Su Su and Ye Hua: Our Own Fairytale

Part 10

"If I marry you, what can you do for me?" Ye Hua asked Su Jin.

"Oh, I can return your son, let Bai Qian go, anything! Just say the word and all is done." Su Jin said smiling.

I can explain to her, Ye Hua thought. And even thought we cannot be together, she can understand that all i did was for her and our son.

He did not know that that was the the worst decision he ever made.

"Fine," he said. "I will marry you."

"Good! And we will also keep our end of the promise." Su Jin untied A-Li and unsealed his mouth.

"And the Fox Queen." Ye Hua said softly.

"Of course." Le Xu sent a maid to the Sealing Pagoda.

A-Li flew to his father, and wailed out, "Father, what of mother? You cannot marry Su Jin, she-"

"Silence, A-Li," Ye Hua said. "I promised to marry her for your mother's safety." For good measure and not to make his mother and Su Jin angry, he added: "And even if i do not love her now, i will learn."

Su Jin smiled. It had succeeded. Now she was the Crown Princess. And she had managed to save the poison.

But little did the trio know, Bai Qian has already stepped away from the palace. She had heard everything.
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FLASHBACK

Bai Qian had rushed back to the palace to see Ye Hua after her release, only to hear him accept Su Jin as his wife. A-Li had been reluctant, only allowing it as he heard it was for Bai Qian's safety.

But now, Bai Qian scoffed. What a stupid excuse for that. She understood why he had chosen Su Jin. She had the glamour, the etiquette and the looks. Her? She was merely a queen, and compared to the ladies of the Celestial Heavens, she was-forgive me my dear readers- nothing.

She threw herself into the Fox Den, and even as she felt Ye Hua's presence in Qing Qiu, she ignored it and didn't go out to welcome him, as she usually did to guests.

She thought she knew he had never loved Su Jin. She thought she knew that she herself was the only one for him. But as she replayed the things she saw in that room, all the things that she thought she knew changed.

Because that was the keyword, she thought she knew that he never loved Su Jin.

She had now been enlightened.

Bai Qian felt that she had been a fool. She had given her heart to that same man, not once but twice. And that same man had pretended to accept it, stepped on it and accepted another woman's.

She swore never to love again. She swore never to trust, never to give her heart away so easily, even though she knew it would heal in time. She swore to never get hurt by others again. She would withdraw from the world, let it go on without her. And she would let him go.

She would allow her heart to harden and go cold again, just as it always had been before him. Maybe, just maybe, she would be happier with no love.

People say that no one can survive without love, that everyone needs it from someone. But for her, maybe... she was that "no one".

Goodbye, Ye Hua.