Chapter 3
Chapter 3
He rarely came by at night.
And whenever he did, Song Zhiwei would usually summon him away before even an hour had passed.
Now, he stood in the darkness, staring at me without blinking. For a moment, it felt just like those years when we had shared the same bed.
Waking in the middle of the night, seeing only each other in our eyes.
“Did you have a nightmare?”
Pei Yan pried open the fingers I had clenched tight.
“Zhiwei has been spoiled all her life. Don’t hold it against her.”
So it was for Song Zhiwei.
I brushed his hand away and turned over.
“Giving me attitude?” Pei Yan’s voice sank. “Yuanyuan, you’re not behaving.”
He gripped the back of my neck and kissed me.
That long-lost scent invaded me, so long absent it had become almost unfamiliar.
And then I suddenly thought-perhaps he had just kissed Song Zhiwei like this.
A wave of nausea surged up, and I shoved him away.
Pei Yan’s expression darkened.
“Yuanyuan, do you despise me?”
He caught my wrist and tried again.
Tears slipped down my face.
Pei Yan clicked his tongue.
“How is it that now your days are easier, you cry even more?”
He stopped, softened his tone, and carefully wiped away my tears.
He had always known exactly how to handle me.
He knew I had been thrown onto a country estate as a child and had received little love.
He knew he was the only warmth I had ever touched, and that I could not easily leave him.
He knew I loved him with all my heart.
As long as he showed me the slightest tenderness, I was helpless against him.
“You heard it today too. Zhiwei is pregnant.
“You are the kindest person I know. Could you really bear to watch that child disappear just like that?
“I confirmed it with the shaman again and again. Feeding the gu will only cause you some pain of the flesh. It won’t damage your foundation.
“And that gu insect will also ease your sorrows. Perhaps then you won’t be so prone to tears.”
Pei Yan smiled and tapped the tip of my nose.
As if he were speaking of something utterly insignificant.
My throat felt as though it had been filled with lead again. I could not make the slightest sound.
“Your Majesty, the Empress has a terrible headache. She asks that you go to her.”
There it was. Right on time.
This time, Pei Yan did not leave as hastily as he had the previous times.
He glanced outside the hall, then pulled me into his arms and gently stroked my hair.
“Yuanyuan, once you cure Zhiwei of her poison.
“Once you forget all those unhappy things from the past.
“We will start over.”
Start over?
“Your Majesty!” the palace servant outside urged.
Pei Yan let go of me and turned to leave.
“Your Majesty,” I called after him.
“When will the shaman be able to prepare the Forget-Sorrow Gu?”
Pei Yan looked back. “The Forget-Sorrow Gu is already in the capital.”
“Then tomorrow morning.”
I looked at him, at the young man once carved into the depths of my heart.
“Tomorrow morning, summon the shaman to the palace.”