“Ah… how regretful this is, too regretful…”
Luo Shuyan was in the midst of the most miserable year of her life. The young woman puffed her cheeks as she stared into the copper mirror placed on the dressing table, her eyes narrowing at the distorted reflection of her appearance.
Despite An Fei’s fevered protests, Luo Shuyan of the Luo Family was indeed quite unlucky and ill-fortunate compared to her peers.
A maidservant who served besides Sheng Miaolan, and was dispatched as a dowry maidservant upon her Young Miss’ marriage with the esteemed Lord Minister Wei Xuan.
Afterwards, she transformed from a canary to a phoenix as she developed into the Wei Family’s Second Madam, thoroughly casting away her shameful past in a single sweep.
That was Luo Shuyan’s identity, described in a few sentences at the most.
To attain her success, she had not been required to invest a single iota of effort beyond her regular duties, nor did she receive a single choice to do so.
The illegitimate daughter of the Luo Family was one of many leaves tossed around underneath the impressive gale of the noble breeze; insignificant, and completely ignored even if she attempted to garner attention.
…She had to admit, Wei Xuan was a caring husband.
She never came into conflict with Sheng Miaolan nor was there any flaunting of marital authority in the Wei Household.
The two women were closely knit as bosom sisters, and their children were closer than kin.
As a former boudoir maidservant of Sheng Miaolan whom was treasured by the Empress Dowager as though she were her own child, Luo Shuyan did not receive an insignificant protection from the Lu Imperial Family.
Moreover, she was the Second Madam of Wei Xuan – the mysterious Minister of Defense who wielded a terrifying amount of influence over the Imperial Court, more than anyone could expect.
As for the Luo Family who had cast her out more than twenty years ago when she were nothing but a bumbling child… they could be excluded. However, it was indeed undeniable that the Second Madam’s life was exorbitantly suffused with luxury, beauty, and prominence.
Her past was brilliant, her current status was impressive and awe-striking, and her future was impeccable.
…it was just a pity that her life never strayed too far from the cruel shackles of misfortune.
“My first child was nearly stillborn, and now this happens…”
Luo Shuyan bitterly murmured as she reached for the container of lip balm swathed amongst many porcelain jars on an adjacent table. The young woman removed the cover of the container, scooping a small quantity of the clear and viscous substance stored within.
With a tender brush, the lip balm was painted neatly across her delicate lips, the natural pink glow accented by the protective and enrapturing flush of scarlet and brilliance.
Under the Second Madam’s delicate and extensive care, the figure of the young woman reflected in the mirror increased in her beauty with each passing moment.
And yet, her heart couldn’t stop its abnormal pulse accompanied by a stab of pain. All of her current emotional turmoil stemmed from a single name, and yet, she couldn’t bring herself to utter the words from her throat.
Wei An Fei.
Her first child, a child that was literally fished from the depths of the underworld in her first moments of life.
It had taken Wei Xuan a significant amount of spiritual treasures and priceless medicines before the infant’s vitality could stabilize, but the three of them had not batted an eye at the heart-wrenching expenditure of wealth.
Only after having wasted such a vast collection of heavenly products were they able to prevent the infant from dying, but the result was a permanent comatose state.
The Lord Minister even had the miraculous physician Gao Yun Zhi carefully watch over the child for any abrupt changes, but to no avail.
Due to Great Yan imposing pressure onto Great Yong’s trading routes in the south, Wei Xuan had not been able to spare enough time and effort to properly care for the barely living child.
Hence, Wei An Fei had never successfully been born in the eyes of the public, and Luo Shuyan’s first pregnancy ended in a stillborn case.
The young infant had been relocated to a secret wooden shed in which she lay in for the next fourteen years. During such a time, Luo Shuyan had taken it upon herself to engrave the words of motherly love into the depths of her heart.
Ignoring her daily dedication towards maintaining her beauty, neglecting her second child Wei Yan Yue to the extent that Sheng Miaolan had to substitute numerous times each day, the young woman had flocked towards the inconspicuous wooden shed the moment she had waken up and prepared breakfast.
Other than emerging to gather meals for the miraculously growing child, Luo Shuyan only returned to her residence well into the night.
She personally fed and clothed the child as well as managing her daily needs to the letter.
Not even the maidservants were permitted to enact upon their task and identity, for fear of endangering An Fei’s delicate life.
For fourteen years, she had taken care of the comatose girl without pause, without rest, without respite or even taking the chance to catch her breath as she continuously hoped for a miracle…
But when the abrupt and completely unforeseen miracle actually descended from the heavens, what transpired?
Get out, or I’ll kill you.
The instant the young girl finally opened her eyes from her lifelong coma, the words formed from the chalice of malevolence and hatred spilled from her throat.
The child who should not have been able to form words or even move her body arose from her bed to stare into her eyes, and utter the words reeking of matricide with an expression distorted with hate.
At that moment, Luo Shuyan had felt that her heart had broken.
She had invested far too much into the wellbeing and vitality of the young girl to the point that Wei Yan Yue complained of her callous and roughened behavior during her early childhood years.
She had dedicated too much of her soul, too much of her emotions and sweat that Sheng Miaolan had to intervene and exercise her marital authority to order the young woman to get some rest.
She had invested far, far too much than she could have expected. And yet…
The result was that instead of the confused, dazed expression as her child witnessed the world for her first time, the critical moment that had been delayed for fourteen years, the Second Madam received words requesting for the spillage of her blood.
My child, why?
Since then, Wei An Fei had refused to see her regardless of the costs.
After Wei Xuan had moved her into the Flowing Wind Residence to protect her safety, the young girl never saw her, not even once. The doors of the study remained closed during both day and night, sealed under the Lord Minister’s ironclad orders.
In the Wei Family, Wei Xuan’s commands were absolute, but she had yet to hear her child call for her mother’s presence.
Wei Yan Yue had barged her way into the study with her sister Wei Rou Yan, her two Elder Brothers had visited her, though Wei Chang Feng had done so with a rather… peculiar greeting, but her mother, Luo Shuyan, had not managed to see her shadow, much less her countenance.
The young girl would die before meeting her face-to-face, and the Second Madam could only hesitate and question the boiling emotions in her heart.
What was she doing wrong?
She waited and waited to obtain the natural answer of her heart from the solace of her residence, only to hear the news that the Empress had forced Wei Xuan to relinquish his Fourth Daughter to embark onto the jouney to the Taiyi Sect.
She had waited to resolve the questions nagging at her conscience, only to be dumbstruck at the possibility that her child had gone missing from the world.
“How regrettable. Why did I hesitate?”
Luo Shuyan asked towards the mirror, sighing in sorrow at the expressionless and silent appearance reflected from the copper surface.
The young woman arose from her seat and withdrew into the inner chambers of the Plum Blossom Residence to resume her gaze towards the sky.
My child, why?
Why would you look at your mother with those eyes, and curse with those words?
My child, why do you hurt?
My child, what have I done?
My child… An Fei, are you safe?
Are you alright?
Fei’er, why does your heart overflow with sorrow?
