As time trickled by, Chu Chenyi could no longer hold back his words and continued to chatter, "Everything I said just now was from the bottom of my heart. I truly know I was wrong and I promise I will never make you angry again, no matter..."
"Enough, stop talking,"
Before Chu Chenyi could finish, Lin Yuwei interrupted him. If she let Chu Chenyi continue speaking like this, she would truly soften her heart.
Lin Yuwei composed herself, her face regaining its cold expression. "You've said these words more than once, and I'm tired of hearing them. You don't need to say them to me anymore. Save them for those who want to hear them."
She had heard these words countless times before. Every time she naively believed him, if she still hadn't learned her lesson after so many setbacks, she would be a complete fool.
After a brief pause, Lin Yuwei stood up and walked to the window. Her gaze fell upon the scenery outside, and she slowly closed her eyes, letting her emotions calm down.
"I've said what I needed to say. The situation is as it is, and there's nothing more for us to discuss. I'm very tired and need to rest. You should leave now."
She didn't know how to face Chu Chenyi with her emotions. She decided to send him away first. Once she had thought things through and resolved the knot in her heart, perhaps she could forgive Chu Chenyi.
At least, at this moment, in this situation, it was truly difficult for her to be amiable towards Chu Chenyi, as if nothing had happened or to simply forgive him.
Chu Chenyi's gaze fell upon Lin Yuwei's retreating back. This was the first time he felt such a sense of defeat and powerlessness. He reached out, wanting to pull Lin Yuwei back, but though the person was before him, she seemed to be a world away, out of reach. The person before him was too unreal, too hazy, as if she were a fake.
A wave of bitterness washed over him, and even his breathing seemed to ache. After a moment, Chu Chenyi's emotions slowly stabilized. He knew very well that if he truly left now, it would be even harder to seek Lin Yuwei's forgiveness later.
This incident would become a wall between them, and over time, it would be even harder to forget.
Chu Chenyi slowly stood up, took a step towards Lin Yuwei, and said with sincerity, "It was my fault this time. I was too careless about guarding against others, which allowed those with ill intentions to take advantage. I have already sent them out of the mansion."
Lin Yuwei, who was looking out the window, was slightly taken aback upon hearing this, but she concealed it very well. Chu Chenyi, engrossed in his explanation, did not notice Lin Yuwei's subtle emotional shift.
"Not only that, but I have also sent away the other women who were sent to me before, and I promise you that not another woman will ever enter the mansion again!"
Chu Chenyi said solemnly. He had never been interested in those gaudily dressed women; they were all sent by those who wanted to curry favor with him.
If it weren't for the fact that his foundation was not yet stable, he would have reluctantly kept them, and also to appease them temporarily.
He hadn't expected Lin Yuwei to be so angry about this matter. These women could no longer be kept. He had cleaned them all out this time, leaving absolutely no one behind.
Moreover, from now on, he had decided that having only Lin Yuwei would be enough. Having grown up in the palace, he had witnessed firsthand the schemes and deceit among women, their hypocrisy of putting on a brave face while acting behind one's back.
He had also suffered a lot because of this in his youth and was thoroughly disgusted by such infighting among women. He did not want his future children to experience the same.
Therefore, it was better to have only one wife. He had never wanted the custom of three wives and four concubines, not then, and certainly not in the future.
Lin Yuwei was initially stunned and felt a flicker of emotion, but it was only for a moment. She quickly suppressed this feeling.
Even more so, she constantly warned herself that what Chu Chenyi said was all lies, meant to trick her into returning with him. She absolutely could not be fooled again.
"You are a prince, and this is your mansion. Whoever you want to bring back, you can bring them back. You don't need to tell me too much about these matters. I don't want to hear it."
One could not fail to notice the hint of jealousy in Lin Yuwei's tone. It was obvious to anyone with eyes that these were words spoken in defiance of her true feelings.
Unfortunately, Chu Chenyi's mind was so preoccupied with winning her back that he didn't listen carefully to Lin Yuwei's words. He only felt that Lin Yuwei was still angry and hadn't forgiven him.
"Don't be angry with me anymore. I'm being serious this time. If you don't believe me, go back to the mansion and see for yourself. I have indeed sent everyone away!"
Chu Chenyi, anxious, repeated what he had said earlier, hoping to make Lin Yuwei believe his words.
He wished he could just pick her up, carry her on his shoulder, and take her back to the mansion so she could see for herself whether he was telling the truth or not.
Lin Yuwei remained silent. She closed her eyes, no longer looking at Chu Chenyi's anxious attempts to explain, fearing that she might not be able to control herself and soften her heart to forgive him.
If that happened, all her efforts would have been in vain, and she would have been idle and bored for no reason.
"Stop talking. You should leave. I won't believe your words anymore!" Lin Yuwei uttered the order to leave. At this point, anything Chu Chenyi did was too late. She would no longer believe Chu Chenyi.
Besides, she was no longer a young girl, and she no longer cared for these meaningless matters.
Her continued presence in the mansion, maintaining a respectful distance from Chu Chenyi, was for the sake of the Pingyang Marquis's household and the child in her womb. She could only continue to endure.
If Chu Chenyi had done these things a couple of days earlier, she would have been so moved that she would have wept tears of joy. But now it was too late. Her heart had already been shattered into pieces, and it couldn't be easily mended. Even if it were picked up and pieced back together, there would still be cracks.
"Why don't you believe me? What I'm saying is true!" Chu Chenyi anxiously explained. No matter what he said, Lin Yuwei didn't believe him, which was truly driving him mad.
"Whether it's true or false, it's completely irrelevant to me now. I no longer care about anything you do."
Lin Yuwei's tone was filled with a sense of detachment, as if these matters truly had no bearing on her whatsoever, and she truly wanted to treat herself as an outsider to this situation.