Claimed Before Them All II
1046 Words
For a moment
No one moved.
No one spoke.
It was as if the entire room had been struck still by something unseen… something powerful enough to silence even the elders.
Li Zhen’s hand remained firmly wrapped around mine.
Warm.
Steady.
Unyielding.
And suddenly, I became painfully aware of every gaze fixed on us.
On me.
The whispers began almost immediately.
“What is the meaning of this”
“Is he serious”
“This is unacceptable”
“Let go of her!” one of the elders snapped, rising halfway from his seat.
My heart pounded wildly in my chest, but Li Zhen didn’t release me.
Not even slightly.
Instead, his grip tightened subtle, but deliberate.
Reassuring.
Possessive.
Grandmother’s expression darkened.
The calm authority she carried moments ago was now laced with something sharper… something far more dangerous.
“Li Zhen,” she said slowly, each word heavy with warning, “you are crossing a line.”
“And you,” he replied evenly, “have already erased it.”
A sharp intake of breath echoed across the room.
No one spoke to her like that.
No one.
“You dare”
“I dare,” he cut in smoothly, his voice no longer polite. “Because unlike everyone else here, I don’t pretend this is about family honor.”
His words hit hard.
Too hard.
The tension shifted instantly thicker now, charged with something close to fury.
Grandmother rose to her feet.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
The room seemed to shrink under the weight of her presence.
“This is exactly why,” she said, her gaze cutting toward me like a blade, “someone like her should have never been considered.”
My breath hitched.
There it was.
Not hidden.
Not disguised.
The truth she had always believed.
“She is not fit to stand beside the Li family,” Grandmother continued coldly. “Just like her mother was not fit to enter the Xiao family.”
Something inside me snapped.
The words weren’t new.
But hearing them here, in front of everyone felt different.
Sharper.
Heavier.
Final.
Li Zhen’s grip on my hand tightened again.
This time, it wasn’t just reassurance.
It was restraint.
As if he could feel the storm building inside me.
“And what exactly makes her unfit?” he asked, his tone dangerously calm.
Grandmother laughed.
A short, humorless sound.
“Do you really not know?” she said. “Or has no one told you the truth about the woman you’re so eager to defend?”
The room fell silent again.
A different kind of silence this time.
Anticipating.
Waiting.
My chest tightened.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
“What truth?” Li Zhen asked, his eyes narrowing slightly.
Grandmother’s gaze flicked to me briefly almost with satisfaction before returning to him.
“Her mother,” she began slowly, “was never meant to be part of this family. She came from nothing… and brought nothing but disgrace with her.”
My fingers trembled.
“No” I whispered, barely audible.
But she didn’t stop.
“She trapped her way into the Xiao family,” Grandmother continued mercilessly. “And even after being accepted, she never knew her place.”
“That’s not true,” I said, louder this time.
My voice shook but I didn’t back down.
For the first time
I didn’t lower my head.
Grandmother’s eyes snapped to me, surprised.
Then narrowed.
“You dare speak while elders are talking?”
“I dare,” I replied, my voice steadier now. “Because you’re lying.”
A collective gasp filled the room.
Even the elders looked stunned.
But I couldn’t stop.
Not anymore.
“You’ve always hated my mother,” I continued, my hands trembling despite my effort to stay calm. “You never gave her a chance. No matter what she did, it was never enough for you.”
“Enough!” one of the elders barked.
But Li Zhen stepped forward slightly.
Just enough.
A silent warning.
No one interrupted again.
Grandmother’s expression turned icy.
“You think you understand anything?” she said. “You were just a child.”
“Then tell me,” I shot back, my heart racing. “Tell everyone what she actually did.”
Silence.
For the first time
Grandmother hesitated.
It was brief.
Almost unnoticeable.
But I saw it.
And so did Li Zhen.
Something flickered in his eyes.
Interest.
Suspicion.
Grandmother quickly recovered, her expression hardening once more.
“There is nothing worth repeating,” she said dismissively. “The past is buried for a reason.”
“No,” Li Zhen said quietly.
The single word cut through everything.
“It’s buried because it’s inconvenient.”
All eyes turned to him again.
“And I don’t like inconvenient truths being hidden from me,” he added.
The pressure in the room became unbearable.
Even the elders shifted uneasily now.
This had gone too far.
Far beyond a simple engagement dispute.
Grandmother stared at him for a long moment.
Then—
She smiled.
But this time, it wasn’t mocking.
It was calculating.
“Very well,” she said slowly. “If you insist on defending her… then you should be prepared to bear the consequences.”
Her gaze slid back to me.
Cold.
Final.
“Because once the truth comes out… she won’t just lose this engagement.”
A pause.
Long enough to make my chest tighten.
“She will lose her place in this family entirely.”
My breath caught.
The words echoed in my mind.
Lose her place…
In this family?
Before I could process it
Li Zhen stepped forward fully this time.
Placing himself slightly in front of me.
A clear line drawn.
“Then she’ll have a place with me.”
The room froze.
Every single person stared at him in shock.
His voice was calm.
Certain.
Unshakable.
“I don’t care about your rules,” he continued. “Or your traditions.”
His hand tightened around mine once more.
“But I don’t walk away from what’s mine.”
My heart skipped.
And for the first time since this began
The fear inside me wavered.
Because standing there
In front of everyone
He didn’t hesitate.
Not even for a second
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