Chapter 456: But I’m the One Who Has Been Corresponding With You

Chapter 456: Chapter 456: But I’m the One Who Has Been Corresponding With You

The two walked in single file, with Pei Yin always trailing behind Shen Ningning. He was quite reserved, and Shen Ningning didn’t know him well, so they barely spoke.

Watching the young girl from behind, Pei Yin thought for a moment before deciding to show some concern.

"Has your hand injury healed, Princess?"

Shen Ningning paused and looked back at him. "What hand injury?"

’I haven’t been injured!’

Pei Yin was also taken aback, thinking she was joking.

He glanced around to ensure no one was listening before saying, "The one you mentioned in your letter—that you cut your hand."

Shen Ningning grew even more confused.

"What letter?"

Watching her reaction, Pei Yin’s heart began to sink.

"Rest assured, Princess. I am not one to covet wealth and status, and I would never speak of our correspondence to a third party."

At this, Shen Ningning stopped dead in her tracks.

She was utterly astonished. "When did I ever exchange letters with you? Lord Pei, if I recall correctly, we’ve met no more than five times. Why would I be writing to you?"

Pei Yin froze. In a low voice, he said, "For a long time now, Mengyi has been carrying letters back and forth between us. We’ve exchanged over thirty of them to date."

Shen Ningning’s mouth fell open, her eyes wide with shock.

The young girl quickly explained, "Mengyi often comes to me for food, but I’ve never seen it carrying any letters."

Pei Yin’s gaze darkened.

She didn’t look like she was pretending.

"What about the whistle?" Pei Yin asked. "Mengyi is wary of strangers; it won’t go to someone without the whistle. Did you not receive the one I sent, Princess?"

Shen Ningning shook her head firmly. "There’s no whistle. Mengyi knows I have food, so it always comes uninvited. I have no use for a whistle."

To convince Pei Yin she wasn’t lying,

Shen Ningning broke a twig off a bush.

She used it to write on the ground, stroke by stroke. "This is my handwriting. Is this what it looked like in the letters?"

Pei Yin observed for a moment, then shook his head. "No."

’So, the person who’s been corresponding with me all this time... wasn’t Princess Funing?’

’Then who could it be?’

「At the same time.」

Mo Lingwei had also gotten lost in another part of the maze and had inadvertently run into Qi Xiuwei.

The two were trapped at a dead end and had to turn back.

Noticing that Qi Xiuwei was still following him, Mo Lingwei’s expression turned cold.

"Find your own way out."

Qi Xiuwei said helplessly, "But Your Highness, this is the only path that leads out."

Mo Lingwei pressed his lips into a thin line and came to a halt.

"You go first, then."

’If anyone saw him with Qi Xiuwei, there was no telling what rumors would start.’

’He didn’t want Shen Ningning to hear such talk.’

Fortunately, Qi Xiuwei had no desire to be alone with him either and hurried away.

However, she came across even more forks in the path. With time running out, Qi Xiuwei worried she wouldn’t make it out and would inconvenience everyone.

So, she furtively took out a whistle and blew it.

The hawk whistle’s call was shrill, but it wouldn’t make the Shopkeeper suspect anyone of cheating.

However, Pei Yin, who was two paths over, suddenly heard the familiar sound.

But he had locked Mengyi in its cage before leaving today to stop it from flying off and eating whatever it pleased.

Therefore, whoever was blowing the whistle wouldn’t be able to summon his hawk.

But when he heard the sound, he immediately headed in that direction.

"Princess, I must take my leave." ’He had to find out who had taken the whistle and had been pretending to be Shen Ningning, exchanging letters with him all this time.’

Shen Ningning didn’t realize the sound was a hawk call; she thought it was the Shopkeeper signaling that time was nearly up.

"Oh, I need to get out of here, or my brother will get tired of waiting."

She gathered her skirts, quickened her pace, and hurried off in another direction.

Qi Xiuwei blew the whistle as she walked, but Mengyi never appeared to guide her.

She sighed. ’Ah, it must be busy with Lord Pei right now.’

Just as she resolved to find the way herself, she looked up and saw him—the very person she had just mentioned, Pei Yin, was standing not far away.

His dark, bottomless eyes stared at her, devoid of emotion.

A moment later, his gaze shifted downward. Pei Yin saw the hawk whistle clutched in Qi Xiuwei’s hand.

Qi Xiuwei had never imagined she would run into him here.

Her heart fluttered in her chest, and a shy blush crept onto her cheeks.

"Lord Pei, what are you doing here?" She took a couple of steps forward to greet him.

However, the first words out of Pei Yin’s mouth were an accusation.

"Did you steal the whistle from Mengyi?"

Qi Xiuwei froze. "Steal? I didn’t! Didn’t you send Mengyi to give it to me?"

Pei Yin’s lips thinned into a line, the oppressive aura around him growing heavier.

"I told it to take it to the Princess. It must have been looking for a treat and went to you with the whistle first."

Qi Xiuwei froze on the spot, as if struck by lightning.

"It was for Ningning? Then... Lord Pei, the letters you’ve been writing to me... were they meant for the Princess all along?"

Pei Yin didn’t deny it.

He took a deep breath, inwardly cursing his own foolishness. ’How could I have mistaken the person all this time?’

"Yes." He nodded. "I thought I was corresponding with the Princess this entire time."

Qi Xiuwei’s mouth fell open, but no words came out.

After a long moment, she said, flustered, "It’s a misunderstanding! The things I wrote in those letters, my concern for you... those were my own words, things I wanted to say to you! It wasn’t... it wasn’t Ningning..."

But Pei Yin said, "This method of exchanging letters is far too reckless and imprudent. In light of what’s happened, I must apologize, Miss Qi. We should not correspond any further. Please return the hawk whistle to me."

The color drained from Qi Xiuwei’s face.

’He was taking away their only connection.’

’So all this time, whenever she read his letters—though the words were few, they were enough to comfort her—he had actually written them thinking he was corresponding with Shen Ningning.’

’Her secret source of happiness... was just her being a substitute for someone else.’

Qi Xiuwei’s eyes reddened. As she handed back the hawk whistle, she couldn’t stop herself from asking, "Lord Pei, I am already fourteen. We have been exchanging letters for several years. Even though you only found out today it was me, don’t you feel even a shred of reluctance to end this?"

"I was the one who cared about you. I was the one who shared the changing of the seasons with you. I was the one who recommended good books to you, and I was the one who knew you originally only wanted to be a wandering adventurer. So why... why do you seem so disappointed now that you know it was me? Were you interested in Ningning from the very start?"

Pei Yin frowned.

"No." ’That’s not what I was thinking.’

’It just felt so absurd.’

’To have mistaken the identity of his correspondent for so long...’

Every time he saw Shen Ningning, he assumed she was the one writing the letters. So, naturally, whenever he pictured the elegant handwriting from those notes, it was her face that came to mind.

That was why he felt so awkward now, and why he felt he had to put a stop to it.

Lest he end up hurting both young women.

But he was not a man of many words, and his silence only made Qi Xiuwei more crestfallen.

Her eyes were rimmed with red, her heart breaking as tears welled up.

"I understand now. Then take it back." She thrust the hawk whistle into Pei Yin’s hand, then turned and ran off without a backward glance.