"Who are you? Who are you! Who are you..."
The extremely panicked babbling in the dream world made Xuan Yuanhan, who was beside him, feel helpless once again.
He gently stroked her forehead and whispered softly in her ear, "Don't be afraid, with me here, no one can hurt you."
At this moment, Yi Shangyun actually stopped her delirious ramblings in her sleep, but two lines of tears streamed down her face. Xuan Yuanhan said excitedly, "You heard it, didn't you? You must have heard everything I said, didn't you?"
After saying that, he quickly took out the silk handkerchief with the character "cloud" from his body and said to her affectionately, "Look, this is what you left behind when you healed my wounds the first time I met you. I have kept it ever since."
As she spoke, she reached out a silk handkerchief and gently wiped away the tear stains left at the corners of her eyes.
Perhaps it was because he had been so anxious and uncertain for so long, that now that something had finally happened, he feared that the person he cherished with his whole life might never wake up again. He pleaded urgently, "I beg you, you must wake up! I'm so scared, so very scared. I can't bear to experience that kind of fear again..."
For some reason, he suddenly couldn't help but tell her about something that had been buried in his heart for over ten years, something he never wanted to recall in his entire life:
When I was very young, I was walking back to the palace from the Imperial Ancestral Temple with my mother when we were attacked by a group of fierce-looking, masked robbers dressed in black.
Seeing that the enemy outnumbered us, the Queen Mother assumed they were only greedy for money. So she kindly ordered her men to hand over all the gold, silver and jewelry she had brought with her when she left the palace, hoping that the robbers would spare the lives of the King and his mother.
Unexpectedly, the robbers did not seem to be after gold and silver. The leader of the robbers taunted me, saying, "Xuanyuan Han, looking at your thin arms and legs, you must be a girl!" Immediately, all the robbers burst into laughter.
In a fit of rage, I picked up my bow and arrow and shot the most delighted robber, who fell to the ground in front of everyone. Enraged, the robbers launched a full-scale attack on me.
Just as all the accompanying guards were outnumbered and fell one after another in front of me and my son, and it seemed that I and my son were in imminent danger, a pregnant lady who was about to give birth appeared. Without hesitation, she ordered all the guards she brought with her to fight back with all their might and cover my and my son's escape.
Unexpectedly, during our escape, my mother and I were separated by bandits. I landed alone on the edge of a cliff with a bottomless abyss behind me.
Just as the robbers spotted me and were about to give chase, I, a young prince, was terrified.
Suddenly, the lady reappeared before me and quickly pulled me into a thicket of grass to hide.
After the masked robbers in black caught up, they found that the robbers had disappeared from sight and were about to retreat.
Just then, I suddenly realized that one of the robbers looked familiar, and in my haste, I shouted, "Stop!"
Upon hearing this, the lady covered the king's mouth. Just then, the robbers, hearing the noise, immediately turned around, raised their knives, and searched for the source of the bushes.
At this critical moment, the lady pressed on my shoulder and asked me, "Are you really Xuanyuan Han?"
I replied to her, "Yes, it is I."
The lady then solemnly said to the king, "From now on, you must protect Western Qin well."
After saying this, the lady smiled faintly at me and then bravely walked out alone.
Soon, she was cornered on the edge of a cliff with no way out.
Those extremely arrogant villains didn't even spare a woman who was about to give birth; one of them even gave her a wicked, lewd grin.
Just as I was about to get up and go out to stop her, the woman gave me one last look, turned around, and with one step, plunged into the abyss behind her. I watched in horror as this unfolded before my eyes…
Seeing how high the cliff was, and knowing that falling off would certainly mean certain death, the robbers gave up and retreated.
As a child, I lay on the edge of the cliff, sobbing uncontrollably. Later, my mother and guards found me, and I personally led the guards to search the bottom of the cliff for many days, but we still couldn't find the lady's remains.
From that moment on, I was filled with remorse and grief. If I hadn't acted impulsively and cried out back then, my wife wouldn't have died so tragically, and she would surely have safely given birth to her beloved child…
Therefore, I have become taciturn and ruthless, so that my enemies will never be able to see through my intentions...
And that lady was exactly like you in the valley that night—kind, brave, and fearless.
You and I are merely strangers who met by chance, yet that lady traded the lives of herself and her child for my life.
And you, even with my sword at your neck, you still unhesitatingly offered me a helping hand, preventing me from losing my life.
That lady and her unborn child are a knot in my heart that I can never untie or get over in my entire life, but I don't want to do the same to you...
I have heeded my wife's dying words and will fight to the death to protect Western Qin. But now, I wish to protect one more...
As he spoke, Xuan Yuanhan looked at the unconscious Yi Shangyun, his voice choked with emotion, and he tilted his head back to calm himself.
As she lowered her head again, tears welled up in Yi Shangyun's tightly closed eyes once more, but only for a moment before she began to mutter in her sleep, "Who are you? Who are you! Who are you..."
Suddenly, she awoke from her nightmare with a start. Opening her eyes, she saw a man with a refined face and noble attire sitting beside her bed, his head bowed, looking worried, his eyes slightly red as he gazed at her. His large hand was tightly holding her small hand.
