Tears Of Kai Yuan

-13- (Edit)

13

Zhao Liangjie

Cousin Jiayi was getting married.

I chuckled softly as the realization dawned on me bit by bit, piece by piece in a steady flow.

The little girl with the hair as wild as a horse's mane and the tongued sharper than any sword Abba had ever yielded...the girl wasn't so little anymore. And now, she was getting married.

To the Emperor's nephew.

Emperor.

It was a regularity for me to get scolded for not addressing that man properly; the words blessed or great Wansui had never left my lips, simply the Emperor.

No man ever deserved that great of a title, not even the Caliphs my father told me so much of times before. And much less the man who let my parent's murderer go free. That blasted rich man had killed my own mother in the public street for Adila to see.

He had killed my father without mercy...for Adila to see.

He had been the cause of my aunt, Jiayi's mother's death; even though they thought that she had died from childbirth.

Jiayi's mother had died because she had starved herself to death after her brother's death, too week to support the labor of her malnourished son.

That man, that Lord Hua...he had gotten away with ripping my family apart by its very seams. And he had gotten away with it, simply because he was the dearest friend of the Emperor's son.

He was only punished because of my father's death, a death that simply couldn't be ignored...unlike my mother's.

Blessed Wansui...they would need to carve my beating heart out of my chest before those words would ever leave my mouth.

I couldn't believe that Jiayi was marrying that man's nephew.

Adila caught my attention, and I wondered if the same obvious rage she was displaying was because of the marriage, or because of something else. She had refused to stand beside me on the bride's side of the hall, preferring to stand out there like a common bodyguard.

I knew she resented me, there was no point in denying it.

Elder sister Adila resented me, and I couldn't find it in me to blame her for it.

Resigning myself, I looked away, instantly frowning when I felt that all too familiar gaze scrutinizing me.

That 'Princess' Li Mei-Xiang, needed to leave me alone.

Li Mei

He was glaring at me. What had I possibly done wrong to him for him to stare at me with such...hatred?

I couldn't tear my gaze away, no matter how much the logical side of me shouted that it would be best to look away, best to forget the man I was caught staring at.

Curiosity got me best.

Was he not happy that his cousin...no, his sister was getting married? The entire wedding had found him glowering and frowning at the procession. I had only seen him smile once before he discovered my gaze and stared at me like a curse...

Like an enemy.

And not only him, but his sister as well...did they not know what happiness was?

Did I?

"The bride and the groom will enter their chambers!" The announcement was the anchor that pulled my attention from Liangjie, and I beamed as both Brother Xiao...and Elder Sister Jiayi were led to where their chambers for the wedding night would be.