“Are you ready?” Lin Fan asked Duanmu Ming Xue as they stood in front of the gates of Dungeon City.
Duanmu Ming Xue looked back at Dungeon City again and just stood there as if she was in a daze.
The one that she was looking at was Duanmu Yi, who was standing there watching them leave with a worried look on her face.
There was no ending where she wouldn’t be hurt by them trying to hide this from her.
So the only thing that they could do was talk things out with Duanmu Yi.
With her personality, Duanmu Yi had naturally wanted to come along as well. But after a long talk alone with Duanmu Ming Xue, she agreed not to go when they came out in the morning.
It seemed that the two of them had gotten quite emotional with how red their eyes were, but no one commented on this.
This was something that was between mother and daughter after all.
As Duanmu Ming Xue looked at Duanmu Yi, she couldn’t stop her eyes from turning a bit red. It was as if she couldn’t bear to be away from her, even though she knew that she had to do this.
In the end, she said, “Be good and wait for us to come back.”
Duanmu Yi looked like there was something else that she wanted to say, but she held herself back in the end. All she did was give a nod in response without saying anything that it seemed like she wanted to say.
After that, they shared one last look before Duanmu Ming Xue turned around to leave.
She started heading off right away and it caught Lin Fan off guard a bit, but he quickly followed behind her.
“Is this alright?” Lin Fan couldn’t help asking in a concerned voice.
Duanmu Ming Xue just gave a nod, but her eyes were still a bit red.
Lin Fan knew that it wasn’t the right time to say anything, so all he did was call out Igneel.
He might have been able to go on his own since he was much faster than Igneel after breaking through, but it wasn’t as if he could just leave Duanmu Ming Xue here. So it was better for the two of them to head off on Igneel together.
Though, he did wait until they were far enough from the city that no one saw them.
Duanmu Ming Xue was surprised to see Igneel, but she didn’t say anything about it since she was already used to the strange things that Lin Fan pulled out.
This wasn’t even the strangest thing that he had pulled out before.
It was hard to be surprised after he showed them the internal workings of the dungeon.
On the back of Igneel, the two of them sat together.
It was Duanmu Ming Xue who initiated this as she went over to Lin Fan’s side and pressed up against him. She put her head into his chest and seemed to fall silent as if she had fallen asleep.
But Lin Fan knew that she wasn’t asleep since he could still feel her breath.
He knew that she was just silently thinking about something, as if there was something that was on her mind.
He didn’t say anything as he waited for her to finish sorting out her thoughts.
“I know you have questions for me.” Duanmu Ming Xue suddenly said after a long period of silence.
Lin Fan wasn’t surprised by this as he had already expected it, so he gave a nod in response as she turned up to look at him.
Seeing him give this nod, Duanmu Ming Xue said with a sigh, “I hope that you won’t be disappointed in me after hearing this.”
“I would never.” Lin Fan immediately said as soon as her voice fell.
The way that he said it with that serious look on his face made Duanmu Ming Xue’s heart skip a beat. But at the same time, she could tell that he was indeed very serious about this.
It was almost as if he was a bit angry that she would say something like this, which made her want to laugh a bit.
After taking a moment to gather her thoughts, Duanmu Ming Xue started telling the story of her past marriage.
It was a story that was quite simple since there was only one thing that came from that past marriage.
Sadness.
She forced herself to accept the marriage since she thought that this was for the good of her family, but that was only because she was young and naive at the time. She didn’t actually know better, which was why she allowed herself to be used by her family like that.
The ceremony itself was quite spectacular since it was a marriage between the Duanmu Family and the Bei Family, two of the founding families of the Han Kingdom. It wasn’t an event that could be anything less since it was a matter of prestige for the two founding families.
But instead of letting her feel that it was her special day, it made Duanmu Ming Xue feel that she was nothing more than a doll that was being displayed by the Duanmu Family.
“It was so small that it didn’t really feel like anything.”
There was a bitter smile that appeared on Lin Fan’s face when he heard this.
He didn’t know what to say, but as a fellow man, he couldn’t help feeling sorry for that young master from the Bei Family.
After the wedding, Duanmu Ming Xue did what she could to act like a proper daughter in law to the Bei Family, but it was clear that this wasn’t how it was going to go.
Since she was from the Duanmu Family, it was only natural that she faced discrimination from the members of the Bei Family.
Her ‘husband’ didn’t help her at all even when she faced the discrimination of the Bei Family. All he did was go out and spend more money that they received from the Bei Family, often leaving her with nothing at all.
That was how even though Duanmu Ming Xue was a member of the Duanmu Family, she was able to learn how to cook and clean for herself. She was someone that had been forced into this because of the circumstances that had been forced on her, someone that had no choice but to adapt.
But this kind of life didn’t last long.
Eventually, she became pregnant with Duanmu Yi.
Even if the young master of the Bei Family continued acting like a prodigal, playing around as he pleased, he still came home at nights to have fun with her. Duanmu Ming Xue was a beautiful woman, it was hard to resist this.
And since she was his wife, she went along with it and allowed him to do what he wanted.
Lin Fan couldn’t help giving an awkward cough when he heard this, but he chose to remain silent.
The story only became worse after Duanmu Yi was born.
The young master from the Bei Family began to become worse and worse as time passed and it didn’t take long before he started hitting Duanmu Ming Xue.
It was because he kept complaining about the noise that Duanmu Yi made, but it was hard for Duanmu Yi not to make noise when they were getting less and less from the Bei Family.
It really seemed like the Bei Family wanted to chase Duanmu Ming Xue out with the way that they gave her less and less resources.
It was to the point where she found it hard to keep herself and Duanmu Yi fed.
So in the end, Duanmu Ming Xue had no choice but to run away from the Bei Family.
With the jewels that she received from her mother, she was able to earn enough money to get her and Duanmu Yi to the Mu Empire where she settled in the village that Lin Fan found her in.
That was the story of her first marriage.
“Well, what are you thinking?” Duanmu Ming Xue asked after she finished telling her story.
Lin Fan didn’t answer right away as he looked at her with a complicated look.
Eventually, he asked, “What do you want from the Duanmu and Bei Families?”
Duanmu Ming Xue didn’t answer right away either as a complicated look appeared in her eyes as well.
She was silent for a bit before saying with a sigh, “Maybe if it was before, but right now, I just don’t want to lose what I have. Right now, the most important thing is just keeping what I currently have with you and the others.”
Lin Fan gave a nod, but he said, “You don’t have to worry about that, they won’t be able to do anything to me. I just want to know if you want anything from them.”
Duanmu Ming Xue was surprised to hear this.
She looked at Lin Fan with this surprised look that soon changed to a look of contemplation, as if she was figuring something out.
In the end, she said, “If I can get a bit of revenge, that would be good.”
It still seemed like she had her reservations on the matter.
But Lin Fan didn’t care as he held her tighter and said, “I’ll get you what you deserve.”
“Un.” Duanmu Ming Xue softly replied.
Time to beg for power stones and reviews!