Unintentionally, "Your Highness Prince Qin" withdrew her hand, pressed it against the couch, and struggled to get up, but was too weak to move.
"Don't move. You just woke up. Lie down for a while longer," Xuan Yuanhan said, pressing her down again.
Yi Shangyun's eyes darted around frantically as she asked in confusion, "Where is this...?"
Seeing that she had finally woken up, Xuan Yuanhan breathed a sigh of relief and replied, "This is the Qin Prince's residence, my bedroom, Lin Yuexuan."
"What?!" Yi Shangyun, who had just lain down, was shocked upon hearing this and tried to get up again. However, she was ultimately overwhelmed by the high fever and unconsciousness and collapsed helplessly.
Xuanyuan Han glared at her, as if blaming her for overestimating her abilities.
"Wasn't I watching the meteor shower and staying up all night with the Third Young Master in the northern suburbs? How did I end up at the Prince Qin's mansion, and even at His Highness's bedchamber..." Yi Shangyun hesitated, then lowered her head in embarrassment and fell silent.
Xuanyuan Han seemed to sense something was amiss, and hesitantly asked her, "You only remember watching the meteor shower? What happened after that? Don't you remember anything? We..."
Yi Shangyun rolled his eyes, then frowned and touched his head, asking in confusion, "What happened next... Your Highness Prince Qin, you appeared later, and it seems you even had a dispute with the Third Young Master. After that... I don't remember."
Upon hearing this, Xuan Yuanhan was greatly alarmed. She had completely forgotten everything that had just happened. Could it be that the sudden high fever had caused her to lose some of her memory? But why had she specifically forgotten the most beautiful moments between them?
"It's alright, as long as I remember. As long as you're alright, as long as you're awake, you can forget everything!" After a while, Xuan Yuanhan said dejectedly.
But as soon as he finished speaking, a self-deceiving smile appeared on his lips.
"What is Your Highness saying?" Yi Shangyun asked, looking at him with a puzzled expression.
"It's nothing. You're weak, so rest here. As for the Yi family, I've already arranged for Cheng Liang to inform your father, so you don't need to worry," Xuan Yuanhan said quietly.
The room was silent. The two of them looked at each other, even though they had a thousand words in their hearts, they had nowhere to say them. They remained motionless, as if frozen in time.
A moment later, Xuan Yuanhan came to his senses and got up to walk outside, but after taking only a few steps, he suddenly heard Yi Shangyun behind him murmur, "Your Highness, thank you!"
Xuanyuan Han didn't turn around, but paused for a moment, a handsome smile spreading across his face. Then he strode out of Lin Yuexuan and gently closed the door behind him.
Then, the room fell silent.
Strangely enough, most people rarely remember details of their dreams after waking up. But Yi Shangyun remembered everything in her dream clearly.
What's even stranger is that Yi Shangyun clearly remembers everything that happened to Lin Yuexuan and every word that Xuan Yuanhan said.
Seeing that Xuan Yuanhan had completely left the bedchamber, she began to recall the words Wei Mingxuan had spoken to her in her dream, murmuring repeatedly, "I am him, and he is me, a hundred-life covenant, I will never leave... What exactly was Wei Mingxuan saying?"
Now she was completely sober and clearly remembered that night when she and Xuan Yuanhan were both in a state of confusion and passion, they almost lost control. She finally realized that the person who kissed her tonight was not Wei Mingxuan, whom she had imagined.
But when she thought of Wei Mingxuan, she remembered the words he had said to her in her dream. Suddenly, she seemed to realize something and froze, saying, "I am him, and he is me... Could it be that Wei Mingxuan means that he is Xuanyuan Han, and Xuanyuan Han is him?"
But immediately she denied it, saying, "No, Wei Mingxuan is Wei Mingxuan, and Xuanyuan Han is Xuanyuan Han. How could they be the same? I must have misunderstood."
Since she couldn't figure it out, she simply closed her eyes gently, covered her entire head with a thick quilt, and tried to calm herself down.
But how could she possibly calm down on such a passionate night?
After tossing and turning for most of the day, she finally peeked out from under the quilt, revealing only her beautiful phoenix eyes. Then, she secretly sniffed the scent of the quilt's owner that lingered on it.
Unbeknownst to her, she had already fallen in love with someone.
For some reason, the image of the woman Xuan Yuanhan had just mentioned, about the woman about to give birth, suddenly popped into her mind, and she murmured to herself, "So that's why he's so cold. That woman and her unborn child are truly pitiful..."
As if moved by this, her eyes reddened after a moment, and she murmured sadly to herself, "Yun'er understands Your Highness's feelings, but Your Highness is a person with too much sorrow in your heart. Yun'er will also leave this place sooner or later, just like a fleeting shadow, a person without a tomorrow. Life is long, and how can Yun'er, who is so helpless, make any promises to Your Highness? Being together will only add to the pain in the end, how can Yun'er bear it?! Therefore, Yun'er will forget everything that happened tonight, and please, Your Highness, never remember it again in this life."
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