"Rongrong, I was wrong! Forgive your brother this once!"
Ning Chen stumbled forward and seized Ning Rongrong's wrists, his eyes full of pleading and fear.
"When Father made you kneel in the Ancestral Hall as a child, I snuck over the wall to bring you candy. Remember? That winter you had a fever, I carried you across half the sect to find a Healer. You can't be this heartless! I really can't stand living at some backwater border branch!"
Ning Rongrong looked down at the hands gripping her wrists. His nails were neatly trimmed, and his skin was fairer and smoother than most women's.
She remembered those days. Ning Chen had been a chubby little boy who always kept a few pieces of Glazed Candy in his pocket. Whenever Father punished her, he would slip her some and say, "Don't cry, Rongrong."
But now, looking at the face that bore some resemblance to hers, she felt only estrangement.
When had the brother who slipped her candy become a man who drugged someone's tea?
She gently but firmly pulled her hands free. The anger had left her voice, replaced by helplessness and deep disappointment.
"Some things can't be undone. It's not that I don't want to give you a chance. You were unlucky enough to cross His Highness and even poison Miss Ye. As your sister, I'm ashamed of what you did."
Ning Chen slumped to the floor. One look at Ning Rongrong's cold expression told him she would not relent.
He gritted his teeth, then looked up, calculation flashing in his eyes. "Fine! Let Father decide! Let him pass judgment!"
If Father handled it, Ning Chen liked his chances better.
Father was strict, but Mother doted on him. If she pleaded on his behalf, Father would surely listen.
Mother would