58 Favoring Qie Over Wife (58)

Zhao Cheng answered her smile with one of his own, "Jia'er doesn't need to bear with such formalities. If Jia'er wants to, she could call me whichever way she likes."

He particularly liked hearing her voice saying 'wang ye'. This title was a favorite of his for no other reason than because it was what she called him during moments of passion. Thinking of how alluring her moans sounded while the two of them passionately made love, the gaze Zhao Cheng directed at her turned a bit hot.

Song Jia scratched her nose. She pretended not to see the awkward gazes of his guards. She didn't even dare to take a look at Bai Mei Lien's expression, only putting on an innocent appearance, placing all of the guilt on Zhao Cheng's head.

Don't look at me, this grandma doesn't know anything, ah~

Zhao Cheng saw Song Jia's embarrassed appearance and forcibly stopped himself from laughing out loud. He took her hand and teased, "Is Jia'er being shy?"

Song Jia thickened her face and retorted, "Your Majesty is joking, why would chenqie be shy?"

"If Jia'er isn't shy, then why is Jia'er blushing?"

"Your Majesty, chenqie's skin is very sensitive to the sun, that is why chenqie's cheeks are red."

Song Jia glared at him.

Stop teasing this grandma, you shameless hoodlum!

Zhao Cheng opened his mouth, about to continue teasing her. Suddenly, from the corner of his eye, he saw the glint of an arrow. It was a dying archer that still had a breath left, and used it to release a poisoned arrow from his light repeating crossbow. But because his hands were shaking too much, the path of his arrow changed and missed Zhao Cheng by a large margin, instead accidentally aiming straight at Bai Mei Lien.

"Lien'er!"

Despite his confused feelings, Zhao Cheng knew that Bai Mei Lien was important to him. They knew each other since childhood, and she was at least the mother of his child. He immediately let go of Song Jia's hand and hugged Bai Mei Lien's body without hesitation, offering his own body as her shield. Bai Mei Lien was still gripped in the throes of jealousy from the harmonious interaction between Zhao Cheng and Song Jia, which made her have a delayed reaction when she suddenly found herself wrapped inside Zhao Cheng's arms.

"Brother Cheng?" she asked in confusion.

It was not only Zhao Cheng who had seen the arrow. Song Jia had also seen it, in almost the same exact time that he did. From the beginning, Song Jia's mind only revolved around her mission, which was to 'protect the monarch.' Not to mention, Song Jia had an inner hero complex. So when she saw the approaching danger that threatened the life of the only potential savior of this world, she didn't hesitate but used her anti-gravity boots to leap forward into the line of fire.

Zhao Cheng only felt a warm body suddenly hug his back, her slender arms going around his waist. A soft and sweet floral scent drifted to his nose, and Zhao Cheng's whole body stiffened. An image suddenly flashed in his mind, of a girl nestled in a tree full of pink and white peach blossoms. He did not dare to look back, but when the body suddenly slid down, he could not help but turn around to catch her.

On the pure and pristine white dress, blood quickly bloomed like a red lotus flower. It was a beautiful but devastating sight.

"Jia'er...Jia'er..."

The tip of the arrow was coated with lethal poison, something that could kill a person within two minutes. The blood that soaked her dress quickly became black. Song Jia was in so much pain that tears filled her eyes.

"It hurts..."

The horror washed over him, and the hands that held her trembled. His knees fell to the ground as he pulled her to his arms, his fingers digging into her skin, "Jia'er, don't you dare leave me!"

His face was white as paper, his thoughts a mess. He only knew that she was leaving him, and it filled him with fear. He did not believe in gods and deities, even if he was the Son of Heaven, he did not believe that they actually existed. However, now he prayed with all of his heart, that they could hear him, hear his prayer...

In this life, he did not want anything, except her! As long as she didn't die, even if he exchanged everything, he would willingly do it. As long as she didn't leave him!

Because Zhao Cheng finally realized...

