Saving the Obsessive Villain Boss [Quick Transmigration] (GL) - Chapter 12
Xu Zhaosu’s hand resting on the side of the couch tightened imperceptibly. After a long moment, she opened her eyes without any change in expression: “Is that so?”
It was hard to discern if she was happy or sad.
The flower of the lamp, having burned to its end, sputtered and dropped. The candlelight flickered. Shi Qingyi put down her book, her voice composed and calm: “Of course. There should be no one in the world who dislikes Your Majesty.”
Shi Qingyi picked up the scissors to trim the lampwick. Constant flickering was bad for Xu Zhaosu’s eyes; if not handled, they might start hurting again tonight.
“The Grand Preceptor did not like me.” After a long pause, a voice that sounded like self-mockery came from behind her.
Shi Qingyi was startled. The candlelight shook. She didn’t know whose hand was subtly trembling. Her voice was low, and it seemed as though she was forcing a smile: “That’s because she was blind and didn’t know what was good for her.”
Her hand trembled too much. She actually clipped the entire wick by mistake. With a snip, the hall plunged into silent darkness. Someone spoke softly: “Your Majesty, please rest for a while. This servant will go find a lamp outside.”
Before Xu Zhaosu could speak, that person had already rushed out, the quick footsteps almost suggesting she was fleeing in panic.
Xu Zhaosu opened her eyes in the darkness and looked deeply towards the outside of the hall. The person left so hastily that she didn’t even close the door, assuming that she was blind and couldn’t see, unaware that her eyesight was slowly recovering.
The moon was bright and the stars were sparse. The frosty moonlight fell into the desolate hall. The girl in white staggered out. It was unclear what was wrong with her. She almost tripped over the threshold, stumbled, and then forced herself to stand up, until she leaned against the dead tree in the hall and bent down deeply.
With Xu Zhaosu’s sight, she couldn’t see much more, only that the person who was always cold and arrogant seemed to be in extreme pain, covering her heart with her hand, bending down inch by inch, and deeply panting.
However long Shi Qingyi stood there, Xu Zhaosu watched her from behind.
It wasn’t until deep in the night that Shi Qingyi seemed to finally recover. She braced herself against the tree and struggled to stand up. She didn’t go looking for a lamp, but instead softened her footsteps and walked back into the hall.
The female monarch had closed her eyes just before Shi Qingyi stood up. She could only hear faint footsteps. After a long time, someone sat down by her couch. A warm, cool hand gently touched her temple, silently tracing her features: from her tightly closed brows and eyes to her upturned nose, finally resting on the corner of her lips, brushing away a strand of stray hair on her cheek.
That person moved closer to her. A cold, plum-like fragrance emanated from her. Her voice was bitter yet gentle: “Your Majesty naturally deserves a better person.”
Xu Zhaosu’s hand hidden beneath the silk quilt spasmed and slowly clenched. The person leaned down again, resting her arm close to hers, and said no more.
Just before Xu Zhaosu was about to truly fall asleep, she vaguely heard a sigh that seemed to melt into the wind: “It is I who am unworthy of Your Majesty.”
She abruptly opened her eyes. The person curled up against her arm was already asleep. That person, so cold and arrogant, now condescended to this extent, touching only the back of her hand with her forehead, as if to approach any closer would be an overstep.
A chilling light flickered in Xu Zhaosu’s eyes, like a snake lying in wait in the darkness. Her sharp fingertips, like a snake’s tongue, slowly traced across Shi Qingyi’s cheek. Her tone was scornful: “You know yourself that you are unworthy?”
She, Xu Zhaosu, was also taught the arts of emperorship and raised by countless pillars of the state, proficient in political maneuvering, strategizing, and governance. How could she fall into the same trap twice?
Such a person, with honey in her mouth and a heart like a viper, whatever sweet things she said were fake. She would absolutely never believe her a second time.
She truly couldn’t bear to let Shi Qingyi die just like that. Death would be far too easy for her. She wanted her to live well and repay all the suffering she had endured a hundred or even a thousandfold!
