Because he had once lost, he treasured the person before him all the more.
The first time he met He Xi was at the Celebration Banquet Father King held for Second Brother. Back then, she had only been a sixteen-year-old little girl. Across the sea of people, they made faces at each other. She was innocent, silly, and pure.
It was hard to imagine that, with a father and brother as treacherous and cunning as He Zheng and He Xuan, and having grown up amid such intrigue, she had remained untouched by the filth, her heart so pure.
After that...
His thoughts returned, and Hua Zhen gave a bitter smile, a trace of self-mockery flashing through his eyes.
After that, whether it was saving her from Su Ma Li or comforting her after Old Fourth Hua Xiong proposed to her... and so on, he had approached her with an ulterior motive.
At first, he had harbored ill intentions. Slowly, he was moved by her purity and obedient nature, until in the end, against his own intentions, he fell for her.
When one did something step by step, only for it to develop in another direction, it was not because the world was so wondrous. It was only because human emotions were too complicated, making things so changeable.
The more he liked her, the stronger the guilt in his heart became.
Hua Zhen had never thought of begging for forgiveness over the deception and concealment he had inflicted upon He Xi. What was done was done. No matter how heartfelt his apology was, the scar left by that wound in another person's heart could never simply disappear.
Back at Angel Lake, she had sat there all alone. He would never forget that lifeless appearance of hers, nor that look in her