Beneath a brightly colored wedding canopy, Yu Xianyin was placed on the bed, her fair face accentuated by her red wedding garment decorated with phoenix patterns that demonstrated her position as the most beautiful woman in the Chengling Dynasty. Her face was as calm as a spring morning after a snowfall. She bore a resemblance to an elusive and ancient orchid.

However, at the moment, Yu Xianyin’s light purple eyes were filled with streaks of tears and sheer panic. She didn’t display the excitement and joy that most women possessed when they donned their wedding dress. This was because she was about to face an ordeal that involved her own wrists being sliced open, her blood shed until she ran dry - all to act as a sacrifice for the wedding of the man she loved to another woman.

The door creaked open, revealing a man wearing a red festive suit. His black boots were embedded with a piece of jade. The man was well-dressed, handsome, and his thin lips, which once whispered countless words of sweet nothings to her, were pulled into a mocking smile. She remembered the saying - thin-lipped men are the most heartless!

In Yue Pingyuan’s eyes resided a sharpness that Yu Xianyin once adored, like the dazzling shine of a crystal bead. However, when he gazed at her now, his eyes were cold - as if he was looking at something disgustingly filthy.

"Ah Yuan, are you really going to treat me like this?" Yu Xianyin’s voice trembled, “We once shared happy moments together!”

Yue Pingyuan scoffed disdainfully, “Yu Xianyin, please stop talking about the past. To me, those were mere sacrifices I made in order to ascend to the prince’s position.”

Sacrifices? The most cherished memories in Yu Xianyin’s heart were nothing more than sacrifices to him?

“I am a prince of Chengling yet I have to endure the restrictions of being born to a concubine. The current crown prince is inferior to me in both intelligence and capability, and he definitely doesn’t have a more prestigious maternal family like mine. He became the crown prince simply because he’s the queen’s legitimate son. Why? I’ve had enough of the world’s ridicule. So, I vowed to become the crown prince!” Yue Pingyuan’s eyes sparkled with a cold light, “And you were merely my stepping stone.”

“But speaking of it, I now think that calling you my stepping stone is over-praising you.” Yue Pingyuan snorted coldly,” Everyone in the Chengling Dynasty knows that you are worthless, yet you have been taking up the position of my lover for years. You brought mockery upon me in the entire capital.”

Yu Xianyin shed a tear, “I am the legitimate daughter of the General's Mansion, so you thought that if you could win my favor, my father would help you? Ah Yuan, we grew up together, isn’t there a bit of sincerity in you for me?”

Yue Pingyuan sneered at her, his eyes filled with derision as he spoke, "It's true we grew up together, but we were never 'childhood sweethearts’! You’re so unbearable that even a second glance at you makes me feel on the verge of a breakdown. Do you have any idea how I've endured these past years?”

“The right childhood sweetheart of Ah Yuan, is me!"

Along with the entrance of a woman, Yu Xianyin’s heart felt like it was shattering. The woman’s silhouette was all too familiar to her. A pointed face filled with a thousand kinds of charm, eyebrows like willows, and glittering eyes, radiating the seduction of a peach blossom wherever she went. A red mole on her neck - a mark that Yu Xianyin had touched an endless number of times while they were young.

“Lingyi?” Yu Xianyin looked in surprise at Yu Lingyi dressed in red, “Is it you, are you... Are you the one Ah Yuan is marrying?”

Yu Lingyi walked to Yue Pingyuan with a sly smile, "Little sister, don't fail to remember that despite your belief that Ah Yuan cherishes you, he was always looking at me. Ah Yuan and I had always been in mutual love, it was you who persistently intruded upon our relationship, making it difficult for us, the lovers, to be together. However, justice is served. Ah Yuan is set to become the Crown Prince, and I will be his princess, while you will offer gifts for our wedding!"

Yu Xianyin, holding back her tears, stared at the couple before her, "All these years, you both deceived me! You used me to accomplish your goals only to kick me aside. Yue Pingyuan, after all I've done for you, don't you have any compassion?"

"The least compassionate thing for me to do would be to see Lingyi upset!" Yue Pingyuan coldly retorted, his gaze sharp and cutting, "Yu Xianyin, if you weren't the legitimate daughter from the General's Mansion, I would've stopped pretending around you a long while ago. Oh, even that act made me sick!"

