The Darker the Night, The Brighter the Stars

"You have to eat all of it..." She said in a soft voice like she was coaxing a child.

"Ah, you shouldn't be too picky. You can only eat light meals and soup because of the wound on your belly." She gestured to the bandaged wound on his stomach.

"Be good and don't be stubborn. "

"Don't look at me like that. You must listen to me. I am a doctor." Her face appeared to have been wronged when she said this.

"You don't want to recover faster?" She said doubtfully.

"Why are you still awake? You should sleep early and get some rest." There was the sound of sincere concern and worry in her voice that he had not heard for years.

"I made this medicine on my own and spent a lot of effort on it. You bad, bad man. Why aren't you drinking it?" Her cheeks puffed up in anger.

"Get out if you don't want to listen! I am not stopping you." She turned her back away in a sulky manner.

"Today, l met a young customer who was asking for a fertility tonic... I am unsure what a ten-year-old child is planning to do with it so I lied and said we didn't have any..." She babbled happily while surrounded with innocence.

"Your wound is healing nicely. Very good. You have to keep resting like this and you'll be back in full health after a month and a half!" Her hands clapped in excitement as she gazed at him.

"I'll comb your hair for you. Don't strain yourself." She carefully parted his hair and combed them as gently as possible with great care.

"You don't trust my abilities? I know how to sew very well! Although the stitches look somewhat crooked right now, I'll learn after practicing..."

"Ah, I am glad that you've recovered. You can finally go home." A look of relief, then happiness.

Home... it was an unusual word that Fu Yanqing has rarely used.

He once thought that the battlefield was his home but he soon realized that it was only temporary.

When he went back to the palace, the word home was difficult to place.

The cruel world inside the palace court wasn't a place where you could call it a home.

His mansion, Prince Jing's residence, could be considered a home in the operational sense.

Prince Jing was the title he got after earning his military merits in the battlefield. He was given a private residence and he gradually expanded it and renovated everything to suit his style.

It had been the place where he would work and rest and even then, he could never truly rest because there would always be an attempt at his life.

In this small room inside this small house, was the first time he had ever slept soundly without worries. Was it because the woman caring for him was as harmless as a fly?

But she knows medicine and acupuncture. She could kill him with her needles.

Strangely, Fu Yanqing wasn't threatened by her existence. Her hands that had touched the hard planes of his body when cleaning and redressing his wounds were soft and tender.

Her voice, even when annoyed was strangely sweet and pleasant to the ears.

Her smiles that would brighten her face and her small reserved laughter were too natural to fake.

She didn't hide her annoyance and she told him when she was unhappy with his behavior.

"If you don't tell me what's wrong, I can't help you."

Although she would complain and grumble that he was demanding, she would acquiesce to his requests and take note of his preferences.

If she knew his identity, if she had asked for it even just once, he would have killed her to keep her mouth shut.

He waited and waited, he waited until he had recovered but this strange woman never asked for his name. She didn't inquire why he was injured or poisoned.

So it turns out she wasn't naive enough to provoke the sleeping tiger.

This woman still knows self-preservation. He often considered just killing her because she occupied his mind a lot.

He experienced too many complex emotions associated with her.

A woman.

He didn't want to be like his incompetent father who was easy prey and stupid enough to be played by women.

Fu Yanqing had watched and guarded himself against the woman who saved him.

Maybe she was hiding some tricks. Maybe, just maybe she would also try to extort some benefits from him.

He waited, he expected...

But this woman couldn't wait to kick him out!

Fu Yanqing was so annoyed that he ignored her for a few days. She didn't try to coax him but she had ruthlessly shoved the medicine down his throat while complaining that he made her work difficult and that he was a grown man and should stop throwing a tantrum like a child.

He, Fu Yanqing, the great Prince Jing was mocked and called a kid?

He was throwing a tantrum?

He couldn't believe this woman was so bold to insult him. He had wanted to strangle that delicate white neck of her and silence her mouth with his lips until she could no longer--

...

...

Fu Yanqing immediately left without a word once he was recovered. His mind was being poisoned, no doubt.

Well, he would grant that woman's strange request and never appear before her again.

Or so he thought.

Two weeks later, he was drunk with aphrodisiac and could only think about her.

Her smile, her voice, her soft hands...

What would she say when they meet again?

Even when his mind was clouded and his body was burning as if he had been immersed in lava, he could only think about her.

Fu Yanqing didn't even ask her name. He didn't want to establish a connection with her.

A name would make things difficult. She'd be a real person with a name and identity.

She wouldn't just be 'that woman' or 'this woman' any longer.

He'd be forced to acknowledge her and he was already growing crazy while thinking about her.

When he had raced to find her using his internal force, he no longer cared about anything.

He only wanted to see her. Even if it was late at night, he snuck inside her house and entered her room.

He'd make the excuse of wanting her help. Any medicine would do, he just wanted to see her again.

What Fu Yanqing didn't expect was to see her in a thin inner wear, rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"You..."She was shook awake after seeing him again. He grabbed her wrists when she took a step backwards.

"Woman, help me..."He said with great difficulty while trying not to look below her shoulders.

Through gritted teeth, had managed to control his self but when she nodded and moved to the side, presumably to get medicine, her inner wear had slipped open a little and revealed her collarbone and a long stretch of white blemish free skin.

His eyes darkened. The little bit of control he possessed had snapped and before she could move away, he had thrown her in the bed with lightning speed.

His hands moved, ripping the thin fabric to pieces and forcing a claim on her.

The twenty-five years of his life he had spent guarding against women fell and broke to pieces because of her.

Ironically, he wasn't unhappy about it.

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