Leena's fingers trembled as she folded another dress into the small travel trunk.
The soft rustle of fabric was the only sound in the room, but her heart beat like a war drum.
She wasn't just packing to leave the estate.
She was leaving the empire.
Enough.
Enough of schemes and whispers, poisoned tea and hidden blades.
Enough of Lady Jiang's cruelty.
Enough of a prince whose intentions she could no longer read.
She wanted to vanish before this world devoured her completely.
Her gaze drifted to the jade ring on her finger—the ring he had given her.
Slowly, she slid it free. It lay warm in her palm, a tiny piece of everything she had once dared to hope for.
Am I doing the right thing?
The thought lingered like smoke, bitter and painful.
At last she set the ring on the desk, where the light could catch it, and forced herself to look away.
A relic of something beautiful and impossible.
She thought of Maya. Of Chen Yu. Of Bao Wen.
They deserved at least a farewell.
Taking up a brush, she began a letter in shaky Mandarin—crooked strokes, but enough for Chen Yu and Bao Wen to read.
Please forgive me.
The door slammed open.
The brush slipped from her fingers, bleeding a dark blot across the page.
Lady Jiang swept in like a storm, skirts whispering, eyes gleaming with a predatory shine. Her maid hovered at the threshold, pale and silent.
"I heard you were lucky last night…" Her voice slid across the room like a snake.
Leena rose slowly, forcing her knees to steady. "What do you want?"
Lady Jiang's laugh was low and poisonous. "I want you to stay away from the prince. We're getting married."
The words struck like a blade.
Married…
Hope cracked inside Leena's chest. No matter how she had tried to bury her feelings, some fragile dream had survived—until now.
Lady Jiang stepped closer, one manicured finger tracing Leena's cheek as if she were a doll to be inspected.
"And we both know you're unworthy of him. After all, I already handed you to that fool Hao Rui."
Her hand shot forward, clamping around Leena's throat.
"You're nothing but a filthy whore. Worthless now."
Leena's tears burned—not from the choking, but from the cruelty of the words.
Even if Hao Rui had not fully harmed her, something sacred inside her had been stolen.
"You can marry the prince," she rasped. "I don't want him."
Because it no longer mattered. She was leaving.
Lady Jiang's nails bit deeper. "Liar."
A sharp thud cut through the tension.
The three women turned.
The Seventh Prince stood in the doorway.
At his feet lay a fallen box, a pair of exquisite shoes spilled across the floor.
Behind him, Jun froze mid-step, a rainbow bouquet of flowers clutched awkwardly in his arms.
Lady Jiang's grip loosened in an instant. She released Leena with a mock-graceful flick, as though they had been sharing a joke.
Li Wei's eyes narrowed, the cold fury behind them enough to freeze blood.
He stepped forward, each stride echoing like a warning bell.
"Is it true?" His voice was ice. "Did she spend the night with that man?"
Lady Jiang seized the lifeline. "Yes! I witnessed it myself!"
Leena's stomach dropped.
This—this was the nightmare she had dreaded.
But what did it matter now?
He was destined to marry Lady Jiang.
She was only a foreign girl who would soon disappear.
"You saw it?" Li Wei asked again, sharper.
"Yes, Your Highness!" Lady Jiang jabbed a finger toward Leena, her smile cruel. "She's a whore who crawls from man to man. That is her true face!"
A faint smile flickered across Li Wei's lips—cold, deadly—and vanished.
Then he moved.
In a single breath he crossed the room, his hand snapping around Lady Jiang's throat.
"And you watched?" His voice trembled with barely caged rage. "You allowed her to be dishonored?"
Lady Jiang clawed at his wrist, eyes bulging. "S-she wanted it—I—"
"LIAR!"
The roar shook the rafters. Birds scattered from the roof.
"I heard your words," he thundered. "You gave her to that man. You hurt her. You dishonored her."
His second hand joined the first, squeezing tighter, face a mask of murderous intent.
"You hurt her… you hurt me. And those who dare harm royal blood—deserve to die," Li Wei snarled, his voice low and lethal.
Lady Jiang's lips turned blue as her maid shrieked and fell to her knees.
"Stop!" Leena's voice cracked as she lunged forward, pulling at his arms. "You'll kill her!"
"I intend to," he growled, grip unrelenting.
"You can't!" Her fingers clawed at his sleeve, panic surging.
"I'll prove you wrong!" Li Wei's voice rose, like a blade unsheathed.
"Jun—help me!" she cried.
Jun hesitated, sweat beading on his brow. "Your Highness, if you kill her, the Empress will retaliate. The court will—"
"Yes! Think of your future!" Leena cried, desperation tearing through her. "You won't have one if you do this!"
"Then I'll die with her!" Li Wei roared.
"Then I'll die with you!" Leena shouted back, tears streaking her face.
The words burst from her like a prayer—and struck like lightning.
Li Wei froze.
For the first time, his grip faltered. Her voice, that vow, was louder than the pounding of his blood. He turned his head, and in her tear-streaked face, he saw his only light—the only reason he fought, the only reason he breathed.
Slowly, painfully, he loosened his grip.
Lady Jiang collapsed, coughing and sobbing, her maid scrambling to drag her upright.
"Get out," Li Wei said, each syllable like a blade.
They fled without a backward glance.
"Jun. You too. No one enters."
Jun bowed and shut the door, leaving the chamber heavy with silence.
Only two remained.
Li Wei, chest rising with suppressed fury.
Leena, heart pounding, throat raw, her own tears wet against his sleeve.
They stared at each other, the air between them charged with everything unsaid.
No schemes.
No titles.
Only a prince burning with rage—and the foreign girl who had stopped him with a single vow.