The Prisoner of Beauty - Chapter 149

Chapter 149

Xiao Qiao slowly opened her eyes, meeting Wei Shao's worried gaze as he stared down at her.

He had returned at some unknown point, and the lamps within the room were lit.

Tears brimmed upon her eyelashes, and her cheeks were a crisscrossed mess of wet tracks. Her chest and back were completely drenched in cold sweat, causing her inner garments to cling tightly to her flesh.

Even though she was already held firmly within his embrace, her shoulders were still shivering uncontrollably.

"What is wrong with you?"

Wei Shao's voice was sharp with anxiety as he pulled her even tighter. Lifting his other hand, he used his lightly calloused palm to wipe away the cold sweat from her forehead and the tears from her face.

Exhausted to the point of collapse, Xiao Qiao leaned against his chest, closed her eyes, and shook her head.

Wei Shao scrutinized her intensely.

"A nightmare?"

Xiao Qiao remained silent.

"What did you dream of?" he pressed urgently. "What exactly did you see?"

Xiao Qiao shook her head once more.

She did not want to cry anymore.

It was merely a dream. Now that she had awakened from it, there was no longer any need to fear.

Yet tears continued to well forth from her closed eyes regardless.

The more he pressed for answers, the more violently her tears cascaded.

In the end, she lost all semblance of self-control. Beneath her extreme attempts to suppress it, her body shuddered like a lone leaf buffeted by an autumn wind, and her tears quickly soaked through the garments over his chest.

Wei Shao's heart seemed to be thoroughly drenched by her tears as well, twisting and knotting into a tight, painful mass.

...

He had retrieved his mother from the ancestral temple and escorted her back to her chambers.

When he heard his mother voice that deeply ingrained, long-unheard hatred toward Xiao Qiao once again, his immediate, subconscious reaction had been one of resistance and aversion.

Yet the moment he witnessed this woman who had given him life and raised him showing a state of fearful reverence before him out of dread for his reproach, a sliver of guilt had welled up within his chest.

He stayed to accompany his mother, whom he had neglected for a very long time, and did not return until she had fallen asleep.

By then, it was already the fifth watch of the night.

Xiao Qiao was sleeping very soundly.

Not wanting to disturb her, he intended to close his eyes and get a brief moments of rest before dawn broke, planning to depart tomorrow exactly as scheduled.

For the upcoming campaign against Langya, he was absolutely determined to win.

Liu Yan had personally orchestrated the incident in Yanzhou, but Wei Shao's choice to launch an assault on Langya at this juncture was—as he had told his grandmother earlier—by no means born purely out of a desire for revenge.

It was a strategic play for the realm itself.

A grand war of this scale, requiring the mobilization of hundreds of thousands of troops, involved a level of meticulous and complex pre-battle preparation that ordinary people could scarcely comprehend.

Although Gongsun Yang, Wei Quan, and the others would handle everything flawlessly, he still wished to arrive early to personally oversee the forces.

He had to strike to kill in a single blow.

Then, he was startled awake by the feverish mutterings she let out in her sleep.

Never before had he seen her look so profoundly restless in her slumber.

At first, he could not even rouse her from the dream.

...

"Do not fear, Manman! I am here!"

Wei Shao once again locked her trembling body tightly in his arms, lowering his head to repeatedly press his lips against her sweat-slicked forehead, unceasingly whispering low words of comfort to her.

Xiao Qiao curled within his embrace, burying her face against his chest, sobbing so hard that her entire body gasped for breath, her shoulders hitching up and down.

A soft, crisp tinkling of a bell drifted through the air.

Feifei, sleeping in her small crib, had been startled awake by Xiao Qiao's weeping. She kicked her tiny legs a few times, struggling to roll over. Halfway through the attempt, she tumbled back onto her back, let out a couple of whimpers, and upon finding that her mother was still not by her side, burst into an aggrieved cry.

Xiao Qiao opened her eyes and wiped them with her sleeve. Even as she continued to sob, she made a move to break free from his embrace and climb out of bed.

Wei Shao would not let her go. Holding her firmly, he gently laid her back down onto the pillow, his palm reaching out once more to wipe away the tear tracks from her face. "You stay lying down," he said.

Tucking the quilt around her, he stepped out of bed, scooped Feifei into his arms, and rocked her a few times to soothe her.

Feifei kicked her two tiny feet, keeping her eyes squeezed shut as she wailed for her mother.

"Give her to me—"

Xiao Qiao sat up.

Wei Shao motioned for her not to get up, walking over to the door himself to call out.

Chun Niang and the wet nurse quickly hurried into the room.

"Take Feifei outside and coax her back to sleep," he instructed.

Chun Niang stole a glance at Xiao Qiao on the bed, but asked no questions, hurriedly taking the still-wailing Feifei into her arms.

The wet nurse fetched a small cloak to wrap around the infant, and the two women retreated out of the room one after the other.

Their daughter's crying seemed to linger in the air.

Xiao Qiao sat up once more, hurriedly tossing back the covers.

"It is better if I do it, Feifei recognizes me..." Her voice was entirely hoarse, heavy with a thick, tearful quality.

Wei Shao closed the door, turned around to stride rapidly back to her side, and pressed her back down. "Feifei has Chun Niang and the wet nurse to look after her, it matters not," he said.

His tone carried an unquestionable weight. Having spoken, he fetched a soft cloth cloth meant for wiping Feifei's sweat and milk, sat down on the edge of the bed, and began to wipe away the sweat from her neck, chest, and back. Once finished, he leaned over and gathered her into his embrace once more.

