Free Web NovelChapter 232: Chapter 232: I Adore You, I Only Want You
Emperor Wu Su asked, "Really?"
Ji Qingwu nodded. "It’s true. More real than gold or silver."
Meanwhile, far away with the Northern Border Army, General Wei Chi had just finished his nightly patrol. He returned to his tent and immediately sneezed.
Wei Chi Lianping thought, ’Princess Hua Chang is finally thinking of me.’ And so, feeling content, he had a good night’s sleep.
After speaking, Ji Qingwu seemed a little embarrassed and pressed her lips together shyly. Emperor Wu Su, however, was not interested in the man she mentioned.
He concealed the glint in his eyes and said casually, "Very well. I shall wait and see."
She could tell from his placid expression that he didn’t believe her and was merely humoring her.
So, Ji Qingwu beckoned to him, gesturing for him to lean down closer.
Emperor Wu Su obliged, leaning in. Ji Qingwu steeled herself.
She had just realized something and was determined not to let him underestimate her.
Her soft, pink lips drew near his ear. As Emperor Wu Su felt her warm, moist breath, the muscles in his torso suddenly tensed.
Ji Qingwu’s eyelashes brushed against the side of his face as she closed her eyes.
Then, she took his earlobe in her mouth.
Emperor Wu Su sucked in a sharp breath. She playfully scraped her teeth against him, and a ragged, breathy groan escaped his throat.
The man’s voice was naturally deep, so the sound was only clear to Ji Qingwu’s ears.
By the time the sound reached the two people beneath the tree, it was muffled and indistinct.
Tao Wanyin tilted her head, looking at the shadow-dappled wall. "Did you hear something?" she asked.
Prince Yong had heard it too, but he was eager to contradict her and used the sound as a convenient excuse.
He said sternly, "You’re imagining things, Princess Consort. There was no sound. Your sense of touch was failing you as well. I was not crying at all."
The tear on Tao Wanyin’s fingertip had dried, but her heart still held the memory of its touch.
She suddenly recalled that whenever they went to the palace, no matter how cold their relationship was at the Prince Mansion, he always made sure to give her face and preserve her honor in front of others.
A bitter pang shot through Tao Wanyin’s heart. In a soft, slow voice, she asked, "Your Highness, why would you say that I have another in my heart?"
Zhao Minghong shot back, "And isn’t it true?"
Tao Wanyin refuted him sharply. "No. I never have."
Zhao Minghong studied her expression. Seeing her look of resolve, he said, "If that’s not the case, then why did you—"
"Why did I what?"
He gritted his teeth and finally forced the question out.
"Before you married me, who was it? Who did you give your virginity to?"
After he spoke, it was as if Prince Yong were the one being interrogated. Large beads of sweat broke out on his forehead, and his heart began to race.
He wanted an answer, yet he was terrified to hear it.
If he hadn’t drunk so much tonight, and if Tao Wanyin’s palm hadn’t gently caressed his face instead of landing as a slap, his masculine pride and arrogance would have never allowed him to ask such a question.
It wasn’t that Tao Wanyin hadn’t suspected this was the crux of their problems.
It was because she felt indebted and unable to atone that she had repeatedly endured his behavior, allowing Prince Yong to carouse with other women.
The fact that she had not been a virgin on their wedding night doomed their relationship to be forever flawed and filled with regret.
After their wedding night, he had still been willing to be intimate with her, saying they would put the matter to rest. She couldn’t begin to describe how happy she had been at the time.
But her body had a strong aversion to marital relations. She couldn’t give him what a normal wife should.
Tao Wanyin had found it impossible to speak of before. The matter was so absurd that she was certain Prince Yong would only despise her more if she told him the truth.
If she angered Father Tao and then lost the support of the Tao family, she would have been left with no way out but death.
But now, Mr. Tao was dead...
Seeing Tao Wanyin remain silent for so long without uttering a single word, a chill washed over Zhao Minghong from head to toe. The hope that had just been rekindled in his heart turned to ice.
His eyes were utterly dead. "Even now," he said, "you still refuse to tell me."
Tao Wanyin’s lips trembled, but her throat felt tight and constricted, as if she had lost her voice. She couldn’t speak.
Zhao Minghong said her name.
"Wanyin."
His tone held no anger, not even a trace of annoyance. It was utterly devoid of emotion.
Tears instantly welled up in Tao Wanyin’s eyes.
She would rather have him scream at her than see him look at her as if she were a stranger.
She couldn’t bear to see such coldness from him.
Zhao Minghong said, "You are Mr. Tao’s eldest daughter. Many people assumed I married you to consolidate my own power in the imperial court."
Tao Wanyin stared at him, stunned. ’But isn’t it true?’
That was what she had always believed.
Zhao Minghong said, "Wanyin, when I married you back then, it was because I adored you. You were the only one in my heart, the only one I wanted. I didn’t want anyone else to be my Princess Consort."
Words of such heartfelt confession should have been touching, but the man who spoke them was already heartbroken.
A roaring filled Tao Wanyin’s ears.
Zhao Minghong continued, "But fate is a cruel trickster. Had I known you were unwilling to marry me, that your heart and body already belonged to another, I would not have bothered to kneel before my Imperial Brother for three days, begging for your hand."
"I’m ashamed to admit that after marrying you, I did not treat you well. There are many ways in which I have wronged you."
Tears blurred Tao Wanyin’s vision, and she could no longer see Prince Yong’s face clearly.
She could only hear the numb tone of his voice.
"All these years in the Prince Mansion, you’ve suffered a great deal. I both love and hate you. I hate how calm and serene you always seem, as if you could accept it no matter who I favored or how many women I brought home from outside."
"I thought that there might be a turning point for us, but these days have gone on for too long—so long that I’ve even forgotten how to love someone."
"If it hadn’t been for what happened to your father, Tao Changhai, I might not have remembered just how important you once were to me."
Zhao Minghong’s Adam’s apple bobbed.
「After a long moment.」
He said, "Wanyin, it’s all over."
"It’s all over." Those three words smashed into Tao Wanyin’s ears.
Prince Yong spoke as if to himself, letting out all the words he had wanted to say but had never been able to before.
Then, Zhao Minghong’s cynical mask slipped back into place, a flippant smile lifting the corners of his mouth.
"The Princess Consort and I have grown to despise each other. It would be better for us to part ways. I will have Chang Lu deliver the divorce papers."
Tears streamed down Tao Wanyin’s face as she shook her head.
Zhao Minghong continued, "You’ve always managed the Prince Mansion’s accounts. Take whatever you like. And the child in your belly is my flesh and blood."
"I never mistreat the women who have been with me," he said with self-mockery. "You know that."
With that, Prince Yong turned and strode away, as if desperate to flee from her side.
A sharp pain shot through Tao Wanyin’s abdomen. She clutched her stomach and sank to the ground, but the physical agony was not one ten-thousandth of the pain in her heart.
She sobbed, her words choked with tears. "It’s not... It’s not like that..."
"Not like what! If it’s not like that, then you have to tell him!"
Tao Wanyin raised her tear-streaked face to look at the woman who seemed to have descended from the heavens.
