“Master, Miss Su Ling has arrived.”
Su Ling followed the Automaton Maid as they teleported to the Upper City.
They were at a cafe, though it looked quite high-end with its elegant decor and private rooms.
Su Ling had left Miao Miao in the care of K423, and she followed the Automaton Maid with an anxious heart.
“Mm, come in.”
A lazy voice drifted from inside the private room.
The maid opened the door.
Her heart thumping, Su Ling stepped inside.
The room was very bright. Beside the window, bathed in the warm sunlight, sat a red-haired beauty.
One hand supported her fragrant cheek while the other held a book.
The bright sunlight made her crimson hair look like spilled silk of molten gold, draped lazily over her shoulders.
A few curled strands fell beside her cheeks, accentuating her snow-white skin.
Gold hair ornaments were tucked into her hair, complementing the swaying gold earrings at her ears, adding a touch of nobility.
She leaned against a soft couch, her crimson eyes slightly downturned.
When her gaze fell upon the scrolls in her hand, a warm, gentle light rippled in her eyes, and a faint smile played on her lips.
A white dress complemented her graceful figure, while the black-gold trim and the butterfly-shaped ornament at her waist outlined her mature curves.
The way she raised her hand to tuck a stray hair was both elegant and natural.
Her fingertips were as white as jade.
Unlike Ji Lingyuan’s bony hands, this woman’s elegance overflowed from her very bones, causing Su Ling’s face to turn bright red as she thought of their past encounter.
The most striking feature was the mole at the corner of her lips; it did nothing to diminish her beauty, but instead added a hint of lazy charm.
“No need to be nervous, my good child.”
The Automaton Maid closed the private room door.
Su Ling kept her head low, not daring to look at the woman.
Before, she hadn’t known any better and thought the woman was just a mature older sister.
But now that she knew this was the Bureau Chief’s wife, she suddenly didn’t know what to do with her own hands and feet.
Wen Ruyu watched Su Ling’s stiff posture, the corners of her lips curling slightly.
She set her book down by the window and patted the space beside her, gesturing for Su Ling to sit.
“Still the same, I see. Your hands are still so small.”
Wen Ruyu took Su Ling’s hand and placed her own over it for comparison, smiling gently.
At this moment, Su Ling’s palms were so nervous they were practically sweating.
Unexpectedly, Wen Ruyu suddenly pulled her into her arms, making Su Ling sit right on her lap.
Immediately, a noble fragrance like blooming peonies enveloped her.
Su Ling’s small heart hammered wildly.
‘No, it can’t be, right… here?’
Su Ling tried to struggle a bit, but Wen Ruyu buried her face in the crook of Su Ling’s slender neck, sniffing gently with a satisfied smile.
“Th-that…”
Su Ling was nearly moved to tears.
She shouldn’t do this.
If they were going to do something, they should do it elsewhere, or at least tell her first.
This was making her even more panicked.
“Don’t you remember me? Half a month ago, we had a very beautiful memory together.”
Wen Ruyu gently kissed Su Ling’s earlobe.
Su Ling’s delicate body trembled, and her face turned crimson.
“I-I remember, b-but you called me here to…”
“Heh, it seems you already know who I am.”
Wen Ruyu let out a soft laugh.
Su Ling lowered her head, feeling as though she could hardly breathe.
She just wanted this to end as quickly as possible.
After all, Wen Ruyu’s identity was far too terrifying.
“Little one, if I told you that we accidentally had a result from half a month ago, what would you do?”
“!”
Wen Ruyu’s red lips were right against her ear, and her hot breath caused Su Ling’s brain to explode instantly.
Su Ling’s mind went blank.
Wh-what did she mean by accidentally having a result?
For a moment, Sister Jing’s words echoed in her ears.
Cheating, cuckolding, the Bureau Chief’s impotent rage…
“Huh?”
Su Ling looked into Wen Ruyu’s lava-like eyes.
The woman was looking at her with a smile.
Su Ling felt dizzy, as if the world were spinning.
She bit her lip hard.
“I… I’ll raise it…”
“Hahahaha!”
Seeing Su Ling’s eyes filled with grievance and tears welling up, yet paired with such a stubborn expression, Wen Ruyu burst into laughter.
“What a truly adorable little thing. Haha, I almost want to just marry you and bring you home.”
Su Ling was on the verge of crying, and she glared at Wen Ruyu with a hint of resentment.
“Don’t worry. I assume someone has already told you what happened to me recently. It’s not yours.”
Wen Ruyu stopped laughing, released Su Ling, and picked up a cup of coffee from the table.
“Of course, that child isn’t mine either.”
“?”
Su Ling’s small head was filled with large questions.
This shocking reversal was so sudden that she couldn’t react for a moment.
Wen Ruyu set down the coffee, rested her cheek on her hand, and stared out the window in a daze.
“Little one, if you married someone you didn’t like, would you remain loyal to her in that kind of marriage?”
Su Ling was stunned.
She tilted her head, thinking for a moment, unsure of how to answer.
“It’s a difficult question, isn’t it? I have been asking myself that same question for twenty years.”
Wen Ruyu’s family was a merchant family.
Wen Ruyu’s mother was an executive at the Company, once reaching a rank as high as P46.
In such a family, money had long since become just a string of numbers.