"What did you dream of just now? To be frightened into such a state?"

His thumb brushed lightly over her red and swollen eyelids with immense tenderness as he asked in a soft voice.

Xiao Qiao shook her head. "It was nothing... It is already fine now..."

Yet a thin sheen of tears gradually surfaced within her beautiful eyes once more.

"Speak to me. Once you speak of it, you will no longer fear—"

Xiao Qiao shook her head repeatedly.

Wei Shao gazed intently at her. "Did you dream of that same nightmare you told me about last time?"

Xiao Qiao lifted her face, staring blankly at his countenance. At this very moment, her emotions completely broke down, and she could no longer hold them back.

Her tiny hands tightly gripped his collar as she sobbed, her voice breaking intermittently: "There was a man clad in imperial dragon robes... holding a blood-dripping sword, wanting to kill me... I was so terrified. I feared he would pierce the blade straight into my chest, yet he advanced toward me step by step..."

The man within the dream no longer possessed Liu Yan's face; it had become blurry, a complete blank.

She could not see it clearly, yet she could distinctly perceive the homicidal intent written upon that twisted countenance.

A dreamscape that was clearly familiar, yet seemed to have morphed into something different, was precisely what made it all the more terrifying.

She shuddered violently.

"Do not fear, I am here. It is merely a nightmare. I will absolutely never allow anyone to harm you in the slightest—"

Wei Shao stroked her hair, offering his comfort.

"...I also dreamed of Zhang Pu... The blood geysering from his neck swallowed me whole, and I could not breathe..."

Xiao Qiao closed her eyes, tears rolling down once more.

Wei Shao froze, a thick wave of bitter remorse instantly flooding his gaze.

Holding her in a vice-like grip, he pressed himself against her ear and repeated over and over, "It was my fault. I should not have done such a thing in a fit of rage that day... It was I who terrified you... I swear, I will never be that cruel to you ever again... Manman, do not fear..."

Wei Shao offered endless comfort.

Yet the more he comforted her, the harder she wept.

Eventually, Wei Shao stopped speaking. He simply held her without releasing his grip for even a single second, lightly patting her back as though he were coaxing Feifei.

Xiao Qiao gradually grew exhausted from her crying, finally slipping into a heavy, dazed slumber.

This sleep was exceptionally deep. When she awoke, she felt a brief moment of disorientation.

Then, the events of last night flooded back into her mind.

The servants from the eastern quarters had called Wei Shao away... He had retrieved Lady Zhu from the ancestral temple, staying by her side and failing to return for a very long time... She had fallen asleep herself, plunging into that nightmare that had not surfaced for a long time...

Her eyelashes fluttered slightly.

She abruptly snapped open her still-swollen eyelids, discovering that the sky was completely bright.

Wei Shao had not left either. He remained lying on the bed, holding her close as he slept.

At her slightest movement, his eyes snapped open.

His gaze was clear, yet the dark stubble blooming along his cheeks was a testament to the poor sleep he had gotten last night.

The two locked eyes.

"Were you not supposed to depart today? Why did you not wake me?"

Xiao Qiao's voice still carried a heavy nasal quality.

Recalling the scene of herself weeping unceasingly as she broke down in his arms last night, a trace of shame drifted through her heart.

She even felt a bit exposed meeting his gaze. Lowering her eyelids, she murmured the question.

"I was worried about you,"

Wei Shao said, gazing intently at her.

...

Wei Shao canceled his original plan to depart on this day.

For the entirety of the daylight hours, he went nowhere, remaining inside the chamber to keep Xiao Qiao and Feifei company.

Another night descended with its unhurried pace.

Bright lamps were lit within the room.

Wei Shao lay on his side on the outer edge of the mattress, facing inward.

Xiao Qiao lay on the inner side of the bed.

Resting right between the two of them was Feifei, who had just finished taking her bath.

Feifei had completely forgotten the grievance of being driven away by her heartless father last night.

No matter how hard she had cried back then, her mother simply would not come to coax her.

Now, everything was perfect. She lay right between the two of them, happily jingling the small silver bells worn upon her wrists, kicking her tiny legs in sheer contentment. Whenever her belly grew hungry, she would nuzzle against her fragrant, soft mother, seeking her milk.

Wei Shao watched the scene before him in silence.

The swelling on her eyelids from this morning had already receded, and her pitch-black hair was scattered across the pillow like a mass of clouds.

Though she was already the mother of his child, that countenance—beautiful enough to make any man in this world halt his steps—still carried the pristine, exquisite aura of a young maiden.

What Wei Shao loved most, in truth, were still her eyes.

He could remember to this very day, on the night of their wedding, when he first saw her face-to-face inside the marriage hall, what a profound impression her beautiful, spirited eyes had left upon him.

This was likely why, in later days, he possessed a distinct partiality for touching and kissing her eyelids.

Feifei ate her fill, closed her eyes, and gradually drifted off to sleep.

Because she had sucked with great force just now, another layer of sweat had accumulated around her neck.

Xiao Qiao lifted her eyes. "Husband, pass me a cloth..."

Her crimson lips were half-parted, her eyes wide as she watched Wei Shao suddenly lean his upper body over, slowly drawing near.

Across the form of Feifei lying beneath them, their lips met.

Xiao Qiao's eyelashes trembled lightly as she slowly closed her eyes, accepting this sudden yet tender kiss from him.

"Manman, do not blame me..."

Their faces pressed close in shared warmth, Wei Shao letting out low, ragged breaths. "I know I am fundamentally not your ideal match... Grant me a little more time, alright?”