5. Not Her

When Duke Li walked back to his room, he was surprised to see his wife wasn't attached to the window like she usually was.

"My dear-"

"Is it true?" Duchess Li interrupted him with bright, wide-eyes. For the first time in a few weeks, Duke Li had finally seen a glimmer of light and hope within his wife's lovely eyes.

"Is what true?" Duke Li repeated his wife's words.

"You picked up a girl from the forest, and she resembles Minghua!" Duchess Li exclaimed with a very hopeful expression on his face.

Duke Li was surprised that word had traveled so fast.

He felt slight irritation and annoyance. He wanted to tell his wife the news himself. He didn't want her to find out through the gossiping lips of the servants.

Duke Li took a single glance at the bright expression on his lovely wife's face before slowly nodding. It took this simple movement for her to immediately run out of the door. Completely abandoning the rules of proper etiquette, Duchess Li ran down the halls with the shawl of her hanfu flying in the air.

"My dear, you shouldn't run! What if you hurt yourself?!" Duke Li immediately chased after his stubborn wife.

He was surprised at how fast she was running. Was she always this fast? Where did she get the stamina to run for so long?

Duke Li immediately picked up his pace, but it was to no avail. His wife was already a couple steps ahead of him and she had already reached the room that Xueyue was residing in.

Duchess Li surprised the servants guarding outside of the room, and the few servants tending to Xueyue's unconscious body inside the room. Forgetting all forms of manners, Duchess Li slammed the door open.

Her frantic eyes searched the room until it fell onto the unconscious girl in bed. With wobbly legs, Duchess Li walked towards the girl. When she saw the bandages wrapped around the girl's forehead and arms, as well as the bruises that marred her face, Duchess Li gasped.

She pressed her shaky hands to her agape lips and stared at the girl. Indeed, she resembled Li Minghua, but her mother intuition knew this wasn't her precious daughter. Li Minghua was dead...Duchess Li had witnessed the burial with her own eyes.

"This isn't my Minghua." Duchess Li declared with a heartbroken voice.

"Dear, how could you run off without me?" Duke Li breathed out.

He walked into the room and placed a gentle hand on her shaking shoulders. "This isn't my Minghua." Duchess Li repeated her words, but this time, she was glancing up at her husband.

Duke Li had a grim expression on his face as he brushed a few strands of Duchess Li's fallen hair.

"I know she isn't." He gently whispered to her. He was surprised to finally hear the name of his daughter come out of his wife's lips, but he was able to mask the shock.

"F-for a second, I thought my Minghua had come back to me." Duchess Li's voice cracked when she got to the last few words of her sentence. Her shoulders shook, and she was beginning to sniffle.

Sensing her breakdown, Duke Li immediately pulled his wife into a tight hug. The warm eyes he held for his wife immediately turned sharp and cold when he glanced at the servants in the room.

In a heavy and commanding voice, he said, "Leave us."

The servants didn't have to be told twice. The servants immediately bowed low and exited out of the room, shutting the door behind them. Soon, the room was filled with the broken sobs of a distraught mother.

Duke Li's hand tightened around his wife. He stared at the ceiling and also felt his heart being pulled apart.

Duke Li gently comforted his wife with soothing whispers and occasional pats on her tiny back.

He held his wife for the longest time and patiently waited for her tears to subdue.

"I-I-I w-want h-her t-to stay." Duchess Li whispered into her husband chest.

Duke Li felt his eyebrows pull together in confusion. He had heard his wife say something, but her voice was heavily muffled by his robes and he didn't know what she said.

He glanced down at his wife. "What did you just say?" He asked Duchess Li who hiccuped before speaking again.

Duchess Li's face broke down.

"I will compromise with you, my dear wife. Don't look so crestfallen." Duke Li sighed as he walked closer to his wife. She immediately took a few steps back, refusing to let him touch her.

"I was originally planning on having the search go on for three days. But I will call it off by the end of tomorrow. If no one comes forward to claim the girl, then we will speak to the girl and come to a conclusion." Duke Li slowly said.

He watch Duchess Li's expression morph from hatred to slow consideration.

After a few seconds of thoughtful thinking, Duchess Li finally spoke up. "Y-you promise to end the search by the end of tomorrow?"

Duke Li breathed out a heavy sigh of relief when he saw the anger diminish from his wife's eyes.

"I promise." He told his lovely wife who finally allowed him to touch her again.

"Come, my dear. It's already the afternoon and we haven't had our lunch yet. Our sons have finished their lessons and will be waiting for us at the table." Duke Li guided his wife out of the door.

He noticed she had finally calmed down. She was letting him hold her shoulders and together they walked down the hallways. And as they walked, Duke Li missed the fierce determination within his lovely wife's eyes.