Chapter 28
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Xue Fangli was taken aback.
Jiang Juan’s tears were too much, whether they rolled onto the pillow, clung to his eyelashes, or dripped into his hair. Each tear seemed to fall on Xue Fangli’s heart.
They were weightless, falling lightly yet scorchingly.
It shouldn’t be like this.
Xue Fangli lowered his head, staring at Jiang Juan for a long time.
He had imagined many possibilities. Perhaps the young man would persuade him to let go of his resentment, or perhaps he would be afraid of his ferocity. But instead, he said nothing, asked nothing, and simply retrieved the incense quietly.
“Why?” Xue Fangli asked.
“Your Highness, you must have a reason for hating her so much…” Jiang Juan replied listlessly.
Xue Fangli was lost in his thoughts, stirred by Jiang Juan’s words, but Jiang Juan remained unaware. He had an almost blind trust in Xue Fangli.
—— His Highness is a good person. Whenever he doesn’t act like one, but more like a bad guy, it must be the other person’s fault.
Jiang Juan added, “I trust Your Highness, and only Your Highness.”
Finishing his words, Jiang Juan lowered his tear-filled eyes to his hands, feeling incredibly unlucky.
His foot injury hadn’t fully healed yet, his hand was injured now, and at the same time, he was still receiving acupuncture on his back.
With pain shooting through every fingertip, Jiang Juan gasped for breath. Xue Fangli watched him for a long time before reaching out with his articulate fingers to wipe away the tears, then pulling Jiang Juan into his embrace.
Afraid of acupuncture, Jiang Juan found the pain from his hand injury overshadowed the discomfort of the needles. As he blew on his fingers, the abbot finished the acupuncture and softly asked, “Your Highness, should we also address the burns on His Royal Consort’s hand?”
Xue Fangli responded with a grunt and reached out for Jiang Juan’s hand.
Xue Fangli pulled Jiang Juan into a sitting position, Jiang Juan didn’t dare to look this time. He obediently buried his face in Xue Fangli’s embrace. However, even without looking, the pain remained palpable.
Every time he felt pain, his fingers instinctively clenched. Xue Fangli glanced at him and applied some force to make Jiang Juan straighten his fingers.
Unable to clench his fingers, Jiang Juan had to endure. But enduring the pain was incredibly difficult. In no time, he couldn’t bear it anymore and bit down on the knuckle of his right hand.
The next moment, Xue Fangli’s pale and slender hand gripped his chin, his eyes downcast. “Don’t bite your hand.”
Ignoring him, Jiang Juan continued to bite. Seeing this, Xue Fangli forced him to lift his head, his fingers probing into Jiang Juan’s mouth.
Xue Fangli initially intended to push Jiang Juan’s fingers out, but Jiang Juan found it uncomfortable and resisted fiercely. His tongue tried to push Xue Fangli’s fingers out, leaving them wet.
Xue Fangli paused for a moment, then his subsequent actions could almost be described as forceful. Inside Jiang Juan’s mouth, Xue Fangli kept stirring relentlessly, finally making him give up biting his own knuckle.
Jiang Juan was in great discomfort. He glanced up at Xue Fangli, his eyes filled with a sense of grievance. In an instant, he bit down on Xue Fangli’s finger.
That glance almost overlapped with a dream.
In the dream, the young man was not only bare-backed but also nestled in Xue Fangli’s arms, his skin soft and smooth, radiating a healthy glow. At this moment, the young man in his embrace lifted his head to look at Xue Fangli, his eyes tinged with a blush, his eyelashes moist with tears, his voice muffled by pain.
“It hurts……”
It sounded like a sob, a cat-like sound.
The finger held in his mouth was almost soaked, and Jiang Juan bit down quite hard, but Xue Fangli only felt an itch.
The young man’s hair fell loose once again, cascading over his rounded shoulders and draping over his fair neck. Xue Fangli used his other hand to gently push it aside.
