Commoner Queen: Falling in Love with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince - Chapter 9

“Ziying, hurry and apologize to your father! Look how angry you’ve made him!” Madam Murong pleaded, unwilling to see her daughter punished.

“No! I will never compromise!” Ziying declared. “If I do, another innocent man will die. Father, how can you be so cruel? Those men had families too! Shouldn’t we think of them?”

Murong Xi’s face darkened.

Of course, he knew this.

But hearing his own daughter lecture him in front of everyone—this was unbearable.

“Silence!” he bellowed. “Everything I’ve done has been for you! And now you dare to scold me?”

Ziying sighed.

“I know, Father,” she said. “I know you’re doing this for my sake. But if you truly care about me, then please… stop this nightmare.

I have become a cursed woman—a ‘husband-killing demon’ in the eyes of the entire city.

If you continue forcing these marriages, you might as well be sending me to my death.

Father, I beg you—let me breathe. Just for once.”

Her words struck him like a blade to the heart.

His tears fell freely.

“Do you think I want this?” Murong Xi choked out. “But you… you are our only child, the only hope for the Murong family’s bloodline. If you do not marry, our family will perish.

How… how can I ever face our ancestors?”

“Father…” Ziying felt utterly helpless.

“Ziying, listen to your mother.” Madam Murong sobbed. “Just try one more time… go to Yangzhou… please?”

“No!”

Ziying was firm.

She could not allow another innocent life to be lost.

“Mother, this isn’t about trying or not trying! Every time we ‘try,’ someone dies!”

“You—”

Murong Xi clenched his fists.

“Enough!” he declared. “Whether you agree or not, your mother and I have made our decision. Once everything is arranged, we will send you to Yangzhou. Your uncle will handle the rest.”

“Father, you cannot force me!” Ziying’s voice trembled with rage. “I would rather die than go to Yangzhou!”

“You have no choice!”

Murong Xi’s voice was final.

He would try one more time.

He refused to believe that the Murong family was truly cursed to die out.

Ziying’s chest burned with fury.

With a sharp motion, she ripped the Phoenix coronet from her head and threw it to the ground.

Then she ran.

“Ziying—!” Madam Murong cried, rushing after her.

Murong Xi held her back.

“Let her go,” he sighed. “She needs time to think.”

“But—” Madam Murong was still anxious.

“Ling’er is following her,” Murong Xi reassured her. “She won’t let Ziying go far.”

Madam Murong wept bitterly.

“Husband… what terrible sins did we commit in our past lives to deserve this?” she sobbed.

Murong Xi could only sigh and shake his head.

Everything… was fate.