Xiao Shi listened silently without refuting. After he stopped, she said softly: “I told you long ago that my heart only has room for him alone and cannot accommodate anyone else. You didn’t believe me and insisted on marrying me!”

“Yes, I insisted on marrying you, because from the first moment I saw you, I could never forget you!” At this point, he suddenly lunged forward and tightly embraced Xiao Shi, ignoring her struggles and continuously kissing her powdered cheeks, saying: “From that moment on, I swore in my heart that I would definitely marry you as my wife. No one could stop me. You are mine, Xiao Weiyang. You will be mine for this entire lifetime – don’t think of escaping!”

“Let me go!” Xiao Shi used all her strength to break free from his hands, quickly retreating several steps, saying with disgust: “But I never wanted to marry you!”

Her words caused Yang Guang’s face to twitch. If he didn’t truly love Xiao Shi to the extreme, with his temperament, he would have already ordered her death long ago. Previously, there was a talented lady he quite favored who merely committed a small mistake, yet he sentenced her to death in his anger. Human lives… had never meant anything in his eyes, even parents and brothers were the same. Only Xiao Shi – this woman was like his destined nemesis. No matter how great an error she committed, he couldn’t bear to punish her.

Yang Guang said in a deep voice: “Regardless of whether you wanted to or not, you have married me. You are my wife, my empress. This will be your only identity for this lifetime.”

“Though I was unwilling, since I married you, I accepted it. But you insisted on being suspicious…” Xiao Shi stopped her words, took a breath and said: “Forget it, I don’t want to discuss those past rights and wrongs with you. I only want to ask you – why did you harm my child? If… when I gave birth to Yunyi, had I not awakened, were you planning to harm Yunyi as well, then deceive me by saying the child didn’t survive?”

This time, Yang Guang no longer deceived her with lies: “That’s right, I did indeed think of doing so!”

Xiao Shi’s vision darkened. After barely steadying herself by holding onto Hong Li’s hand, she said with a trembling voice: “Indeed… Meixue is indeed my daughter. You deceived me, Yang Guang – you deceived me for sixteen years!”

Yang Guang said through gritted teeth: “I deceived you because they should never have existed in this world. You are my wife, yet you carried another man’s children. How can you face me?”

“You wronged me first. If not for him, I would already be dead!” Xiao Shi spoke with agitated emotions.

Her words made Yang Guang fall silent. Indeed, back then because he was too anxious about Xiao Shi, he had done some excessive things. But that was not his original intention – it was just that by the time he understood, it was already too late. Although Xiao Shi eventually returned to his side, they could never return to how things were before.

Yang Guang covered his head in pain, murmuring: “Why, why did we become like this?”

Xiao Shi said nothing, only: “Tell me!” Under her repeated questioning, she finally learned the truth of that year from Yang Guang’s mouth.

Back then, she indeed carried twins, but Yang Guang never intended to let these two children live from the very beginning. Finding two stillborn babies to deceive Xiao Shi would undoubtedly be much more troublesome, so he had Imperial Physician Zhao change his words, saying he had misdiagnosed and that Xiao Shi only carried one child in her womb.

On the day of delivery, Yang Guang had Imperial Physician Zhao secretly give Xiao Shi medicine that would make her lose consciousness. Because the dosage was calculated just right, Xiao Shi fell into deep sleep before the first child was born. But what they didn’t expect was that the second child refused to come out for a long time, dragging on for a full half hour until after the medicine’s effects on Xiao Shi had worn off and she was born. Because Xiao Shi had awakened, they no longer had the opportunity to dispose of this child. Although Yang Guang was unwilling, he had no choice but to raise her under Xiao Shi’s care and confer upon her the title of Princess Jinyang.

As for the child who was born half an hour earlier, Yang Guang ordered a trusted subordinate to take her out of the palace to kill her. But what he didn’t expect was that this trusted subordinate actually betrayed him – he neither killed the child nor returned.

“You! You!” Upon learning the truth, Xiao Shi pointed at Yang Guang, her entire body trembling. After a long while, she finally squeezed out a few words: “How despicable you are!”

“I only did what any man would do, Weiyang…” He wanted to touch Xiao Shi, but was forcefully pushed away by her. “Don’t touch me!”

Yang Guang suppressed the anger in his heart and forced out a smile: “What happened back then, let’s consider it my mistake. Now that you’ve found her, just bring her back. You just said the person who found her was surnamed Wu – how about I confer upon her the title of Princess Wuyang?”

Xiao Shi shook her head, saying hoarsely: “It’s too late. She’s already dead. If you hadn’t sent her out of the palace back then, she would still be alive and well now. Yang Guang, you killed my daughter!” As she spoke, deep hatred appeared in her eyes. “This hatred and resentment, I will never forget!”

Having said this, she was about to leave with tears in her eyes, but Yang Guang grabbed her arm, his expression panicked: “Everything I did was for you. You cannot hate me, you cannot!”

Xiao Shi said nothing, only continued to shed tears. Thinking of the daughter she had never even seen once, her heart ached as if being cut by knives. No matter what, she could not forgive Yang Guang.

Xiao Shi’s tearful silence made Yang Guang even more afraid. He said: “Weiyang, I was momentarily possessed back then. As long as you’re willing to forgive me, I’ll do anything you want. I… I’ll issue an edict now to posthumously confer upon her the title of princess and have her buried in the imperial mausoleum, alright?”

“No need!” Xiao Shi took a deep breath and said hoarsely: “My daughter cannot bear Your Majesty’s generous gift!”

Her refusal caused pain to flash in Yang Guang’s eyes. “Weiyang…”

“I don’t want to hear any more. Please let go, Your Majesty!” Faced with Xiao Shi’s words, Yang Guang not only didn’t loosen his grip but held even tighter: “I won’t let go. I will never let go for this entire lifetime.”

Faced with his words, Xiao Shi stopped struggling and said bitterly: “Even if you don’t let go, what of it? We can never return to the past. No, I should say that as early as sixteen years ago, we could never go back. You merely forced me to remain by your side, but now… it should come to an end!”

“No!” Yang Guang said urgently: “Unless I close my eyes, it will never end.” As he spoke, he tightly embraced Xiao Shi, murmuring: “Weiyang, we must be together for a lifetime, never to be separated!”

This time, Xiao Shi didn’t struggle, allowing him to hold her. But her gaze was terrifyingly empty. Though she was right before his eyes, Yang Guang could not see his own existence in her eyes, as if… she had completely shut him out, finding even a single glance at him excessive.

A trace of sinister color appeared between Yang Guang’s brows. He tightly gripped Xiao Shi’s shoulders, saying harshly: “You’re thinking of him again, aren’t you? Don’t think of him – I forbid you to think of him!”

No matter how loudly he shouted, Xiao Shi had no reaction. Perhaps… what she had shut out was not Yang Guang, but herself.