Chapter 64 "We're helping you take a bath..."
...On what grounds?
This is unfair to her.
What a filthy, despicable hypocrite.
Even if her escape meant being used by her father as a pawn to curry favor with the powerful and wealthy, and being forced to marry a man more than ten years her senior, she still didn't want to stay in this cage.
She tried to resist him, but each time she failed and suffered a great price as a result.
The closest she ever came to freedom was when she stumbled out of the house, and just a few more steps would have taken her out of the alley.
She looked up at the dazzling sunlight, but timidly shrank back.
She had been raised to be a light-sensitive opossum. Without the cold young master, she didn't know how to survive, and even walking was difficult for her.
So she turned back to the cage he had built for her, and though she was back in darkness, she embraced him without hesitation as if she were seeing the light of day.
Later, she stopped hoping to escape and instead became his accomplice.
They huddled together for warmth in the lonely night, using empty words to express their true feelings.
She liked pretty jewelry, so he found some for her and put it on her.
Young Master Leng said that only killing could bring him pleasure, so she stood behind him time and time again, sharpening his knife for him.
His hands were stained with the blood of innocent people, and her hands were not clean either.
That's why their relationship has become increasingly strong.
After all, the pleasure brought by a love as sweet as honey is far less than the entanglement of love and hate; it's better to become a despicable and hateful beast in human clothing.
She felt no pity as she watched her defenseless prey being slaughtered; instead, she felt only boundless excitement.
However, she sometimes thinks of her past self.
“Princess, what are you doing here? Could it be…” Leng Cuizhu suddenly realized and quickly closed her lips.
Did Leng Zhen kidnap the county princess?
What exactly happened?
She did suspect that someone was hiding in the attic, but she never expected it to be Princess Anning, who had been missing for many days.
This is a crime punishable by the execution of the entire family!
"Auntie, it's just what you think." The girl lowered her eyes and shrank into the corner.
Leng Cuizhu was shocked and pale. She wanted to ask the girl more questions, but she couldn't bring herself to speak. She could only silently observe the situation inside the room.
She smelled an extremely strong stench of blood and decay; a jumble of odors emanated from the darkness, all reaching towards her nose.
She covered her nose: "Princess, what's that smell in the room?"
"The stench of a corpse."
The girl stood up from the corner, walked to the table, and lit the candle.
Finally, some light appeared inside the room.
By the dim candlelight, Leng Cuizhu could see blood dripping continuously from the half-open shop window, which was filled with indescribable lumps that seemed about to overflow.
She quickly turned her head to look elsewhere.
The tabletop was wiped very clean, with several neatly folded clothes and some herbs laid out.
And a bottle of osmanthus hair oil.
"Hiss..." She raised her hand to cover the bite mark on the side of her neck.
The girl, who was sitting on the edge of the bed in a daze, looked up and asked, "Auntie, what's wrong?"
Leng Cuizhu hesitated for a moment: "Um... do you have any hemostatic medicine?"
“No,” the girl got up and walked to the table, rubbing her eyelids, “only hemostatic herbs.”
"You sit down and rest first, I'll grind the herbs for you."
"Thank you, Your Highness." She awkwardly found a chair and sat down.
The chair was a bit old, and it creaked as soon as she sat down. Unable to bear the noise, she got up and sat on the wooden bed next to it.
The sheets and duvet cover were spotless and had very few wrinkles.
The two pillows on the bed looked familiar. She thought for a moment and remembered that they were the two buckwheat pillows she had sewed for Leng Zhen.
While the girl was focused on grinding the medicine, she reached for her pillow and found a medical book hidden underneath. Tucked inside was a stack of silver notes, estimated to be at least five or six hundred taels.
"The medicine is ready."
She quickly withdrew her hand, looked up and smiled at the girl: "Thank you for your trouble, Your Highness."
The girl didn't say anything, but handed her a small bowl containing the herbal paste: "Put it on the wound, and it will be fine."
