the man I loved.”
“And you… not only separated us, you took his life.”
“You never once considered my feelings. Even after we made every possible concession, you still insisted on driving us to destruction.”
Wuli delivered the entire speech in a single breath.
Then her gaze shifted.
It settled on the dagger in her hand.
The razor-sharp blade reflected a cold gleam, its light mirrored in the girl’s pale blue eyes, veiling them beneath an unreadable haze.
The Emperor saw the expression in the princess’s eyes.
For the first time, he truly felt the depth of her emotions.
“Viel…”
Then, in the very next moment, the white-haired princess suddenly laughed.
It was a laugh filled with despair and agony, yet tears glimmered in her eyes beneath the stage lights.
Then her tone changed.
She spoke a line no one had expected.
“I still remember the last thing he said to me.”
Wuli flexed the wrist that held the dagger.
—”If there is a next life, you should still be a princess. I’ll work hard enough to stand at your side.”
“What are you doing?!” the Emperor cried out.
‘If there is a next life, I don’t want to be a princess at all.’
The audience collectively sucked in a sharp breath.
That was what the princess was thinking.
In the next instant, blood stained the entire stage.