The gates of Kunning Palace were violently pushed open from the outside with a loud "bang".
The eunuchs and palace maids guarding the gate were startled and were about to reprimand them, but when they saw the dark and gloomy face of the newcomer, they instantly fell silent and knelt down with a thud.
"Greetings, Your Majesty!"
Xiao Che didn't even glance at them.
He still carried the chill of the late night, his handsome face showed the exhaustion of not having slept for three whole days, and his deep phoenix eyes were filled with terrifying blood vessels, like a fully drawn bow, his whole body exuding a tense aura that was about to break.
He rushed straight into the bedchamber like a tornado carrying wind and snow.
Inside the bedchamber, Lin Wanwan was just about to go to bed when she heard a noise. She put on her outer robe and came out, where she met Xiao Che's eyes as he barged in.
Seeing his appearance, as if he had just emerged from a battlefield, Lin Wanwan's heart sank.
Her heart, which she thought had become as still as stagnant water, was still stirred by a ripple of panic.
What is he here for?
Is this... to deliver the final judgment?
"All of you, get out of here!" Xiao Che's gaze swept over all the palace servants in the hall. His voice was hoarse, but it carried an undeniable authority.
The palace servants, feeling as if they had been granted a pardon, scrambled out of the palace and thoughtfully closed the doors behind them.
The vast bedroom was suddenly empty except for the two of them.
The air seemed to freeze at that moment, cold and deathly still, making it hard to breathe.
Lin Wanwan lowered her eyes, instinctively adopting the perfect empress's posture that she had practiced to perfection over the past three days. She slightly bent her knees, her voice so calm it was devoid of any emotion: "I wonder what Your Majesty's orders are for, arriving so late at night?"
Her aloofness was like tiny ice needles piercing Xiao Che's heart.
He looked at her, at her delicate yet lifeless face, at her calm, still eyes. For the past three days, what he had been replaying in his mind was her tearful, hysterical appearance that day.
The woman who could cry and make a fuss was a million times more real than the perfect "Empress" before her.
Xiao Che's Adam's apple bobbed, and the anger, grievances, frustration, and heartache that had accumulated over the past three days finally turned into an extremely weary sigh.
He took two steps forward, his voice hoarse, almost as if he were giving in: "Let's end the Cold War...."
Lin Wanwan's body trembled almost imperceptibly.
She slowly raised her head, looking at him warily.
End? How will it end? Are you planning to cripple this madwoman and then completely end it all?
Her eyes were like those of a wounded cat, ready to bare its claws in self-defense, full of vigilance and defensiveness.
Xiao Che's heart was pierced again.
He finally realized that the problems between them were far more serious than he had imagined. This was no longer something he could solve by simply trying to appease them. The invisible wall had already been erected high.
He personally handed over the bricks for building the wall.
He took a deep breath, knowing that if he didn't speak up today, this wall might forever stand between them.
He's figured it out.
For the past three days, besides handling state affairs, what he thought about most was her heart-wrenching questioning that day. His brain, which had been welded shut by the "steel straight man" mentality, finally began to understand after repeated hammering.
She cried, not because he was going to implement any "new policies".
She cried, not even because he yelled at her, "You don't understand."
She cried because she felt that he no longer trusted her.
Trust... that's the root of the problem.
Xiao Che's gaze became sharper and more focused than ever before. He stared intently into Lin Wanwan's eyes, uttering each word as if he wanted to dig out all the secrets in her heart.
"Lin Wanwan," he called her by her full name, his tone heavy, "I have not come tonight to argue with you about politics, nor have I come to..."
He paused, seemingly finding it difficult to speak, but continued anyway.
"...I didn't come to give any gifts or draw any eyebrows."
Lin Wanwan's heart tightened with each of his words.
He asked in a deep voice, with a probing and unyielding tone:
"I heard everything you said that day."
"Now, I want you to tell me the truth."
His eyes, sharp as a hawk's, were fixed on her.
What exactly does "describe the picture" mean?
boom!
Lin Wanwan's mind went completely blank, as if a thunderbolt had struck.
In that instant, all the blood in her body seemed to rush upwards, making her hands and feet icy cold and her ears ringing.
Why would he ask that?
Shouldn't he think that it was just her ramblings in a fit of anger?
Looking into Xiao Che's eyes, which were filled with the determination that "I must get an answer tonight," her heart pounded wildly, almost leaping out of her throat.
However, Xiao Che did not give her any chance to catch her breath.
He pressed on, asking the second, and even more fatal, question.
"And what does 'pleasing' mean? In your eyes, all the things I did for you were just 'pleasing'?"
"I want to hear the truth."
He spoke the last five words very slowly and heavily, as if he had used all his strength to strike Lin Wanwan's heart.
Lin Wanwan's lips trembled uncontrollably.
He had driven her to the brink of despair.
To be honest, or not to be honest?
The hellish multiple-choice question that had been swirling in her mind for three days was now laid bare before her, stark and undeniable.
To speak or not to speak?
If I tell him, will he believe me? A lonely soul from another world, a monster who can see his thoughts... Will he treat her as a demon and burn her at the stake?
But if she doesn't say anything, what else can she say?
To make up a lie?
She looked into the deep, bloodshot eyes of his, and into the complex emotions deep within them—emotions she couldn't decipher, a mixture of pain and inquiry. She knew that any lie, at that moment, would seem utterly pale and powerless.
What he wants is the truth.
That is the one and only "truth" that can unravel all the problems between them.
Inside the bedchamber, the flickering candlelight cast long shadows of the two figures onto the cold, gold-brick floor.
Time seemed to stand still.
Every second felt like torture.
Xiao Che stood there, motionless, waiting for her answer with all his patience.
Lin Wanwan's fingernails dug deeply into her palms, the pain keeping her conscious to a minimum.
She slowly closed her eyes.
That's enough.
That's settled then.
It's like boiling a frog in lukewarm water; you watch helplessly as love fades away, and eventually you become strangers.
I'd still risk everything to seek... even if it means utter destruction, for the truth.
She chose the latter.
When Lin Wanwan opened her eyes again, all the wariness, panic, and struggle in her beautiful almond-shaped eyes had faded away.
Only one kind of broken peace remains, a peace born of reckless abandon.
She looked at Xiao Che, and a bitter smile even appeared on her lips.
"truth?"
Her voice was very soft and ethereal, as if it could be blown away by the wind at any moment.
"Does Your Majesty truly wish to hear the truth?"
Xiao Che's heart tightened, but he still nodded heavily.
“Okay,” Lin Wanwan took a deep breath, as if she had used up all the courage she had in her life, and met his gaze directly. “The truth is…”
She paused for a moment, then, word by word, clearly revealed that most absurd and unbelievable secret.
"The truth is, I'm not from this world at all!"
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