Rebirth: After Becoming the Villainess-Chapter 322: You Said It Yourself, That Is My Princess Consort
"Gu Ha."
The moment Zhou Junlin spoke, Gu Ha seized her jaw, forcing her mouth open to prevent her from biting her tongue to commit suicide.
Only then did the sight seem to register with Zhen Niang. Her eyes, fixed on Xi Que, turned faintly red.
"Xi Que! What are you doing?"
"My lady..." Xi Que sobbed. "You’ll be so lonely on your journey. Please, let Xi Que go with you."
"You fool!"
Zhou Junlin clasped his hands behind his back and watched the mistress and her maid with cold eyes. "I don’t need to explain how important Huaxu Square is, do I?" he said icily. "I entrusted such a vital place to you, yet for your own selfish desires, you were willing to destroy my life’s work. Zhen Niang, you truly deserve a thousand deaths."
Zhen Niang bit her lip and lifted her head to meet his gaze. "I know that a thousand deaths would not be enough to atone for my guilt. Even being ground to dust would not erase my sins. But may I be so bold as to ask Your Highness a question? Did you truly entrust Huaxu Square to me because of my exceptional abilities?"
Zhou Junlin’s expression remained glacial. "What are you trying to say?"
Zhen Niang gave a wretched smile. "What could be more reliable than a subordinate infatuated with her own master? Still, I have no regrets. Whatever the reason, I have finally gotten what I wished for."
With that, she suddenly stared straight at the man before her, speaking each word with deliberation. "Your Highness, my feelings for you... do you truly not know what they are?"
Zhou Junlin continued to watch her, his face a mask of indifference, showing not the slightest ripple of emotion.
"For so many years, as you watched this face become more and more like *hers*, how could you not have known?" A smile played on Zhen Niang’s lips as she let out a faint sigh. "Your seemingly unintentional moments of gentleness... to me, they became a fatal poison."
She swayed as she rose to her feet. She straightened her hair at her temples, reinserted the pearl hairpin, and lifted her head. Once more, she was the stunningly beautiful proprietress of Huaxu Square.
"Someone once told me it was best to just be myself."
Her expression was as radiant as a spring blossom as she gave Zhou Junlin a graceful curtsy. "I will take my leave now. I pray Your Highness takes care of himself."
With that, she plunged a dagger into her own neck and pulled it out—
Blood sprayed forth—
"My lady!!"
Xi Que struggled, and even Gu Ha was frozen in shock.
He was accustomed to life and death, his own hands having taken countless lives, yet in the blink of an eye, a woman as beautiful as a flower had collapsed into a pool of her own blood. For a woman to possess such deadly resolve... even Gu Ha was shaken.
His grip slackened involuntarily. Xi Que stumbled forward, frantically pressing her hands to Zhen Niang’s neck. "My lady! My lady!"
Blood streamed from Zhen Niang’s mouth, the ghastly red making the smile on her lips seem all the more dazzlingly beautiful.
Her gaze remained fixed on one person, from her first breath to her last.
With great effort, Zhen Niang pulled a pink, lotus-embroidered sachet from her robes. It was already mostly stained red with blood.
She held up the sachet with a trembling hand, her vision blurring with tears.
Xi Que, of course, recognized it. She scrambled to kneel before Zhou Junlin and kowtowed heavily. "Your Highness!" she cried. "My lady embroidered this sachet herself, stitch by stitch! Please... please accept it!"
Zhou Junlin silently lowered his gaze, then turned his back.
"Your Highness..."
Xi Que started to plead again, but suddenly let out a grief-stricken shriek. "My lady!!"
Zhou Junlin clenched his fists and slowly closed his eyes.
The night had deepened, heavy with dew, as Zhou Junlin returned to E Mansion in his carriage.
The carriage stopped.
Gu Ha turned and announced to the person inside, "Your Highness, we’ve arrived."
After a long moment, a voice from within finally responded, "Mm."
