DEG - Chapter 21
Chapter 21: Yes, We Were Married
“So you lied to her.”
“You lied, claiming your position in the Luo Family was unstable, that those idiotic siblings of yours were framing you, attacking you, and trying to usurp your power.”
“You said your life was fraught with danger, that you didn’t even dare to refuse the advances of a down-and-out prince.”
“Qi Yi’s pursuit troubled you, so you asked her, ‘Can you pretend to be my girlfriend?’”
“‘Help me get rid of them once and for all.’”
Luo Nanqiu tilted her head to look at Luo Eighteen. The mockery faded, and her violet eyes filled with a deep sorrow.
“You were too proud, thinking you were omnipotent.”
“You played them all like fiddles, believing you would be the final winner, that everything you wanted would fall into your hands.”
“You never expected that the little prince, because of two tea parties with you, would truly believe you were trapped in a predicament. In order to truly latch onto you, he decided to weaken the forces around you.”
Hearing this, Luo Eighteen now fully understood what had happened in the past.
“Shut up!” She could no longer suppress the shrillness in her voice.
Her chest heaved violently, her eyes filled with an indescribable hatred as she looked at Luo Nanqiu.
Luo Nanqiu’s red lips curled slightly. “Isn’t this what you wanted?”
She cupped her own cheek, and a tear silently slid down her fair, porcelain-like face.
Her lips were curled in a strange smile, her violet eyes rational to the point of madness.
“Charging ahead when you shouldn’t have.”
“Looking down on everyone.”
“Isn’t that you?”
Luo Eighteen subconsciously took two steps back. “I would never do that!”
She shook her head violently. “Never!!”
But Luo Nanqiu just looked at her. That nearly identical face was right in front of her, that person had the gaze of someone who had been through it all, someone who could easily see through all her thoughts and ideas.
Someone who knew her baseness and the dark desires in her deepest heart.
After all…
She had already experienced it all, failed, and learned from it.
But Luo Nanqiu didn’t listen to her protests. Her gaze suddenly drifted far away, landing on Jiang Xun’s motionless fingers as the corners of her lips curved up slightly.
She spoke of the past as if torturing herself.
“So Qi Yi killed Jiang Xun.”
“I told her long ago that the Imperial Military was nothing more than the emperor’s private guard, but she still clung to some overly idealistic notion of protecting the people.”
“See? On the very first day of the military academy, during the physical exam, they stole her fresh flesh and blood and made a slew of clones.”
“Qi Yi even fed her clones to the Insect Mother for a long time to ensure it would attack her.”
She spoke one heart-piercing word after another, and Luo Eighteen didn’t know how Luo Nanqiu could say it all so calmly.
She couldn’t listen anymore.
She couldn’t listen to another word!
Countless puppet threads formed, gathering together as if woven into a silk scarf, and she tightly covered Luo Nanqiu’s mouth.
Only at this moment did she understand why Luo Nanqiu said she herself was the main culprit.
If only she had been able to stop Jiang Xun from going to the military academy.
If only she had confessed her feelings sooner.
If only she hadn’t charged ahead at that time.
If only she hadn’t been so arrogant and underestimated her enemies.
If only she had extended her business into the military sooner.
If only she had known to accompany Jiang Xun on that mission, instead of waiting happily at home, dreaming about that public announcement.
…
But there were no ‘if onlys’.
No, it was the maddened Luo Nanqiu who had no ‘if onlys’.
Not her.
“Thank you for summarizing so much for me,” Luo Eighteen said, her voice stiff and harsh.
A hint of hatred also appeared in her eyes.
“But I’m not like you.”
“I haven’t experienced all that yet.”
“I can avoid much, much more misfortune in the future.”
She spoke harsh words.
She still believed she was the one most suited for Jiang Xun.
Even if her future self tried to compete with her, it wouldn’t be allowed.
But because the silvery-white ability threads were in the way.
She couldn’t see the curl of Luo Nanqiu’s lips.
This time, it was more genuine than ever before.
Clearly, she, who had experienced all this sorrow, was the final winner.
She lowered her gaze to Jiang Xun’s motionless hand, thinking that her effort to feign sleep was also extremely cute.
She recalled the video she had just watched.
Thank goodness for the NPC story system she had specially set up to help players immerse themselves in the world.
Otherwise, how would she have known.
That Jiang Xun actually liked her a little too.
Although she didn’t know exactly how much.
But as long as there was a little bit.
That was enough.
The moonlight fell on Luo Nanqiu. With no resistance, she looked somewhat wretched, bound by the puppet threads.
Luo Nanqiu’s gaze fell on Luo Eighteen’s face again.
Although Luo Eighteen, who had been struck by intense emotions, was expressionless, she knew she was forcing herself to be calm.
She felt like talking to Jiang Xun now.
So when would Jiang Xun wake up?
Luo Nanqiu thought, her expression as she looked at Luo Eighteen somewhat inscrutable.
Knowing herself all too well, Luo Eighteen was especially clear on what Luo Nanqiu was thinking right now.
Her thin eyelids lifted, her eyes holding a chill and mockery that saw through everything. “Are you not going to continue feigning magnanimity now?”
Luo Eighteen had also regained some of her senses. Although the resentment in her heart was hard to quell, she still said, “That’s great.”
“You can be considered to have paved the way for my success.”
“As the main culprit in all this, you’d best withdraw on your own. Don’t let her find out the truth and implicate me!”
“You damned sinner.”
The hatred in her voice was too obvious.
So obvious that Jiang Xun, who had been playing dead, finally couldn’t listen anymore.
Although she knew perfectly well that Nanqiu was deliberately telling her the truth.
