Rebirth: After Becoming the Villainess-Chapter 63: In This Life, I Only Wish to Stay by Miss’s Side

Ah Yu was just bringing a carpenter in to make the modifications Song Lianhe had requested.

Seeing the young man’s handsome features and hearing how methodically and clearly he spoke, Su Huaqing teased, "Second Miss, wherever did you find such a clever assistant?" Then he turned to Ah Yu. "As it happens, I’m in need of a study attendant. How would you like to come work for me? I’m sure the Second Miss would be willing to part with you~"

Hearing this, Yan Wen immediately added, "Young brother, Mr. Wanzhang has never taken on a study attendant before. You would be the first."

Being a study attendant to a renowned scholar was far better than being an errand boy. Anyone with a bit of ambition who wanted to get ahead would know what choice to make.

Song Lianhe’s heart skipped a beat.

In the original novel, Su Huaqing and Chao Junyu—one a scholar, the other a warrior—had devotedly assisted Zhou Junlin in his ascent to the throne.

She had already brought Chao Junyu to her side, yet Su Huaqing had still inevitably crossed paths with him.

’Besides, if Ah Yu truly wanted to go, could she really stop him?’

’So, was the novel’s original fate truly unavoidable?’

Song Lianhe couldn’t help but recall the villainess’s tragic end in the book...

’Good and evil are always repaid in kind. For a Villainess who had committed every possible evil, the more tragic her ending, the more satisfying it was for the readers!’

After transmigrating into the book, Song Lianhe did her utmost to avoid recalling the images of that ending.

She had used her family’s influence to marry Zhou Junlin as she wished. Who would have thought that not long after their wedding, Zhou Junlin would drop all pretense and try to force her to sign divorce papers? The two remained at a stalemate. But then, she discovered she was pregnant with a servant’s bastard child. It happened on the very day her attempt to frame the female lead failed; instead, the female lead had plotted against her, causing her to have a sordid affair with a household servant.

Although Zhou Junlin disliked her, he couldn’t tolerate her cuckolding him so flagrantly. Coupled with her volatile temper and the vicious insults she hurled at the female lead, he flew into a rage and ordered her locked in the Prince Mansion’s dungeon.

So as not to be known for abandoning his first wife, he handed the matter over to Su Huaqing...

When Su Huaqing appeared before her with his men, she hadn’t eaten properly in days. She lay on the cold, damp ground, her skin covered in sores that were beginning to fester.

Su Huaqing held a handkerchief to his nose, his gaze sweeping over her swollen belly. Then, he turned aside and gestured for the men behind him to step forward.

"What are you trying to do? I am Princess Consort Ling... I am your master’s Princess Consort..."

"Heh heh, Princess Consort, I am simply under orders to examine the fetus in your womb."

"No... Don’t touch me... Get away... All of you, get away!"

In that dark, sunless dungeon, Song Lianhe had no one to talk to. The only thing she could feel was the small life inside her growing day by day...

A mother’s bond with her child is profound. He had become her only hope.

The guards pinned her hands and feet down. No matter how much she wept and struggled, it was useless. Then, a sharp blade sliced open her lower abdomen...

The five-month-old fetus was already formed. When one of the men presented the object on the tray, its outline was faintly visible even though it was covered with a red cloth.

Su Huaqing frowned. "Didn’t I tell you to be gentle? Why were you so brutal?"

"I failed in my duty," the guard said.

Song Lianhe lay on the ground, pale and numb, long past the point of feeling any pain. Tears streamed silently from the corners of her eyes.

But as the morally corrupt Villainess, she had done too many evil things and framed the female lead time and again. To end up like this was her just deserts; no one would sympathize with her.

"Second Miss, I advise you to sign the divorce papers sooner rather than later." Su Huaqing came to stand before her, a faint smile on his lips. "At least then, you might live."

Soon after, he left with his men, and the dungeon was plunged back into an eerie darkness.

The gaping wound on her stomach was agonizing. It had only been treated with some topical medicine and then carelessly bandaged.

’She knew what Su Huaqing meant. He wanted her to feel the terror of death, hoping it would make her beg for mercy.’

’But she, Song Lianhe, refused!’

And so, on the night of the second day, Song Lianhe died in the dungeon of the Ling Prince Mansion.

When she was finally discovered, her stomach had been torn open by starving rats, several of which were still gnawing on her flesh...

No one knew the helplessness and agony she had endured before her death.

A life extinguished is like a snuffed-out lamp. A straw mat was her final resting place.

Zhou Junlin immediately ordered the cause of her death to be covered up, claiming she had accidentally fallen into a pond. In the blink of an eye, he married Song Xilan with all the ceremony befitting a Princess Consort.

Every time she thought of the Villainess’s horrific death in the original story, Song Lianhe felt physically ill, her stomach churning as if she were about to vomit.

’As the Villainess, there was some pain that only she could truly understand.’

’That was why she couldn’t stand Zhou Junlin and despised Su Huaqing! Every change she was making now was to avoid walking the path to the book’s ending.’

Shaking off the terrible images in her mind, Song Lianhe looked at Ah Yu again. He was gazing at her unblinkingly with his clear, beautiful eyes.

She was taken aback. The young man declared, both shyly and resolutely, "In this life, I only wish to stay by your side, milady."