She would lock her in a cage, make her undergo all the pain she herself had suffered. At that time, she wanted to see how this smooth-talking, manipulative person would kneel and beg for mercy.
As the hand that harshly traced the woman’s cheek passed her lips, Shi Qingyi seemed to dream of something, suddenly letting out a muffled, low moan. Her moist, rosy lips parted and closed, warm breath spraying out, landing precisely on Xu Zhaosu’s fingertips.
—It was like a kiss, faint and elusive.
Something stirred in Xu Zhaosu’s heart. She vaguely heard a single word escape that person’s mouth. It seemed to be, Zhao.
She wanted to hear more, but the person bit her lip tightly, turning the color of her lips chalk-white. Even in her sleep, she seemed unwilling to utter that name.
It made one want to pry her mouth open.
“Heh, does calling my name defile your mouth so much?”
Xu Zhaosu knew how foolish it was to be angry at a sleeping person, but the pervasive hostility in her heart was uncontrollable. She had once wished to surrender the entire empire to her, to put it into her hands. Even a dog would be domesticated after raising it, but Shi Qingyi was unraisable and bit back.
Countless thoughts intertwined, giving rise to a cold sense of sorrow. Shi Qingyi, perhaps, did not like women.
She caressed the woman’s tightly bitten lips, suppressing the violent thoughts in her heart, and comforted herself that it didn’t matter. Now, to survive, she had to depend on her. When she regained the throne, she would make her call her name ten thousand times, with an ice-cold tongue. One less call, and she would be thrown into the snake pit. She was most afraid of snakes, after all.
She sneered, suppressing the turmoil in her heart, slowly closed her eyes, and told herself that the other person was merely seeking an opportunity to prolong her life.
A truly cowardly wretch. But that was good, too. Cowardice and fear meant she could be controlled.
The next day, Shi Qingyi was punished to kneel on the steps as soon as she woke up. It seemed Xu Zhaosu had determined that Shi Qingyi was atoning for her sins, and her actions were becoming increasingly excessive. After breakfast, she even had the medicine boy take a cup of piping hot tea to her.
The System was deeply moved: “The female monarch still cares about you after all. You haven’t had a sip of water since last night.”
Shi Qingyi retorted expressionlessly: “You are dreaming.”
The medicine boy walked over with an awkward and helpless expression. The white hem of the skirt of the woman kneeling on the steps was already stained with mud. She had been sent out wearing only a single undergarment. A blast of the chilly spring wind made her tremble, even though she was as resilient as the current Grand Preceptor.
“Your Majesty means for you to hold this cup of tea…”
Shi Qingyi’s expression was distant and cold. She reached out to take it. The medicine boy grew more troubled, hesitating: “Your Majesty means for you to use your hand…”
Instead of holding a tray.
Shi Qingyi paused, but still reached out and took the cup. The tea was freshly brewed with boiling water and extremely hot. The injured hand flinched the moment it touched it, but she held it steady. Before long, bl00d stained the gauze, and the woman’s face turned as pale as gold foil paper.
—The unhealed wound in her palm had split open.
System: “…I was wrong.”
How could I be so naive as to think the female monarch would be moved so quickly?
Xu Zhaosu closed her eyes slightly, then looked up after a moment. Through the thin veil over her eyes, she could only see a section of an arm, like lotus root jade, holding a cup of scalding hot tea. It was trembling severely, but she neither put it down nor begged for mercy.
The teacup in her hand was almost crushed. The coldness in her eyes intensified. She said coldly: “Go and get her another cup of hot tea.”
Medicine Boy: “…”
I always thought Your Majesty was in distress and that Shi Qingyi, that scoundrel, was taking advantage of her misfortune, intending to commit improper acts against Your Majesty. Now, why does it seem like something isn’t quite right?
The System looked at Shi Qingyi’s hand, which was close to being boiled, and spoke quietly: “Host, how about I lower your pain threshold?”
“Can the pain threshold only be adjusted once a month?”
The System checked the records: “I think so.”
Shi Qingyi closed her eyes mournfully: “Then forget it.”
She needed to save it for a more critical moment.