"Thank you, County Princess." Leng Cuizhu hurriedly took the small bowl and noticed that the girl's watch leather was cracked, and the exposed part of her wrist was covered with scars.
As she scooped medicine paste from the bowl to apply to the wound, she smiled and asked, "Princess, what do you usually do here?"
"Read books, sleep." The girl seemed to want to say something more, but after a moment's pause, she swallowed her words back.
"Auntie, you can leave after you've applied the medicine."
"Your Highness, you..."
"I won't leave." The girl pulled her sleeves tighter and choked up as she said, "And don't tell anyone about my affairs."
"I know that Young Master Leng's father, who is also your husband, is an official in the county. Please don't tell him where I am. I'm begging you."
Leng Cuizhu: "But..."
"No buts!" the girl yelled at her. "Don't think you can save me. I don't need anyone's help."
She widened her eyes, then smiled and said, "I'm quite content with the status quo."
Leng Cuizhu didn't know what to say, so she sighed and turned her head away, staring at the peeling and crumbling plaster on the wall.
Content with the status quo.
Should she think the county princess is stubborn and refuses to listen to advice? Or should she agree with the county princess's complacent attitude?
She seemed to have no right to interfere with the county magistrate's decision, even though she knew full well that the decision was a grave mistake that would only lead people into an abyss.
If she stays true to herself and rescues the county princess, what awaits her and her entire family?
She couldn't bear to think about the price she would have to pay for it.
So she changed the subject: "How does Leng Zhen treat you?"
The girl was dazed: "Leng Zhen... This is the first time I've heard his name in all these days."
"Auntie, your son treats me very well, and we love each other very much."
Leng Cuizhu simply couldn't connect this dilapidated, foul-smelling house, or the dazed, battered girl before her, with love.
"...Really?" she murmured, looking up to ask, "Princess, don't you miss your family?"
"family?"
The girl chuckled: "Are you talking about my debauched father, or my mother who died young? Or... my fiancé who's old enough to be my father?"
"Why should I think about them? Besides, Young Master Leng is my family."
“He’s not your family,” Leng Cuizhu said calmly. “Don’t have any illusions about him. He doesn’t love you; he just treats you like a plaything.”
“If he loved you, why would he let you live such a hard life? It’s not like he doesn’t have the money to give you a good life.” She took out the silver notes hidden in her medical book. “Here, there’s a stack of them.”
"So what if he doesn't love me? My love for him is enough!"
The girl kept shaking her head: "Auntie, you don't understand, you don't understand the entanglement between him and me. Anyway, I can't leave him, and he can't get rid of me either..."
“I know they’re all busy looking for me, and you must know that too, right? If those people find me, not only your son, but your whole family will be doomed.”
So, leave me alone.
The girl's words indeed touched on Leng Cuizhu's worries.
Leng Zhen will implicate her, and even the entire Yin family.
But there was something Leng Cuizhu felt she had to tell her.
"Princess, have you noticed... that our eyes and eyebrows are somewhat similar?"
The girl bit her lip: "I know, so what?"
"So his kidnapping of you may have been premeditated. He hated me intensely but couldn't hurt me, so when he saw you, he had the idea of making you pay for it."
"Besides, your fiancé, whom Leng Zhen knows, has he told you about this?"
The girl frowned: "...No."
"How could he know that marquis? Auntie, you're not lying to me, are you?"
"He not only knew him, but also had a good relationship with Lord Si. The two addressed each other as master and disciple."
“The Marquis lived next door for a while, but he only moved out a few days ago,” she said. “The Marquis even came to our house.”
"He didn't tell you any of these things?" Seeing that the girl didn't speak, she understood the gist of it. "He was probably afraid that you would find a chance to ask the Marquis for help and expose him."
The girl was speechless for a moment: "Impossible..."
“If you don’t believe me, you can climb up and ask him yourself.” She pointed to the large hole in the ceiling. “He should wake up soon.”
"By the way, Your Highness, I still don't know your name."
"Nomi".
Leng Cuizhu pondered for a long time, wanting to speak but then stopping herself.
