“If your wound splits open every day, why aren’t you dead yet?”
“Our child hasn’t been born yet, how could I possibly die?”
“… The wound’s in front, can’t you change it yourself?”
“I’d end up hurting myself.”
“Is my technique somehow better than a divine healer’s?”
“If you change it for me, I’d be too busy looking at you to think about the pain.”
“…”
For instance, when sleeping, he was especially neurotic, sometimes even waking her up deliberately after she’d fallen asleep, then staring at her with a sullen face, “Di Ronghua, why do you always sleep with your back to me?”
Di Ronghua was first bewildered, then finally reached her limit, “Xiao Hanjin, are you picking a fight on purpose?!” She cursed in a mix of shock and fury, “How the hell am I supposed to know if I’m facing you or not after I fall asleep?”
“You’re not deliberately turning your back on me?”
“Are you having prenatal syndrome or something?” Worse than her, no, he was practically an anxious lunatic!
Di Ronghua even darkly suspected that his claim of forgiving her was a lie.
Lately, he was… deliberately… tormenting… her!
The man pursed his lips, staring at her up close in the darkness, his heavy breathing noticeably displeased and stark in the quiet night.
But just as Di Ronghua thought he’d stir up more trouble, he closed his eyes, his thin lips slowly uttering, “Di Ronghua, I love you.”
She flinched slightly.
Her sleepiness seemed to vanish instantly, in the silent darkness, only the man’s breathing beside her filled her ears.
With an emotion she hadn’t even registered herself, she suddenly wrapped her arms around his waist, “Shut up and sleep.”
The man’s body visibly stiffened.
Her fierce voice rang out again, “If you wake me up one more time, we’re sleeping in separate rooms!”
Xiao Hanjin’s pupils shrank.
The next second, he slowly, stiffly reached out to hold her, inching closer with a touch of caution, even though her eyes were closed, she could still feel his handsome face drawing infinitely near, as if they might touch at any moment.
“Yes, Your Highness.” He said softly.
In that moment, Di Ronghua felt a fleeting illusion of being back in Xiliang.
She suddenly realised she’d never asked again about whether his memories had fully returned, perhaps it no longer mattered.
…
After that night, Xiao Hanjin stopped deliberately pestering her.
He treated her even better.
There was no comparison, it just seemed each day he tried to outdo the previous one.
As he’d once said, he’d spend the rest of his life making it up to her.
She hadn’t seen Mu Qingshuang again either.
Sometimes, she even entertained the illusion that living like this wouldn’t be so bad.
She even thought, if their child was born and he refused to honour his promise to let her go, then… even if he handed her a knife to stab him, she probably couldn’t bring herself to do it.
And so, they’d really spend their lives together like this.
But an illusion was an illusion because it would eventually shatter someday.
Just as lies would one day be exposed.
That day was a hunt for the imperial clan, Di Ronghua hadn’t initially agreed to go, but she later felt like getting out, plus Juye had told her about the benefits of walking for pregnant women, so she ultimately left the palace.
