105 Golden Silence (2/2)

”I — I know father loved me. How could I not? He placed all of his life's work in my hands, didn't he? I also know that person loved me. Maybe, I was clueless about it earlier but I had slowly realised it. I know he had killed in my defence and he would have given up his life for me without a single complaint.”

”Prin…”

She steamrolled over his words.

”However, it makes me wonder if either of them ever trusted me. Why did they never take me into their confidence? Was I so untrustworthy in their eyes? Or was I just worth all their love but not their consideration and trust?”

Everything felt too raw, too real and too hurtful in that moment when Su Li and Zhou Sheng's eyes met over a shared past that could never return.

Neither of them spoke for a long time after those words.

As if those words had opened a pandora's box and let out the demons for a short while before being snapped shut again.

Finally, Zhou Sheng was the one to break the silence.

”No. It's not like that. You are just jumping to conclusions. Both of them trusted, loved and pampered you. I — I am sure they had their reasons.”

However, there was something about his words that were different. It was as if he were unsure of what came out of his mouth.

He implored, ”I know, I know that you must have some resentment towards your father for some of the decisions he made and his actions but I am damn sure that all of his actions were guided by his love and care towards you. How can you even think like this?”

Su Li made a haphazard attempt to blink away the tears in her eyes.

”I never said that he didn't love or care for me. I never questioned that, Zhou Sheng. I just wonder if I was not worth their trust.”

Zhou Sheng's face turned pale at her insistence and he knew that these thoughts had featured and taken root in princess's heart for a long time.

It wouldn't be so easy to make her realise that she was overthinking and overanalyzing everything.

”No. They trusted you. Even if your father kept it from you, in the end, he sent that person to you. It was a tactic to protect both of you. Nobody would have ever doubted or looked at a person who was so close to you and wondered about their identity. This kept both of you safe”

”Truthfully, their reasons don't matter. The only thing I know for sure is that they lied to me for years on end and kept such a big secret from me. So, in a situation, where it looked like the person who was important to me and my father, I did everything in my power to save him.”

Her exhausted voice shook and lowered at the pity and anger in Zhou Sheng's eyes.

There was nothing except silence in the entire street. It was as if even the critters had gone silent.

It was said that silence was golden but this one felt heart-wrenching and cruel.