"Shi Mei!" Lian Hua stopped her feet right in front of Shi Mei who looked at her with a surprised face. The other girls were also surprised to see her there, all of them, she recognized these girls. They always came to visit the palace when there was a celebration, they would then surround her, play, tell stories with her.
They would always laugh at everything she said, and they would always smile when they met. They always had, but not now.
"Shi Mei! A cheap maid came to seduce Prince Zifei, and now she claims to be a princess! She made His Majesty banish me from the palace! He also banished me to the Borders! You must know how terrifying the Borders are, right?!" Lian Hua said in one breath.
The smile on Lian Hua's face disappeared after watching the girls whispering to each other, and also Shi Mei who looked up and down without hiding the disgust in her eyes.
"What's a criminal like you doing here? Did you escape from prison?" After a long silence, Shi Mei finally spoke sarcastically.
"Prisoner? Shi Mei, they will take me to the Border if I don't escape!" Lian Hua stomped her feet in annoyance.
"Then? You're a criminal. How could you pretend to be a princess for sixteen years? I can also send you to prison for your bad words to Her Highness Princess Ying." Lian Hua stared at Shi Mei in disbelief. Shi Mei had never spoken to her like this, Shi Mei was her best friend, she had always spoken politely and gently to her.
"Get out of here, you're making us late to meet Princess Ying. I'll also call the imperial guards. You can't wander around like this. You'll bring your low-class disease to us." The girls around Shi Mei laughed along, mocking Lian Hua. Lian Hua's temper was also ignited.
"You! How dare you speak to me like that! I could have your father dismissed from his position and you end up homeless!" Lian Hua's wrist was caught just as she was about to slap Shi Mei's face. The noble girl slapped her hand away and pushed her to the ground.
"Lian Hua, wake up, you're no longer a princess. I've had enough of you. I had to endure because you were a princess, but now you're just a homeless child. I'm so grateful that I don't have to pretend anymore when I meet you, pretend to be your friend." Shi Mei gestured to the other girls. "I don't care, even if you go to hell, I really don't care." She said with a disgusted face and a flick of her sleeve.
"Guards, drag this criminal back to the detention center. I can't wait to see her paraded through the streets tomorrow morning. Hah… that'll be the best day of my life!" Shi Mei no longer looked at Lian Hua, even as the guards lifted her up forcefully. "Get your filthy hands off me! Let go!" She struggled, but she didn't have the energy to even try. Her stomach hurt, her legs hurt, her body hurt, her heart hurt.
Shi Mei was her best friend, and now that friendship turned out to be a pretense when she thought their closeness was genuine. "I'm sure the king and queen have long wanted to kick her out of the palace." The words from the crowd echoed in the woman's ears.
Even if she wasn't a princess, how could her parents have the heart to exile her to the Borderlands? She wasn't the one who wanted to be exchanged, it wasn't her fault, it wasn't her wish, but why was she being punished? For sixteen years she had lived in the palace, the daughter of the king and queen, born from the same womb as the Crown Prince, and then overnight they had simply thrown her away.
For sixteen years, they were family, but why... even though she wasn't their biological daughter, at least they had already loved her, right?
"I feel so grateful that I don't have to pretend anymore when I meet you. Pretend to be your friend."
Is all the love, attention, hugs, and kisses she's gotten all this time also just a pretense?
For the first time since that night, the night her entire world was shattered and turned upside down, she cried, sobbing. Her heart broke as she realized that no one was sincere to her. Not even Wang Zifei, not even Shi Mei, her best friend, but even her family, her parents, and her older brothers hated her. All this time, they had only been pretending.
Lian Hua sobbed in her detention cell. She was alone there. She hugged her body in the cold night wind. She cried over the pain and devastation her heart and feelings felt. She cried nonstop until she finally fell asleep, exhausted from crying.
...
The next morning, the guard woke her up. "Get up. The journey to the Border will begin today."
The guard looked at her with pity. He had heard Lian Hua crying all night. The crying reminded him of his own daughter, but he was only a guard, and he couldn't do anything but give her breakfast that morning. "Eat. You need it." The guard said again and left, leaving Lian Hua looking deathly pale.
Lian Hua stared at the bowl in front of her. It was just a thick, white porridge. It wasn't the food she'd eaten last week. She'd requested lotus root and meat soup the other day, and her mother had promised her that she would enjoy it today. Because today, the second prince would return with the best lotus root from Bei City.
Lian Hua took the spoon from the bowl and slowly ate the porridge. That morning, she cried again in silence, eating the porridge that was far from delicious on her tongue.
..
Her hands were tied like a prisoner, like a criminal. Besides, Madam Shen was in the same predicament. They hadn't spoken a word to each other; she was still deeply affected by her husband's death and her daughter's departure, not to mention her imminent exile to the Borders. She wouldn't be surprised if Madam Shen eventually went insane. Moreover, neither of them cared about the other's fate.
That morning, it wasn't just them who would be traveling. Several other people who would also be exiled were also waiting for their fate with a listless and resigned face. But for Lian Hua, her pride was still the most important thing, even though people cursed, even though the affection she had received so far was just a pretense, even though her biological mother hated her, even though she tried to hold back her tears, her head was still standing tall, her gaze still straight ahead.
It was then that she saw a man standing there, dressed like a typical nobleman. Eyes that instantly captivated, a face that would forever remain etched in her memory. The figure of her first love stood there, her eyes piercing, and their gazes met.
Lian Hua approached, standing in front of the young man.
.....