"What are you doing? Get up." Chu Hengyuan felt a pang of frustration. What was this little thing afraid of? Seeing Gu Ranran kneeling on the ground and refusing to budge, he hurried to her side and pulled her to her feet.
"Do you like kneeling so much? Do you want to ruin your knees?" Chu Hengyuan looked Aran in the eye, noticing how she kept trying to back away. "You're afraid of me." He had clearly been very gentle with her, hadn't he?
"Fine, then tell me what you did wrong so I know what to punish you for." Chu Hengyuan had no idea how to coax a girl. In his past life, when he was with Murong Qingyan, it was always Murong Qingyan who coaxed him. He had never needed to put so much effort into pleasing a woman.
"Your subordinate knows her mistake. Your subordinate should not have angered Miss Murong. Your subordinate has disgraced the Prince. I beg the Prince for punishment." As she spoke, tears welled up and spilled over. She felt so wronged; she simply couldn't control her emotions.
Seeing the little woman in front of him shed tears, a wave of heartache washed over Chu Hengyuan. He pulled Aran into his arms in a swift embrace. "Don't cry, Aran. It breaks my heart. I know I was wrong. I won't punish you in the future, and I won't send you away." But this wasn't what Aran wanted at all.
Gu Ranran struggled continuously in Chu Hengyuan's arms, but Chu Hengyuan only held her tighter. "Aran, don't be afraid. Please don't be afraid of me. From now on, I will only treat you well. You know, I've missed you so much. I regret wasting so much time we could have spent together. I regret leaving you covered in scars. I regret sending you to dangerous places and making you do dangerous things. Aran, forgive me just this once, will you? I will treat you well."
"Chu Hengyuan, what kind of game are you playing? When you had me thrown into the Zhao Prison, did you ever think about forgiveness? When you had people pierce my shoulder blades, did you ever think about forgiveness? When you ultimately allowed Murong Qingyan to end my life with poisoned wine, did you ever think about forgiveness...?" Filled with boundless rage, Aran spewed out the grievances of their past life and shoved Chu Hengyuan away with all her might.
Let him think she had gone mad. Let her treat these past few days as stolen time. Since she couldn't escape, let it all end here. Chu Hengyuan, if you still have a shred of kindness left, grant me a merciful death. If this goes on any longer, she would lose her mind.
Chu Hengyuan felt as though he had been struck by lightning. No wonder Aran had been so resistant to him in this life, wanting to flee far away. It turned out that he wasn't the only one who had experienced Rebirth; his Aran had also brought back the memories of her past life.
"Aran, listen to me. After you left in our past life, I finally realized how innocent you were. The truth was laid out before my eyes, and I felt such deep regret and helplessness. Only after you were gone did I realize how wonderful you were. After you left, I fell hopelessly and desperately in love with you. Don't you find that ridiculous? Yes, I find it ridiculous too. Every single day that followed, I missed you to the point of madness, always wishing time could flow backward. I wished that if we could start over, I would give Aran a completely different life." Panicking, Chu Hengyuan made no effort to hide the fact that he had also experienced Rebirth. As long as Aran would forgive him, he would do anything.
So, after her death, Chu Hengyuan finally realized she had been innocent. It was just that the price for proving her innocence was far too high—so high that she had to end her life to prove it. Yet, what did any of that matter now? The scars she had suffered were entirely real.
"Chu Hengyuan, I beg you—please consider the blood I shed and the life I laid on the line for you in our past life. Or, if you want to treat me well in this life, or if you want to make amends, then please just let me go. Let me leave." Gu Ranran pleaded.