Obsessively Raised by My Doll 76

Chapter 76

“What do you regret? Not letting her bite you a second time?”

The little doll’s words surprised Lu Dieqing. The girl pressed her lips together and thought for a moment, then said pitifully, “Well… that’s not out of the question…”

The favors the Crown Princess had bestowed upon her were already too many to count.

Lu Dieqing felt that she owed the other a great, great deal.

Being bitten so lightly didn’t hurt at all. It was just a strange feeling on her face, a little too warm and moist…

And then there was the feeling in her heart.

She had never been treated like this by anyone. Even a bite was too intimate.

But why was it that in front of others, she could restrain her personality and temper, even when bullied, only retreating and avoiding?

But in front of the most unattainable heir in everyone’s eyes, in front of the Crown Princess, she would always forget who she was, acting spoiled, going too far, and even fighting back.

She wouldn’t even throw a tantrum in front of her parents, but in front of the Crown Princess, she would often forget herself, daring to say so many things that didn’t sound like her.

Could it be the old saying, “a pint of grain is kindness, a bushel is enmity,” that she had been spoiled by the Crown Princess’s indulgence?

As the girl let her thoughts drift, pondering this, the little doll did not speak again.

Evidently, she too was surprised by Lu Dieqing’s answer just now.

—A second bite, that’s not out of the question?

She hadn’t seen that in her earlier.

Just now, when she had so brazenly bullied her, the girl had been righteously indignant, almost stripping away her skin and revealing the incomplete heart in her chest.

Zheng Xuening wanted to sigh.

Perhaps it was that she lacked a certain feminine softness. She thought too directly, not in the hundred twists and turns like Lu Dieqing.

Sometimes she also couldn’t understand what this girl was thinking.

Did she like her… or not…

When the word “like” leaped into her heart, Zheng Xuening’s soul trembled, and she seemed to let out a long sigh.

All the emotions she hadn’t understood before, but had vaguely understood, and her own behavior that was completely different from her former self, all had an answer in an instant.

Zheng Xuening was silent, and Lu Dieqing was also immersed in her own world, thinking.

A night without words, Lu Dieqing gradually fell asleep.

*

In Changning Palace.

Matron Zhang was personally sweeping the courtyard.

She was an old and experienced palace servant. When the Crown Princess didn’t give orders, she could basically manage the entire Changning Palace. This kind of menial work would never fall to her.

But today, she insisted on holding a broom and sweeping herself.

The little palace maid in charge of sweeping the courtyard watched as Matron Zhang swept the floor so quickly, her eyes wide.

Matron Zhang was even so good at these menial tasks.

Matron Zhang finished sweeping the fallen leaves on the ground, then stopped, turned, and handed the broom to the little palace maid.

“I’m old. I can’t deny my age anymore. Just sweeping the floor makes my back ache.”

When she was young, whether it was sweeping or other chores, anything that passed through her hands, she could do it to perfection, surpassing ordinary people by a large margin.

It was because of this that she had had the opportunity to stand out.

At that time, she was just a little palace maid, and she was noticed by the Empress at a glance. Later, she was promoted to serve by the Empress’s side and became the familiar Matron Zhang in everyone’s eyes.

The past is like the wind. Just picking up a broom and sweeping like this, she couldn’t help but recall the ups and downs of the past.

She wondered how the Empress was doing in heaven…

Matron Zhang looked at the sky and said silently in her heart, “Your Majesty the Empress, thanks to your blessing, the Crown Princess’s headaches have been relieved a lot.”

These past few nights, she hadn’t even lit the calming incense, and she rarely summoned the imperial physicians.

And… thinking of the Crown Princess’s care for that Little Princess of Shan, Matron Zhang thought to herself, “Her Highness finally has a confidante.”

This made Matron Zhang feel relieved. She really wished that Her Majesty the Empress was also here and could see it with her own eyes. Unfortunately…

Wiping the old tears from the corners of her eyes, Matron Zhang saw the Crown Princess walk out of the bedchamber. She looked as if she had had a good night’s sleep, without a trace of sleepiness or fatigue on her face.

A look of joy appeared on Matron Zhang’s face.

“Your Highness, it’s still early. Are you going to morning court?”

It had been a long time since she had seen Her Highness wake up so early.

Especially after the sky prison incident, Her Highness had been recuperating and did not appear in public much. She had only gone a little earlier the first day to accompany Miss Lu to the Caiyun Academy.

If Her Highness’s body was fully recovered and she could go to morning court and let those people see the change and be convinced, then the days would be perfect.

Matron Zhang was also looking forward to seeing Her Highness ascend the throne in the future.

