Chapter 010
Chapter 10: This Prince Qi is Actually the Male Lead
The novel had laid everything out in detail.
The original plot revolved around a vicious supporting character, the villainess fiancée of Yun Wan Chen, the eldest son of the Yun family. She disdained him for his crippled legs and set her eyes instead on Prince Qi, Mo Yuan Hao, who was engaged to Yun Wan Yao.
She stirred up trouble at every turn, determined to break her engagement with Yun Wan Chen, slander Yun Wan Yao, and seduce Prince Qi. Eventually, Mo Yuan Hao flew into a rage. He moved to ruin her name, crush her clan, and let her die nameless and forgotten, a stepping stone for the real story.
Then came the transmigration.
The female lead awoke in the body of this hated villainess, just in time to change her fate. She resolved to stay far from the male lead, quietly dissolve her engagement with Yun Wan Chen, and live a peaceful, uneventful life.
But the moment she transmigrated, everything changed.
She became the true female lead. The world bent itself to her will, all light and fortune drawn to her as if she were the center of fate. Her beauty deepened. Her presence grew luminous. The heavens themselves rewrote her destiny.
One day, she visited a brothel on a whim, wanting to see the famed courtesan. She was framed and drugged with an aphrodisiac. On the verge of collapse, she stumbled into a private room, where Mo Yuan Hao, injured and unconscious, lay helpless.
The drug consumed her reason. She took advantage of him. When she fled, she left behind a jade token.
When Mo Yuan Hao awoke and realized what had happened, he was furious. At the time, his heart still belonged to Yun Wan Yao, his pure moonlight.
He traced the jade token back to the heroine in secret. At first he meant to kill her, but every assassin he sent failed. Some vanished. Some returned confused. None succeeded.
Left with no choice, Mo Yuan Hao approached her himself.
And then, he was ensnared.
The more he saw of her, the more he discovered her intelligence, her charm, her quick, bright spirit.
Unwilling to let go of either woman, he wavered between the new female lead and Yun Wan Yao.
It was this indecision that destroyed everything.
Yun Wan Yao could not bear to let go. She watched her position slip, her affection unravel, her dignity fall piece by piece. Her heart darkened. Her resentment festered. In the eyes of the world, she became the villainess.
Ironically, Mo Yuan Hao never once examined his own actions.
He only sighed and concluded that Yun Wan Yao had changed.
She was no longer gentle, no longer pure.
He began to distance himself.
He turned a blind eye to the humiliation she suffered at the hands of the heroine’s admirers.
He ignored Xu Qing Qing’s betrayal, how she drugged and abandoned Yun Wan Yao among vagrants, stripping her of her innocence.
He used this incident to justify breaking off the engagement.
When Yun Wan Ning had first read the novel, she must have been out of her mind.
She had actually liked this male lead.
She thought him ruthless and composed, powerful and cold in a charming way. His devotion to the female lead felt romantic. His cold shoulder to others seemed alluring. She had adored their pairing.
But now she had met her elder sister.
Now she was a daughter of the Yun family.
And her stance had changed completely.
[Elder Sister, he is the male lead, but you are not the female lead. He was written for the author’s precious daughter. If you get too close, the plot will shred you.]
[There are countless men in the world. You are beautiful, kind, and rich. Why cling to this one rotten tree?]
Yun Wan Ning’s anxious cries echoed in her heart.
Everyone around her froze.
This Prince Qi was actually the male lead?
The moment those words rang out, everyone’s thoughts turned toward Yun Wan Yao’s engagement to Mo Yuan Hao.
Their expressions soured.
But none more than Yun Wan Yao herself.
She had grown up beside Mo Yuan Hao and shared tender memories, sweet exchanges, and affection as warm as spring light.
He had once gazed at her as if she were his entire sky.
How could he be the male lead?
Could her little sister be wrong?
For the first time, Yun Wan Yao doubted Yun Wan Ning’s heart voice.
Before her turmoil could show, several gazes swept toward her. Startled, she lowered her head and shaped a bashful, demure smile. She said to her parents: “Father, Mother, Prince Qi has come to visit me. I’ll go greet him now.”
[Wait, Elder Sister. I remember now. Today, Prince Qi will use your coming-of-age ceremony as an excuse to propose a formal betrothal. You must reject him.]
[If you accept the engagement, when the heroine arrives, you will become his biggest complication. If he cannot resolve it, he will destroy our entire family.]
[Elder Sister, if only you could hear me. I would whisper this in your ear eight hundred times a day if I could.]
Yun Wan Yao turned around, but just before she stepped through the doorway, the little milk bun’s panicked cries rang out inside her mind.
Her steps paused.
Her smile vanished.
Her expression grew clouded and heavy.
She kept her head down, hiding the storm that gathered behind her eyes.
She clenched her fists inside her sleeves and walked forward, her pace quickening.
Behind her, Yun Wan Ning let out a long, helpless sigh.
She could not speak.
She could not stop her.
Of course her sister did not know what would happen. Of course she still believed in Prince Qi and thought fondly of him. It was only natural.
But knowing what lay ahead and watching her sister walk straight into the storm, unable to call out or pull her back, felt unbearable.
[If only I could transmigrate back. I would kidnap that damned author, press a blade to her neck, and force her to rewrite the entire story. I would make Elder Sister the heroine and give her a brand-new male lead, someone a thousand times better than that scumbag Mo Yuan Hao.]
Yes. A new male lead.
Anyone but him.
But it was all a dream.
She was already here. Her old body had long been poisoned to dust. There was no going back.
Like a frost-touched blossom, Yun Wan Ning drooped listlessly in Madam Yun’s arms.
Her tiny face, lively and radiant a moment ago, now lay still.
“My lady,” Yun Zheng said softly: “I have matters to attend to. Rest here with Little Fourth. She has not napped yet.”
“Mm, go on,” Madam Yun said, her voice absent.
Yun Zheng turned to leave.
Behind him, Yun Wan Ye narrowed his eyes, a playful gleam flickering.
Just now, Father had clearly avoided Mother’s gaze.
Suspicious.
Was he hiding something?
Should he follow?
Forget it. If he got caught, he would be beaten again.
Why invite suffering?
He turned to his mother instead and said: “Mother, let me hold Little Fourth. I still have not held her.”
Yun Wan Ye was not worried about Yun Wan Yao and Prince Qi. Not yet.
After all, Mother could hear Little Fourth’s heart voice. She would not let disaster happen.
But if she did not act, he would.
He leaned close, lowering himself a little, his eyes warm as he looked at the soft, sweet little dumpling in Madam Yun’s arms.
The moment Yun Wan Ning heard him, her drowsy eyes fluttered open.
She blinked.
And then they sparkled.
[Oh. This is Second Brother. So handsome. So handsome. How did I not notice before? His features are just like Elder Sister’s. Twins really are amazing.]