What's Wrong with Being a Pair of Cowards? - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

After about fifteen minutes, the sounds of fighting outside gradually died down.

Shen Ziyue and I were still huddled together, trembling.

“Is it safe out there now?” I whispered.

“I don’t know.”

“Why don’t you go out and take a look first?”

“I don’t dare.”

“…I don’t dare either.”

The familiar subtitles appeared again.

[Dammit, our precious heroine is already hurt, and those assassins still went back on their word.]

[It’s all Lin Shuang’s fault for clinging to life and fearing death. She ruined the male lead’s plan.]

[Commenter above, you’d better actually not be afraid of dying.]

The assassins had been wiped out. While the Imperial Guards were searching for any that had slipped through the net, they dragged Shen Ziyue and me out from beneath the martial arts platform.

Shen Ziyue raised both hands and said shakily, “D-d-don’t kill me. I’m one of the good ones!”

“I’m a young master of Yongning Marquis Manor.”

I copied him and raised my hands too.

“I’m the second young lady of the Chancellor’s Mansion.”

…

The assassins today had been remnants of Deposed Prince Jing’s faction.

Prince Jing was the only prince of a different surname in Xia Kingdom. Three years ago, he was executed for treason, but his remaining followers had not been completely eliminated. That was what gave them their chance today.

Just as the subtitles had said, that group of assassins took Lin Zhao hostage, but they did not release the Little Prince.

After all, how could an official’s daughter compare in weight to an imperial prince?

Fortunately, she had hidden a dagger in her sleeve. When the assassin was not paying attention, she slit his throat.

Shen Zichen acted in time to assist her and subdued the other assassin.

However, during the struggle, my legitimate elder sister’s shoulder was pierced through by a longsword. Gravely injured, she lost consciousness.

The Emperor sent an imperial physician to treat her and also delivered many precious medicinal ingredients.

Shen Zichen paced anxiously back and forth outside the tent. When he saw me return without a scratch, his anger flared even hotter.

“Lin Shuang, how do you still have the face to come back?”

“Do you have any idea Zhaozhao still hasn’t woken up?”

He grabbed my wrist, and a burst of sharp pain shot through it.

The grievance I had forced down surged up again.

I sobbed, “Shen Zichen, how could you push me out there? What if those assassins had killed me?”

Seeing my tears, a flicker of emotion crossed his face.

“Shuangshuang, how could I ever let anything happen to you?”

“According to my plan, I would have been able to protect both of you at the same time.”

“…”

A snort of laughter suddenly came from behind me.

“Plan, my ass. You were just sacrificing others to save your own skin.” It was Shen Ziyue.

His mutter was very quiet, but Shen Zichen heard it.

“Shen Ziyue, do you have a death wish?”

He seized Shen Ziyue by the collar and hauled him up.

Although Shen Zichen was strong, he was not as tall as Shen Ziyue, so when he lifted him, he had to stand on tiptoe himself.

The scene was somewhat ridiculous.

“Shen Zichen, if you dare touch me, I’ll go back and tell Father and Mother!”

Hearing that, Shen Zichen disdainfully threw him to the ground.

“A useless piece of trash who only knows how to call for Mommy and Daddy.”

Watching Shen Zichen walk away, a sour ache rose in my chest.

I thought I ought to chase after him and demand an explanation.

Ask him what feelings he had for my legitimate elder sister. Ask him why he had pushed me toward the assassins’ blades.

But…

What if he impatiently shoved me away and berated me for ignoring the bigger picture, for being selfish?

I would cling to him and beg bitterly, while he would coldly abandon me.

From then on, he would admire my legitimate elder sister even more and despise me.

He and I would completely fall out, and I would marry someone else.

Only then would Shen Zichen be filled with regret-but it would be too late. He would have no choice but to kneel on the ground and beg desperately for my forgiveness.

In the end, I would slap him hard across the face, trample him into the mud, and turn away without looking back.

“Phew-”

Thinking of that, I let out a long, deeply satisfied breath. The grievance and gloom from a moment ago vanished without a trace.

When I turned back, I met Shen Ziyue’s worried gaze.

“Hey, are you all right?”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re not going to chase after him?”

“Chase what? He’ll regret this sooner or later.”

“…”

[I’m dying. Lin Shuang just rehearsed an entire wife-chasing face-slapping drama in her head, but in reality she did absolutely nothing.]

[Spineless to the bitter end.]

I ignored the subtitles and looked at the cowering Shen Ziyue.

“You’re the legitimate son of a Marquis Manor. Why are you scared of him?”

In the past, Shen Zichen had complained to me many times that the Shen Family treated him harshly.

Especially his younger brother, Shen Ziyue. He said Shen Ziyue was arrogant, domineering, bullied others with his family’s power, and humiliated him in every possible way.

But after meeting him today, I kept feeling that this man was even more cowardly than I was.

Shen Ziyue’s expression was complicated beyond words. “You don’t understand. Shen Zichen is… strange.”

“Strange how?” I asked suspiciously.

He quietly leaned close to my ear. “I suspect he’s a monster in disguise.”

Me: …

According to him, Shen Zichen had been withdrawn since childhood. He disliked speaking to others, and aside from eating, drinking, and attending to bodily needs, he hid in his room all day.

But ever since he fell into the water, he had become a completely different person.

Not only did he become diligent and studious enough to place first in the imperial examinations, he also gained extraordinary martial arts skills.

Father Shen praised him as a genius favored by heaven who had suddenly awakened his intellect.

Only Shen Ziyue found it strange.

How could someone with no foundation suddenly become accomplished in both civil and martial arts?

He had every reason to suspect that Shen Zichen was a monster.

[That’s called soul transmigration, baby.] The familiar subtitles appeared again.

[Shen Ziyue is actually pretty pitiful too. Though he has no talent in literature or martial arts, he is the only legitimate son of the Marquis Manor. Originally, once he came of age, he could have requested to be invested as heir. His eldest half-brother, born of a concubine, was just an insignificant person in the household and posed no threat to him at all. Unfortunately, our twenty-first-century big male lead transmigrated into this world with a loser-turned-winner comeback script in hand. He is destined to stomp the hateful legitimate son ruthlessly underfoot.]

I looked at Shen Ziyue with sympathy.

Although I did not know what the twenty-first century was, it sounded like an extremely formidable place.

At the same time, suspicion rose in my heart.

Back then, the person who had pledged his life to me and poured out his heart-was he the real Shen Zichen, or an impostor?

And where had the real Shen Zichen gone?

Noticing my sympathetic gaze, Shen Ziyue was baffled.

“What’s with that look?”

I patted him on the shoulder.

“You’d better pray for yourself.”

[You silly girl, maybe worry about yourself first. Your legitimate elder sister was reborn, and she’s holding a strong-female-lead revenge script. You’re just cannon fodder on her path to vengeance.]

Me: …

One after another, they’re all using cheat codes. Are the rest of us even supposed to survive?