Su Majestad

Capítulo 96

Whether those words were a slip of the tongue or a genuine expression of her feelings, she didn't want to think about it.

A month later, she got married as she wished. If her only wish was to get married.

The prince consort is the eldest son of the Commandant of Tangzhou. They met during the court ceremony earlier this year. The Empress and her sister have been looking for a suitable husband for her, and this man was one of the candidates. However, he was removed from the list by her sister because Tangzhou is too far from the capital.

"Why are you suddenly saying you're getting married?" the older sister complained. "And so far away, no less."

She nestled against her sister's lap, acting coquettishly, her head bowed as if she were shy, seemingly saying, "That's fate, who made me meet him?" But her lowered eyes held a deep chill; she chose this person precisely because Tangzhou was far enough away from here.

Chapter 190

She was tired of this place... even though there were people she loved here.

But these people buried beneath the dazzling splendor reek of decay. If she stays any longer, won't she rot along with them? If she follows her original plan, helping the Ninth Prince overthrow the Second Prince, standing on one side of the court and tilting her hand to the other, and then having others come to attack her... when will this kind of life ever end?

“Young lady, you should find someone to marry.” That day, she woke up in the air of Yun’an Palace filled with the scent of medicine. Yang Luoxue’s voice was soft and clear. “Whenever something happens, you always need someone by your side. You always need someone to accompany you through many things… aging, sadness, or death. But I can’t.” He sat by the bed, his eyes fixed on her. “I am a dying man, incapable of accompanying anyone through life.”

He couldn't see clearly, she knew that perfectly well. But at that moment, she felt as if his eyes had seen through everything in the world, like fleeting clouds, and opened a door in front of her.

—This was the first time she was treated like an ordinary girl.

For the first time, I realized that marriage is about having someone to accompany you for life, not about the other person's rank or family prestige.

"You've never really been one of us..." She leaned against the soft bedding, a languid feeling washing over her. Her thoughts were scattered—was it relaxation or exhaustion? She didn't want to think about anything anymore, a faint sadness mingling with her reverie. "If you don't want to marry me, why are you so good to me?"

She wasn't unaware of his temper or his coldness, but his helping her like this made her think that she was special to him.

“Because…” He paused for a long, long time, so long that he almost forgot to answer, something slowly tearing at his heart, “because the color of your clothes is like that of one of my friends.”

"And what about my face?" She understood the story behind the answer without hesitation, and felt a pang of sadness and self-pity, but a smile had already spread across her face. "Does it look like your friend's?"

I can no longer see people's faces clearly.

But in my heart, I've already quietly placed her image on your face.

I'm sorry, this isn't fair to you... But those past memories, evaporated deep within my mind, turned into dried flowers, enshrined in the deepest recesses of my heart. Yet, this fiery color, like fire, ignites everything. The phoenix is reborn within, and all the past reappears in its most vivid form in his mind day after day.

He was like a poppy addict, knowing full well that it would bring him greater suffering, yet he became addicted to it because he could not bear the pain in front of him.

Unable to extricate myself.

Dolan saw his expression again, the one she had seen under the lamp that night.

A radiant light bloomed and faded in an instant. It was as if the former Yang Luoxue had been reborn and died within her in a fleeting moment. A dull ache throbbed in her heart, and she forced a smile, "I wonder what the former Divine Physician Yang looked like..."

I wonder what the future Divine Doctor will look like.

That's how fate works between people. She only had enough of a small part of his life, while that person had all her love and longing.

Chapter 191

He possessed his entire life.

Two weeks before the wedding, Duolan moved out of the palace and returned to the Prince's residence. The first person waiting for her there was the Second Prince, Feng Yanliang.

"Why?"

This was his problem. He had been holding back for half a month but hadn't found the opportunity to ask. Dolan was avoiding him, and this avoidance would continue for decades to come.

She's going to marry someone from such a faraway place.

"Why?" His eyes welled up with tears.

Dolan looked at him and suddenly asked, "Do you really like me?"

Feng Yanliang was stunned, as if he had been hit on the head with a stick.

"If you like me, please treat my sister well. If you don't like me, please set me free."

Dolan's tone was very calm, her eyes as deep as the sea. Feng Yanliang suddenly realized that the Dolan before him was no longer the Dolan he knew. She seemed to have undergone some kind of baptism, suddenly transformed into a completely different person. He didn't know what had happened, but he absolutely refused to accept this outcome! "—You can't marry someone else, Dolan. My great cause is not yet accomplished; you must help me!"

"You don't actually like me, you just want to use me. You can even hurt the most important person to me, what right do you have to stop me from getting married?" With that, Dolan gently stepped past him. "Don't force me to help the Ninth Prince deal with you, Second Prince."

Feng Yanliang stared blankly as she left, unable to stop her for a moment. The scene of her fiercely questioning him that day flashed into his mind like lightning. His intelligent and beautiful sister Duolan was no longer a little girl who could be coaxed by delicate trinkets. He had been waiting for her to grow up. Now, she had finally grown up, but she would no longer cast his gaze upon him.

"You are my future empress..." In the deserted garden of the Annamite Prince's Palace, snow clung to the treetops, his voice unusually quiet, "until I ascend the throne..."

Dolan did not hear his voice.

The next day, she invited Qinghe to her home, and then they went to the palace together to Yun'an Hall.

The weather was exceptionally fine that day. The sky was a deep, clear blue, and the snow on the ground and rooftops shimmered like tiny flowers, filling the air with the sweet fragrance of plum blossoms. It was probably the best day in months. Dolan felt she had never seen Yun'an Palace in such bright light before.

The Yun'an Palace is so serene and beautiful when the sky is clear. The upturned eaves are like the wings of a phoenix about to take flight. The glazed tiles shine brightly under the sun. The snow is slowly melting in the sunlight and drips down from the eaves like rain.

It's especially cold when the snow melts.

My eyes are stinging, as if they can't stand the bright sunlight from the snow, and I feel like they're about to tear up.

Later, much later, when I think back to that day, the first thing that comes to mind is this feeling that is both sunny and cold.

This feeling of parting.

Yun'an Palace remained as quiet as ever. She saw a figure draped in a black cloak at the entrance. Perhaps someone was brewing medicine, adding something occasionally. When the right hand was raised, a section of snow-white sleeve was revealed, contrasting sharply against the black cloak like day and night. The magnificent palace seemed to consist only of these two colors, and only this one figure.

Suddenly, unexpectedly, he turned around.

Unexpectedly, time flows on.