Water Mirrored Moon - 水鏡月

Part III - Beloved of the Seventh Prince: 52. Runaway

For Cui Xi, the five days that Zhao Ling Xian had allowed came and went before she could even absorb what had happened.

If someone had told her that she would transmigrate to a fantasy world and marry a prince, she would probably have thrown something at them, and then laughed until she cried.

Life's not a manhua, not a manhua, not a manhua! There's no such thing as 'happily ever after,' but back then, how I wished to escape into another world...Running away from my reality, I still ended up here. Am I still running?

"A'Xi, it's your wedding day, but you look like we should be in mourning instead," Xiao Hei cajoled, peaking his head in and nimbly dodging the item that Xiao Yu threw at his head.

"Don't say such unlucky things!" Su Qing barked, glowering. "Get out!"

Xiao Hei stuck his tongue out and slammed the door shut.

"There's nothing to be excited about..." said Cui Xi, quietly. "I'm just a concubine."

Su Rou sighed at her mistress, but continued to straighten out the beautiful red robe that had been sent over by the Seventh Prince only yesterday.

Stunningly embroidered with the golden phoenix threads only permitted to a princess of the first rank, it hung on the hanger, waiting to be draped onto a beautiful bride...except that the bride in question was having none of it.

Looking at this dress, who can think she is marrying as a concubine? The prince's manor even prepared a red sedan chair. Has Mistress no idea that she is being treated as the main wife?

"A'Xi...it's inauspicious to be late..." sighed Xiao Yu, shaking her head. While she understood why A'Xi hadn't yet accepted the situation, she was still secretly pleased for her best friend. Making a marriage with a prince was a good thing, especially since the prince in question actually seemed to care for A'Xi.

Xiao Yu smiled to herself. A'Xi was smart about many things, but she was a blockhead when it came to her own feelings.

Cui Xi ignored Xiao Yu's gentle nudging and turned toward the window, recalling the report that the leader of her messenger urchins had come to deliver.

Poor thing...Xiao Chuan had run all the way from the temple, just to inform her that the 'heartless' Seventh Prince was not making her his princess consort and was keeping the position open so that he could marry a noblewoman or a foreign Princess so that his chances of taking the throne would not be affected by her lower status. Even so, Xiao Chuan had argued that, at the very least, given her reputation and wealth, she should have been made a secondary consort.

Although Xiao Chuan had sounded outraged on her behalf, she didn't feel that way at all. She had never imagined Zhao Ling Xian would make her his main wife. Nor had she wanted that. She simply had not wanted to be chained to someone, bound to the trap of society's expectations. In her past life, she had mistakenly believed that these were her own expectations of herself and she could not forget how miserable that had made her. Now, given a chance to pursue her own will, at her own risk, a heavy shackle was once again being brandished in her face.