Chapter 184 I kicked and hit him, but he…
"Haha, it doesn't look very good. How come several men are fighting over it?" The seductive and arrogant laughter rang out again. "Alright, here's a gift for you."
I shifted slightly, feeling a little awkward. Bernot, however, seemed oblivious, smiling faintly, and even led me in a slight bow. A maid carrying a tray descended the steps beside the throne, kneeling respectfully before Bernot and raising the tray above her head. Bernot lifted the red brocade cloth on the tray, revealing a golden gemstone necklace that shimmered like the sun.
Before I could even admire it, Bernard had already put it around my neck.
The slightly warm gemstone pressed against my neck, carrying an unusual burning sensation.
Suddenly, they saw Bernard's father, the stunningly handsome silver-haired man, raise his hand, and a servant carrying a tray immediately came over, kneeling before Bernard as well, and holding the tray above his head. The red brocade cloth was lifted again, this time revealing a shimmering, softly sparkling ruby bracelet.
Just as Bernard placed it on my wrist, a soft, seductive silver bell rang out with a loud laugh. "Alright, the ceremony is over. I'm going to my ball." The woman in the thin veil on the throne was carefully helped up by several maids, laughing loudly, "I heard that the last chief mistress was disfigured and smeared with excrement by you. Now you've taken her place."
No one spoke; only her laughter echoed throughout the hall.
As she and several maids were about to reach the palace entrance, I couldn't help but say, "She framed me and got me imprisoned first, I..." Before I could finish, Bernard stopped me with a look.
She laughed even harder, turned to look at me, and said, "I'm not blaming you. If you're my son's chief mistress, you have to be prepared to be splashed with excrement."
Her laughter faded into the distance, "I hope you don't get splashed with excrement, but it's better than being disfigured..."
"That crazy woman is getting crazier and crazier." A sarcastic and cold voice came from the throne. A silver-haired man in a golden royal robe slowly stood up, and without even glancing in our direction, he was escorted away by his attendants and maids.
The crystal chandeliers still shone, the gleaming floor still shone, and the walls still sparkled with pearls and gems, but the hall felt incredibly empty and desolate, with an indescribable sense of loneliness. Even the high golden throne no longer shone so brightly, exuding the desolation of a lonely man.
I stood in the center of the hall for a while, and suddenly felt that all the glittering luxury was unusually cold. The walls, pillars, floors and countless treasures all exuded an unsettling eeriness. This feeling... was very similar to the feeling I had in Castle Black in the past.
I suddenly shuddered—why did I have this feeling? It felt like this place was a dark castle.
It was clearly a barrier created by evil spirits.
Fifteen minutes later, Bernard took me back to his palace. His palace had thirty or forty rooms, and he told me to choose one I liked. I walked from the first room to the last, from the first floor to the top floor, and finally chose the most inconspicuous and smallest room. The whole room didn't even have a single jewel; it was plain and unremarkable.
Bernard looked at me with a half-smile. "Are you trying to show off how different you are?"
"Hmm, I think you've slept with quite a few women, and many mistresses have stayed here. You've probably slept with all the women in the room. This one is the least noticeable, so probably no woman would want it. This is the one I'll take."
The real reason is that the other rooms are luxurious and beautiful, inlaid with pearls and gems, sparkling with a strange sense of oppression, which reminds me of the evil black castle.
The experience of being covered in dirt and grime while cleaning and carrying manure at Castle Black, and almost being burned to death by a volcanic eruption, is something I'd rather forget.
“Let’s go to another one,” Bernon suddenly pleaded. “This one is small and ugly, it doesn’t even have a fireplace, you’ll freeze to death in the winter.”
I chuckled. "Whether I'll stay here until winter is still a mystery. You're overthinking it."
“Who says it won’t?” he said, somewhat angrily. “It will not only live there until winter, but it will live there for countless winters.”
I pushed him away. "Alright, I need to rest. I'll stay here. There aren't any of those messy jewels here that dazzle my eyes."
He looked helpless. "You're forcing me to live here too."
"Who's living with you? Go live in your own room."
He looked into my eyes, extremely serious, and said, "I told you, I will never leave you again."
I just smiled, and he suddenly hugged me tightly. "I really won't leave you, I never, ever want to leave you."
“I’ve been married several times,” I laughed. “Every man I’ve been with has showered me with sweet words. I’d be a fool to believe them all.”
“I’m different,” he said to me with utmost gentleness. “We met first, and you were the one who awakened me. Our relationship is different.”
"What about the man who saved me? I also needed to be saved in that critical moment. Just as you value the person who saved you, I should value the person who saved me."
"He doesn't count. He's a womanizer. He sleeps with dozens of women every night. You can't handle that."
"What do you think you're so great about?" I couldn't help but recount the absurd life I saw him lead in his old age in the illusion, including his spitting.
He listened with great interest, "There's such a thing? What else did I do?"
"I didn't stay with you for long, just a little while." I yawned repeatedly. "Okay, I want to sleep now. What time is it?"
