Chapter 22 Addiction (Second Update)
Yan Jiarou screamed and woke up from her dream. She saw Taxue sitting on the edge of the bed looking at her with a worried expression. She quickly grabbed Taxue's arm and said incoherently, "Yingxue, it's so good to see you... I was so scared... You know what, I saw the fox talking. It was the fox that bit me in Lishan... I must be dreaming!"
Then she realized she really was just dreaming.
I breathed a sigh of relief.
However, the eerie scenes in her dream still made her feel uneasy.
The medicine Xiao Che sent was indeed very effective; after only one use, the wound had already visibly healed considerably.
Yingxue said happily, "That's great! I'm sure after a few more uses, Your Highness, the injury to your ankle will be completely healed."
But Yan Jiarou dared not use it again.
It wasn't just the unusual reaction her body had after taking the medication, but also the sudden drowsiness that gave her that bizarre dream.
What's even more embarrassing is that she had another dream that night.
This time, she dreamed of Xiao Che.
——
In her dream, she seemed to be becoming increasingly dazed, and even behaving intimately with Xiao Che...
He still had that nonchalant and indifferent expression, leaning lazily against the headboard, looking at her with a half-smile.
Following her lip movements, I silently asked, "What do you want to do?"
It's like watching with great interest the prey that has already fallen into the trap and is still making futile struggles.
Or perhaps, it's setting a deeper trap, luring the prey to obediently step into it.
He enjoys watching his prey obediently walk into the trap, willingly and consciously stepping into it.
So when she looked at him with a dazed expression, and instinctively moved closer to him, climbing onto his body as if to kiss him, he gently pressed her shoulders and asked her—
"Can you see clearly who I am?"
It was this one sentence that brought her to her senses.
They didn't even leave her the fig leaf of being unconscious, leaving her nowhere to hide.
She could only shake her head, sobbing, "Xiao Che, no, I can't..."
"Is that so?" Xiao Che curled his lips, a cold glint in his eyes. "Then, I'll have to decline."
After saying that, he turned into a wisp of green smoke and disappeared in the dream.
Yan Jiarou reached out in vain, but only managed to grasp empty air.
Just then, she suddenly opened her eyes and woke up from her dream.
She realized how hot the summer night was; her whole body was already soaked in sweat, and the thin gauze clung tightly to her body, making her feel sticky and uncomfortable.
She leaned against the headboard, panting, and called out in a hoarse voice, "Yingxue..."
Yan Jiarou was afraid of the dark and dared not sleep alone in the room, so Yingxue usually slept outside the canopy bed. Hearing the noise, she quickly put on her clothes, got up, took a lamp, walked to the bedside, lifted the bed curtains, and looked inside with the lamp in hand: "Princess, what's wrong?"
Upon closer inspection, I was quite surprised.
Under the lamplight, Yan Jiarou's face was flushed an unnatural red. She leaned against the headboard, her clothes disheveled, her eyes half-closed, her eyelids tinged with red. Hearing a sound, she slowly opened her eyes, her gaze moist, a lingering passion in them. She bit her lip, seemingly unable to speak: "Yingxue, I had a dream..."
Yingxue didn't know how to describe her current feelings. She only felt her ears burning for no reason, swallowed, and subconsciously said, "Chunmeng?"
Yan Jiarou's thick eyelashes trembled, her beautiful eyes shimmering in the candlelight, her full, luscious lips quivering slightly, it was hard to tell whether it was more shame or surprise: "You... how did you know?"
Yingxue couldn't possibly say that she could tell just by looking at you, so she could only say, "This servant is just guessing. Summer nights are hot and humid, so it's natural for people to feel restless and irritable. Princess, you are young and beautiful, and you've read so many stories during the day, so it's perfectly normal for you to have some romantic dreams."
"What the hell," Yan Jiarou muttered under her breath, "It's like I'm reading some kind of indecent novel... Not all novels are like Pei Feng's last one..."
Realizing he had said the wrong thing, he wished he could bite off his tongue and quickly shut up.
However, to be fair, although the few stories she read during the day were all quite conventional and didn't contain any... cough cough... outrageous scenes, they were still mostly about love and romance. Perhaps, as Yingxue said, the summer heat and her youth made it inevitable that reading too many stories would lead to some fantasies, and having a dream about budding romance was perfectly normal.
