Saving the Obsessive Villain Boss [Quick Transmigration] (GL) - Chapter 3

Xu Zhaosu had considered many possibilities. Her actions might have alerted Shi Qingyi, who was preparing to preemptively strike, or perhaps send her to another, more heavily guarded place of confinement, severing her connection with the outside world.

—The only thing she had never imagined was that Shi Qingyi would bring her back to Yu Ming Hall.

Yu Ming Hall was built by her imperial father for her imperial mother and was separated from the Mingze Hall, where political affairs were handled, by only one wall.

However, after her parents passed away, she had never appointed an Inner Consort.

Later, when Shi Qingyi returned from the mountain, Xu Zhaosu had Yu Ming Hall extensively renovated and gifted it to her as a place to live.

The young Female Monarch had been full of anticipation, presenting everything in the world that she could offer to the woman who was like a banished immortal descending to the mortal world.

Naturally, she had her selfish reasons then. It wasn’t just to use Yu Ming Hall to express her feelings, comparing her own affection for Shi Qingyi to her father’s for her mother. It was also because Yu Ming Hall was adjacent to Mingze Hall, where she resided, allowing them to meet anytime.

—Meet anytime.

Xu Zhaosu almost let out a mocking laugh; she was dreaming back then.

Daily meetings of affection were impossible. The reality was a disheartening routine where the Female Monarch was constantly given the cold shoulder and met with rejection.

But how foolish she was then. Even when she was so unwelcome, she was content to visit ten times just to see her once, and see her ten times just to drink a cup of tea brewed by that person’s own hands.

At the time, she was content to the point of sweetness; later, every recollection was like drinking poison, infecting her heart and lungs.

Yu Ming Hall, which was difficult to enter even when she held a high status, was now easily accessible even in her current state of destitution. What’s more, she was now in the inner chamber, lying on Shi Qingyi’s bed.

It wasn’t that Xu Zhaosu hadn’t fantasized about Shi Qingyi’s bed before.

—Of course, those thoughts only dared to remain fantasies, as she was lucky to even get her two legs through the palace gate back then.

Xu Zhaosu couldn’t help but draw a cold breath. Something hurt so badly it almost suffocated her. The more it hurt, the deeper her hatred, wishing she could flay the skin, dismantle the bones, and mince the corpse of the person beside her—

Then, she felt a pair of cold hands cover her eyelids. The woman’s voice was close, carrying the familiar gentleness and coldness from the depths of her memory.

Following that, a nervously kneeling imperial physician arrived.

Shi Qingyi stood outside Yu Ming Hall with an expressionless face, contemplating life. Separated by a single wall lay the person who would kill her a month later.

In the past, she was only responsible for playing the part of a death-seeking sc*mbag and had never considered the consequences, so the retribution had come abruptly and without warning.

—Xu Zhaosu’s eyes had developed severe problems due to being trapped in the dark underground dungeon for a whole year. For the time being, she probably could not adapt to normal brightness.

In short, she would be blind for a period, and might never be able to look at strong light for the rest of her life.

—But the most serious problem was not her eyes, but her legs.

The prison deep in the secret passage was bitterly cold. She had stayed in it for too long, and the restricted space and chains forced her to crawl like livestock.

Shi Qingyi inevitably recalled the sight she had witnessed moments ago when she personally applied medicine to Xu Zhaosu.

She was so thin her skin clung to her bones, like a layer of flesh thinly draped over a skeleton. There was barely an inch of healthy skin on her body. Her leg bones and arms, which had suffered the most abrasion, were completely unrecognizable from their original fair appearance.

Dirt, sand, and badly worn skin and flesh were mixed together. As the rotten flesh was cut away inch by inch with a knife, the Female Monarch, who was accustomed to fine clothes and rich food, desperately bit down on her teeth, not letting out a single groan, yet her forehead was covered in cold sweat.

Fortunately, it was winter. If it had been summer and the wounds had festered, saving her life would have been questionable. But even in winter, it was no easier. Her body was covered in frostbite and bruises, with hardly a good spot anywhere. She was almost unrecognizable.

Shi Qingyi: “…”

For the first time, she was clearly aware that her past actions were truly—seeking death.

She then couldn’t help but recall the original plot direction of this world.

