Spending the Wedding Night Alone

It was the next day when Yanyue woke up. She recalled falling asleep on the sofa due to all the tiredness recently, but somehow she was on the bed fully clothed. There was some discomfort from the intense intercourse from the day before, but her body felt refreshed and there was no stickiness feeling from the night before.

Did he help me wash?

However, she scrambled the silly thoughts away because it was most likely that he ordered the maids to clean her up.

The middle-aged woman from the other night came into the room.

"Please take the pill, Miss Shen," she said as she handed the young woman on the bed a birth-control pill.

Yanyue's heart ached. This man would never let any woman bear his children besides his beloved Wanyue. She wondered if he would force her to take the life out if she were to become pregnant. Thinking of the high possibility, she felt even worse. In order to feel less pain, it was better not to let this happen. So, she reached for the pill and cup of water on the tray.

She put the empty cup back and asked, "Can I see his highness?"

"His highness is out," the woman said politely.

Yanyue was disappointed. She wanted to talk to him about the marriage, but it seemed like she would have to wait.

She found her dress and was relieved that it was still in one piece. She quickly put on the dress and went to visit Grandma Lu at the hospital. Luckily, there was no one in the room.

"Grandma, I'm here to visit you," she said as she entered the room with a basket of fruits.

The old lady put the book she was engaging in away and smiled at her favorite visitor. "Xiaoyue, grandma is happy that you're here! Come sit next to grandma."

Yanyue set the basket on the table and familiarized herself on the chair next to the bed.

"Grandma, how are you today? Are you feeling pain anywhere?" she asked as she held onto the old lady's wrinkly, but soft hands.

"This old lady is not doing well. You youngsters always make me worried for your future," Grandma Lu complained.

"Grandma, this is why you need to eat your medicine and get better so that you can always make sure that we won't make trouble in the future."

"My child, I'm getting old. Who knows when I will die?" Grandma Lu said as she rubbed Yanyue's hands. "You must promise to live well when I'm gone."

Yanyue shook her head and was a little depressed by the old lady's sad words. "Grandma, nothing bad will happen, and you will always be with us."

"Silly girl, everyone has their own fate. Such as yourself. Now, promise me that you will marry Ah Chen and be with him forever? That child is stubborn, but he has a soft soul. Sooner or later, he will realize your love for him."

The old lady sounded so sincere that the young woman didn't know what to say.

"Grandma, we can't change a person's heart. He doesn't love me at all, so it doesn't matter if he knew that I love him or not," the young woman said dejectedly.

"Let me tell you something." The old lady looked out the window nostalgically.

"It was twenty years ago that your mother saved my life. I still remember the event of that day like the back of my hand."

The old lady paused and sighed.

"Grandpa had recently passed away, so I was very lonely. I went out one day to clear my mind but met some bad people. Your mother wasn't even afraid for her life. She rushed over and covered my old feeble body from the gunshots. Ever since then, we became good friends and promised to wed you to the second prince. It was you and Ah Chen."

Yanyue listened carefully to the story. Her mother had never told her this story. In fact, it was because her mother never had the opportunity.

When she was old enough to understand life, her mother already passed away. So, listening to this was all very surprising for her. She saw a different perspective of her mother hearing that she risked her life to save Grandma Lu. Yanyue felt proud of her mother and her resolve for revenge increased even more.

She was also speechless at the fact that her mother and Grandma Lu made a promise to engage herself and Beichen. At that time, she should have only been a year old, while he was five.

"Unfortunately, that boy had to go and proposed to Wanyue, but luckily something like that happened at the hotel and I was able to reverse the situation," Grandma Lu said with a trace of accomplishment.

Then, when she looked at Yanyue, who was listening to her story intently, she suddenly felt remorse for being unable to take care of the young girl well.

"My silly child, I have a lot of regrets when it comes to you and I feel sorry that you had to go through everything, but only when you and Beichen successfully married that I can face your mother in heaven. So, will you promise to marry Beichen for this old lady?"