"It's past midnight." He frowned as he watched me yawn repeatedly. "You're really tired. I completely overlooked that..."
I pushed him towards the door, saying, "Okay, go back to your room and sleep."
He turned me around and hugged me tightly around the waist, coaxing and cajoling me, "I told you, I won't leave you again. Sleep with me. It'll be warm enough with me here. You don't have a fireplace here."
I kicked and hit him, but he remained unmoved.
Finally, he held me as we fell asleep in bed. The room was indeed very cold, especially in the middle of the night, when it felt like an icebox. But his body was as warm as a furnace, pressed tightly against me, and we snuggled together intimately. I only woke up briefly in the middle of the night before sleeping until dawn.
When I woke up, he was no longer beside me. A politician like him wouldn't sleep in. He got up early to exercise and to check the latest intelligence. Often, after a night, some new intelligence would arrive.
Wearing a white nightgown and a white fox fur coat, I wandered throughout the entire palace, touring inside and out, before returning to the dining room for breakfast. While eating my bread, I casually asked a maid, "Which mistress does Prince Bernard usually have breakfast with?"
The maid paused for a moment, then respectfully replied, "The prince usually has breakfast with King Amur, Queen Nere, and other princes and noble ministers. They dine together after the royal council."
I said "Oh," and then added, "I have a friend who's at that girls' school where the commotion happened yesterday. Could you go and ask her if she's alright?"
"What is her name?"
I didn't expect her to actually agree; I thought she would only listen to Bernard. "Aya," I said.
"OK."
Afterwards, I took a bath, changed clothes, read books, strolled in the garden, and even enthusiastically tried making bread in the kitchen. At noon, just as I sat down to eat lunch, Aya excitedly rushed in, much to my surprise. Aya had clearly been helped to change her clothes; she was wearing a long white court dress, her long hair neatly combed back, and her face was clean. She exclaimed excitedly, "Sister, I'm so glad you're alright! I was so worried last night!"
I was a little excited too, and tried to pull her down to sit, but she refused. She stood in front of my desk and spoke like a student reporting to a teacher, “Sister, last night was really dangerous. A lot of rioters broke in. Some teachers and I desperately held back the basement door. We held it for a while, but we couldn’t hold on any longer. The rioters broke down the door, and we all screamed and ran away, thinking we were going to die. But then reinforcements arrived. They were like they fell from the sky and saved us all.”
Aya patted her chest, still shaken. "Only two teachers were injured, and not in vital areas, so it's alright. The students are all fine, just too frightened, and they're still hiding in their rooms and won't come out."
"Sit down and eat something first," I said. Seeing that she was covered in sweat, I handed her a glass of water. She still refused to eat, but she took the glass of water and drank it down in one gulp.
Just as I was about to urge her to eat again, a maidservant smiled and said, "Madam, why don't I take her somewhere else to eat first? Perhaps she's feeling a bit uncomfortable here."
Suddenly remembering that this was a royal palace with many rules, I nodded.
Aya seemed to know the rules here better than I did. She carefully followed the maid out, taking small steps and keeping close behind, but not overtaking the maid.
After lunch, I was about to call Aya over, but the maid urged me to take a nap, even if it was just for a short while. I refused, and the maid said, "If you don't rest, the prince will punish us."
"What business is it of his whether I take a break or not?!"
“The prince feels sorry for you, so he will punish us,” the maid had no choice but to say.
I was silent for a moment. "Is he like this with his other mistresses too?"
"I don't know, madam."
I took a short nap, about twenty minutes, and after waking up, I washed up and went into the room. When I entered, I saw Aya. Aya was squatting in front of the fireplace, poking at the fire. She quickly got up when she saw me.
I tried to pull her to sit in the chair by the fireplace, but she hesitated and finally sat on the soft carpet. I sat in the gold-trimmed armchair.
"Sister, there's something," Aya said hesitantly, "I didn't want to say it, but I saw how pitiful she was."
"Who is she?" I asked curiously, while pouring Aya a cup of black tea.
Aya didn't dare accept the red tea, but lowered her head like a child who had made a mistake, "Yes, yes, she's Sha Ling's daughter."
I understood immediately.
“Shaling’s daughter sneaked into the palace school before dawn today and cried her eyes out in front of me. Her mother has been imprisoned for several years and is now seriously ill, coughing all day long, and recently even coughing up blood. She begged her father to get a doctor for her mother, but her father has already remarried, and all the money is in the hands of his new wife. If his new wife doesn’t agree, her father can’t do anything. She has no money either, and her stepmother is very harsh on her and her brother, so there’s really no way to save her mother. Last night, she suddenly heard that you had returned and had been taken back to the palace by Prince Bernot, so she hoped that I could plead with you to let the prince release her mother, or at least give her mother some medicine, because she really can’t bear to see her mother die.”
“Aya, do you know what Shaling did to me?”
Aya's face flushed red and then turned pale, as if she were the one who had done these things.
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