Just as I was about to breathe a sigh of relief, I saw Night Lock pick something up from beside her pillow and roar, “What did you eat? Who allowed you to die!”
Had she taken poison? I was startled and immediately called an attendant: “Quickly, go fetch Shui Ruohan, hurry!”
“It’s too late… too late…” Lang Yue murmured on the bed, reaching out to hold Night Lock’s hand. Night Lock gazed at me before sitting on the bedside. Lang Yue whispered something in his ear. As I was about to close the door and leave, I heard Lang Yue say softly, “Let her come over. My Lord, would you please go out?”
Night Lock gave me another deep look before slowly moving out and closing the door. I picked up a candlestick and moved to the bedside. The candlelight cast a slight redness on Lang Yue’s face.
ngements were like a dream, and I seemed to see again the shy girl in love.
“Are you trying to use the Lord to destroy Night Mountain?”
“Jiao Long, are you still thinking about revenge?” Lang Yue unexpectedly changed the subject, catching me off guard. I looked at her in confusion. She said, “The night before our wedding, you were talking in your sleep, wanting to destroy Night Mountain to avenge your mother-in-law.”
“Really?” I smiled softly. So I had a bad habit of talking in my sleep.
“Is making the Lord fall in love with you your method of revenge?” She turned her face, staring at me seriously.
I was stunned for a moment before giving a wry smile: “Was I that obvious?”
Her expression changed, her eyes dropping: “So my guess was true. You really want to destroy Night Mountain. You want to use the Lord to destroy Night Mountain.”
“You’re wrong,” I stood by the bed, helping the pale-faced Lang Yue sit up and letting her lean on me.
“Are you talking about the Lord? I’m not sure when he knew my father’s identity, but I know that no matter what he does to me, I’m willing, with no complaints. As long as he looks at me for a moment, I’m very happy.”
Lang Yue showed no sadness, instead seeming to have figured many things out, which surprised me. I had always thought she was just a love fool…
Lang Yue had given everything for loving someone, abandoned everything, just stupidly loving, loving until the end of her life.
“But he loves you… People of Night Mountain are like this. Once they love someone, they fall completely into madness, crazy…” As Lang Yue said this, her face suddenly turned white, and she coughed up a mouthful of blood.
My heart ached, and I turned my head away, pretending not to notice her blood: “Night Lock is not such a person. He lives for ambition and politics.
oves, he doesn’t understand passionate love.” She continued, “Father was planted in Ye Mountain by the imperial court precisely to reclaim it one day. That day, when Father was hunting in the forbidden mountain, he saw a blue-haired you, and those sixteen characters made Father think you might have some value, so he pretended to save you. It was I who asked Father to set up a trap to kill you. Father loves me so much that he would rather betray the imperial court for me. But I did not want to kill you because of the King’s prophecy; I was afraid of what you might have said in your dream that night, afraid you would use the King and destroy Ye Mountain… How heartbroken he would have been then.”
“So afterwards, why did you keep targeting me, even wanting to kill me?”
“That was the emotion in your eyes. I love the King so much, and I clearly saw the love for the King in your eyes…” Langmoon said with difficulty, coughing up more blood.
“I cannot love him, cannot…” Although I do not hate him, I absolutely cannot love Ye Suo, the King of Ye Mountain! Yet, sometimes I would be lost in his misty white eyes, and then, as if remembering something, I asked, “Langmoon, what exactly was that sixteen-character prophecy?”
“The world’s fate, the Emperor’s star descends; Three thousand blue threads, a hero’s tomb!”
“What did you say?!” I could understand the first part, which was about Ye Suo being the Emperor’s star descending to the world, but what did the latter part about three thousand blue silk threads mean? What hero’s tomb?!
Images of my first meeting with Ye Suo flashed in my mind, how he wanted to kill me upon seeing my blue hair. Does this prophecy mean I am his nemesis?
p unease, recalling the inexplicable conflicts since our first meeting, how he repeatedly tried to kill me yet always stopped, and would carefully care for me… So this was the answer. I am his nemesis.
“Jiao Long, I don’t have much time. I only ask you one thing: do you still want to destroy Ye Mountain now?” She ignored my speculations and desperately grabbed my skirt.
I removed her hand, paused for a moment, and then said, “When I heard that Grandmother was a sacrifice in the battle between Ye Mountain and the imperial court eight years ago, how much pain was in my heart… I don’t have such great ability or ambition. Who is my enemy? Ye Mountain? The imperial court? Even if I destroyed the entire world… Grandmother would not come back. Who can compensate me for the fourteen years I was imprisoned?”
Surprise filled her weak, powerless eyes, then a self-mocking, miserable laugh: “So you had already let go, when?”
“I am an orphan, without a father’s love or a mother’s care…” I did not speak of my past in the orphanage, of being pointed at, of having toys snatched by other children, with no father to stand up for me, of having meat taken from my bowl, with no mother kindly adding more.
Closing my eyes, I then sincerely said, “When I saw the smoke and laughter across Ye Mountain, I did not want to destroy others’ warm world… Lan Jiao Long was not born seeking hatred.”
“Jiao Long has a pure and frank nature. I knew this at first sight. If I had known earlier how kind and honest you were, I would not have schemed to bring you to death, and my father and brother would not have died. We underestimated Jiao Long… truly underestimated…”
I did not expect Langmoon had always thought I was seeking revenge. My dream talk that night was the indirect cause of harm to the Suo Mu Ran family.
Langmoon’s Death
This was the first time I had openly shared my heart. Not even the seven fathers of the Hongyi death squad knew the bitterness in my heart. They only thought me naive and unaware of hatred, not knowing how much I had struggled…
“Jiao Long…” Langmoon suddenly looked at me like a spoiled child. I was stunned and supported her, but she smiled at me, “Where is my father? I seem to have not seen him for a long time.”
Suo Mu Ran had already been beheaded. I was completely frozen, looking at Langmoon’s seeking eyes. I suddenly felt a chill: “Langmoon…”
“Oh, right.” Langmoon seemed to recall something and explained her own doubts, “I married the King, right? No wonder I haven’t seen Father.”
“Langmoon, you…” My voice trembled. She coughed up more blood but seemed not to feel pain, still smiling softly at me. I realized something and hurriedly said, “The King is outside. I’ll call him in.”
“No, I look too ugly. The King definitely won’t like it.” She smiled, and I felt my eyes growing wet, biting my lips to prevent tears. She sat on the bed and beckoned me closer. I walked to her side, and she opened her arms to hug my waist, murmuring, “It’s so cold. Jiao Long, I should go see Father, or he’ll say I’ve forgotten him now that I have a husband.”
“Yes, go see your father. He loves and cherishes you more than anyone…” I patted her back.
“Bang—” The door was suddenly pushed open. Ye Suo and the late Water Ruo Han stood at the door, staring at me. Ye Suo’s misty white eyes glanced down at Langmoon and slowly walked to her bedside.
Seeing Ye Suo, Langmoon’s eyes instantly sparkled. Ye Suo leaned down and put his ear close to her lips.
