Chapter 90
<Previous Chapter<Table of Contents>Next Chapter>
The familiar scent settled on Jiang Juan’s neck. It was an extremely affectionate gesture, but Jiang Juan felt only coldness throughout his body. His only source of warmth was the squirming kitten in his arms.
Jiang Juan almost forgot to breathe.
It was impossible to say he wasn’t scared at all; he had been genuinely terrified, and now that he had been exposed, his heart felt like it was about to burst out of his chest.
He took a deep breath, but his face was turned back by someone. Xue Fangli looked down at him with his usual calm and elegant smile, but Jiang Juan sensed a hint of coldness beneath it.
“…Your Highness.”
Jiang Juan asked in a daze, “Am I still dreaming?”
Xue Fangli answered flatly, “No.”
“Then you… I…”
Jiang Juan was at a loss for words. He had so much he wanted to say, but when he opened his mouth, he didn’t know what to say. In the end, he just lowered his head, staring for a long time at the hand that was holding him, and slowly began to pull it away.
Just as he was about to break free, Xue Fangli grabbed his hand again, this time gripping it even tighter.
“So many people have told you that I am a madman, but you wouldn’t believe it,” Xue Fangli said in a gentle and coaxing tone, “You didn’t take it seriously before, and there’s no need to dwell on it now. Just go back, have a good sleep, and forget all this as if it never happened. How about that?”
It was impossible to forget, Jiang Juan’s lashes fluttered, and he said dejectedly, “Let me think about it.”
Xue Fangli nodded, “Alright, I’ll wait for you to think it over.”
Jiang Juan replied, “…Then let go of me.”
But Xue Fangli didn’t release him. Jiang Juan waited for a moment, about to turn around to look at him, when suddenly, Xue Fangli pulled him into an embrace with such force that Jiang Juan felt pain.
“…Your Highness.”
“Just a moment.”
Jiang Juan had no choice but to let him hold him. After what felt like a long time, Xue Fangli finally released him and calmly ordered, “Take the Crown Prince Conosrt back to Liangfeng Courtyard.”
On the way back, Jiang Juan kept his lashes lowered and was unusually quiet. Lan Ting, worried, watched him closely. Once they were back in the room, she couldn’t hold back any longer.
“Young Master, are you alright?”
“I’m fine.”
Jiang Juan shook his head and sat down with a dazed expression.
The novels described His Highness as cruel and ruthless, disregarding human decency, and yet, Jiang Juan had always thought of him as a good person.
No wonder His Highness said he was easy to deceive, and no wonder His Highness said that if he wanted to hide something, Jiang Juan wouldn’t notice.
Jiang Juan truly hadn’t noticed at all.
“I’m so stupid.”
Jiang Juan’s voice was very soft. Lan Ting hurriedly comforted him, “Young Master, don’t say that about yourself. You’re not stupid at all.”
Jiang Juan asked her, “Do you know that His Highness… actually isn’t as good as he seems?”
Lan Ting hesitated and said, “Young Master,, I live with the maids from the residence. They often tell me things about His Highness, so…”
Jiang Juan answered for her, “You know.”
Lan Ting waved her hand, “No. At first, I didn’t know either. I thought, just like you, that His Highness was truly a good person.”
No matter how much Lan Ting tried to comfort him, it was of no use. Jiang Juan sighed and remained gloomy.
After a moment’s hesitation, Lan Ting earnestly said, “But Young Master,, no matter how His Highness is, he really treats you well. Not just the steward and the maids, but others in the residence often say that His Highness treats you like you’re precious—like he’s afraid you’ll melt in his mouth or break if he’s not careful.”
Her words were reasonable, but Jiang Juan still couldn’t reconcile himself with the situation.
The scene in the Lixue Hall had been too gruesome. His Highness had been deceiving him all along. Was there something else His Highness had done without his knowledge?