She understood Grandma Lu's wish. It would be a lie to say that she had no hope for the marriage. Every girl wished to get married to the person they love. In the normal situation that Beichen was a single man, she would gladly accept the proposal.

However, he had always been with her sister. If she had not given in that night, then what existed between them would have been the normal brother-in-law and sister-in-law's relationship. But she only thought about saving him and nothing else at that time.

Sensing the young girl's hesitation, Grandma Lu said again, "Let me tell you something else: This marriage will save Beichen's inheritance."

Yanyue looked at the old lady with questions.

The old lady continued, "The king disapproved Beichen's engagement with Wanyue and threatened to remove him from the inheritance list. If you married him, then the king will likely retract his threats"

Being cut off from the inheritance's list was a big deal in legendary families like the Lu. Withdrawing him from the inheritance meant that he would also be removed from the President position in the Lu Group.

Beichen was a very ambitious man, so he would put up a fight if that really happened. She understood the struggles of families fighting for the inheritance, which had always had a negative result, and in some cases, the family ended up broken and bitter. She never wished to see him on that route, so now she had second thoughts about the marriage. Perhaps, marriage was not a bad thing if it fulfilled her mother's wish and also protected Beichen from being kicked out of the inheritance.

"My child, go back and give me an answer when you thought it through," Grandma Lu said softly.

Yanyue nodded and left the hospital with many thoughts. She made a phone call to Grandma Lu and accepted the marriage after a sleepless night. One could imagine the joy in the granny's face. It was as if she had gone back twenty years.

*

The evening's light was glistening due to the full moon. This was a perfect night for a blessed wedding.

Red lanterns lit the whole palace, creating a hue so magical it could bewitch a person's lonely soul. Auspicious garlands hung on every corner and dangled like red poppies in a breezy poppy field. There was endless decoration everywhere one treaded the palace, fabricating the joyous atmosphere that was supposed to be.

In a quiet corner of the feast-full and roaring palace, the bride looked at the unrecognizable person reflected from the mirror. The old lady had gotten her the most expensive wedding dress, but no one could understand the desolate feeling that was brewing in her heart.

The stylist felt that something was amiss with this bride. This was the most beautiful bride that she had worked on, but the bride's face was grim and solemn. She had been in this field for more than a decade and one could imagine all the different types of brides that she had encountered.

She had seen brides so delighted they cried tears of joys, while some wept for the opposite reason often due to the marriage being a forced or arranged marriage.

However, this bride displayed no such emotions. Sometimes, this bride was calm and looked hopeful, but then her expression turned to that of misery and sorrow. She could not tell whether the bride was contented or sad about her wedding. However, she felt that this was not the face of a bride who was happy to marry the person they loved.

"Miss Shen, are you unhappy for this marriage?" the curious stylist asked as she felt a sympathy for this enchanting bride who should have been beaming with happiness because she was getting married to the second prince. She even wondered if this woman saved a country in her last life to receive this gracious fate with the prince.

Yanyue looked up at the stylist, who had finished donning her face with make-up.

"I'm...," she paused as she didn't know how to respond. It was a wedding with her most beloved man, but somewhere deep in her heart told her that she had been dreaming all along. "I just think that everything seems like a dream right now," she finally said, forcing an awkward smile on her face.

Then, it was time for the ceremony. The stylist covered her with a red veil.

Although she told herself to not have certain thoughts, Yanyue's heart quivered from all sorts of emotions as she approached the groom who was dressed in red and standing in front of the ancestral's hall.

He looked majestic in his wedding suit and he wore the red like he owned it.

They stood side by side like a pair of swan.

He lowered his head and whispered in her ears, "Don't be too happy. This is only the beginning."

She froze.

The scene looked sweet, but only she knew how menacing he was just now. His cold attitude and words made her trembled in fear as they walked along the aisle to the shrine of tablets to complete the ceremony.

Grandma Lu, who was inspecting from the side, felt that the two children were simply made for each other. The way they walked together to their impressive ambiance exuded nothing but chemistry and attraction. She felt that her decision to join the two children was not a mistake, and as a matter of fact, it was a decision that had already been predetermined from the moment they were born.

