After an unknown amount of time, Lin Wanwan finally cried herself to sleep.
Her earth-shattering, heart-wrenching wailing gradually subsided from a raging torrent to a gentle murmur, until finally, only intermittent, pitiful sobs remained, like a little kitten that had just been bullied.
She kept her face buried in Xiao Che's chest, refusing to look up no matter what.
I'm so ashamed I can't face anyone!
She had just cried so unceremoniously, tears and snot streaming down her face, all of it... well, it was all given to His Majesty the Emperor's dragon robe. Now, that once majestic and magnificent robe must be a horribly wrecked mess on the chest.
More importantly, she felt guilty.
She felt deeply guilty for her suspicions and distrust of him over the past few days.
She nestled in his arms, her voice muffled and heavy with a nasal tone.
"I'm sorry..." she murmured softly, "But...but I've lied to you for so long, are you really...not angry at all?"
She still couldn't quite believe it.
After all, deceiving the emperor is a capital offense. This was far more than just deceiving the emperor; she was practically making a fool of him, watching him live on air for so many years!
He actually... forgave her so easily?
Upon hearing her words, which were tinged with guilt and a hint of probing, Xiao Che not only didn't loosen his grip on her arm, but instead tightened it even more.
She heard his deep voice, tinged with a hint of amusement, coming from above her head.
"angry?"
He chuckled softly, and the sound, resonating through his chest, made Lin Wanwan's ears tingle.
"Wanwan, aren't you underestimating your husband?"
He paused, his tone carrying a hint of smugness that said, "You're too naive."
"Do you really think I'm that 'slow-witted'?"
Lin Wanwan was startled and instinctively tried to lift her head from his embrace.
Slow-witted? This damn emperor, isn't he the epitome of slow-wittedness, the Mount Everest of straight men? If it weren't for her cheat code, she would have been driven to death by his bizarre thought process eight hundred years ago!
Xiao Che seemed to have guessed what she was thinking, and pressed down on her restless little head to prevent her from getting up.
He continued in that tone of "everything is under my control" and began his own "reverse confession".
"Do you remember? In the beginning," his voice carried a hint of distant recollection, "I found you very strange."
“At that time, I was seriously ill and my temperament was erratic. Everyone in the palace was afraid of me, except for you,” he snorted, as if mocking his foolish self at the time, “who could always ‘guess’ what I was thinking.”
"I don't want to take medicine, so offer me some candied fruit."
"I was feeling bored, and you just happened to faint."
“I was so angry with the Empress Dowager that I had a headache, and you ‘accidentally’ learned massage techniques.”
With each word he spoke, Lin Wanwan's heart sank a little lower.
So... he knew all along?
“At first, I thought you were a pawn sent by the Empress Dowager, or a spy sent by some other party, so you knew all my preferences.” Xiao Che’s voice became somewhat playful. “Because of this, I secretly investigated you for a long time.”
Lin Wanwan's body stiffened instantly.
You investigated her?!
“But,” Xiao Che changed the subject, “after investigating, I found that you, the legitimate daughter of Minister Lin’s family, never leave the house, are timid and cowardly… no matter how you look at it, you are completely different from the Empress in front of me, who dares to stuff me with candied fruit, dares to pretend to faint in public, and even dares to… secretly complain about me when I’m angry.
Lin Wanwan: "..."
She just wanted to disappear into the ground. It turned out he had already thoroughly investigated her past!
“So, I was thinking at the time,” Xiao Che’s voice carried a hint of barely perceptible smugness, “that this woman must have a secret.”
"Later, Consort Xian entered the palace," he continued, a hint of disdain in his voice. "Su Jinxiu is a woman of deep cunning and a master of disguise. Even I sometimes have to put in some effort to deal with her. But you always manage to avoid all her traps with precision."
"She pretends to befriend you, so you should play along with her insincerely."
"She set a trap in the Imperial Garden with a 'talent show' to make me look at her differently, but you easily broke the trap by carrying a plate of egg tarts."
Xiao Che couldn't help but chuckle softly as he said this.
"Wanwan, do you know what I was thinking when I looked at you at that moment?"
Lin Wanwan nestled in his arms and shook her head.
She was so focused on the "Wife, save me.gif" image above his head that she didn't have time to think about anything else.
Xiao Che spoke in a tone filled with boundless nostalgia and affection:
"I was thinking to myself, my empress is really a... little fox. A clever little fox that no one can outsmart."
Lin Wanwan's heart suddenly warmed.
It turns out that this is how he saw her without her knowing.
"Then, natural disasters, coups..." Xiao Che's voice gradually became heavy, but it also carried a sense of complete trust.
“Every time, when I needed it most, when I was most overwhelmed, and even when I thought I had no way out…”
"You always manage to give me what I want most."
"Whether it's that 'Three Disaster Relief Strategies' or that box of weapon blueprints hidden in the old armor..."
He gently patted her back, his voice filled with an unprecedented tenderness and certainty.
"Wanwan, tell me, in this world, besides you, who else could do all this?"
Lin Wanwan was unable to speak anymore.
She always thought her disguise was flawless.
She always thought that it was the "emoji" that made her invincible.
But now she realized that he had seen through everything all along.
He had known all along that she was "not ordinary".
He had known all along that she harbored a huge secret.
A huge, indescribable sense of guilt instantly overwhelmed her.
"I...I didn't mean to lie to you..." Her voice trembled with tears again, "I just...I was just scared..."
She was afraid he would see her as a monster, afraid he would despise her.
“I know,” Xiao Che interrupted her.
He finally let go of her, cupped her tear-streaked face in his hands, and gently wiped away her tears with his fingertips.
He looked into her eyes, and in those deep phoenix eyes, there was not a trace of blame, only... a deep, unyielding sense of relief.
"I have never delved into your secrets."
His voice was incredibly sincere.
"Because I am fortunate."
"I am fortunate to have that person who can see through all my 'pretenses'..."
He leaned down slightly, his forehead gently touching hers, their noses almost meeting.
Looking into her moist eyes so close to his, he solemnly made a promise, word by word, that reassured her more than any sweet words.
"...It's you."
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