Hearing Li Xue's sharp words, the girls had almost lost the strength to retaliate. Not like they have anything reasonable with which they could retort in the first place. So, bowing their heads in embarrassment, they could just stare at the floor, praying if they could get some hole to hide.
Shen Bingling on the other hand, felt the warmth spread through her heart. Seeing Li Xue standing up for her made her feel like that even after losing everyone, she wasn't alone. And that one feeling was enough to survive in the world. Everyone wouldn't understand it, but ask the person who suffered something that she has just suffered now and they would get what she was talking about.
Shen Bingling stared at Li Xue as her eyes filled with both respect and admiration. At this moment of time, she has decided in her heart that – Even though Li Xue pushes her away, she would still be persistent to stay beside her. She would definitely earn the friendship she was yearning for.
When the girl was thinking about all that in her head, Li Xue had no idea about her thoughts. If she had known then maybe she would have turned and walked away without even looking back at her.
Li Xue stared at the girls for some time. When she heard no one talking back, she looked up at Shen Bingling and said, "Princess Shen, have you completed your lunch?" Her tone was very soft, unlike the one she has used with the other girls just now.
Shen Bingling shook her head obediently. To which, Li Xue took a step forward, held her hand, and then pulling along said. "Great! I have not had my lunch as well. This place feels a bit stuffy now. Let's go out somewhere else to eat." She said before taking the lead to walk away.
But just when they were about to walk away, one of the girls from behind the crowd spoke, halting them in their tracks. "Princess Xue, you are treating Princess Shen this well. But did you forget that she was the one who made it tough for you when you have newly joined the royal project?"
Shen Bingling bit her lower lip. She couldn't express how regretful she was about that one thing. Those incidents were like stains on her personality that she didn't know if she would be able to erase. Although she knew that wasn't the case, she still blamed her past actions for losing the opportunity to get Li Xue's friendship easily. If only she had not been the way she was, things might have been different today.
Feeling the guilt in her heart, Shen Bingling turned to look at the girls. Her eyes looked at them in disappointment, as if she hadn't expected them to betray her like this. But then again. How could she even expect anything from them when just a few moments back they have proved themselves to be the most untrustworthy people in her world?
When the girls saw that look in the eyes of Shen Bingling, they felt the bells of victory ringing. After all, they knew well about the weaknesses of the girl whom they had accompanied all these years.
"Princess Xue, even though Li Na has been the one to plan whatever happened with you in the fencing arena, you couldn't deny that in the end, it was Princess Shen's weapon that slit your neck. You can't just trust her yet. What if she has some ulterior motive for you in her heart." They added and the more Shen Bingling heard them, the more she felt incompetent in herself.
How the hell did she take these bunch of bit*hes to be her friends? If she had once considered them to be friends, she doesn't know with that definition of friendship, how would she be defining enmity? She was too immature to think people to be so easy. Too immature to think that friendship could be easy to establish. But after today, she had understood how tough it was to find the right person to befriend with. And her realization was a pain because she knew now in this whole world there was not even one person, she could call her friend.
Shen Bingling's gaze turned disdainful but not for once, it affected those girls. They all stood there with the peak of shamelessness, not giving up their effort to turn Li Xue against Shen Bingling.
But they have still overestimated themselves. They didn't know that Li Xue could never be the person whom anyone could mold easily with their words. Especially by the words of the people who she deemed to be utterly unimportant.
Turning on her heels slightly, Li Xue looked back at them. Her lips curled disdainfully as mocking them slightly with a chuckle, she said, "You girls are really stubborn. No matter what I tell you, you won't be learning your lessons until I carve my words deep into your understanding."
"…" No one understood what Li Xue meant by those words. They have just felt that after reminding her of Shen Bingling's wrong, she would definitely side with them. But little did they expect Li Xue to stand firm on her stance even after getting reminded.
"Since you people have not quite understood my previous words, let me draw a simple difference between you two. The gap between her and you all doesn't just lie in the difference in your title but the nature you carry in your heart. Even though she did wrong with me back then, she had the capability to accept it on my face unlike you all, who hid and fed on her mercy all this while, yet backstabbed her when the time came against her."
She said and her words like that hit deep into everyone's bones. But before they could react, Li Xue had already walked away with Shen Bingling, leaving everyone dumbfounded and speechless at their places.