The System hesitated, but finally couldn’t help it: “Actually, if you had just called the female monarch’s name yesterday, she would have let you go.”
Her request was so simple. Knowing you might not like women, in her heart, as long as you endured the revulsion and called her name once, she would spare you. But you stubbornly refused to utter that name.
Shi Qingyi didn’t speak. She felt this useless System was genuinely hurtful at times. After she completed the mission, she would definitely send it to the Main God Space for repair.
She knelt there for most of the day until Xu Zhaosu practiced walking in the afternoon, only then was she allowed to get up. After kneeling for half a day, she still had to support Xu Zhaosu. By the end of the afternoon, her legs were shaking like a sieve, and she couldn’t even stand steady. Kneeling on the ground to massage Xu Zhaosu’s leg bones actually became a rare chance to catch her breath.
The Yuming Hall was separated from the Mingze Hall by only a wall. Through the wall, one could hear hurried footsteps outside. A palace maid was softly urging: “Hurry up, the nanny is already pressing us. Tomorrow is the Grand Preceptor’s birthday. Any slower and we’ll be delayed!”
Xu Zhaosu twitched the corner of her mouth, giving a faint sneer.
She was truly covetous of this glory and wealth. Her birthday was celebrated with the same grandeur and scale as the former monarch’s longevity festival, without any attempt to conceal it.
Shi Qingyi carefully massaged the female monarch’s stiff calves, when suddenly a hand firmly gripped her chin. The hand was extremely cold, with a crushing strength that forced her to lift her head inch by inch.
The female monarch’s eyes were still covered with a white veil. She should have been unable to see, yet her gaze seemed to contain swords and knives. Her expression was stern and mocking. She leaned down slightly, speaking word by word near her ear: “You are quite to my liking. If I wanted to take you with me, would you be willing?”
The pressure on Shi Qingyi’s jawbone made half of her face numb. She silently endured it and whispered: “This servant is willing.”
As expected.
Upon hearing this answer, Xu Zhaosu didn’t know whether she felt the anticipated chill or revulsion. This person was so afraid of death that she would do anything to survive.
Her hand gripping the chin felt soiled. Xu Zhaosu released her grip and harshly pushed the person away. The person who was once as proud as an immortal was now debasing herself to the dust for the sake of survival, which made her feel utterly disgusted.
She smiled coldly again, her voice laced with frigidity: “Remember what you said.”
You are willing to come with me, but you will never again be the person I hold dear in my heart. Even if you are feigning ignorance now, later—
The hand hidden in her sleeve tightened inch by inch. Later, she wouldn’t be so easy to talk to.
By her leg, someone gently rested her head on her knee, breathing softly and laboriously. Pear blossoms fluttered down. At that moment, the female monarch actually thought that keeping her by her side for life might not be impossible. Hatred was certainly present, but letting her go was absolutely out of the question.
How much hatred! Enough to want to eat her flesh alive, yet unable to kill her, only able to grit her teeth.
A cold palm rested on the back of the woman’s neck, seemingly ready to snap that fragile neck at any moment.
The madness and sharpness in the female monarch’s heart were unknown to anyone. Perhaps even she herself didn’t know that even as she contemplated various crazy revenges in her heart, her eyes still held a pathological gentleness born of obsession.
The Grand Preceptor lay on the female monarch’s knee, and the female monarch stroked the stray hairs on the back of her neck. This was a rare moment of gentleness for the female monarch, who had been temperamental and distant lately. Pear blossoms rustled and were blown off by the spring wind, landing on the tips of the female monarch’s hair and then sliding onto the white clothes as she looked down.
The medicine boy hiding behind the tree, however, felt a chill throughout his body. An extreme panic seized him.
The Grand Preceptor usurped the throne and confined the female monarch, making her life a living hell for a year. Yet, just one month of meticulous care had made the female monarch change her mind. It was truly impossible not to feel a sense of dread.
Give the Grand Preceptor a few more days, and Your Majesty would probably completely succumb. This was nothing short of a national disaster.
However, he was entrusted by the Princess Elder Sister and absolutely could not stand by and watch His Majesty repeat the same mistakes.