Every breath that she took was as heavy as the cloudy sky from outside the big french windows. She sat by the stainless glass, looking out the windows. She caught the reflection that showed a lonely woman who was devoid of emotions. It wouldn't be a lie to say that she didn't know what to feel at this moment.
Everyone around her had always boasted about her strong and independent attributes. However, only she knew that she had no more strength to continue like this, locked and secluded from her loved ones and the forwarding world.
He was cruel. Without looking for the truth, he condemned her to hell in this room where she played psychosis with herself and had countless nightmares of the past.
She had lost count of time ever since he locked her up in Bayside Garden. She only knew that with every passage of time, a piece of the love that she had for him was fraying from her heart.
People told her that love was wonderful and that it was full of fresh air, but why was her love so suffocating? Why did she have to fall in love with the man who wanted her dead, a man who betrayed her selfless love?
Now, the only love that she knew and was left came from the kicks inside her stomach. It was her child who was giving her a reason to keep her eyes open for the future.
Outside began pouring like crazy. She could visualize the sound as the rain pitter-pattered on the grassy ground. There was bounded to be new life after such an intense rainfall, just like the story of the flood. And for her, it was the little bean sprout that she would be able to see in three more months.
Knock, knock.
"I have come to deliver your meal, princess consort," said a maid as she rolled in a cart to the table where food sprawled untouched from the previous meal. The maid looked distressed, but she calmly replaced the cold food with warm and fresh ones.
"Enjoy your meal, princess consort."
The door clicked close. The sound brought Yanyue back to reality, and she got up rapidly to the door.
"Open! Let me out!" she banged on the door as she begged the guards that she knew were keeping watching outside the room. "I didn't push her! I really didn't!"
"Please," she cried silently, tears dripped down her cheeks like the rain outside. But, her pleas were pointless. No one would help her because she was a criminal in everyone's eyes. They were all convinced that she pushed Wanyue when all she wanted to do was try to save the woman.
Why did no one believe her? Even her father might dismiss her because of the incident. What about Grandma Lu? Would the old lady be disappointed too? She didn't know, but she wanted to get out of this suffocating room so that she could breathe for just one second.
She curled down on the floor in a ball, so she didn't notice that someone else had entered the room. It was when they spoke that she raised her head to look at them.
"Did you think that I would release you by starving?"
"Your highness..." Yanyue said, her voice was weak and cracked a little from crying so much just now.
Beichen glared down at her and said firmly, "You must stay here until you give birth to a child for her. It's the least that a person like you can do."
He hovered in front of her.
"So until that time, eat your meals properly, or else I will do much worse to you."
Yanyue's heart froze listening to his threats, but especially by what he said previously.
"My child," she put a hand on her stomach as if to defend the life inside of her. She asked in an incredulous voice, "What do you mean by giving birth to her child!?"
An evil smiled appeared on Beichen's lips. He leaned down and grabbed her chin. A little bit more force, then he would have cracked her chin.
"When you pushed her down that flight of stairs, did you ever think that she was carrying a life? Now, an important thing that connected us is gone, so you must bear the consequences. What can you use to compensate other than that baby in your stomach? So, be obedient if you don't want anything to happen to that baby or your mother's company."
Yanyue was so shocked that all she could let out was a grunt of objection and the shakings of her head in disbelief by all that he said.
Even before hearing his words, she knew that something would happen to her sister's baby. It would be a miracle if the baby survived from that height.
She was at a loss for words because the only things that she felt were agony and guilt. Agony because an innocent life no longer exists. And guilt because she knew that she was at fault for being unable to protect her sister and her nephew in time.
He smirked looking at her deep-set orbs that were welling with tears and pleading him desperately, but then he suddenly felt annoyed by those teared-ridden eyes and pushed her chin away.
"Please, I beg you to let Klotho go," she said weakly, "...and this baby."
"It all depends on you," said Beichen, looking from her to the food on the table. It was evident what he meant by his gazes.
Yanyue wiped her tears and got up slowly to the table. On the table was some nutritious food. He probably prepared these nice meals because of his intention, otherwise, if he could he would have let her starved.
She sniffed her nose and then picked up a biscuit. She bit into it piece by piece until only crumbs were left. Then, she picked up the fork and knife to cut a piece of the braised chicken. It took a while for her to chew and swallow everything on the table because of her low appetite.
Beichen was there throughout the whole meal. If he knew that all he needed to do was threaten her, then he would've come in earlier and not wait until days later after he sent her in here.
No matter how evil this woman was, she was smart to figure out what her situation was like. He felt that he was still too lenient compared to the things that she had done.
Two weeks ago on the night of the banquet, he took an unconscious Wanyue to the emergency room. The doctor told him that she had suffered from a miscarriage and the baby was too weak to survive.
He didn't know how to react to the news and was silent throughout the whole time. Deeply, he was sorry that a life was lost.
When Wanyue woke up from a whole day of coma, she cried pitifully. He couldn't make her feel better by just saying that everything would be fine because it was her child after all, so he promised that he would give her another baby.
And that would be the child in Yanyue's stomach. He wanted to show Yanyue how painful it was separating a child from its mother.
He felt that this was the most suitable punishment for her and felt no remorse. The only remorse he should be feeling was towards Wanyue, an innocent woman who got caught up in her own sister's schemes.
The maid cleared away the food from the table after Yanyue cleaned off the wild rice soup from its bowl.
She thought that she had no appetite, but she managed to finish everything that was brought in, including the drinks and the sweets.
When chewing down the food, she felt kicks from her son, so maybe it was her son who convinced her to eat the last bit of everything.
"Good. I don't need to remind you what to do from now on, do I?" asked Beichen rhetorically.
Yanyue looked at the man quietly. His eyes were so cold that even if he didn't say anything, she would still understand his intention for showing himself today.
This was the first time that she saw him since that horrendous night that felt like ages ago. If he wasn't serious about his threats, then he wouldn't even appear. This was the kind of person that he was; his appearance dictated the importance of that event, whatever that may be.
As Beichen was about to leave the room, she mustered the courage to speak her mind.
"I really didn't push her," she paused, "but everything was my fault."
It was because she went out and asked Wanyue about that. It was because she was too slow. And mostly, it was because she didn't push him away that night at the hotel. She destroyed a completely good couple all because of that childish promise.
Throughout her locked-in, she had carefully thought about her entanglement with him. Perhaps, she did want to save him that night, but did she do it because of the promise that was always playing in the back of her mind?
The promise that had always been the reason why she kept her eyes on him for years despite the ugly truth that he showed her every day. Without the promise, would she have been this obsessed with him? She couldn't know because from the moment that she laid eyes on him, he was all that she recognized.
But since he seemed to have forgotten the promise, then she should have let go earlier.
But she didn't.
She thought that perhaps he would remember one day. So, she waited and waited until more than fifteen years had already passed. In those years, never once had he mentioned that promise.
This was proof that everything between them was not that important for him to remember. And that she was the fool expecting his care all along. Now, everything seemed too late to go back.