She believed more than anyone that the child born of Her Majesty the Empress would definitely be an unprecedentedly wise monarch.

“I’m not going to morning court.”

Zheng Xuening walked quickly. With her long legs, in the time it took to say a sentence, she had already passed by Matron Zhang.

Matron Zhang quickly followed her and said with concern, “Then, Your Highness… please wear more clothes. The snow outside has melted, and it’s still cold.”

Zheng Xuening frowned without a change in expression, confirming that her headaches had not been completely cured.

“This Princess is not cold.”

She could listen to Lu Dieqing talk for a long time without getting a headache, but just a few words of nagging from Matron Zhang made her temples throb with pain.

As expected, it was the same as before. She couldn’t stand others being noisy.

Even though she knew in her heart that Matron Zhang was genuinely doing it for her own good.

But this understanding could not separate reason from her headaches.

Zheng Xuening stopped in her tracks, looked back slightly, her sharp phoenix eyes holding an authority that was not angry.

“Matron, take care of yourself. You don’t need to worry about this Princess.”

Her looks were actually more like the former Empress, not very much like the current Son of Heaven.

So that sense of authority was also different from the other’s.

The Son of Heaven had been indulging in wine and women for many years. Even with the best imperial physicians to specially care for his body, his foundation had been almost completely ruined by his debauchery.

The other had also been searching for celestial masters everywhere, trying to find the path to immortality. The entire palace, because of the Son of Heaven’s indulgence, already had a sense of befuddled decadence.

When this befuddlement spread to Zheng Xuening’s side, it stopped and did not manifest in her.

Zheng Xuening had an exceptionally sharp indifference and clarity.

She was clearly planning everything, and clearly seemed as if… she could destroy everything at any moment.

If one walks and jumps on the edge of a cliff for a long time, they will feel that returning to flat ground has become a dull and tasteless thing.

To do something crazy, to go all in, that’s what feels like living desperately.

She had had this feeling before. This body of hers had actually been dead for a long time. What was living was just a lingering obsession, stubbornly holding on to the world, to everything.

Long ago, she had discovered that she had been poisoned, and that this poison had been administered with her good father’s permission.

She wouldn’t die, but she would be constantly tormented by headaches, half-dead.

But her father could, in front of everyone, put on a show of genuine love for his legitimate eldest daughter.

This poison was incurable.

It would only slowly merge with her body as she grew older, making it impossible for her to spend too much effort on thinking about problems and handling political affairs, until she truly became a useless person who could only wait for death and could not accept any external disturbances.

Zheng Xuening walked briskly in the snow, letting the biting cold wind of the winter night blow against her.

Sometimes, she wanted to slap everything in the entire imperial palace into pieces.

She suspected that she had already become a madwoman, to be able to endure, to suffer, but also to be clearly planning these things.

To get it, and then destroy it all.

Zheng Xuening’s thin and slender figure, when she released her internal energy, shuttled through the entire imperial palace like a gust of wind, passing by in an instant.

A group of palace staff were carrying things, and they only saw a figure pass by. They almost thought there was something dirty in the imperial palace.

“Did you see that just now? A figure passed by.”

The little eunuch was half-believing, “I also saw a gust of wind blow past, something. Let’s go, let’s go…”

The group quickened their pace.

This was near the former Empress’s Wutong Hall.

After the former Empress passed away from illness, it had been empty, with only a few palace staff living here to take care of it.

Zheng Xuening’s figure appeared in front of her mother’s former bedchamber.

The courtyard tree there had been planted for almost twenty years.

She didn’t say a word and walked under the courtyard tree.

The Crown Princess drew the dagger she carried with her and dug a few times. The soil behind the tree roots was loose, and soon, the things hidden inside were revealed.

There was a tooth that the white cat her mother had raised back then had lost. And a… letter wrapped in a handkerchief.

The letter on top, the handwriting had already become old after fifteen years. It was her mother’s.

The letter at the bottom…

Zheng Xuening looked at the fresh and graceful handwriting on it, a little dazed.

Why had she also put the letter Lu Dieqing had written to her in the sky prison in there?

Oh, she remembered.

If she died, all the things buried here could serve as a cenotaph.

Not for the Crown Princess.

Unrelated to the imperial power.

Just for her, Zheng Xuening.

The little rabbit’s words were sharp and pierced her heart.

—…We are friends. You can’t bully me like this.

—…Unless you don’t consider me a friend… but just consider me a little shrimp soldier or crab general under the power of your heir.

Compared to the little wooden doll that did nothing but was called Xinxin, the Crown Princess Zheng Xuening didn’t seem to be loved very much.