Divorced

Lei Wenyan didn't know how long she had slept but the first thing she did when she regained consciousness was to feel around. Her eyes were shut tightly as she prayed that she wasn't back into the abyss.

She felt gentle silk sheets between her fingers, followed by a mattress and the net that hung around her bed.

Her eyes shot open, excitement was evident in them. She turned herself over and sat up. She ignored the slight pain in her back. Her lips curved into a dazzling smile as her eyes greedily took in the scenery.

Without waiting another second, she pushed back the bed curtains and walked into the rest of the room. Her feet felt a bit weak and she staggered in her walk. But who would blame her, she hadn't walked for so long, she had almost forgotten how to.

She walked to the walls and touched them. It had been long since she felt that texture. She held the expensive antiques, the floor, windows and the chairs.

Yes, it was it. She had spent such a long time away, she had almost forgotten. This was her room back at the Lei household. It was at least three sizes smaller than her quarters at the palace and far less lavished but it still brought a great magnitude of happiness.

She was back. The pain in her back was enough to assure her of reality. She hadn't felt anything while in the abyss. She hadn't slept either or grown tired. She hadn't even aged.

She quickly came around the matter. Heaven had let her continue living. She would make the most of it.

First she needed to get back into the palace. By the fact that she wasn't killed for her crimes, it shows that she still holds some value. She would use that in her favor after she found out what it was. After getting back into the palace, she would find out how much she missed out on, quickly adjust herself and get back what was hers.

Seeing that she was in her parents house, it was possible that her poisoned body was found early enough, the culprit was restrained and her body treated. After that it was either one of two things.

One; she could have been banished. Just from the scale of her crimes, her whole family would have been kicked out of the empire and turned into commoners. Yet she is still living the luxury of being a Lei. So something big must have stopped the emperor from kicking them out. So she must have left with a minimal punishment of being divorced.

Two; She was sent to recuperate out of the palace under the doctor's advice or out of concern for her safety. Which was the option she prayed for the most.

She looked around for some maids. She needed to catch up on lost time. The lack of information would only slow her down although it would never stop her. She needed to know if rumors had already spread about her deeds or if the emperor had suppressed them. It would be wishful thinking to hope that he didn't already know.

With that in mind, Lei Wenyan called out, "Someone out there, come in." Her voice sounded a bit dry and hoarse so she wasn't loud enough. It still didn't matter, knowing maids, they would be at the door trying hard to listen for her command especially because she was royalty.

Lei Wenyan stood for three- eight seconds and nothing around her had moved. "Didn't you hear me?" She spoke louder in a furious tone.

These maids! Did they become bold and decide to slack? Did they forget who I am simply because of my illness?... or, was I divorced?

At that thought, Lei Wenyan panicked a bit. Being divorced would make things a lot harder. She half ran half limped to the door and pushed it open. She was met with an empty halfway.

'Where are the maids?' She thought. She was quite sure there was a maid when she first woke up.

She walked out of the hall into the main courtyard. The cold of winter hit her hard. Her entire body was taken back in shock. The cold was so unexpected she got a slight headache and brain freeze.

"Ah!" she massaged her temples and paused to adjust. A happy smile graced her features as she navigated the empty courtyard. Large mounds of snow covered the place in white giving it a celestial feeling.

Lei Wenyan took in a large breath of the icy gentle wind. Carefully, she got off the veranda so that her bare feet touched the cold snow.

"Ah!"She closed her eyes and crunched snow between her toes. "If I were still stuck in that mucky abyss, I wouldn't be able to feel this," she whispered to herself.

She opened her eyes, bent over and grabbed a handful of snow. She opened her mouth wide, raised her hand, attempting to throw the snow in.

"YOUNG MISS!"

The sudden scream made Lei Wenyan falter causing the snow to fall out of her palm. She turned to face the source. A young maid was running towards her. Lei Wenyan recognized the face.

"Young Miss," the maid was already half in tears when she got to Lei Wenyan, "Young Miss, let's go back inside. It will be even worse for your condition if you catch a cold," she put her hands together in plea, "Young Miss, let's go back inside please. Let me make for you warm cup of tea."

Lei Wenyan looked at the girl who was tagging at her sleeve to get her back into her quarters. "Who are you calling Young Miss?" her voice was full of authority.

The girl dropped to her knees in the snow. She was crying so badly that her face was pink everywhere. After her failure, it was only right for Young Miss to reject her as maid and treat her coldly. "It's this maid's fault. I neglected my duty. If I had been more keen this would not have happened. Punish me instead. Please punish me. But please, wuwuwu, don't stay outside, you'll catch a cold. Your body is very delicate, wuwuwu."

A/N; I realized some time back that I'm a romance addict! Ah! I never used to be like this you know! Romance was just another bothersome eye roll. But oops! My first boyfriend popped up and since then, I'm like a sucker for love. It's so weird how I rushed to throw him out of my life and became a total mess afterwards. Sigh! Sometimes, I get envious of people that can read chapters and chapters of a book that has nothing to do with romance. Wuwuuwu! I used to be like that. My entire reading list was filled with crime thrillers, zombie books, adventure, biographies, historically accurate events (World war veterans), What can I say! I kind of miss it. Sigh!

but WOW! All the sucker had to say was 'I love you even if you don't believe me,' 'I don't know anything about the future but I'll be in yours,' ' I want you' and stupid things like , 'I'd jump off a bridge for you,' 'Can I come and see you?' And OOPS! I was gone. Gone on some romance exploration journey.! Sigh! I'm like a black hole for romance.