Chapter 152 A warm, ambiguous breath drifted towards me…
The remaining prisoners fled in a frenzy, and the crisis was instantly averted.
My piccolo slowly came to a stop, and the white smoke gradually dissipated.
In the open space after everyone had left, a silver-blue figure suddenly appeared. Bernard, with his long silver hair, was staring intently at me.
The aroma of black tea filled the palace's reception room, lingering in the air.
“Seeing that smoke reminds me of the Land of Death,” Bernard said slowly. “Years ago, before I was forced into a deep sleep by being given poisoned wine, I saw long-haired women manipulating white smoke to nourish my soul.”
"There's also poisoned wine?" I really didn't know.
"Yes, my father wanted to kill me, but I possessed the auras of both elves and spirit beasts. Only when combined with the power of the Black Castle could I form a tremendous force to trap the evil spirits. So my father dared not kill me, but he also did not want to let me go. His queen suggested that I be given poisoned wine to put me into a permanent sleep, which would also release those two auras. My father was very happy and said that since I could not die, I should sleep. Dying in my sleep would not be bad either."
“It’s a miracle you’ve survived this long,” I said.
“I didn’t survive this long,” Bernard joked. “It was a group of assassins under my mother’s command who protected me. There were originally fifty or sixty of them, but now only two of them are alive. You can only say that I’m glad I didn’t develop a weak, incompetent, or insecure personality, nor did I develop an extremely violent or perverse temperament.”
"Yeah, why is your personality so normal?" I asked.
His gaze was unfocused. "Half of my bodyguards are women, disguised as nannies, maids, servants, and even some noble ladies' maids. They often appear before me, comforting and caring for me like mothers or sisters, and even protecting me with their lives. That's what makes me believe that there are still people in this world who are truly kind to me."
Yes, only genuine love can keep a child who has suffered greatly since childhood from hope for love and hope for life.
"Does your father still dare to treat you the way he did when you were a child?" I asked again.
"Do you still care about me?" He looked at me tenderly. "If you do, then answer me."
I remained silent for a long time without answering. He looked somewhat disappointed, stood up, and was about to leave when I suddenly spoke up again: "Of course I care about you, and I will continue to care about you in the future."
I'm telling the truth. I will always care about him, even if nothing comes of it between us. He will still be an important friend to me.
He smiled, a smile so beautiful it was unbelievable, so mesmerizing.
He suddenly leaned down, his stunningly beautiful face so close to mine that our noses almost touched. I tried to dodge, but I couldn't. He grabbed my arms and said, "My father doesn't dare treat me like he used to. I've become stronger."
A warm, intimate breath brushed against my lips. I turned my face away. "Really? Congratulations."
“If I fail to help you this time, I will make my father and stepmother pay the price.” He suddenly hugged me, almost embedding my body into his.
After I finally managed to escape his embrace, his voice drifted from behind me, "I'll wait for you to get a divorce."
I was both amused and exasperated; it had only just ended.
He fled to the study and was surprised to see Manberia with disheveled hair and clothes. His wife’s cousin was blushing, her hair loose and long, as if she had just gotten up from his lap and was hurriedly tying the pearl and jewel ribbon on her long dress.
I thought it was my own study, so I didn't knock and just barged in, not expecting to see this scene.
Mamboya wasn't flustered, nor was his cousin; they were just a little embarrassed.
If they're not in a panic, why should I be? I smiled and sat down on the soft chair opposite Manberia. "How's the situation with the palace fugitives? They almost killed me."
“I’ve heard,” Mamboya replied leisurely. “You’ve made a name for yourself.”
"Were all the fugitives caught?" What if they weren't all caught, and they come back again? I don't know if I'll be so lucky again.
"If you're going to arrest someone, arrest the mastermind behind it all." Manberia stood up from the back of the soft chair, trying to hug me, but missed. I also stood up and smiled nonchalantly, "I haven't had breakfast yet, you go ahead with your work."
“Let’s go together, I haven’t eaten yet either,” Manberia chuckled.
"Are you coming?" I suddenly noticed that my cousin hadn't left yet. Her hair was neatly styled and her long dress was perfectly in place.
"No, thank you," my cousin replied gently.
I smiled at her, not forcing her, but as I passed by her, I said, "Is it big and satisfying? I've never slept with him, but I've seen his penis, and the size is pretty good."
Her body froze, and the smile on her face also froze.
Mamboa burst into laughter and grabbed me, saying, "Just okay? You're wrong, it should be big."
He's shameless, but I'll be even more shameless. I mimicked his words: "Yes, I misspoke. Your thing is bigger than a donkey's. It almost burst her mouth when I put it in."
"I just want to support you," he said with a shameless smile.
Not to be outdone, I replied, "No need, I can't digest it. You should leave your stuff for someone else to enjoy."
"I insist that you enjoy it."
"It stinks! I don't want to! Who knows how many times I'll pee in a day?" I said, quickening my pace and leaving the study.
Manberia was speechless, probably because he was a little angry, while his cousin was already too embarrassed to speak.
For the next two days, I neither saw Mamboa nor my cousin, and I finally had some peace and quiet. I received intelligence secretly delivered to me by Beatrice's informants.
It turns out that King Midian instigated both the massive prison break in the North and the royal prison break. Mamboa helped me, which prevented him from taking the Independent City in one fell swoop, and he was furious.