The more Jiang Juan thought about it, the more confused he became. He wasn’t sure if it was just in his head, but he felt a lingering smell of blood. He said, “Lan Ting, I want to bathe.”
Lan Ting quickly replied, “Alright, Young Master, please wait a moment.”
As she went out, she opened the door and saw several guards stationed outside. Lan Ting was puzzled and was about to step out when she was stopped. The guard asked, “Where are you going?”
Lan Ting whispered, “Young Master wants to bathe, so I’m going to prepare water for him.”
The guard replied, “There’s no need for you to go. Someone will bring the water once it’s ready.”
Lan Ting was surprised, “What?”
Seeing that Lan Ting had been at the door for a while, Jiang Juan asked, “Lan Ting, what’s going on?”
Lan Ting forced a smile and said, “Young Master, someone will bring hot water shortly.”
Jiang Juan: “But…”
Lan Ting opened the door, and the little cat that had been peacefully resting in Jiang Juan’s arms immediately jumped out and darted towards the outside. Jiang Juan didn’t finish his sentence and hurriedly chased after it, but just like Lan Ting, he was stopped before he could leave the room.
The guard said, “Crown Prince Consort, you cannot go out.”
Jiang Juan asked in confusion, “Why not?”
The guard answered, “… His Highness’ orders. He wants you to rest well and not wander around.”
Jiang Juan exclaimed, “Ah,” and realized something. He didn’t make things difficult for the guard but merely pursed his lips and said unhappily, “Please bring the cat back to me.”
When the guards brought the cat back to Jiang Juan, he was quite upset. He took the cat back in his arms, scruffing its fur messily, “His Highness won’t let me go out.”
Lan Ting sighed and tried to comfort him, “Well, it’s not so bad. Young Master, you don’t like to go out much anyway.”
Jiang Juan said, “It’s different.”
“I can choose not to go out, but it’s not okay for him to forbid me from going out.”
Lan Ting: “…”
Jiang Juan was so distressed that he crumpled the little cat in his arms and climbed into bed with it. His reasoning was quite sound: “His Highness doesn’t like cat fur and doesn’t want me to sleep too long, so I’m going to cuddle with the cat and sleep for a long time.”
What could Lan Ting say? She could only lower the bed curtains for him and helplessly say, “Sleep well.”
It was no better when he was awake, and even worse when he was asleep.
In his dreams, he was being held and sat down in a man’s embrace. In the dim room, Steward Gao brought in a fruit platter with a whole bunch of grapes. They were ripe and deep purple, with droplets of water still trickling down.
A slender hand picked a grape and offered it to Jiang Juan. He was used to being fed like this, so he opened his mouth without suspicion. But the next moment, the grape that had been held between those pale fingers, dripping with juice, turned into a mass of bloody pulp.
It was an eye. Jiang Juan recognized it and was almost paralyzed with fear, yet that hand continued to feed him.
“I don’t want to eat.”
“I don’t want it, I really don’t.”
“Your Highness…”
The bed curtains were blown by the wind, swaying gently. Jiang Juan wasn’t sleeping well, mumbling incoherently, and later, almost sobbing. After an unknown period of time, someone finally lifted the floating gauze.
On the bed, the young man’s brows were furrowed, and he slept restlessly. His eyelashes were damp, whether from tears or from crying out in a nightmare.
Xue Fangli looked down at him, intending to reach out and embrace Jiang Juan, but his hand hesitated just before touching him.
Even his nightmares were because of him.
Forget it.
Not daring to hold him or comfort him as usual, Xue Fangli wiped Jiang Juan’s tears away. Finally, he leaned down and gently, restrainedly, placed a kiss on his eyelashes.
He picked up the cat sleeping beside him, lowered the bed curtains, and walked out. He asked coldly, “How has he been since…. coming back?”
Lan Ting knew immediately that he was asking about Jiang Juan’s condition. She shook her head, “Young Master is not very happy.”