The pair bowed to the heavens and earth and vowed to be with each other in front of all the ancestors before them.

As they kneeled and paid respects to the ancestors, everything, from her first meeting with him to their first night flashed through her mind.

Truthfully, before that night, she had never imagined that she would be by his side in a moment like this. She used to have a dream like this, but she threw it away because it was only the right thing to do. However, the words from earlier struck her deeply and she realized that she was not in a dream even if she wished that this was a dream instead.

Her thoughts remained a mess well after the ceremony ended as she was taken to the wedding chamber that Grandma Lu had prepared for her and Beichen in the Eastern Palace.

In that newlywed room, she foolishly waited for him.

He never showed up.

Her phone vibrated. She opened the new message and the content threw a bombshell on her. It was Beichen and Wanyue cuddling each other in bed without clothes on.

She never had any hope for him to love her back, but she wished that he would respect her identity as his wife. But, what she got, in the end, was cold water splashing on her last little trace of dignity.

And she had no one, but herself to blame for destroying a well-established relationship.

Perhaps, this was her fate: misfortune in love.

She slept alone that night, but in her dreams, a warm figure embraced her as if they were the only two people who existed in that glistening night.

*

Ever since they got married, Beichen became worst than he was before. He had no ounce of respect for Yanyue and never attended family events with her in the Palace. His days remained spent with his lover out in the public, while his nights were spent forcing and torturing his wife like she was a dispensable doll. This was his way of insulting her dignity.

Grandma Lu scolded him multiple times for missing family events and not treating his wife well, but that would only make him angrier. Yanyue could only bear his wrath at Bayside Garden like an obedient wife.

But this didn't stop her from loving the man. The more he used her body, the deeper she fell into his trap. She understood her place well in his heart, but she thought that perhaps he would change and treat her better if she was obedient. It didn't have to be that much better, but maybe just a little of the tip of the finger.

She also realized that to be a good wife for the royal family and to stand firmly by his side, she must be knowledgeable in royal etiquettes. So, she began learning royal traditions and etiquettes, such as dancing and arts, and music.

After only one session, she found that her body flowed naturally to the movements of the traditional music, and her fingers plucked the zither's strings like it was something engraved in her soul. She passed the lessons with flying colors. The old lady couldn't be more proud of her skills.

*

In the Eastern Palace's dining room.

"Xiaoyue, where is Ah Chen?"

Yanyue looked at Grandma Lu with a subtle trace of guilt. "Grandma, he's still at the company," she lied.

The old lady didn't look happy and complained again. She knew that her fair granddaughter-in-law was lying. She would give her grandson a lesson later.

"You also learn to lie to grandma now too? You don't need to cover for that boy! I will teach him a lesson when he comes back!"

Yanyue shook her head with dwindling enthusiasm. "Grandma, he's really busy so you don't need to worry."

As she said that, two figures that antagonized her dreams almost every night walked into the room.

"Sister, Grandma Lu!" Wanyue said cheerfully while holding onto Beichen's arms tightly.

Yanyue was speechless at the scene, but it was nothing new to her.

The old lady couldn't stand the sight of her grandson bringing home that vile woman. "Ah Chen, why do you bring this shameless woman home?! She's not allowed here!"

Wanyue shrunk in fear in the man's arms. She said nervously, "Ah Chen, Grandma Lu doesn't like me, so I'm going back!" The pretentious woman swung away from her lover's arms and tried to dash out of the room. However, he held onto her tightly and didn't let her escape his grasp.

"No, you're not the one who should leave! Just stay by my side," he said softly to the woman in his embrace.

While he cuddled his lover, his wife, who was sitting patiently, felt like millions of ants were crawling on her body, leaving tracks of poison in her heart.

"Grandma, I've already done as you wished and married her. Now, you don't have to interfere in my business anymore," he said sternly as he took the whimpering woman in his arms up the stairs.

The legal wife watched them leave quietly.