Pretending to know nothing at all.
But Luo Eighteen’s last sentence let her know just how deep Luo Nanqiu’s self-hatred was.
It was all about things that weren’t her fault.
Why torture yourself?
You’re already so full of guilt.
Jiang Xun sensed Luo Nanqiu’s self-destructive mentality.
I can’t have just come back only for Nanqiu to go and commit suicide.
Jiang Xun couldn’t help but let her thoughts run wild.
She’d have to make me taste the pain of losing my dearest friend too.
No, no.
Absolutely not.
So Jiang Xun sat right up and said anxiously, “I don’t think that, I don’t think that at all.”
“My death was because I was careless. It has nothing to do with you.”
Jiang Xun spoke in a hurry, then opened her eyes and saw her surroundings clearly.
She saw Luo Nanqiu bound hand and foot by puppet threads, sitting helplessly on the bed. The silver puppet threads, like ribbons, were pulled tight against her chin.
She saw the corners of Luo Nanqiu’s eyes were tinged crimson from crying, her usually neat black hair now somewhat disheveled, falling haphazardly against her fair cheeks.
It looked like she had been bullied.
Her imperious Eldest Miss had been bullied.
Even though Luo Nanqiu only threw a casual glance her way, Jiang Xun could sense an air of pitiful fragility about her, easily stirring all of Jiang Xun’s protective instincts.
The bound Eldest Miss.
Jiang Xun’s heart stopped for a moment.
After her mind went blank, the first sentence that appeared in her head was.
This is just too pitiful.
She swallowed stiffly, trying to moisten her dry throat.
Beneath a heart full of pity, something strange was also suppressed, though she didn’t know what.
“You!” Responding to her was Luo Eighteen’s incredulous voice.
She pointed at Luo Nanqiu.
“You didn’t even shield her!!!” she said word by word, her chest heaving violently, showing her shock.
“How could you…”
“How could you dare!!” The eighteen-year-old Eldest Miss, who didn’t even dare to confess, simply couldn’t understand why Luo Nanqiu would say all those sordid words.
Calmly, nonchalantly, as if Jiang Xun didn’t exist.
Wasn’t she afraid Jiang Xun would stop loving her?
Wasn’t she afraid Jiang Xun would find it unacceptable and drift away from her?
Luo Eighteen’s gaze then fell upon Jiang Xun.
Although she had always known Jiang Xun was a bit dense, she perceived it with particular clarity now.
Luo Nanqiu confessed right in front of you, and even told you who the real culprit was right in front of you.
Aren’t either of those two things more explosive, more important than Luo Nanqiu’s current emotions?
How could Jiang Xun just skip over those two bombshells and go straight to comforting Luo Nanqiu’s emotions?!
Amidst her disbelief, Luo Eighteen also felt a strange sense of joy.
Although she knew this wasn’t desirable, and Jiang Xun was even siding with that Luo Nanqiu who was playing pitiful, a strange sweetness still emerged in Luo Eighteen’s heart.
That feeling of, ‘No matter what, you are the only one I care about most.’
If only Jiang Xun were comforting her right now.
She continued to watch Jiang Xun’s actions, a certain inexpressible anticipation in her eyes.
Then she saw Luo Nanqiu raise her eyes to look at her, her gaze sweeping from her to Jiang Xun, before looking down at the bedsheets in disappointment, her pitiful air growing even stronger.
Luo Eighteen: ……
She really hadn’t expected her future self to be a bit of a green tea.
The key thing was, Jiang Xun, after watching this whole series of actions from Luo Nanqiu, seemed to actually fall for it.
She saw Jiang Xun’s gaze land on her, those gray eyes filled with a pleading look.
Luo Eighteen instantly understood what Jiang Xun meant.
Fine, fine, fine.
I never thought acting like a green tea and playing pitiful would be so effective.
I’ve learned something!
My future self has given me a new idea!
Luo Eighteen returned to the card indignantly.
After returning, the card itself even bounced twice indignantly, as if expressing its anger.
Luo Nanqiu let out a slight sigh of relief.
Although both of them were Nanqiu.
But when the two of them met, they were completely unable to coexist peacefully.
Jiang Xun felt a sense of helplessness she had never experienced before, as well as an inexpressible guilt.
Why was it like this? Jiang Xun couldn’t say.
She could only see that because Luo Eighteen had returned to the card, the puppet threads on Luo Nanqiu disappeared.
But the tight threads had left clear marks on the Eldest Miss’s delicate skin.
Red marks crisscrossed her wrists, her ankles, and even the corners of her lips.
Her crimson lips pursed in discomfort, her tongue gently licking them, as if tending to a wound. But because this added a moist sheen to her lips, it also added a touch of allure.
Her violet eyes lifted gently, her gaze landing on her, both near and far.
It inexplicably reminded Jiang Xun of the phrase ‘seductive eyes like silk threads’.
Was the Eldest Miss trying to seduce her.
Jiang Xun thought belatedly.
But her hands had already very consciously started rubbing the red marks on the Eldest Miss’s wrists.
Jiang Xun abruptly lowered her eyes.
She tried to focus her thoughts on just when the red marks on the Eldest Miss’s hands would fade.
“How much did you hear?” she heard the Eldest Miss’s soft voice.
“Not much, really.” She decided to lie.
“When you said your past self charged ahead.”
“Did you fail at an investment? How did you charge ahead?” Jiang Xun asked, pretending to know nothing.
Unexpectedly, Luo Nanqiu’s crimson lips curled.
“Yes, we were married.”
The words she spoke were nothing short of shocking.
Jiang Xun: ……
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