"Ma?!" Yi Hua exclaims in surprise.
"If you won't play along then I will make you." Hu Ying adds, glaring at Yi Hua for being stubborn while Yi Hua shakes her head no, looking around as the guards walk in, approaching her hesitantly.
"This is not right, Ma. I can make the king dislike me in my own ways!" Yi Hua shouts, pushing the guards away, Lin Yi runs to the queen, "Your Grace, I will do it anyways. Please don't lock Your Highness." Lin Yi begs, Hu Ying snaps her sharp gaze at Lin Yi as she goes quiet.
"What did you do to my daughter? You must have poisoned her to be this addicted to you!" Hu Ying says, slapping Lin Yi, Yi Hua gasps in surprise and the guards grab her, "Ma!" Yi Hua shouts, tearing up as she looks at Lin Yi.
"You were never rebelling, Hua! What has got into you?" Hu Ying says, walking past Lin Yi and standing before Yi Hua, she struggles to set herself free, "Ma, what you are doing is wrong. I won't push someone else on fire to save myself. Either it's Lin Yi or any other maids." Yi Hua snaps, taking Hu Ying by surprise.
"Why don't you just do what your mother says?!" Hu Ying shouts in desperation, "Because my mother is not in her mind and she is wrong!" Yi Hua snaps back, still fighting against the idea of putting someone else in her place.
"Oh really? If I am wrong then you must be correct. What is it? How do you plan to save yourself?" Hu Ying says, mockingly while she gestures to the guards to let her go, Yi Hua composes herself as she glares at her mother.
"I thought you were very kind and understanding. Maybe I am mistaken, right?" Yi Hua asks, smiling through her teary eyes, "Those words you just said… I would love to believe I didn't hear but I did and I cannot change the fact that it's all true." Yi Hua adds, wiping the drop of tear that just rolled down her eyes.
Hu Ying widens her eyes, flustered and startled by her daughter's words, "Hua… What are you saying? I am doing all this for you. How can I send you there-"
"Ma. Don't do this for me. I can't bear the burden of having someone else sacrificed for me. It would be better if I get sacrificed rather than living with a burden." Yi Hua says, hugging her mother as she cries in her mother's chest.
"Hua…" Hu Ying calls out, slowly wrapping her arms around Yi Hua as she cries in her chest, "Ma, I will make sure he won't see me." Yi Hua mutters, pulling herself away.
Hu Ying gulps and caresses her cheeks, "And how are you going to do that?" Hu Ying asks, "I will… I will um, change my look. I will put on ugly make-up or draw scars on my face. Anything as long as he gets disgusted by me." Yi Hua says, growing determined.
"I am sorry…I made you cry." Hu Ying says, cupping her cheeks and wiping her tears, "I am sorry too, Ma." Yi Hua says, looking away, Hu Ying chuckles, "I should be the one apologizing, I was just so scared that demons would take you away."
Hu Ying says and pulls Yi Hua in her arms, "Ma, I want to talk to you in private, can you send them all out?" Yi Hua mutters, Hu Ying frowns, hesitantly nodding her head she shouts, "Everyone out!"
Yi Hua watches the guards and maids walking away, "Yi Yi, you stay." Yi Hua says, startling Lin Yi, blinking her eyes, Lin Yi nods her head and stands still until all the guards and maid walk out leaving the three women alone to themselves.
"What is it, Hua?" Hu Ying asks, Yi Hua sniffs and wipes her tears away with the sleeve of her top, "Ma, I have something to tell you." Yi Hua says, standing before Hu Ying.
"Remember, I mentioned having a doubt about someone?" Yi Hua asks, tilting her head.
Hu Ying nods her head, "Actually, I loved someone." Yi Hua speaks, Lin Yi widens her eyes in shock, her words very unexpected, moreover, Lin Yi focused on the part where she mentioned- loved.
Lin Yi watches Hu Ying with uncertainty and fear, "What?"
"I loved someone, Ma. I know this is so sudden but… I loved someone but not anymore." Yi Hua confesses, smiling slightly while Hu Ying stands still in shock, grasping onto her words slowly.
"Whom?" Hu Ying asks, sternly.
"Gu Chen, the elder son of the Gu family." Yi Hua says, Hu Ying gasps, "What? He is the son of the Gu family?" Hu Ying asks, Yi Hua nods her head.
"And what about it?" She asks, tilting her head.
"I doubt him." Yi Hua says, Lin Yi in shock hearing Yi Hua, when had she ever thought she would witness Yi Hua going or talking against that Gu boy?
Never, with the way she was too devoted and puppy in love with him, this was very impossible.
And, so, she was having trouble believing what she was seeing and hearing, oh my holy god. That's what has been going on in her mind, poor girl.
"You do?" Hu Ying asks, gasping in disbelief.
"I think he has something to do with Tao Tao, the second family has more to do with this and I am sure of this. I just need some time to spare so I can put the things together." Yi Hua says, grabbing her mother's hand and looking at her.
"Are you sure?" Hu Ying asks, and Yi Hua nods her head.
"And Yi Yi, the person you met, was he Gu Chen?" Yi Hua asks, suddenly focusing all of her attention on the girl who stood silent and bewildered, startled by the sudden attention she stumbles a little back.
The question directed toward her even more, even more startling.
And she had no obligation to be silent anymore, the Hua before her isn't the same anymore. And she believed the girl before her that she would now believe in her.
And thus, with confidence, she replies, "Yes, Your Highness. It was him."