CH 24.2

Chapter 24.2 – Darkness Surging Within the Eyes (2)

The previous conversation outside the gate seemed no different than usual, but there was obviously still a need to explain what happened this morning. Qi Bo hesitated several times, but did not mention Lu Qicheng in the end. After finding a reasonable excuse, he placed all the blame on Ah Yu.

As for Ah Yu? Of course she wouldn’t live to see Lu Qipei return!

Lu Qipei didn’t say anything after hearing this, but she couldn’t help but frown. On top of hating Qi Bo’s halfhearted behavior, she also had two new maids assigned to her due to Ah Yu’s death. She didn’t expect anyone around her to be trustworthy at all – on the contrary, the more people were sent to serve her, the more people would be monitoring her. Even if she wanted to run… well, she suddenly didn’t want to run that much anymore.

After dealing with Qi Bo and returning to her room, Lu Qipei sent back the two new maids. After pacing back and forth in the room multiple times, just like a trapped animal, she finally stretched her hand and pulled out a handkerchief from her chest1.

It was a plain white handkerchief with several bamboo leaves embroidered on a corner – it was exactly the one Qi Yang gave her yesterday.

Last night she was very tired and went to bed early after taking a bath, but even so, she still washed this handkerchief before going to sleep. Then, there was an incident this morning, and she really thought of escaping. Before she left, she saw this handkerchief being hung to dry and still ended up taking it with her.

But when she met Qi Yang, she forgot to return it. It was only after Qi Yang left after saying that sentence as an excuse that she remembered about it. Now, looking at the handkerchief in her hand, she couldn’t help thinking about its owner.

Her Royal Highness The Princess was really willful…

From the start, Lu Qipei never asked Qi Yang to send her home. With Qi Yang’s intelligence, there was no way she wouldn’t understand that Lu Qipei was worried. Even so, she still sent her back silently, and even let the carriage stop outside the mansion for a long time.

Lu Qipei understood that Qi Yang did it intentionally, although she did not understand what the little princess’s intentions were. But for her, Qi Yang’s behavior obviously messed up her arrangements – with Qi Bo’s shrewdness, now that he had noticed Qi Yang, there was no way he would let this go easily. Qi Bo must had been very concerned since her official position came very suddenly. If he knew Princess Qi Yang’s identity, there would be trouble down the line.

Lu Qipei anxiously walked in circles around the room – she could almost imagine the consequences of letting things develop like this. She was recruited as the Prince Consort by chance in her previous life, but that chance development led to Lu Qicheng killing her. Now, the situation was similar.

She could be a body double for Lu Qicheng, why couldn’t Lu Qicheng be a body double for her?

Even though Qi Yang already knew her identity as a woman, and even if she could hide this from the world for some time, Lu Qipei believed that with Lu Qicheng and the others’ means, they would still be able to stir up trouble in the future. And she was afraid that Qi Yang, who would be stuck in the middle and knew that Lu Qicheng was an imposter, would not be able to escape death as her ending!

Lu Qipei unconsciously tightened her hand holding the handkerchief as her heart sunk. There was a dilemma she couldn’t escape no matter how much she though. Should she tell Qi Yang clearly? Let’s not joke about it – nothing had actually happened yet. If she rashly said something baseless, even someone as naive as Qi Yang wouldn’t believe it!

If we took a step back, even if Qi Yang believed her, would she believe that this little Lu family had the capability to plot against her, a noble princess!?

This matter itself was a little strange, and Lu Qipei believed her judgment because she was deeply involved in the situation. Even though she initially believed that she just came from a rich family from Jiangnan, she gradually realized that something was wrong as more things happened later on.

The Lu family was not as simple as it seemed on the surface, and Qi Bo was not just a simple butler!

As for what else, she was just the child destined to be abandoned, so how could she know more?

Right now, Lu Qipei began to regret that she was too easy-going in the past. Because of that, she never paid much attention to the things around her. There were indeed many clues, but she let them slip away, and she could only draw a blank when she tried to understand now.

Once again, she didn’t seem to be better than before. She was still weak and powerless.

But no matter what, she couldn’t repeat the mistakes from her previous life… Since Qi Yang was destined to appear in her life, and they were destined to face this peril, then why should Qi Yang and her be the one to be sacrificed?

She remembered the dead cat she saw this morning, and Lu Qipei finally stopped pacing back and forth like a trapped animal.

She clenched her fist around Qi Yang’s handkerchief until her knuckles turned white. Her helpless and hesitant gaze also gradually focused. Its usual gentleness and purity faded, and darkness surged within her eyes.

If someone saw her at this moment, they probably couldn’t help but say that she and Lu Qicheng really were worthy of being siblings. Even that ruthless look of theirs were similar!

Translator notes:

O boi, you do not want to provoke the Lu Qipei!