After the rotten vegetables and sharp stones, verbal assaults started pouring down. They weren't just shouting. They were trying to break her.
"Servant princess!"
"Show your submission!"
"Beg for your life, Hua dog!"
More rotten vegetables and sharp stones flew. Trash rained down on her from every direction.
What the hell? Is this how it's supposed to be?
This wasn't what she had agreed to. This wasn't symbolic.
Xiao Zhi could only wince, lifting her arms to protect her head. The torment seemed to stretch on forever.
By the time the cage finally stopped, Xiao Zhi was unrecognizable. Rot was clinging to her hair, stinging her eyes, and sinking into the fabric of her clothes. Her skin burned where the stones had caught her. But the worst part was, she couldn't make her hands stop shaking, no matter how hard she gripped her knees.
She looked around. Kabil was nowhere to be seen.
"Prince Kabil?" she tried to call, but he was gone. It was as if he had never been there at all.
"Where... where did he—?"
"Prince Kabil was summoned by the Khan," the nearest guard answered coldly.
Of course. The Khan couldn't spare her any emotional support.
A soggy leaf slid down her shoulders. She looked down at her arms, at her whole body. Tears started to roll down her face as she realized the state she was in. Her vision began to blur.
"So this… is the parade," she whispered. "This is what it means."
Xiao Zhi regretted ever agreeing to this. Was this her fate? To be tortured and humiliated in this world? Just like in the novel. And unexpectedly, not by Prince Kabil, but by the Khan.
Was the Khan the real villain of this story? If so… she needed to be far more careful of him.
The parade was finally over, but Xiao Zhi could barely stand.
Bruised, smeared with filth, shivering from exhaustion, she stumbled through the palace.
The guards looked right through her as she passed. Not a single maid came forward with a cloth or a basin of water. Instead, the hallway cleared as she approached, people shrinking back against the walls to keep the filth on her clothes from touching them.
She limped down the hallway, her body heavy with the weight of wet clothes and shame. Her legs felt like lead, then like water, until they simply refused to carry her any further.
They finally gave out.
But before she hit the ground, a pair of strong arms hooked under her shoulders, snatching her back from the stone.
"Princess? Are you okay?"
She knew that voice. She didn't even have the strength to look up, but she knew it was him.
Ruhan.
She tried to speak, to call his name, but darkness swallowed her.
***
When Xiao Zhi woke, she was in her bed. She was clean, dressed in fresh clothes, her head and arm wrapped in bandages.
Ruhan was sitting beside her, his eyes searching hers as if he were checking to see if she was really okay.
"You're awake. How are you feeling?"
Seeing him there, finally beside her, was the final blow to her defenses. The wall she'd built to survive the parade simply crumbled. Without a word, she pushed herself up with her remaining strength, threw her arms around his neck, and let out a broken sob.
"Princess…" His hands hovered in the air, trembling with a mix of shock and longing, before he finally pulled her in.
"Ruhan… I'm so glad you're here," she choked out into his shoulder.
"Princess…" His voice cracked, thick with a guilt he couldn't hide. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't stop them."
"How could you?" she whispered, her face still buried in his tunic. "You're just a servant. I never expected you to save me."
But I wished you were there beside me, her heart cried out.
He swallowed hard, a flash of pure, sharp pain flickering in his eyes at her words. He didn't answer. Instead, he gently propped her up against the pillows and offered a bowl of warm porridge.
"You made this?"
"Yes," he admitted. "I couldn't find anyone in the kitchen, so I made it myself. I… don't really know how to cook, so a simple porridge is all I could manage."
Xiao Zhi smiled weakly. Right now, even a simple porridge felt like a warm hug.
She took a spoonful. The taste was familiar, comforting, just like home.
"It's delicious."
Ruhan didn't leave. He stayed by her side, watching her finish before he returned to the task of tending her wounds. His movements were incredibly careful, as if he were afraid his very touch might bruise her further.
"Does it hurt?" he asked, his voice barely a murmur.
"Of course," she said, looking at the bandages. "But… my heart hurts more."
At those words, Ruhan flinched as if she'd struck him. He looked away. He didn't speak, but his hand, the one still holding hers, trembled for a second.
"The vegetables were rotten… and the things they said… they cut me." Xiao Zhi didn't know why she felt so hurt. She wasn't the real Princess Lian Zhi after all, but the insults still pierced her.
"It's over now." He held her hand. At first, she stiffened, but the warmth of his touch melted her tension, and she let herself be comforted.
"I know," she whispered, though the words sounded as if she were forcing herself to believe them.
Was it truly over? Or was this only the beginning?
Ruhan remained with her until night fell. Before leaving, he reminded her gently, "Tomorrow is a big day… It is your wedding."
He began to turn away, but Xiao Zhi reached out and tugged his hand.
"Can you stay...a little bit longer? until I fall asleep?"
He hesitated for a moment, then smiled gently. "Of course."
She stayed by his side until her eyelids closed, still uneasy. Tomorrow would be her wedding day… and deep down, a part of her feared what it might truly bring.