Obsessively Raised by My Doll 12

Chapter 12

Zheng Xuening’s entire body stiffened. An indescribable feeling welled up inside her.

Being coaxed by the young girl’s soft, warm voice, all the scorn, coldness, and defensiveness hidden in her heart melted away like winter snow under a warm sun, leaving only a small puddle as proof that those emotions had ever existed.

It was a well-known fact among those who knew her that Lu Dieqing was beautiful. Even though she was a princess of the Shan Kingdom, born into a place where she was not accepted, her appearance was like a double-edged sword. There were people like A’Sang who would look out for her, but there were also those who disliked or even hated her.

But for a girl like this, shouldn’t she receive more affection?

Zheng Xuening found that she cared a great deal whether the little girl’s promises were true.

“You cannot lie to a doll.”

The voice Zheng Xuening transmitted into Lu Dieqing’s mind was exceedingly calm. She watched the Little Princess of Shan, waiting for her answer.

Lu Dieqing was silent for a moment.

She didn’t know why, but after discovering that the little doll could communicate with her mentally, her first reaction wasn’t joy, but… a little bit of fear.

She had longed for this little doll for so, so long, yet now she didn’t dare to speak much. Especially when she sensed that the little doll’s personality seemed a bit cold.

“…I wasn’t lying,” the young girl said, a little hurt that her sincerity was being questioned by the wooden doll.

Lu Dieqing’s voice grew weaker. The enthusiasm she had just mustered was extinguished, like a fire doused with a basin of cold water in the dead of winter.

Zheng Xuening gazed at the girl’s smooth, clean face, a jumble of thoughts appearing in her mind.

The Chaoying Kingdom was in the north. Every winter, poor families would fail to survive due to a lack of winter clothes, quilts, and food. It was just that the person at the very top of the court could not see the true state of the common people.

Zheng Xuening had once thought of striving to govern well, to be an enlightened monarch when she inherited the throne. But in truth, she had never taken a single step outside the palace gates. Everything she heard about the state of the empire came from the mouths of others.

Without truly lacking food, enduring hunger, or experiencing the cold, one could never understand how important these basic needs were to the common people.

This was because she and her father, the Emperor, were surrounded by too many people who told lies. Lies were usually flattery, pretty words. She was born the Crown Princess; all she could see was a magnificent landscape, and the groveling, schemes, and plots that surrounded that position.

Speaking the truth in front of her was both a luxury and an act of foolishness.

So she rarely heard the truth, and she had never seen anyone offer their heart so openly to another.

Until she became a small wooden doll, forced to stay by Lu Dieqing’s side, listening to her share the events of her day.

Lu Dieqing was a very strange person.

She cried easily, was delicate, couldn’t bear grievances, was fragile, and clingy.

Her crying voice was pleasant to the ear.

Zheng Xuening had only been with her for less than three days, but she had already formed these impressions, feeling that this was an overly naive and pure girl. Not very clever to begin with, easily believing whatever others said, very easy to deceive, and with such an alluring face.

Zheng Xuening could even imagine the kind of jealousy and covetousness Lu Dieqing would attract when she grew a little older. If she had been born into a normal royal family, she would likely have been raised with wealth and honor, growing more noble and developing a few of the thorns a rose ought to have, so she wouldn’t be so easily coveted. Perhaps her personality would have even become a little more spoiled, yet not unpleasantly so, because the girl had a tender, soft voice that could easily soften one’s heart, whether she was acting coquettishly or throwing a tantrum.

And now, listening to the girl quietly promise her how she would treat her well and like her in the future…

Zheng Xuening knew that empty words were of little value and not to be trusted.

Especially promises.

As Zheng Xuening was lost in her thoughts, Lu Dieqing didn’t dare to move. She just sat meekly by the corner of the bed, looking with some grievance at the little doll she had once held and coaxed in her arms.

—The puppetry manuals clearly said that a successfully awakened doll would be telepathically linked with its master, inseparable, and worthy of being trusted with one’s life.

But her wooden doll doesn’t seem to like her at all. It’s so cold and ignores her, sob, sob…

Thinking of this, the little girl’s heart was uncontrollably filled with grievance.

The little doll she had imagined was not like this.

Lu Dieqing was not a girl who could hide her emotions, especially in front of those she valued and was close to. Her watery eyes only had to blink twice before moisture began to gather. Her dark pupils grew wet, and the tip of her nose began to turn red.

She was only wearing her nightclothes at the moment. Staring at her own quilt, she sat there looking thin and light, her figure so slender that it evoked a strong sense of pity.

In short, she looked like a delicate beauty who had been abducted by some villain.

Zheng Xuening snapped out of her silence and saw that the little girl who had just been confessing her feelings was now looking regretful, sitting timidly before her, her ten slender, tender fingers twisted together, her head bowed. She looked utterly constrained.

Her eyes turned cold. The suspicion she already held was provoked and intensified.

“If you like me, then why are you afraid of me?” she demanded, staring at Lu Dieqing’s beautiful almond eyes, her manner highly aggressive.

Having been the Crown Princess for so long, whenever Zheng Xuening had a suspicion, she would ask it directly. It was a strength that came from her very bones.

Lu Dieqing froze. Her round almond eyes lifted to meet the wooden doll’s gaze, and the fear in her heart grew a little more.

—My little doll is so fierce.

Lu Dieqing was easily hurt, and when she was hurt, she wouldn’t speak.

After asking her question and receiving no answer, Zheng Xuening looked at the little girl, who had almost turned into a withered little flower seedling.

The Crown Princess’s heart, which rarely fluctuated with emotion, was unexpectedly struck with a few pangs of guilt.

“What is it? Why aren’t you speaking?”

Lu Dieqing didn’t come over. The wooden doll waited for a moment, grew impatient, and toddled over on its own.

Zheng Xuening had no idea that in this wooden doll’s body, every move she made had a clumsy sort of cuteness to it. As beautiful as she was as the Crown Princess, the facial features of this wooden doll were just as… passable. Lu Dieqing hadn’t had the strength to carve the features with much detail, only enough to keep them from being misplaced.

The wooden doll, however, had no idea what it looked like. It just swayed over to the little girl’s lap and didn’t forget to command her.

“Hold me. Look at me.”

Lu Dieqing bit her lip, gently extended her fair hands, and cradled the wooden doll in her palms, lifting it to her eye level.

Seeing the little girl so obedient, the inexplicable spark of anger in Zheng Xuening’s heart died down.

But when she saw the moist shimmer in Lu Dieqing’s glistening eyes, her heart skipped a beat.

—Why is she about to cry again?

The little girl blinked, and two lines of crystalline tears rolled down her cheeks. She choked out in a soft, thin voice.

“They bully me… You… you don’t protect me, and you bully me and are fierce to me too…”

Crying, Lu Dieqing looked broken yet poignantly beautiful, like a pear blossom in the rain, utterly pitiful.