As the black hair parted, a red mole at the base of the neck was revealed.
Its allure was boundless, captivating and enchanting.
Xue Fangli gazed at it for a long time, his fingers about to brush over it, but the abbot, having finished tending to Jiang Juan’s hand, lifted his head and said, “It’s done.”
Suddenly snapping back to reality, Xue Fangli withdrew his hand, only lifting a strand of the fallen black hair and sweeping it to the other side.
The abbot continued, “It’s about time. I will remove the needles for the Royal Consort.”
Though removing the needles still stung a bit, Jiang Juan barely felt anything when they were taken out. The abbot quickly removed all the silver needles, instructing, “Your Royal Consortshould refrain from using your left hand in the coming days.”
Jiang Juan：“……”
With a frustrated sigh, he released Xue Fangli’s finger from his mouth and nodded. Xue Fangli’s palm pressed against the back of his neck, gently kneading it in a soothing manner, but then abruptly stopped.
Xue Fangli furrowed his brow. “What’s wrong with his back?”
On Jiang Juan’s exposed back, which was originally smooth and fair like porcelain, there was now a patch of bruising near his prominent shoulder blades.
The abbot glanced at it. “It’s nothing serious. It’s just that the Royal Consort has delicate skin. If it hasn’t subsided by tomorrow, applying warm compresses for a few days should help.”
Xue Fangli responded with a grunt of acknowledgment.
After the abbot finished treating Jiang Juan’s hand and wrapped his fingers up, there was nothing else for him to do. He tidied up his medical kit and took his leave, with Xue Fangli nodding in response.
Unable to see his own back, Jiang Juan could only feel it with his hand. It was fine when he didn’t touch it, but as soon as his hand grazed the bruise, it sent a jolt of pain through him.
Xue Fangli cautioned, “Don’t touch it.”
Jiang Juan felt utterly helpless. “Why does everything hurt?”
“Yeah, why are you hurting everywhere?” Xue Fangli looked at him, “It’s really unfortunate.”
Jiang Juan slumped against Xue Fangli’s shoulder, and his lowered gaze suddenly caught sight of Xue Fangli’s hand. He reached out and touched the bite mark he had left, asking, “Your Highness, does it hurt?”
Not really, it’s just itchy.
Xue Fangli was about to respond when he met Jiang Juan’s concerned gaze. His words changed when he said, “It’s not too bad.”
Not too bad meant it did hurt. Jiang Juan felt remorseful. He gently took Xue Fangli’s hand and rubbed it, saying softly, “I’m sorry.”
Xue Fangli let him rub his hand, smiling as he accepted Jiang Juan’s apology.
But in his heart, a voice murmured softly.
——Not enough, it’s far from enough. He wanted to make him softer.
Xue Fangli closed his eyes lightly. After a while, he asked Jiang Juan, “Do you want to know… how she died?”
Jiang Juan was taken aback, quickly realizing that by “she,” His Highness meant Beauty Yu. Hesitantly, he asked, “Is it okay?”
“If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine too.”
Xue Fangli looked at him, casually smiling, “There’s nothing you can’t ask.”
After all, it might make the youth sympathize with him a bit more.
“It was her…”
On many nights in the past, during his splitting headaches, in those fleeting nightmares, Xue Fangli often returned to that day.
In his hand was a dagger, one end held firmly in his grasp, while the other pierced into the woman’s chest cavity.
The woman grasped Xue Fangli’s hand, forcefully pushing it in. The thin and sharp blade drew out crimson stains of blood. Her lips curved softly as she whispered in a tone so gentle it sent shivers down one’s spine.
“Fangli, after you die, you will go to hell.”
“You lied, broke your promises. Your tongue will be torn out; you hindered me from escaping, your fingers will be cut off one by one; you fed on my flesh, drank my blood, and then killed me. You will be thrown into a pool of blood, drowning repeatedly.”