Zhou Junlin pushed open the carriage door and stepped out. He walked slowly into the mansion, but paused on the way back to his personal courtyard.
He glanced toward his courtyard, then abruptly turned and walked straight to the garden, where he sat down in a square pavilion.
It was late autumn, and the garden’s osmanthus trees were in full bloom. Yet their rich fragrance could do nothing to mask the lingering scent of blood on the sachet in his hand.
He stared at it quietly, scenes flashing before his eyes one after another.
’Where is it? Hmm... I’m sure I saw it...’
A rustling sound came from the bushes.
Zhou Junlin put the sachet away and turned his head toward the sound.
Soon, Song Lianhe emerged from the foliage. "How could it just disappear?" she muttered.
Gu Ha was nearby. How could he possibly allow her to disturb the Prince? He was about to step forward and shoo her away when Zhou Junlin let out a deliberate, soft cough.
Gu Ha froze, then slowly backed away.
"Zhou Junlin?"
Standing amidst the bushes, Song Lianhe looked at him suspiciously. "What are you doing here?"
Zhou Junlin rested his head on one hand, looking somewhat weary. "I should be the one asking you that."
"Oh, I’m looking for Five-split yellow gentian."
He raised an eyebrow. "What’s that?"
"It’s..." Song Lianhe’s eyes darted around for a moment before she broke into a wide grin and beckoned to him. "You look pretty bored. Want to help me search?"
’Pretty bored?’
He scoffed. "You’ve got some nerve, ordering a Prince around."
But Song Lianhe wasn’t intimidated by his act. "Fine, don’t help then," she muttered under her breath. "What’s with the high-and-mighty Prince act?"
’No point talking to someone so uncooperative.’ Deciding she was done with him, Song Lianhe immediately crouched down again to search for the Five-split yellow gentian.
A moment later, someone came to stand beside her.
She glanced sideways at him. Seeing him just standing there, she couldn’t help but roll her eyes. "If you’re going to help, then get moving. Don’t just stand there like a statue!"
After a moment of silence, Zhou Junlin asked, "...What is Five-split yellow gentian?"
"Five-split yellow gentian is incredibly precious. It’s very effective for treating snake venom. In my world... I mean, back home, it’s an endangered species! I can’t believe I actually found some here in the E Mansion garden! I must be some kind of lucky charm! How else could I stumble upon it?"
She kept rambling on, making it clear that this "five-something herb" must be a rare treasure.
At the very least, when he heard it could treat snake venom, Zhou Junlin began to move.
"What does the herb look like?" he asked, lowering his head to search intently.
After Song Lianhe described it in detail, she gave him an amused look. "I have to hand it to you, you’re pretty good to your Princess Consort!"
’Even if he is a bit unlikable,’ she added silently in her heart.
Zhou Junlin searched earnestly, not even lifting his head as he spoke. "You said it yourself. She’s *my* Princess Consort."
Song Lianhe raised an eyebrow, a flicker of pity in her eyes as she looked at him.
’He doesn’t even know that Song Xilan met with Zhou Cangyan at night, does he?’
’Tsk, tsk. How pitiful.’
"...What’s with that look?"
She hadn’t bothered to hide it, and her complicated expression was not lost on him.
"It’s the look you give a hero."
Zhou Junlin arched a brow. "And you think I’d believe that?"
"Oh, whether you believe it and whether you *should* believe it are two different things." Song Lianhe kept her eyes fixed on the bushes as she spoke slowly. "If believing something makes you happy, then there’s no harm in it."
"You and your..."
"Shh!"
Zhou Junlin was speechless.
"Ah! I found it!"
Song Lianhe instinctively reached out and grabbed his wrist, her cheeks flushed with excitement. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺
Zhou Junlin first glanced down at his wrist, then looked over at her.
Just as he was about to pull his hand away, she abruptly let go. He looked down at his wrist again, this time with a frown.