One month after her escape, Xu Zhaosu broke through the imperial city, leading 200,000 troops from the border to kill their way into the Forbidden Palace. She went from being a merciful Female Monarch to a brutal extremist, slaughtering all who resisted along the way. Behind her was a mountain of corpses and a sea of bl00d, almost entirely annihilating the city.

And as the culprit who had usurped the throne and harmed Xu Zhaosu to this extent, Shi Qingyi’s fate was to be burned alive.

She was cornered by the rebellious army into Yu Ming Hall, the outer walls were doused in oil, and the fire was personally lit by Xu Zhaosu.

Xu Zhaosu stood in front of the Yu Ming Hall, which Shi Qingyi had once gifted her. Behind her was the snowmelt stained with fresh bl00d. Her pitch-black eyes were bone-chillingly cold. She just watched that person as the massive flames soared high, reaching for the clouds, determined to incinerate everything into ashes.

Shi Qingyi did not want to recall that memory at all. The moment the fire flared up, she had tumbled and crawled back to the Main God’s Space.

—But the horror of the scorching flames rushing towards her was firmly etched in her mind.

Vaguely, she seemed to have heard Xu Zhaosu’s voice, though it must have just been an illusion.

Shi Qingyi couldn’t help but shiver. If she failed this time, she really would be burned alive into ashes.

Shi Qingyi suppressed her internal collapse and returned to the inner chamber. The heavy snow that had stopped in the afternoon began to fall sparsely again. Fine snowflakes fell between her eyebrows, bringing with them a bone-chilling cold.

The person on the plain, snow-white bed had been changed into soft sleeping clothes, visibly much thinner than a year ago. She walked over step by step, her mind turning over a thousand thoughts, and then, with near panic, she discovered that the white silk covering the eyes of the person on the bed was silently soaked through.

—She was, crying?

Shi Qingyi’s eyelids twitched slightly. She froze for a moment. Her hands, chilled by the outside cold, lightly touched Xu Zhaosu’s eye corner before she could fully react. Her voice was lost and helpless, a tone she herself hadn’t realized.

“Why are you crying?”

—Perhaps she truly deserved to cry. She was deceived of her affection and her imperial throne by a sc*mbag like Shi Qingyi, was psychologically and physically blind, had finally been on the verge of escaping her misery only to be dragged back by Shi Qingyi, and then immediately received the bad news that her legs would be chronically ill for life, possibly leaving her crippled, and even her eyes were temporarily sightless.

—Truly, too tragic.

Even Shi Qingyi, a person who took the sc*mbag script and lost all conscience, felt miserable, and a feeling similar to pity and guilt inexplicably rose in her heart.

Although she was just following a script, it was undeniable that she was the one who had tormented the person to this extent…

The cold fingers slid down her eyebrows into her hair, gently untying the white silk covering her eyes, and then—saw an expressionless face.

Shi Qingyi: “…”

To conform to the image of the aloof National Master, the palace she lived in was completely snow-white, without any other colors, brightly lit to the point of being almost blinding.

And Xu Zhaosu’s eyes could not tolerate any light. So, she wasn’t crying because of pain or despair, but merely because of uncontrollable physiological tearing.

—What kind of idiot was she to think that a person who had already blackened would be this vulnerable and fragile?

However, when the thin layer of covering over her eyes was removed, a subtle discomfort was inevitably revealed. She slightly turned her head away—a rare gesture of avoidance.

Shi Qingyi silently covered her eyelids with her hand, knowing her eyes must be hurting at the moment. Her movements were very gentle.

The slender eyelashes under her palm trembled slightly, vaguely tickling her palm, bringing a hazy wetness, and then becoming rigid.

After a pause, she completely pressed her hand down, not letting a fraction of light fall onto her eyes. Then, pretending not to have known anything, she slightly tilted her head to survey her unadorned, snow-white palace and coldly whispered to the attendant standing beside her: “Change it.”

The person beside her was slightly startled but wisely did not question.

Concise and comprehensive, thus the palace she had lived in for two years was completely replaced within a quarter of an hour.

The dazzlingly clean plain white was entirely removed. Even the bright lamps were covered with black gauze. The light in the hall grew dim until she was sure it was no longer glaring before removing the hand covering Xu Zhaosu’s eyes.

There was residual warmth and wetness on her palm. The person remained silent and unresponsive.