"how?"
“Princess, he has a snake that is very similar to your name.”
“Impossible…” The girl took a step back, shook her head repeatedly, and then muttered with a sigh as she looked up, “So, that’s why he said I looked like a snake… How ridiculous, I thought he was attracted to me.”
She thought their relationship was close enough that there would be no more lies.
It turns out that he still only treated her as a plaything.
How ridiculous.
What about those wasted days of hers?
What about the tears and emotions she wasted on him? What did they amount to?
And then there's her being tamed by him, her hands stained with blood because of him, her tainted and vile heart, and her desires growing wildly like seedlings being forced to grow...
She is no longer the innocent and carefree Princess Anning; she will only cause chaos and endless turmoil around her.
“You can ask him about all of this yourself. Knowing his personality, he will tell you the truth.” Leng Cuizhu sighed. “After all, it’s a good opportunity to break you down.”
"He enjoys watching people break down, whether it's himself or someone else."
"I won't ask him! Never again..."
The girl raised her hand to cover her face, her shoulders hunched, and tears spilled from between her fingers.
After a long while, she spoke, "Auntie, do you think I'm ridiculous? Did you already know all this all along?" Her voice was choked with sobs, sorrowful and hoarse.
Leng Cuizhu couldn't bear it, so she got up, hugged the girl, gently patted her back, and kept comforting her: "No, it's not what you think."
“Auntie pities you. You are not ridiculous at all. You have just been foolishly devoted to the wrong person. You are not the one who caused all this. You are just a persecuted daughter.”
"I want to go home, back to my own home, I miss my mother so much..." the girl sobbed. "Auntie, could you... hold me a little longer?"
"Okay, okay," she quickly hugged the girl tighter and whispered, "If you want to cry, then cry. It will make you feel better."
"If you want to go home, Auntie will take you away after you finish crying!"
The crying stopped abruptly.
"It's too late."
Before Leng Cuizhu could react, she collapsed to the ground as if she had no bones, watching helplessly as the girl reached out her hand towards her cheek.
"I made too many mistakes, there's no going back."
The girl cupped her cheeks and murmured, "After being missing for so many days, even if I'm rescued, I'll never be able to get married because of the gossip. I don't want to be my father's abandoned child, and I don't want to live my whole life being criticized."
"Auntie, I put a sleeping potion in the medicine paste. You should get some sleep." She took off the gold earring that Leng Cuizhu was wearing and put it in her bosom.
Leng Cuizhu fought off her drowsiness: "What are you going to do?"
The girl didn't answer her, but got up and walked to the hole in the ceiling, looking up at the light above.
The faint sunlight shone on her face, and her dull skin shimmered with mottled tear stains, as if inlaid with scales.
It was on the verge of death, yet strangely vibrant.
When Leng Cuizhu woke up again, she was soaking in the bathtub.
She removed the flower petals stuck to her neck and groggily opened her eyes.
"Oh, host, you're awake?" Dodder poked its head out of the water, smiling as it hugged her. "You're finally awake! I'm so glad you're alright!"
She looked down at herself, then looked up at the dodder: "What's going on? Why did you take my clothes off? Do you need a beating again?"
"Hey, hey, hey, no, no, no!" Dodder covered its face. "Host, you're too dirty. We're just helping you take a bath."
"you?"
She tilted her head back.
“…Euen?”
The man was standing by the bathtub, washing her hair. Hearing her call his name, he smiled with pursed lips.
"Madam, is the water temperature just right?"
She lowered her head and shrank back in embarrassment.
"Um...it's a bit chilly."
"Alright!" The dodder darted out of the water and lifted the bucket on the ground to pour water into the bathtub.
"You brat, you spilled water on my face!"
She quickly dodged to the side, raising her leg to kick the dodder's rear end, but then suddenly remembered and quietly pulled it back.
She glanced up at the expression on the man's face beside her.
Dodder: "Host, stop peeking. Eun knows about us."
"...I know about your situation too."
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