Ru Yi waited for the other maid to leave before she grabbed Lang Ying’s hand. "I can’t meet the head maid, she’s going to punish me."

"I’m sure it’s just a couple strokes of cane, she won’t do anything too crazy," Lang Ying assured her. "Bai He is not unreasonable. We can go to the east gate after you see her."

Ru Yi shook her head, she wasn’t going to let anyone flog her. Not even her adoptive parents back then raised their hands on her.

"Leaving the palace is more important. It’s not like she can drag me back here to punish me." she squeezed Lang Ying’s hands. "Please...you need to help me before Bai He comes here herself."

"Uhhh!!" Lang Ying groaned, "You’re always getting yourself in trouble. Come with me." She grabbed Ru Yi’s hand, pulling her along as she left the maid quarters.

"There are merchants bringing in goods for the Crown Prince’s wedding, you can pretend to be one of them." She cast Ru Yi a brief glance. "I don’t trust you to climb over that wall without breaking your neck. We’ll have to find you a change of clothes."

Ru Yi followed quietly, even though the girl pulling her along was way smaller than her. Lang Ying made sure they kept away from the light, following the hidden paths between the buildings.

"Does the crown prince know you’re leaving the palace?" Lang Ying asked.

Ru Yi shook her head, then proceeded to answer when she remembered Lang Ying couldn’t see her. "No. He’ll try to stop me if he finds out." 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

"Did you guys have a fight?"

Ru Yi bit her bottom lip, debating whether she should tell Lang Ying the truth. "The thing is, I’m pre—"

Lang Ying immediately pulled Ru Yi into the little space between two buildings and covered her mouth with her palm.

Seconds later the loud footsteps of soldiers marching drifted through. Lang Ying waited until they rounded the corner to another street before coming out.

"I know where we can get clothes for you." She pulled Ru Yi along. "The laundry room is usually empty by this time, we can find something you can put on."

Ru Yi went along with her plan, there was no way she would’ve succeeded in leaving the palace without Lang Ming’s help.

Should she let her tag along?

How would Ru Yi even survive outside the palace walls all on her own?

The laundry room was in a building at the back of the royal kitchen. Like Lang Ming said, it was mostly empty except from a couple maids that didn’t even spare them a glance.

"Are you sure this is okay?" Ru Yi asked.

Lang Ming turned to her with a mischievous smile. "Of course. It reminds me of those days we used to sneak around the kitchen looking for leftovers. It’s sad we stopped spending time together after you met the crown prince."

Oh—

"I’m sorry," Ru Yi muttered.

"I don’t know what the situation is right now, but know that I’ll always support you in whatever you do. If leaving the palace is the best thing for you then I’ll help no matter what."

They stopped in front of the row of shelves that the clothes were arranged on for the royal maids to collect later.

Lang pulled out a dark green long robe, a leather belt and cloth shoes. "This should do. Go change in the corner there, I’ll keep watch."

Ru Yi took the clothes from her. "Thank you."

She rushed to the corner and changed out of maid clothes. The ones Lang Ming chose fit a bit loosely to her frame, but it was better than nothing.

They discarded the maid clothes in a dump and made their way to the east gates. True to what Lang Ming said there were merchants coming in with their loaded carts.

A guard at the gate inspected the goods before they were let through.

"Oh, that’s Chen Hao. I’ll go talk to him then you can leave when he’s distracted." She turned to Ru Yi, her eyes getting clouded with tears. "Take care of yourself out there. Maybe one day, if the heavens allow it—we’ll meet again."

Ru Yi felt something in her chest twist. "Take care of yourself too."

Lang Ming took a step forward before turning back and launching herself at Ru Yi. "I’ll miss you," she cried. "You better miss me too."

Ru Yi hesitated before finally putting her arms around Lang Ming. "I will, thank you for helping me. I’ll forever be indebted to you."

Tears were streaming down Lang Ming’s face when she pulled away. She said nothing as she walked straight to the guard.

Ru Yi stayed in the corner, watching Lang Ming charm the pants off the poor boy. She could see his cheeks turn a bright pink.

When he moved slightly away from the gate, Lang Ming turned subtly to Ru Yi and gestured for her to leave.

Ru Yi took a deep breath before walking briskly to the gate, careful to keep her footsteps light.

Thud!

Thud!

Her heart hammered away in her chest with every step that took her closer to freedom. There was no one else at the gate. It was unbelievably easy to leave.

She could already smell the freedom in the air.

A couple steps later and she slipped through the gate, exhaling in relief. That was close.

It felt like a heavy load had been lifted off her chest.

Slowly, she lifted her gaze, trying to take in her environment.

There was a massive stone gate up ahead, citizens lining up to leave. Voices overlapped one another as people passed without paying any attention to her.

But from where Ru Yi stood, she could see the marketplace directly outside the stone gate.

"Lets get this over with," she muttered to herself before matching over and going to the back of the line.

It should only take a couple minutes before it would reach her turn.

"Do you think the crown prince is still going to marry that princess? I heard he’s been seeing the maid every night," the woman in front of Ru Yi whispered to her companion.

"How irresponsible! What does he even see in a good for nothing girl."

"I heard she was abandoned by her family because of how weak she was."

"It would be a disaster if someone of that low background became the future empress. As if we would ever let a commoner handle royal affairs."

Ru Yi’s fingers folded into fists at her side. Was it her fault that she’d been born so weak? And why should a person’s background be a reason to be looked down on?

Even in her original world, she’d been treated the same by the other kids in school. They’d bullied Ruby for not having parents.

Whether it was in the modern times or now in the historical era, people were the same.

Cruel...and horrible to each other.

"You! Where’s your token?" one of the guards asked Ru Yi.

Shit!

"I left it when I was coming in," she muttered, fear creeping into her veins.

"Left it where? You can’t even come in without it!" The guard thundered, making everyone turn to them.

The gate was right there, she could make a run for it.

1...

2...

3...

Ru Yi took off, racing for the gate.

"Hey! Someone get her!" The guards yelled, but she didn’t stop.

Not until she bumped into something rock solid, but Ru Yi knew without a doubt that it wasn’t a wall.

There was a chuckle before she heard a familiar deep voice. "Looks like we finally meet."