Reborn as a concubine's daughter and entering a noble family: Xie Lang, don't be too seduc

Hawthorne's breathing became rapid and unsteady.

It was still unclear which side Xie Shu belonged to, but the moment he asked that question, he clearly intended to force her to reveal her true colors.

"That's it," Xie Shu thought to himself.

It seems he guessed correctly; in fact, Hawthorne didn't even need to say it himself—

After all, she grew up in the palace and didn't have much contact with people.

His Majesty has reservations about the Xie family, but even if he wanted to investigate them, he would never send such a young girl, whom he has little confidence in.

If anyone were to try and control her lifeline to investigate the Xie family...

That leaves only Consort Qi and her son.

"Consort Qi... is there anything she needs you to do?" Xie Shu hadn't heard Huo Sanghua's voice, so she assumed Huo Sanghua was feeling guilty and in a difficult position, unable to speak up in front of him. "Don't worry, you're already in the Xie family, so you're naturally safe. If you have any difficulties, you can tell me."

Hawthorne looked out of the bed curtains with a start.

You can... ...tell him?

These words, spoken by Xie Shu, didn't sound like casual remarks; on the contrary... they came from a lot of heart.

Hawthorne could sense his sincerity from his tone.

Xie Shu was genuinely making that promise to her.

Unlike Xie Lin, who was often unreachable, Xie Shu seemed to appear out of nowhere to help her whenever she was in trouble. "...She didn't ask me to do anything. It's just that...maybe they just wanted me to die in the Xie family."

Her voice was clear and cold.

There was no emotional fluctuation in his voice; it sounded like he was talking about someone else's story.

Xie Shu first paid attention to her tone, and then pondered the meaning behind her words.

Take a breath.

Death?! They wanted her to die in the Xie family... Xie Shu wasn't surprised by this outcome, but what shocked him most was Huo Sanghua's indifferent reaction.

She knew that Consort Qi and the Fourth Prince wanted to kill her, yet she remained so calm.

Then it dawned on Xie Shu. "So, you want Ah Lin to protect you?"

Now it was Hawthorne's turn to be dumbfounded.

This was the result of her negotiations with Xie Lin. She would leave the Xie family in a year, but during that year, Xie Lin would be responsible for protecting her and ensuring she wasn't harmed.

"You... you know?"

Judging from the looks of it, it was probably Xie Lin who told him.

But how much does he actually know? Could it be that he even knows about her one-year agreement with Xie Lin?

"...Before your marriage, Ah Lin came to me and discussed terms with me. He said... he was willing to marry you, but on the condition that I would help you if you were in danger," Xie Shu said. "At the time, I thought Ah Lin was worried that he wasn't capable of protecting you and that he was afraid you would suffer in the Xie family. But after what has happened recently, I realized that you are really in trouble."

It was Xie Lin's request.

At the time, Xie Lin absolutely refused to marry. He couldn't bear to watch Xie Lin ruin the wedding and create a ridiculous farce of running away on the day of the ceremony, causing trouble for the Xie family, the palace, and even Huo Sanghua...

Lost face.

So he set a condition: if Xie Lin obediently got married, he would grant him three requests.

But who knew...

Xie Lin's first request was to protect Huo Sanghua.

Xie Shu wasn't entirely clear about A Lin's intentions at the time, but since he had promised A Lin, he naturally had to keep his word.

Hawthorne understood—

"So, the several times you helped me afterwards... were all because you had promised the Second Young Master beforehand?"

Despite her various worries, and the fact that someone as cold and heartless as Xie Shu repeatedly appeared before her, rescuing her from danger...

It's because he's doubting himself.

I can finally breathe a sigh of relief; I never expected it to turn out like this.

Xie Shu, who was outside the bed curtains, did not respond.

Hawthorne patted his chest to comfort himself, "Thank goodness, thank goodness..."

Fortunately, that was all. Otherwise, the more she interacted with Xie Shu and the closer they became, the more her heart would race whenever she saw the way Xie Shu looked at her. She would worry that Xie Shu might remember things from her past life, just like her.

"Fortunately what?" Xie Shu suddenly asked.

The question caught Hawthorne off guard, leaving her stunned for a moment before hastily trying to come up with an excuse... "I mean, thankfully... you helped me, otherwise I don't know how many times I would have died."

"I thought you were going to say..." Xie Shu stopped abruptly, as if keeping someone in suspense, leaving the conversation hanging in the air and leaving much to the imagination.

"..."

Now it was Hawthorne's turn to be completely baffled. He racked his brains but still couldn't figure out what Xie Shu had just wanted to say.

What did he think?

What did he think she was going to say?

Why was he silent, precisely at the most crucial moment? This silence was what truly unsettled Hawthorne. "Wh...what?"

“I thought you had discovered it,” Xie Shu said, keeping Huo Sanghua in suspense for a while. This time, he didn’t hesitate or stammer, but smiled calmly and said gently, “...the feelings I’ve carefully hidden.”

Hawthorne was completely dumbfounded.

I seriously doubt what I just heard.

Xie Shu told her that he thought she had discovered his carefully hidden feelings.

What does that mean...? "Young Master..."

Her voice trembled involuntarily.

"There's something I feel I should tell you," Xie Shu said. "The reason I didn't keep my appointment with the Fourth Prince wasn't because I had any complaints about you. There was indeed an unexpected situation in the army that day, and I needed to rush back to deal with it. But I was worried that my sudden departure would make the Fourth Prince and others suspect that there was trouble in the army, so I had no choice but to conceal my whereabouts and send A-Lin to check on things in my place."

Today, Xie Shu actually brought up the misunderstanding about the day they were supposed to meet.

In this situation, Hawthorne was even more confused. What was he trying to do?

Xie Shu continued, "I originally thought that the meeting that day was just a formality. If the Fourth Prince truly wanted you to marry into the Xie family, then he would have done it no matter what. It wasn't that we were looking at each other with the intention of getting married. I never expected that you would actually mistake the person you were looking at that day for me... ...and say to everyone that you wanted to marry A-Lin."

However, at that time, he didn't care about her that much.

I just felt... ...it had nothing to do with him.

However, he felt somewhat guilty, as it was he who had coerced and lured Ah Lin into impersonating him to go and find a match, which changed the fate of the three of them.

The Fourth Prince originally hoped that she could marry into the Xie family and become his wife.

But by a twist of fate, she agreed to marry Ah Lin.

To his surprise, as he worked tirelessly to arrange her marriage to Ah Lin, he gradually had more opportunities to spend time with her and slowly became attracted to her.

His several acts of risking his life to save her were not entirely at Xie Lin's request.

“Young Master, many things may not have gone as we wished at the beginning, but now that things have come to this point, many things have changed, and we can’t go back to the way things were.” Huo Sanghua understood that Xie Shu was expressing his admiration for her.

I couldn't help but feel a pang of regret.

It seemed that she and Xie Shu were truly not meant to be.

In her previous life, they got married, but both died tragically on their wedding night. It was only when they lay in a pool of blood that she truly saw what Xie Shu looked like.

In this life, she chose to marry Xie Lin and became Xie Shu's sister-in-law, but Xie Shu was attracted to her and fell in love with her.

Really good-for-nothing!

"I want to ask you, have you ever regretted marrying Ah Lin?"

Xie Shu stood there, and through the bed curtains, Hawthorne could almost feel his eyes peering over through the thin drapery...