Chapter 65: Yaoyao, I Have to Protect You...

Chapter 65: Chapter 65: Yaoyao, I Have to Protect You...

Xie Jinbai swallowed the bitterness in his throat and looked at her. "It was because I liked you that you were able to ’handle’ me. Don’t even think about teaching Shen Hanyue your methods to come and ’handle me’ again."

He was a person.

Not a marionette she could manipulate.

He wouldn’t just offer his love, completely unchanged, to a different person repeating the same experience.

’Don’t even think about teaching Shen Hanyue your methods to come and ’handle me’ again...’

Cui Lingyao was in disbelief.

She had only told Shen Hanyue once that she would help her "handle" Xie Jinbai.

And that was on the very day she had been reborn.

To this day, she hadn’t even acted on it.

"You..."

"Curious how I know?" Xie Jinbai’s lips quirked into a smile. "It was just a coincidence. I was leaving the palace that day and happened to pass by your carriage. I heard the entire conversation."

He laughed self-deprecatingly. "Do you have any idea what it feels like to hear the girl you love say she’s going to help someone else ’handle’ you?"

Cui Lingyao: "..."

’So that’s what happened.’

’He’d heard what she said, and that’s why he grew suspicious of her identity.’

’After all, you could search the entire Capital City, and there probably wasn’t a single young woman who would dare say she could ’handle’ him.’

’Let alone help someone else do it.’

’Where would Pei Shuyao, an orphan living in the Duke Mansion, get that kind of confidence?’

She stared blankly, not speaking for a long time.

She looked like a criminal who, faced with irrefutable evidence, couldn’t think of a defense but wasn’t ready to surrender.

Completely at a loss.

Xie Jinbai’s heart softened. He swallowed down the unspeakable resentment and reached out to embrace her again.

Cui Lingyao snapped back to reality and hastily took a step back. "My words and actions were improper that day," she explained. "I offended Your Highness while speaking privately with a friend. But you’ve misunderstood, I’m really not..."

"Enough. You don’t need to explain," Xie Jinbai cut her off. Giving in to his heart, he placed a kiss on her trembling eyelashes and murmured softly, "Do you know how I confirmed your identity?"

"That day at the Tea Garden, when I saw Cui Mingrui holding you, our eyes met for just a moment. It startled me to realize I had a different sort of feeling for a woman I was supposedly meeting for the first time—just as I felt for you all those years ago."

Xie Jinbai took her hand and pressed it to his heart, his deep-set eyes locked on hers. "It recognized you. I just wasn’t perceptive enough. Only after testing you repeatedly did I dare to be certain."

He didn’t say what his so-called "repeated testing" entailed.

But Cui Lingyao knew. ’It was his sneaking into her chambers for several nights in a row.’

She listened, her face impassive. No matter how sincere he sounded, her answer was always the same. "I am Pei Shuyao, not anyone else. Forgive me for being blunt, but Your Highness seems to have become delusional."

’She suspected he was losing his mind.’

She absolutely refused to admit her identity.

Even after he had revealed so much.

Xie Jinbai’s face twisted for an instant before he forced a smile. "It’s alright if you don’t want to admit it. As long as we both know the truth, that’s enough."

Cui Lingyao was actually a little frightened by his appearance.

In the past, he had managed his emotions perfectly. He was impassive most of the time. She would often anger him for no reason and be completely unaware of it.

But now...

He was practically neurotic.

The way he was smiling was even more terrifying.

An unutterably complex emotion welled up in her chest. Cui Lingyao furrowed her brow slightly and asked, "The wager has been fulfilled. May I leave now?"

"Not yet," Xie Jinbai said. "We have a lot of things to clear up."

He was completely fixated on the belief that she was his wife, who had been dead for three years.

He refused to listen to her denials.

Cui Lingyao was at her wit’s end. "You really have the wrong person."

She still refused to admit her identity. No matter what he said, she would not acknowledge it.

Xie Jinbai didn’t press her further. "Let’s just say I have the wrong person. Can we just talk for a bit?"

A member of the esteemed Heavenly Royal Family was being this conciliatory. What else could Cui Lingyao say?

She glanced up at the sky. "Then please be quick."

Her tone was tinged with unconcealed annoyance.

Xie Jinbai ignored her impatience, his eyes downcast. "After I confirmed your identity, I was very angry at first. I couldn’t understand why you wouldn’t come looking for me after you had the miraculous fortune of being reborn. Later, I thought about it a lot... Yaoyao, you hold a grudge against me, don’t you?"

Cui Lingyao said nothing.

She didn’t even look at him.

Her expression was serene, as if she were truly just an unwilling audience to someone else’s story.

A flicker of hurt crossed Xie Jinbai’s eyes.

"I can explain what happened with Li Wanrong."

As he spoke, he took a step toward her.

"Stay back!" Cui Lingyao reacted instantly, taking two steps back out of instinct. "I must ask you to conduct yourself with respect! Do not lay your hands on a young woman again."

After being repulsed time and again, Xie Jinbai finally lost his composure. He stopped in his tracks and stared at her.

His eyes were frighteningly dark.

"Cui Lingyao!"

He called out her full name once more, his voice hoarse.

"Do I need to remind you? You were the one who first confessed her feelings between us! You were the one who said you would marry no one but me! Even when misunderstandings arose later, I never once betrayed our love. You don’t have to avoid me like the plague."

’What couldn’t be cleared up between a husband and wife?’

’She had suffered a great calamity; it was natural for her to feel resentful.’

’He would let her punish him, let her torture him.’

’But the one thing he couldn’t accept was her truly despising him and falling for someone else.’

Cui Lingyao’s head was splitting. "You have the wrong person," she repeated.

After such a long standoff, she was starting to lose her composure as well. She couldn’t help but say, "Is this ’Cui Lingyao’ you speak of your Princess Consort? I heard she died. That she’s been dead for three years, and hasn’t even been buried. You must have seen her body, haven’t you?"

Three years... burial... body...

A torrent of chaotic, tangled images flooded his mind. Xie Jinbai’s face went ashen.

A sharp pang shot through his chest, aggravating his wound. Pain radiated from the inside out, spreading through his entire body until he swayed on his feet.

"Do you want to see it?"

He strode forward and grabbed her by the shoulders. "It’s in the courtyard where we lived. If you want to see it, I’ll take you there right now."

He looked even more unhinged.

Cui Lingyao jumped in fright and hastily refused.

"Don’t be afraid," Xie Jinbai said, forcing his expression to soften as he held her tightly. "Don’t be angry with me. I never intended to marry her. It was the Empress who overstepped her bounds. She wanted to poison you, and I had to protect you... Yaoyao, I had to protect you..."

"No... I failed to protect you. It’s my fault. I never thought Li Wanrong would have the audacity to push you into the water."

’He never imagined that even though he had clearly rescued her in time, something would still happen to her.’

His words were a jumbled mess.

Cui Lingyao only half-understood what he was saying. She frowned at him. "Who was poisoned?"

For the first time, she felt a flicker of curiosity about the past he was recounting.

In Xie Jinbai’s eyes, this was as good as an admission of her identity.

He froze for an instant, his eyes suddenly brightening.

Cui Lingyao turned her face away. "If you’re not going to say..."

"It was Li Wanrong!"

Xie Jinbai said, "Li Wanrong was poisoned. The Empress did it. She meant to harm you, but I turned her own scheme against her and had the poison redirected to her niece."