“Sister, now that King Midan can’t get my seal or my statement that I voluntarily relinquished the throne, he can’t rightfully occupy the Independent Great City, so he will naturally retaliate. But I’m not afraid of his retaliation. First, the person he’s retaliating against is Prince Manboa, and second, his grudge against me is public knowledge, so I’m not afraid. It’s you, sister, whose situation is more dangerous than mine.”
The letter ends here.
I threw the letter into the fireplace and watched it burn to ashes.
Why did Beatrice say my situation was more dangerous than hers? Could it be that Mamboa might be a threat to me? But we just got married, is that even possible?
As night deepened, I secretly got up, wrapped myself tightly in a thick fleece coat, and tiptoed through the inner and outer corridors, skillfully avoiding the patrolling soldiers, and arrived at the room with the fireplace.
Although there was no fire inside, it was still much warmer than outside. In order to make things easier, I took off my thick fleece coat and crouched down to crawl into the fireplace.
I observed it last time; the furnace is quite large. A woman of my size could probably squeeze in by bending over.
Sitting inside the fireplace, I was bent over like a shrimp.
A person was lost in thought for a long time.
Until a pair of bright, sparkling eyes watched me intently from outside the oven.
I was stunned when I noticed those eyes.
"Hey, how much longer are you going to stay in there? Don't catch a cold," came Mamboya's teasing voice. "Are your legs numb yet?"
My feet are really numb, and when I try to move them, the numbness makes me grimace.
"Don't move, I'll carry you out slowly." He said, putting his arm around my waist and gently lifting me out. "Hey, what were you doing hiding in there? Are you still angry with me?"
"Who's angry with you?" I laughed. "You're not qualified."
“That’s right, you’ve hung me up high and completely ignored me, so how could I possibly make you angry?” He also tried to use “you” like me, but he wasn’t used to it and quickly switched back to “you”. “Don’t move, I’ll rub it for you.”
We sat on the dusty floor, and he rubbed my feet in the dark.
There was no light in the room. It was a dark winter night with no moonlight and no candles. After our eyes adjusted to the darkness, we could only vaguely see each other's shadows.
"Are you feeling better?" He massaged me for a while. "Why did you stay there for so long? Your calves are so stiff."
I hummed in agreement.
"Give me your other foot." He slowly lowered one of my feet.
I stretched out my other foot, and he gently massaged it, laughing as he did so. "This foot of yours is even stiffer now. Has it been sitting under your butt the whole time?"
I didn't answer his question, but instead said, "How did you know I was here?"
"Just guessing." He gently massaged the hardest part of my calf. "Besides this place, where else are you interested? You just came here a few days ago, so I guess you're still not satisfied."
I didn't say anything.
He rubbed you for a while longer before saying, "It's almost midnight, and it'll get even colder soon. I'll carry you back to your room now."
I pushed away his outstretched arm. "I can walk by myself."
"Please hug me, let me hug you!" He snuggled closer, acting like a spoiled child.
"No, holding on is too ambiguous, I want to walk by myself."
"Then I'll carry you on my back."
Without a word, he suddenly picked me up and carried me on his back. I was both amused and exasperated. "What are you doing?"
"It's either a hug or a piggyback ride, you choose."
I would definitely choose to carry him on my back. Hugging him would be too ambiguous, like we're about to do *that*.
As expected, it got cold in the second half of the night. The cold wind howled through the corridor, and even though I was wearing a thick fleece, it was still bone-chillingly cold. Especially when the wind was strong, it felt like I wasn't wearing any clothes at all.
"Cold, isn't it?" Manberia said jokingly. "If you had left any later, the wind would have frozen you into an ice statue."
His voice came with the sound of the wind, and for some reason, it dispelled a bit of the chill.
Perhaps it was the sound of someone talking that lessened my fear of the biting cold.
The wind was strong, the snow was heavy, and the floor tiles were slippery. He walked very slowly to prevent us from falling at the same time. When we entered the inner corridor, I felt so cold that my whole body felt like it was frozen.
“If you slow down a few more steps, you’ll really become an ice man.” Manberia took off his thick outer robe, wrapped it around my body, and slowly walked forward with me, frozen stiff.
My feet were almost numb from the cold. To be honest, if he hadn't been holding me, I probably wouldn't have been able to walk a single step.
“The nights in the North in the dead of winter are no joke,” he laughed. “Will you dare to go out in the middle of the night again? Even if you do, you’d better call me, otherwise you’ll freeze to death out there and no one will know.”
I glared at him, and he laughed even harder. "Of course you won't freeze to death. You're my woman, there's no way you'll freeze to death."
"What do you mean, 'your woman' or 'my woman'? That's disgusting." I finally had the strength to curse. The inner corridor was much warmer than the outer corridor, at least ten times warmer, probably because the underfloor heating was on.
"Okay, I'm your man, is that alright?" He hugged me very tightly and pressed his face against mine.
I wanted to argue, but his face was pressed so tightly against mine that my mouth was twisted to one side, and I couldn't open my mouth.
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Author's Note: Please, everyone, be sure to check out my other novels as well: *Cinderella Wants a Powerful Novel Script*, *All the World's Male Gods Are in Love with Me*, and *Love of Ice and Fire*!
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