“We have plenty of time ahead of us“?
Wuli was still coughing. Glenn hadn’t held back when he attacked her. Distinct red finger marks had already appeared across her fair neck.
And now, over the very marks he had left behind, he was placing the red gemstone pendant around her neck.
That “we have plenty of time ahead of us” sounded less like a promise and more like a taunt. Or a curse.
Suppressing her anger, Wuli looked coldly at the man before her.
Glenn paid no attention to what Wuli thought of him now. Plenty of people disliked him. As long as he was happy, that was all that mattered. So he simply continued smiling. Straightening up, he extended a hand toward Wuli, like an invitation to an alliance. Beneath the lights, the black-haired young man’s crimson eyes flashed suddenly, while the black leather glove covering his hand looked cold to the extreme in the reflected light.
Wuli suppressed another cough. Her light blue eyes watched him carefully, making sure Glenn would not try to kill her again.
She did need to get up, but she had no intention of accepting Glenn’s help.
Ignoring the hand the black-haired young man had offered, Wuli braced herself against the wall and rose calmly to her feet. She smoothed the wrinkles in her dress.
Throughout the entire process, her eyes never once rested on the black-haired young man.
Not even for a moment.
The gloved hand reached out and touched no one, left hanging alone in the air.
In the end, the black-haired young man merely shrugged and withdrew it, as though he had accepted the reality of the situation.
No matter how hard Wuli tried to suppress her emotions, she could not change the fact that she was in terrible condition.
Her blue-and-white gown had gained stubborn creases from the struggle, impossible to smooth away. Her white hair, which had been meticulously styled at the beginning of the evening, had become disheveled. Most striking of all was the alarming red bruise around her neck.
“In that case, if there’s nothing else, I’ll be leaving first.”
The white-haired girl’s voice still carried a trace of hoarseness. Without caring whether he approved or not, she walked around the black-haired young man and turned to leave.
Just as she was about to step off the rooftop, Glenn spoke.
“Wuli, Wuli. How is it that you’ve suddenly stopped being clever?”
The black-haired young man’s tone was teasing. His polished shoes struck the ground with crisp, measured sounds as he circled around to her side. Only then did Wuli look at him.
Ice-blue eyes met deep crimson.
The white-haired girl’s eyes were blazing with anger. Though her actions remained calm, the eyes were impossible to disguise.
The black-haired young man should have been angered by the disrespect in her gaze.
Instead, he was in an exceptionally good mood.
The smile on his lips did not fade. If anything, it only deepened.
“In your current state, all you’ll accomplish by going out there is embarrassing the Sinclair family.”
He heard the sound of the white-haired girl grinding her teeth.
After all, he knew perfectly well that her present disheveled appearance was entirely his doing.
“Perhaps what Miss Sinclair needs right now is for her fiancé to escort her back to the Duke’s Residence.”
“…”
She wanted to tell him to get lost.
“Your concern is unnecessary.”
Wuli’s voice rang out at the exact same moment as another voice.
Startled, Wuli froze for a moment. Following the source of the voice with her eyes, she immediately met the gaze of a white-haired young man standing outside the rooftop door.
The white-haired young man’s expression was indifferent. With the light from inside at his back, he slowly approached the two of them. His gaze swept over them before finally settling on the black-haired young man. There was neither respect for the black-haired youth nor fear of his status in his eyes.
A showdown!
The excitement made Wuli start coughing again. The coughs were low and muffled, only to be forcibly suppressed at the end.
Shuen saw it.
At a glance, he noticed the red marks on Wuli’s neck. Surprise flickered through his eyes as he raised an eyebrow at the black-haired young man.
The black-haired youth had been smiling moments ago, but after being interrupted by Shuen, his expression darkened.
The white-haired young man seemed entirely unconcerned.
He hardly regarded Glenn as worthy of attention.
Nothing more than a discarded pawn of the royal family.
In the end, Shuen’s gaze settled on Wuli. He gave her a look of concern, flawless and perfectly measured, as though they were a pair of exceptionally close siblings.
In truth, Wuli knew better than anyone that Shuen never displayed their poor relationship in front of outsiders. This look of concern carried no real weight whatsoever.
Still, compared to Glenn, she did prefer her brother.
Facing Wuli, Shuen extended his hand.