"Sick?" Yu Xianyin sneered contemptuously, "When I was being taken advantage of in the Yu family, yet still managed to raise an army for you, you didn't find me disgusting. When I sucked the venom out of your wound to save you, you did not find me disgusting. When I went hungry and freeze for half a month rushing back to the capital to deliver messages for you, you did not find me disgusting. When you were bedridden, I cared for you day and night for five days and five nights, you too didn't find me nauseating! Now that you are about to be Crown Prince, you suddenly find me disgusting?"

Yu Xianyin's whole being felt cold, like being stuck deep inside a gigantic ice cave. A bone-chilling cold. Everyone around her was laughing, but in those smiles, there was scorn, mockery, sorrow, and pity...

Yu Lingyi casually straightened her sleeves, "Little sister, speaking about all these is meaningless. Since you put so much effort into helping Ah Yuan, you should know that he would never marry you!" Yu Lingyi moved closer, lifting her chin, "Had you not been a shrewd strategist, do you think we could have tolerated you for so long?"

Yu Lingyi's sharp nails dug into her chin, causing a piercing pain that brought tears to her eyes, "So, the rumour of offering a sacrifice to the heavens for the wedding is a lie that you both cooked up? The aim was to shut my mouth and prevent me from revealing all these secrets, right?"

To ensure Yue Pingyuan could ascend to the position of the Crown Prince, Yu Lingyi committed countless sins. Even though she was considered a waste, she used her intelligence to orchestrate all of this for him. All these dark secrets were engraved in her heart. She had intended to keep it till her last breath, to ensure a good reputation for Yue Pingyuan, but now she wished everyone knew about this.

"You're correct!” Yue Pingyuan replied with a smile, "Xianyin, since you have devoted your entire life for me, why not continue to do one last favor?” Yue Pingyuan stepped in front of her, "I'll end it swiftly for you, but you have to promise me, you will take those secrets to your grave!" Yue Pingyuan then released Yu Xianyin's pressure points.

Yu Xianyin slowly got up, only to see Yu Lingyi adding poison to a cup of tea with an enchanting smile on her face, walking towards her.

"Xianyin, considering our years of sisterhood, I'll grant you a decent coffin!"

Yu Xianyin clenched her fists and lashed out, fiercely biting Yu Lingyi's hand. She was not skilled in martial arts, in the martial kingdom of Chengling, she was considered a waste, and was destined to be disliked. This was all the strength she could muster, all the hatred exploding in her...

"Ah——"

Yu Lingyi shrieked in pain, then struck her skull with the palm of her hand. She could feel the warm blood trickling down her forehead, blurring her vision. She must look truly pitiful.

Yue Pingyuan immediately held up Yu Lingyi, his anger flaring, and kicked Yu Xianyin in the chest, "Yu Xianyin, failing to appreciate my mercy, you chose to die the hard way. Since you don't want a swift end, I'll make you live a life worse than death!" Yue Pingyuan's voice echoed like a chilling wind, originating from the depths of hell.

"Servant, drag this wretch out of this palace. Today is my grand wedding and I can't let these men toil for nothing. Consider this a gift to you all!"

A gift? Yu Xianyin gasped in disbelief, "You're shameless, Yue Pingyuan!"

Yue Pingyuan scoffed mockingly, "Shameless? I'd like to see who's more shameless after you've been pressed under these men in turn! Consider this payback for the revulsion I feel facing you every single day for years!"

Yu Xianyin was dragged out of the room into the cold snow outside, and men with grotesque faces and disgustingly smirking lips were rubbing their hands together, ready to pounce on her. Shivering from head to toe, her heart felt colder than the snow!

Summoning strength from some unknown place, Yu Xianyin suddenly charged at the closest guard, pulling out his curved blade and stabbing it into her own stomach.

The blood sprayed out, forming a bloody plum blossom on the white snow. Slowly raising her eyes, she looked at Yue Pingyuan. She had hoped, just a tiny bit, that he cared about her life and death. But it seemed, there was not even a shred of care...

Yu Xianyin, gazing at Yue Pingyuan's cold, indifferent face, fell to the ground, "Yuan, I'll curse you in hell..."

Yue Pingyuan's face stiffened as an inexplicable fear seized him.

Yu Lingyi frowned, waved his sleeve, "Dare to curse the Crown Prince? Drag her away, feed her to the dogs!"