"So, does that mean I'm normal now?"
Yingxue nodded patiently again and again: "Of course, it's just a dream, what's wrong with that? Don't worry, Master. It's perfectly normal for a young girl to dream about His Highness the Crown Prince. You don't need to feel ashamed about it, really."
"That's good..." Yan Jiarou couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
But before she could fully relax, a terrifying thought crept into her mind. Looking at Yingxue, she almost cried, "But...the one I dreamed of wasn't the Crown Prince..."
Yingxue: "…………Huh?"
——
It took Yingxue a while to sort out the whole story: "Princess, are you saying that you had a wonderful dream, but you didn't dream about the Crown Prince?"
Yan Jiarou nodded in despair.
Yingxue swallowed hard, momentarily speechless.
Yet, for some inexplicable reason, there was a strange feeling that, while greatly shocked, it was also as if it were expected.
Guided by this strange, inexplicable feeling, she tentatively asked, "Is that... His Highness the Third Prince?"
Yan Jiarou's pupils trembled, tears welled in her eyes, and her face was filled with shame and indignation.
Although she didn't admit it, Yingxue naturally understood everything from her reaction.
She coughed and tried to comfort her, saying, "It's alright, it's normal to dream about the Third Prince... If the princess doesn't have someone she likes, between the Crown Prince and the Third Prince, it's probably easier for women to develop romantic feelings for the Third Prince. And you're not the only one who has romantic feelings for him, so it's perfectly normal..."
"But I have someone I love!" Yan Jiarou exclaimed in despair, "And the person I love is the Crown Prince!"
This made her feel guilty, as if she had betrayed Xiao Jue.
"This..." Yingxue racked her brains and said, "You think so, Princess? Dreams are often the opposite of reality. You just dreamed about the Third Prince... it doesn't mean you actually had anything with him... Besides, dreaming about him once in a while doesn't necessarily mean anything..."
Yingxue finally said something that comforted her.
Yes, what does it mean to dream about him only once in a while?
It's that bottle of medicine! She started acting strangely after taking that medicine, yes, that must be it!
She comforted herself, thinking that as long as she stopped taking the medicine, everything would be fine. Who knew what strange things the prescription from the Western Regions might contain? Although it had miraculous effects, there was no guarantee that it wouldn't have some unspeakable adverse effects. Perhaps that was why she had become so strange.
Yes, it must be that bottle of medicine that's causing the problem; it's the medicine's effects that have made her so strange! Being seduced by Xiao Che in her dream wasn't her intention either!
She will definitely recover as long as she stops taking the medication.
——
At first, the situation did improve. After stopping the medication, although the wound still did not heal, she did not have a relapse or have those embarrassing dreams again.
Just when she thought she had fully recovered, her body started acting strangely again a few days later on a summer night.
The summer night was stifling; although the windows were not closed, there wasn't even a breath of wind inside.
The air was like a clump of gel being steamed, thick and sticky, difficult to stir, trapping the hot air inside.
The ice chest emitted wisps of cold air, but it was of no use; the air was still thick with an unbearable heat.
Yan Jiarou lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep.
It's hot, so hot, it's getting hotter and hotter...
Even though she was wearing the lightest gauze dress, the heat in her body still wouldn't dissipate.
It's like... continuously generated from deep within the body.
As body temperature rises, a light pink tinge gradually appears on the originally fair skin, and sweat keeps seeping out, quickly soaking the temples and sticking to the cheeks.
A familiar longing gradually arose from the depths of my heart.
It felt like being crawled on by thousands of ants; it was extremely uncomfortable, and I desperately needed something to soothe me.
She knew that she had another episode.
Yet it was unlike any previous episode.
She could clearly feel that this attack was more intense than any she had ever experienced before.
Something changed after she used the jar of medicinal cream that Xiao Che had given her.
For...medicated lipids...
She swallowed hard. The thought of it made her blood surge with excitement, as if it had suddenly gained a mind of its own, tempting her to use that jar of medicinal oil again.
But she couldn't do that. She vaguely sensed that something was already beyond her control. If she continued to indulge herself, the scenes in her dreams might one day become reality.