“Come on. The carriage is ready.”
Shuen’s hand was almost perfect. Long fingers, distinct knuckles, and an unmistakable strength. At this moment, it also carried a strangely reassuring quality.
Wuli placed her hand in his.
The black-haired young man’s expression became a spectacle to behold.
His gaze locked onto the hand Shuen was holding, his dark crimson eyes fixed on the sight as though they wanted to bore straight through it.
Wuli had just rejected the hand he had offered her.
‘Does she hate me?’
That was what Glenn thought.
Shuen’s palm was dry and warm. The instant Wuli’s hand rested in his, his fingers curled around hers and held on tightly.
The girl’s hand was soft and delicate, just like the girl herself.
Shuen drew Wuli to his side. With a hint of sharpness hidden beneath his calm demeanor, he exchanged a glance with the black-haired young man standing nearby and revealed a smile whose meaning was impossible to discern.
He was smiling, yet it looked more like a provocation.
The black-haired young man’s dark crimson eyes remained fixed on the brother and sister.
The Sinclair family truly had produced quite the pair of siblings.
Heh.
Shuen quietly guided Wuli away from the crowd and successfully escorted her into the carriage.
In the game, Wuli had played through this scene countless times before finally clearing it.
She was either strangled to death or murdered by some other means.
If she died, the Sinclair family would send someone to collect her body the next day, and the player would reload a save.
If she survived, Wuli would remain on the rooftop in a daze until a servant eventually found her.
Not a single version of the story had ended with Shuen taking her away like this.
Wuli had only just returned from death.
The red marks left by the strangulation still lingered around her neck.
They were painfully conspicuous. The white-haired young man’s gaze kept drifting toward them. Wuli became increasingly uncomfortable under his scrutiny. Just as she could no longer resist raising a hand to cover her neck, the white-haired young man seated beside her spoke in an amused tone.
“I never expected you to survive.”
Wuli froze.
For a moment, something flashed through her mind.
“You said something like that to Glenn, yet after hearing it, he still let you go.”
Shuen’s voice carried a faint note of curiosity.
“‘How can the Duke’s daughter be judged by anyone else?’”
“I really underestimated you.”
Wuli’s hand, which had been covering her neck, froze for a moment before slowly lowering.
“Brother, you’re the one who told His Highness.”
Wuli stared at the man before her, eyes widening.
“How could it have been me? I’m not that bored.”
Wuli was stunned.
‘Is that so?’
The voice from her memory fell heavily into her ears.
When Shuen had spoken those words, he had clearly been looking at her.
No.
He had not been looking at her.
His gaze had been directed at her, yet it had landed elsewhere.
It had landed on…
…the real informant.
Wuli bit her lower lip.
The white-haired young man’s expression remained unchanged. His deep blue gaze stayed fixed on the white-haired girl’s face as he tried to uncover the reason she had survived something he had never expected her to survive.
His own sister had not only escaped his plans, she had also escaped Glenn’s.
That made the matter exceptionally intriguing.
Shuen’s gaze remained on Wuli without blinking, as though he wanted to see straight through her soul.
In the past, he had thought his sister was numb, rigid, little more than a walking corpse.
As though she had no thoughts of her own.
But now, standing before him was a Wuli who had methods, a temper, and schemes of her own.
It was almost as if someone else had taken over her body…
Wuli said nothing.
The moment she realized Shuen had manipulated her as well, she lost all energy and motivation to fight back.
As expected of a game that had angered her so much she left a negative review.
If the male leads were normal, that would be the real miracle.
In the silence, the rumbling sound of the carriage rolling forward echoed through the cabin.
Then, as the white-haired young man’s gaze settled on something, his eyes instantly darkened.
He reached out.
Before Wuli could react, a hand pressed against her neck.
?!
Ignoring Wuli’s widened eyes, Shuen hooked a finger beneath something and drew out a delicate chain.
The chain gleamed silver.
As it emerged, a ruby pendant followed with it.
It was the red pendant Glenn had given her.
Wuli’s heart skipped a beat, and she hurriedly looked at Shuen’s expression.
There was no trace of a smile on his face.
His deep blue eyes were fixed firmly on the red pendant he had drawn out.
That vivid red reflected in his dark blue pupils like a thorn driven deep into them.