He loved her.

The woman in his heart, the woman that he loved, the reason why he was so confused...it was because the woman he loved was not Bai Mei Lien, but Li Jia!

It had always been Li Jia! From the beginning when he met her, talked to her, interacted with her, his heart was already not his own. He finally found what he wanted from this life, and it was this wang fei that had been consistently taking care of him. He was not prepared, and he was already going to lose her!

"Wang ye..."

It was getting harder and harder for Song Jia to focus on him.

"Wang ye, be a good monarch to this world..."

Her eyes fluttered closed, and the soul that had been waiting to seize back her own body took the chance to return. Li Jia opened her eyes with difficulty and smiled.

Look, those eyes that are filled with fear and pain. They were staring at her, and the overflowing love in them could fill an ocean. How much she wanted this man to give his heart to her, and how much she hated the woman that he had given his heart to.

In the end, that woman she hated so much also wasn't loved by him. Li Jia felt that everything she did in her past life was pointless, and she thought that the previous her was indeed being foolish. She persisted on going into a dark road that didn't have any promise of happiness. Now, she was ready to let go of her hatred.

Her voice was weak when she said, "Wang ye...qie hopes that in the next lifetime...we won't meet."

She did not want to love him again.

She did not want to see him, and suffer through the same pain. One lifetime was enough.

The love she had for him was too painful to hold on to. Li Jia didn't think she'd have the courage to love him again.

Her hand reached out to touch his cheek.

"Wang ye...qie bids goodbye."

The words barely fell from her mouth when her hand slipped down from his cheek and fell to the ground. Zhao Cheng reached down and grabbed it, feeling for her pulse.

Li Jia closed her eyes.

In this kind of way, the original host, the di daughter of Prime Minister Li, died. She died with sadness, but without the enmity and blood debt in her heart. She would probably not be reborn as a vengeful reincarnator again.

Zhao Cheng felt that the body in his arms had stopped breathing and his mind went blank. The weak pulse on her wrist was also gone.

"Jia'er...Jia'er..."

He shook her, but she did not wake up. Panic clogged his throat, and he used more force with his hands. But the body inside his arms remained motionless.

"Jia'er, don't you dare leave...I forbid you to leave! You definitely can't leave me behind!"

Bai Mei Lien watched with a pale face as Zhao Cheng acted like a madman, desperately calling out wang fei's name. He threatened her, he cajoled her, he pleaded her, he even told her that he was in the wrong and he would not make the same mistakes again...but the woman in his embrace still did not wake up. If it wasn't for the rich scent of blood in the air, she would have thought that wang fei was only sleeping, closing her eyes to rest.

However, the reality that they were facing was much different.

Bai Mei Lien could not watch the man she loved break down anymore and averted her gaze. She pretended not to hear the hoarse shouts that had gradually turned into sobs, sobs that turned into mournful crying, and finally silence...

Zhao Cheng felt that it was too difficult to breathe, not knowing how to alleviate the pain in his heart. Its every beat seemed to pump acid into his veins, suffocating him. He looked down at the woman inside his arms, and he smiled. However, that smile was too forced, appearing more painful to look at than if he had been crying.

"You left me, you actually left me...you told me to be a good monarch to the world, but Jia'er, I don't know when it happened, I found out that my whole world had became you. So when my world is too cruel to abandon and leave me behind, how could I be good to the world that you wanted me to govern..."

"Jia'er, you don't want to meet me in our next lifetime, but even if you don't want to, I will go forward and meet you. By then, even if you want to escape, I won't let you go..."

These promises were spoken with conviction, and with his red-rimmed eyes, his words seemed to be giving off a deep feeling of bloodthirstiness, making the shadow guards around him shiver. They had not seen their master behave like this before. Even at the height of the northern war where their master killed hundreds of barbarians, he did not give off such a frightening feeling.

It was as if the one who had died that day was not the Empress but the heart of the Emperor...