What they lacked most was power.
The union of politics and business was her family’s greatest dream.
Finally, twenty years ago, just as she became an adult, she was betrothed to the youngest daughter of a long-standing political family.
At the time, she was still a student at the Witch Academy, while her betrothed was the least favored daughter of that family.
Even so, her mother and her mother’s partner were incredibly grateful, believing this was their family’s chance to soar.
For the sake of the family, she married that least favored daughter.
They say marriage is the grave of love, but there had never been any love between them from the beginning; it couldn’t even be called a grave.
Two years after the wedding, they had a daughter, and life was somewhat tolerable.
“Unfortunately, she was still the first to betray us.”
Wen Ruyu sighed.
“I can’t exactly call it betrayal. We were both sacrifices for our families. She was the least favored child in hers, and I only married her for political resources. I don’t hate her.”
When the woman came to Azure Star to serve as the Bureau Chief of the Police Headquarters, she naturally received many bribes.
Among them were the “pleasurable” variety.
Wen Ruyu turned a blind eye to it.
Even when the woman went too far and brought her lovers home to stay the night, Wen Ruyu didn’t bother to care.
Their daughter was nearly an adult, and since they were victims of an arranged marriage, she figured she could just live and let live.
However, once the woman had her new favorites, she gradually grew cold toward Wen Ruyu.
“I am a normal Witch too, and I have needs.”
Wen Ruyu looked at Su Ling, her eyes so hungry it felt as if she might devour her.
Su Ling shrank back, involuntarily swallowing.
Fortunately, Wen Ruyu didn’t try to start anything right then and there.
“But for the sake of my daughter, I held back.”
She held back for ten years.
However, an accident still happened.
One month ago, her wife brought back a Witch Egg, claiming it was their daughter.
At the time, Wen Ruyu found it very strange.
When exactly had she given birth?
They hadn’t shared any intimacy in nearly ten years.
In other words, that Witch Egg definitely wasn’t hers; it was the offspring of her wife and a mistress.
She had been so angry she started laughing. How could someone be so blatant?
Perhaps because she had been suppressed for ten years, or perhaps because she had been provoked, she found Su Ling half a month ago.
“Ha, little one, you really did me a huge favor — I still remember that night even now…”
As she spoke, Wen Ruyu actually looked as if she were still savoring the memory.
Su Ling covered her face with her small hands, overwhelmed with shame.
No wonder Wen Ruyu had been so hungry back then, even more so than Ji Lingyuan.
It turned out that ten years of pent-up desire had been poured out onto her.
Originally, Wen Ruyu had some reservations, but seeing the woman try to pass off a mistress’s spawn as their daughter, Wen Ruyu decided she wouldn’t hold back either.
The woman was practically bringing the illegitimate daughter out into the open and stepping all over her.
If Wen Ruyu kept enduring, she would be beyond help.
She thought the bastard wanted to present the illegitimate daughter to the public legitimately and make her the child’s mother.
But before she could act, the biggest twist arrived.
“That child… turned out not to be hers either.”
Wen Ruyu’s expression was now very solemn.
The bastard had brought the child back, but once the egg hatched, it was discovered that the child wasn’t her offspring.
There were only two possibilities.
One was that the bastard was lying, and the other was that the mistress had also cuckolded the bastard.
Su Ling was dumbfounded when she heard this.
Was this how high-society people played?
The mistress cuckolded the main partner, the main partner brought the bastard back to the original spouse and declared it legitimate, only to find out it was a bastard after all — but since it had already been announced to the public, one could only imagine the Bureau Chief’s current situation.
“She is the Bureau Chief, after all. With so many eyes on her, many people naturally found out the young daughter wasn’t her child.”
“And to save face, she wants to throw the dirty water onto me. Heh, what a clever plan.”
Wen Ruyu sneered.
Su Ling finally understood.
If the truth were made public, the scandal of the Bureau Chief cheating, only for the mistress to cuckold her in return, would be a double scandal that even the Bureau Chief couldn’t withstand.
It was better to throw the dirt onto her original spouse and frame herself as the victim.
That way, she could wipe herself clean in one go.
“So now she wants to make this matter known to everyone. That is why she is willing to bear the infamy of using the entire police force to conduct such a massive, exhaustive investigation.”
The muddier the water became, the cleaner the Bureau Chief could make herself look.
After hearing this, Su Ling felt a chill run straight to her head.
What a ruthless method.
And thinking that such a ruthless scheme came from the person sharing her bed, Su Ling’s gaze toward Wen Ruyu filled with sympathy.
Just how much pressure had she been under during this time?
“When she was running for election, my family provided a lot of funding. She still needs my family’s support, so she doesn’t dare touch me for now.”
Wen Ruyu looked at Su Ling, her gaze extremely complicated.
“I’m sorry. You have likely been dragged into this because of me.”
“Huh?”
Su Ling blinked, looking a bit dazed.
Wen Ruyu’s expression was full of guilt as she pulled Su Ling into her arms, her tone deeply self-reproachful.
“She doesn’t dare touch me, but with such a huge public outcry, a culprit must be produced.”
“It doesn’t matter who the culprit is, as long as it’s someone who has had a relationship with me.”
“And there is only you…”
“I’m sorry, I am so sorry. I should have held back… I should have held back…”
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