Chapter 11: An Obsession with Breaking Legs

The weight of her past life was too heavy; for a moment, Shangguan Liqian found it difficult to calm her racing heart.

Luo Wushuang, who had been following silently behind her, originally intended to keep quiet. However, seeing her sister’s footsteps grow unsteady and ethereal, she couldn’t help but whisper, “Sister, you should eat something first.”

Her sister had barely touched her breakfast, and it was already well past noon…

No matter how angry her sister was, she shouldn’t neglect her health. Worry clouded Luo Wushuang’s eyes.

Startled back to reality by the voice, Shangguan Liqian looked at Luo Wushuang, who was trailing half a step behind her. Suddenly, she smiled. “You don’t need to be so tense. I’m not angry. I just… want you to walk with me for a while.”

Liqian glanced around and raised a slender hand, pointing toward a pavilion not far away. “Set the midday meal there. We won’t be heading back to the main hall to eat.”

Hearing that Liqian wasn’t objecting to her presence, Luo Wushuang breathed a sigh of relief and obediently replied, “I’ll do whatever Sister says.”

Seeing her so well-behaved, Shangguan Liqian couldn’t resist. She hooked a finger, beckoning the girl closer. Once Wushuang was right in front of her, Liqian leaned in and kissed those soft, tender lips firmly.

They really are sweet, Liqian thought. No wonder this brat always loved pinning her down and kissing her senseless.

Caught off guard by such a pleasant surprise, Luo Wushuang was just about to take the initiative and deepen the kiss when Shangguan Liqian unceremoniously pushed her away.

“There are people watching.”

Luo Wushuang stared at her sister’s smiling lips, feeling a surge of indignation.

Did people just suddenly appear? When I want to kiss her, ‘there are people,’ but when she kisses me, are the people behind us just insects?

Vexing sister… she only knows how to bully me.

Despite her grumbling thoughts, Luo Wushuang’s mood was incredibly bright. This was the first time her sister hadn’t fought with her over those ungrateful, cold-blooded relatives. She was overjoyed.

Perhaps what her sister said before was true—she really did have the intention of staying with her. Only then would she indulge Wushuang the way one indulges family.

Shangguan Liqian didn’t know what she was thinking. If she did, she would have told her that from now on, Wushuang was her only family.

When Luo Wushuang turned to face the servants, the harmless, innocent look she wore for Liqian vanished. Her charming face was replaced by a cold, imperial majesty.

“Go and prepare.”

“Understood!” The palace attendants, long accustomed to their Empress’s rapid shifts in temperament, bowed and scurried off to fetch the meal.

Taking advantage of her sister’s good mood, Luo Wushuang’s wicked little hand snuck out to wrap around Liqian’s slender, soft waist.

Shangguan Liqian shot her a glare, but she didn’t push her away.

Sensing the indulgence, Luo Wushuang smiled like a little fox that had successfully raided a chicken coop. Just as she was about to push her luck further, a sharp pinch to the soft flesh of her waist made her expression twist instantly.

“Go on, keep trying,” Shangguan Liqian’s voice drifted over, light and airy.

Luo Wushuang behaved herself after that, though her hand remained on Liqian’s waist, reluctant to pull away.

“Hmm?”

It wasn’t until she realized her sister’s tone was becoming dangerously sharp that Luo Wushuang quickly retracted her hand and sat up straight. She looked like a model student waiting for a tutor to begin a lesson.

But Liqian, who knew her nature all too well, had no intention of letting her off that easily.

“What did I tell you yesterday?” Liqian asked, her voice and expression equally neutral.

Luo Wushuang immediately assumed a serious posture. Recalling her sister’s grace on the bed last night, a flash of heat sparked in her eyes. She subconsciously blurted out, “Sister said when you tell me to stop, I must stop.”

Liqian glared at her, exasperated. “Not that.”

Looking at her sister’s neck, which was slowly turning pink from embarrassment, and that breathtakingly beautiful face, Luo Wushuang felt as if her soul were being snatched away. She murmured, “You also told me to be gentler…”

Caught in the spell of Liqian’s beauty, Luo Wushuang suddenly caught her sister’s warning gaze and shuddered, snapping back to her senses. “I know! Sister said I can’t touch you recklessly while we’re outside.”

“Good.” Seeing that Wushuang had retracted her inappropriate comments, Liqian gave a faint nod before beginning to settle the score. “Then just now…”

Before she could finish, Luo Wushuang interrupted her. “I was just learning from Sister. You’re the magistrate who can set fires, but you won’t let the commoner light a lamp!”

“When was I touching you? That… that was my mouth. It doesn’t count!” Facing the accusation, Liqian was momentarily stunned. When she realized what Wushuang was referring to, her gaze turned awkward.

Luo Wushuang didn’t care about her embarrassment. Hearing her sister say that “using the mouth” didn’t count, her eyes lit up significantly.

Was Sister hinting that while I can’t use my hands outside, I can do… other things?

Just as she was planning to test this theory, Shangguan Liqian suddenly spoke.

“I want to leave the palace for a bit later.”

Meeting her sister’s serious and earnest gaze, the words “I won’t allow it” swirled in Luo Wushuang’s mouth several times, but she couldn’t bring herself to say them. Her expression grew sullen.

Sister is still worried about Shangguan Qinglan after all… she just didn’t show it in front of me…

She definitely plans to go behind my back to check on that Shangguan ingrate.

Luo Wushuang desperately wanted to ask if her sister would come back. But she was afraid her words would shatter this rare, fragile balance. She could only secretly decide to send more people to follow her. If her sister tried to run, she would have her tied up and brought back.

If all else failed, she would follow her in secret.

Although such behavior was contemptible, as long as she could coax? Bind? Tie? Luo Wushuang pondered for a long time and decided the word “escort” was most appropriate.

As long as she could bring her back to the palace, let it be contemptible! She didn’t care about what others thought anyway.

The harmonious atmosphere was broken, and silence stretched between them.

It wasn’t until the meal was laid out and the two of them were alone in the pavilion again that Luo Wushuang spoke with difficulty.

“Is Sister going to see the Shangguan white—your elder sister?”

Shangguan Liqian didn’t speak. Instead, she took Luo Wushuang’s long, strong fingers in her hand and studied them for a long time. Finally, she spoke. “From now on, I don’t want the Shangguan family as my family anymore. I only want Wushuang. Is that okay?”

“Huh?” Luo Wushuang froze, staring blankly at Liqian, who was playing with her fingers. She couldn’t process the meaning of those words for a moment.

Is she testing me?

What should I say to make her happy? Luo Wushuang felt lost. The twisted love between her Imperial Father and Mother had left her quite confused regarding emotions.

She only knew that if she set her sights on something she liked, she had to keep it by her side at all costs.

Just like how her Mother treated her Father…

Her Mother had loved her Father very, very much. Her Father had even promised her Mother that out of the three thousand beauties, he would only ever cherish her. But he broke that promise. While her Mother was giving birth to Wushuang, he had favored several palace maids in quick succession.

Consequently, her Mother had conspired with her cousin—Feng Liuli, the Empress Regnant of the Liang Kingdom—to seize her Father’s political power. They announced to the world that the Emperor had died suddenly, but in reality, all four of his limbs had been broken, and he was kept like a pet within the Kunning Palace.

Now, her Father could only favor her Mother, and he belonged entirely to her Mother alone.

It was precisely because of this successful precedent that Luo Wushuang was so obsessed with the idea of breaking Shangguan Liqian’s legs.