“I want to watch you. Watch you die, watch you go to hell, watch you never reincarnate for eternity…”
Xue Fangli once again smelled that scent.
The nauseating mixture of the metallic tang of blood and the faint fragrance of rouge made him sick to his stomach.
The lines between past and present began to blur, and everything before Xue Fangli’s eyes turned blood-red. His expression grew colder, and the veins on his pale hand stood out.
“Your Highness…”
Jiang Juan noticed something was wrong and hurriedly approached, tugging at Xue Fangli’s sleeve several times.
In this moment, with Jiang Juan so close, the scent of medicinal herbs became especially clear. While Jiang Juan might not have noticed anything unusual, for Xue Fangli, it was different.
Amidst the strong smell of blood, he caught a hint of herbal fragrance.
Though faint, this scent infiltrated Xue Fangli’s nostrils, lingering around him, and it helped to pull him back to his senses.
Between hell and the mortal world, it was just a breath away.
Xue Fangli slowly lowered his gaze.
He suddenly changed his mind, deciding not to tell the young man the whole truth.
He could easily imagine the youth’s reaction.
—He would furrow his brows, look at him with eyes full of tenderness, and then sympathetically murmur, “Why did she do that?”
It would only cause more heartache.
Xue Fangli didn’t mention that it was Beauty Yu who had held his hand and plunged the dagger into her own chest. Instead, he calmly said, “She had had enough of life and chose to end it herself.”
Jiang Juan was taken aback. “Then why does everyone blame Your Highness?”
Xue Fangli replied nonchalantly, “Most likely because she drove everyone away and ended her life in front of me.”
Jiang Juan exclaimed in realization and then suddenly hugged him tightly.
Xue Fangli lowered his head. “What is it?”
Jiang Juan shook his head, remaining silent for a long time before asking in a muffled voice, “Were you scared back then, Your Highness?”
“Scared?”
Xue Fangli gave a light scoff. He pinched Jiang Juan’s chin, lifting his face and said somewhat regretfully, “I don’t remember.”
“You’re lying.”
“Hmm?”
Xue Fangli responded with a nonchalant nod, calmly staring at Jiang Juan.
The young man’s eyes were filled with extreme sadness, his heartache and compassion almost overwhelming. He gazed at Xue Fangli with intense focus, and this devotion undoubtedly pleased Xue Fangli to the fullest.
A smile played at the corner of his lips as he gently stroked Jiang Juan’s cheek, but deep down, he harbored an extremely malicious thought.
——He could make the young man feel even more heartbroken.
But at that moment, his fingertips on Jiang Juan’s face touched a wet patch.
Warm and damp.
Xue Fangli was taken aback, looking over to see Jiang Juan with tears in his eyes, each blink causing more tears to roll down.
“Why are you crying?”
“I feel like you’re scared.”
Jiang Juan hugged Xue Fangli again, not very good with verbal comfort, so he repeated over and over, “It’s okay, it’s all in the past now.”
The person in his arms held him tightly, and Xue Fangli’s eyelids drooped as he looked at his fingers dampened by tears.
Was he afraid?
Xue Fangli asked himself.
Since birth, he had never been expected. He was just a pawn, expected to be a vulnerability, but that woman named him “Fangli.”
She insisted on leaving.
She had no vulnerabilities.
Perhaps he had been afraid at some point, but he had forgotten.
Over the years, he feared nothing. He was just a madman, caring about nothing and fearing nothing to lose, because he had nothing to lose.
Xue Fangli looked at Jiang Juan, staring for a long time before gently smiling, “How did you manage to cry so much, even more heartbroken than me?”
He lifted one hand, resting it on Jiang Juan’s waist, slowly applying pressure.
His shoulder was damp, the young man allowing him to hold him tightly.
Xue Fangli regretted not making Jiang Juan feel more distressed, yet he also felt relieved that he hadn’t caused him more pain.
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