No, she couldn't let things get out of control.
But just as she made up her mind, her body seemed to be deliberately torturing her, and she had a huge reaction, with the desire growing stronger and stronger.
She had been pampered since childhood and had never suffered any hardship. Her willpower was not particularly strong to begin with, and the willpower that arose from her guilt towards Xiao Jue was too fragile to withstand the demands of her body's instincts.
She thought with a sense of despair, "It's already like this. I've tried the medicine, I've had the dream, so how much worse can things get?"
That's how it is!
It wasn't her choice; she was forced into it.
So why be so hard on yourself?
After convincing herself, she shakily got up and stumbled to the dressing case. She opened the box on top and tremblingly took out the medicine jar inside.
Only after the medicated ointment was applied to the wound and entered her body through the wound did she feel comforted and satisfied, and completely relax.
The discomfort and unease I felt earlier vanished in an instant.
Instead, it gives you an ultimate feeling of tingling sensation in your soul.
She slowly sat down in front of the dressing table, and because it was so comfortable, she unknowingly fell asleep leaning against it.
Unsurprisingly, she had that dream again.
I dreamed of Xiao Che again.
The next day, after waking up, Yingxue came in to help her wash up. Looking at Yan Jiarou in the bronze mirror, she sighed as usual that her mistress was extremely beautiful. However, after examining her carefully for a moment, she seemed to have made a new discovery.
“Princess, you look even more radiant today than you have a few days ago. It’s as if you’ve taken some kind of tonic.”
Yingxue was just saying it casually. She took care of Yan Jiarou's daily life and naturally knew that her diet these past few days was no different from before.
Yan Jiarou's eyelashes trembled slightly, and her expression seemed somewhat unnatural: "Is that so?"
She couldn't help but think of the jar of ointment she had taken last night, and her fingers, which were resting on the dressing table, curled up slightly.
Usually, once something happens the first time, it will happen again, and so on, until the third, the fourth time...
Since that night, Yan Jiarou has used the jar of medicated oil several more times to soothe her agitation and cravings during her episodes.
She gradually figured out the pattern: she would have an attack about every few days, but as soon as she used that medicated oil, she would immediately feel comforted and soothed, and then she would feel very comfortable. Every inch of her body would be relaxed, and she would feel very satisfied, as if she were in a fairyland.
It's a very captivating feeling, and it's also very addictive.
She still dreams of Xiao Che often, and from the beginning she couldn't accept it, but now she has gradually gotten used to it.
Anyway, she doesn't have the ability to manipulate dreams. What can she do if some mysterious force makes her dream of Xiao Che?
Even though deep down I still felt this was inappropriate, I couldn't think of a solution and could only let it go.
Fortunately, although she and Xiao Che were intimate in the dream, they always stopped short of each other. At the last moment, she was always forced to recognize who he was under his questioning, and then she shook her head and refused.
Since it hasn't reached the final step, it doesn't count as betrayal.
That was the only way she could comfort herself.
Anyway, no one knows about this except Yingxue, and Yingxue would never betray her. She thought she would keep this secret forever.
As long as the secret remains undiscovered, she can act as if nothing ever happened.
After all, her relationship with Xiao Che... only existed in her dreams.
How can things that happen in a dream be taken seriously?
As for that strange illness...
She had read some supernatural tales before, and just as she had guessed last time, her condition was most likely due to possession by an evil spirit.
It all comes down to that trip to Mount Li. The spiritual energy of Mount Li was so concentrated that it's no wonder that spirits and monsters were born there.
She must have attracted some unclean thing that bound her and Xiao Che together.
Yes, it's most likely that white fox. She always felt that the white fox was eerie.
If the guess is true, it was that white fox that caused her to have this strange illness, a strange illness that can only be soothed by Xiao Che's aura.
The reason that jar of medicinal oil had such an effect was probably because it had been handled by Xiao Che and had absorbed his scent.
Anyway, each time she had an attack, the medicated ointment would calm her down, so it wasn't a big problem. As long as she carried the medicine bottle with her, she would still be the perfectly normal Princess Qinghe.
However, this medicinal oil will eventually run out, and that day will come much sooner than Yan Jiarou imagined.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
