The door swung open.
Light spilled into the room.
Curious, the crowd pressed forward—shoulders brushing, whispers colliding, eyes straining to see what lay beyond the threshold.
For a moment, there was silence.
Shen Miao opened her heavy slightly from the movement around her.
"She's awake"
Feeling a bit dazed it took her a while to understand someone was next to her.
She turned to the side spotting a blurry figure in pale blue robes not far from her.
"Your safe now" she heard a familiar voice before closing her eyes again.
Meanwhile inside the room, a woman's voice—sharp, disbelieving, cut through the murmurs like a blade.
"Who is that?"
It was the noblewoman from earlier. The one who had asked Madam Ling about her son's whereabouts. The one who had smiled when Madam Ling was put on the spot. Her face was pale now, her composure cracking.
She shakily stepped forward.
Het legs almost giving out as she slowly approached the bed.
Her breathing grew heavy
Her hand rising to cover her mouth.
She had recognized the green robe on the bed.
Reaching the edge of the bed, she slowly raised her hand to uncover the figure on the bed but once she did.
Her heart sank.
Her pupils dilated as her legs finally gave out.
She slumped on the floor heavily losing all the elegance and grace she had held herself in since this situation begun.
"Mother"
Her daughter-in-law quickly rushed forward to catch her, but it was already too late.
" Mother... what's wrong?" The daughter-in-law said in a panicked voice.
But her mother closed and opened her mouth no words able to form.
"That—that's."
Her daughter-in-law stood up glancing at the bed, but her face paled visibly
"Sis...sister-in-law"
"How...how could she?"
Her voice broke on the last word.
She took another step forward, then stopped, as if the room itself had reached out and pushed her back.
"No," her mother-in-law suddenly sat up, shaking her head. "No. She was in the garden. She told me she was going to the garden. She wouldn't—"
She turned to Madam Ling, her eyes blazing.
"It was you?"
"This was your plan all along, wasn't it"
"My daughter's future is ruined"
Madam Ling's face went white. Her figures clenching slightly. Her gaze darted from the figure on the bed—it was the wrong figure, the wrong girl. Her eyes crossed over the noblewoman's furious face, to the sneering crowd, then to Shen Yao, who stood still as a statue, watching everything unfold.
Just as earlier his face was unchanged. Though she could feel the cold gaze locked on her. She shivered lowering her head.
"I—I don't"
"That's not—"
"I.... I didn't-"
"Not what?" The noblewoman's voice rose, trembling with rage and grief. "Not your son's fault? Not your family's doing? You pushed past General Shen. You were so certain you would find your son with the fourth Miss of the Shen family—and instead you targeted my daughter."
"MY DAUGHTER."
She turned to the crowd, her voice carrying.
"Madam Ling's son lured my daughter into that room. He trapped her here. And now She dares—" her voice cracked, but she forced herself to continue, "—Madam Ling dares to blame the Shen family for her own son's crimes."
The murmurs surged. The crowd turned, their eyes shifting from the room to Madam Ling, their faces a mix of shock and satisfaction.
A few minutes later.
The door was still open; the noblewoman had regained her composure. Her tears were gone, replaced by cold, inhabited hatred.
She shakily stood up.
"Mother...Mother please you need to rest"
But the woman didn't listen she wasn't in the mood to listen. She pushed her daughter-in-law hands away from herself and stood on her own.
"For the sake of my daughter's reputation," she said, her voice quiet and steady, "I will agree to the engagement you proposed earlier tonight. My daughter will marry your son."
She paused.
"And even if my daughter is off a lesser noble standing because it was your son who caused this my daughter won't accept any other position except being the primary wife."
She turned away from Madam Ling, her back straight, her face unreadable.
Behind her, Madam Ling stared at the open door, the girl her ruined plan, and the weight of a mother's hatred settling on her shoulders.
She couldn't deny it either. It was indeed her son who made the first move she helped him with her own hands. And now her son had just lost a prosperous marriage and had to settle for a bumpkin.
How did it reach here?
She leaned on the door and fainted.
The nobles concerned about her quickly caught her afraid she would hurt herself. But at the back of their sleeves, they all sneered feeling this usually arrogant woman deserved what she got in the end.
Master Ling quickly rushed forward from the back. After finding out about what happened he rushed here but after he heard everything his face paled visibly.
He glanced at Shen Yao apologetically saying he would make time for he and his wife to come and apologize properly then he carried her and rushed off.
Shen Yao watched then go.
He had not moved. He had not spoken. He had not needed to.
The night had turned, and it was no longer his to control.