Xue Fangli responded with an “Mm,” and said, “Take care of him.”
After saying that, he lifted his foot to leave, as if his visit had only been to give this instruction. Lan Ting clenched her hands tightly, hesitating for a long time in her heart before finally summoning the courage to say, “Your Highness…”
Xue Fangli paused, looking at her with a blank expression.
Lan Ting’s eyelids twitched, but she mustered the courage to say what she had rehearsed countless times. She pleaded, “Please don’t treat him like this.”
“You can’t keep him locked up forever.”
“Why can’t he be kept locked up forever?”
Xue Fangli’s tone was cold. “As long as he doesn’t resolve his issues, I will confine him for as long as it takes. If he never resolves them, he will be confined forever.”
“When I first suggested sending him away, he refused to leave.”
Lan Ting: “But…”
Despite her fear, Lan Ting took a deep breath and asked her question, “If Young Master resolves his issues but is still afraid and unable to accept it…”
“Then he hasn’t resolved his issues.”
Xue Fangli closed his eyes, his expression darkening with frustration. “Let him think it over. Until he resolves his issues.”
Lan Ting’s lips moved, but she didn’t say anything. She watched as Xue Fangli walked away. The man, dressed in black and gold robes, appeared exceedingly noble. Though his expression was cold to the extreme, Lan Ting couldn’t shake the feeling that he was afraid of something.
Throughout the afternoon, Jiang Juan continued to sleep but remained plagued by nightmares.
He fully awoke as the evening lanterns began to glow.
Jiang Juan felt exhausted from his sleep. He sat up slowly, still dazed, and reached for the thin blanket. He looked around but didn’t see the little cat. He asked Lan Ting, “Where is the cat?”
Lan Ting replied softly, “His Highness came by earlier and took the cat away.”
Jiang Juan was taken aback and stayed quiet for a while before responding with a simple “Oh.”
“And then?”
“What do you mean, ‘and then’?”
Lan Ting was confused, so Jiang Juan lowered his head, tightly gripping the thin blanket. He asked slowly, “Did His Highness say anything?”
He did, but Lan Ting dared not repeat it to Jiang Juan. After a moment’s thought, she answered, “His Highness asked me to take good care of you.”
Jiang Juan, however, became more upset. “He asks you to take good care of me, but what about him? Doesn’t he care?”
“He’s been deceiving me for so long and even deliberately fed me grapes,” Jiang Juan said. “He thinks he’s the smartest, playing me like a fool, and he’s always watching me and laughing.”
At this point, Jiang Juan remembered something else and grew angrier. “He comes back and doesn’t even argue with me? Is the cat his Crown Prince Consort? Does he care about the cat more than me?”
Lan Ting: “…?”
Jiang Juan was clearly upset, but the reason for his anger puzzled Lan Ting. She still tried to explain, “Young Master was asleep at that time, so he left.”
Jiang Juan was infuriated. “He just left? After I spent the whole afternoon having nightmares because of him? He just leaves?”
“Why should he?” Jiang Juan fumed more and more. “He doesn’t argue with me, doesn’t comfort me, doesn’t apologize. He just stands by while I have nightmares.”
“Is he even human?”
Jiang Juan had never felt such grievance. He decided, “No way. His Highness can’t just get away with this.”
Soon after, a guard hurried to the study and whispered something to Steward Gao, who was stationed outside. Upon hearing this, Steward Gao’s face changed dramatically. He burst through the door, shouting, “Your Highness! There’s been a serious problem!”
“Crown Prince Consort—he’s had a relapse of his heart condition!”
If you love what Ciacia is doing, then consider showing your support by supporting a cup of tea for her at Kofi. If you can’t wait for the next release chapter, subscribe to advanced chapters membership on her Kofi to get access to up to 10 chapters!
<Previous Chapter<Table of Contents>Next Chapter>
Obrigada pelos capítulos 🥰💕