Chapter 173: Chapter 172: Traitorous Concubine or Worthy Empress 7
Prince Jin coldly looked at the beauties in the hall: "Dismiss."
The beauties left quietly, trembling in fear.
Anning watched all this unfold and felt that Prince Jin was becoming increasingly inscrutable.
Additionally, she always felt that Prince Jin was familiar, so familiar that she didn’t resist some slightly intimate interactions with him, yet now she couldn’t remember where she had seen him before.
"I shall accompany you to rest."
Prince Jin stood up and pulled Anning up as well.
Anning then followed him back to Qifang Palace.
Upon returning to Qifang Palace, Anning started to feel anxious.
Seeing that Prince Jin intended to rest here, her expression turned somewhat ugly.
Prince Jin ignored Anning and got changed and went to bed himself.
Anning sat in front of the dressing table, slowly brushing her hair, while Prince Jin watched her from the bed, lying on his side.
After waiting for a long time, when Anning felt she could not delay any longer, she got up and walked to the bedside.
Prince Jin moved a little inward and patted the spot next to him, where Anning lay down with her clothes still on.
Then Prince Jin did not move anymore.
Anning exhaled softly.
After a while, Prince Jin suddenly spoke, "Are you afraid of me?"
"Not at all," Anning replied quickly, "Your Majesty treats me well, I am not afraid."
"Do not fear," Prince Jin’s tone was somewhat muffled.
Anning turned to look; he had already closed his eyes and was nearly asleep.
She waited until Prince Jin was sound asleep before she could relax. Gradually, she started to feel drowsy, her eyelids felt glued shut, unable to open.
Anning slept very soundly that night.
She had traveled here from Lu Country and had not had a good night’s sleep for over a month.
Originally, she thought that she would also not sleep well in Prince Jin’s Royal Palace, but she didn’t expect to sleep so soundly beside Prince Jin.
In the morning, when Anning woke up, she found Prince Jin watching her intently.
"Your Majesty."
She called softly, her voice still laden with the laziness of just waking up.
Prince Jin hummed in response, draped his clothes on, and sat up: "I will draft a decree as soon as possible to officially confer your title early."
He stood up from the bed, murmuring softly: "Thus, you can also be at ease, and Lu Country can be at ease too."
Anning tried to get up, but Prince Jin pressed her down, "Lie down a bit longer, I will go to the morning court session and come back for breakfast later."
He called the Palace Attendant in to help him change into his court clothes, then left with a group of people for the morning court session.
Anning lay in bed for a while longer before getting up.
She sat in front of the dressing table, putting on makeup while thinking about the memories Xie Anning had left her.
The Prince Jin in Xie Anning’s memories seemed different from the one she had encountered.
In Xie Anning’s memories, Prince Jin was always cold, and even though he treated Xie Anning somewhat differently, he had never really cared for her.
Additionally, Xie Anning was solely focused on Feng Chengxi, only thinking of quickly returning to Lu Country, and she never took an interest in Prince Jin or carefully observed his preferences and temperament. After many years in Prince Jin’s palace, she didn’t even know what kind of person he was.
Anning had been here for only one day but already found that Prince Jin was a bit strange.
He seemed...
Anning thought of a term from modern medicine.
Recalling Prince Jin’s abnormally low body temperature and slower-than-normal heartbeat, she became even more convinced that Prince Jin was naturally emotionally detached, or rather, he had never experienced the normal human emotions of joy and anger, sorrow and pleasure.
He was devoid of sadness or joy, without any emotional fluctuations.
He never knew happiness, nor anger. Even if a relative died, he would not feel sad; if someone died in front of him, he would not be afraid.
A person like Prince Jin, devoid of any emotions, was akin to a machine—living without any joy.
Anning, recalling how Prince Jin had finally self-immolated in Xie Anning’s memories, reaffirmed this thought.
And she also realized that the reason Prince Jin treated her differently was probably because he could sense her emotions.
How should I put it, Prince Jin should be able to sense some of her emotions, which is why he showed such interest in her and treated her so kindly.
Xie Anning should have had the same effect initially.
It’s just that Prince Jin’s emotional response to Xie Anning wasn’t very obvious.
Whereas Anning, because of her strong spiritual power, made it more obvious for Prince Jin to feel.
And...
Anning tied up her hair, her eyebrows also furrowed.
It seemed like she had forgotten something.
It seemed like someone had deliberately altered or taken away some of her memories.
Suddenly, Anning thought of the Main God.
She slapped the table and called An Xin to mind.
"An Xin, who do you think Prince Jin resembles?"
Anning thought about her altered memory; perhaps An Xin’s data was more completely preserved.
An Xin thought for a long time: "I can’t quite remember, but it feels very familiar, like... someone very close to you, Ningning."
"Think harder."
An Xin tried hard to search through her data flow, then discovered some data had fragmented.
She was greatly shocked: "Someone has tampered with my database."
Anning’s gaze slightly deepened: "It must be the Main God, he might have felt our threat, so he..."
Apart from the Main God and herself, Anning couldn’t think of anyone else who could have modified An Xin’s database.
An Xin was no ordinary system; she had been with Anning through countless lives, and lastly, when Anning rebelled against the Main God, Anning had upgraded An Xin with the World Heart obtained from an advanced Cultivation World, making An Xin, next to the Main God, one of the most powerful systems.
"I’ll repair those fragments."
An Xin was quite frustrated.
After a long time, just as Prince Jin left court and came to join Anning for breakfast, An Xin finally managed to repair some of the severely fragmented data streams.
When Prince Jin appeared before Anning, An Xin screamed: "I know now, he is Xiao Yuan."
Anning suddenly smiled, she stood up to greet Prince Jin, and asked softly, "What is Your Majesty’s honored name?"
"I am named Xiao Yuan."
Indeed, that was the case.
Anning observed Xiao Yuan, the more she looked, the more familiar he seemed.
An Xin continued explaining to Anning: "Ningning, Xiao Yuan has been your husband for two lifetimes, including the last one, where you and him..."
"Xiao Yuan."
Anning softly repeated the name, raising her head to look at Prince Jin: "Your Majesty’s name is very pleasant to hear."
Prince Jin seemed very pleased; he took Anning’s hand and sat down: "The Lu Country Crown Prince is taking his leave, he will soon return to his country, would you like to see him off?"
Anning shook her head.
A thought suddenly flashed through her mind.
Previously, Anning had plans on how to take revenge on Feng Chengxi.
However, now she changed her mind.
Her earlier methods of revenge on Feng Chengxi were somewhat too gentle, not thrilling or satisfying enough.
Now...
Anning thought about living this life happily and free, a life as Xie Anning wished, naturally, she couldn’t put off revenge overnight, all that about a gentleman taking revenge after ten years, that was all nonsense.
She would take revenge on the spot.
Thus, Anning smiled while leaning on Prince Jin, coquettishly speaking to him: "Your Majesty, I heard that currently all countries host hostages from other nations, and as it seems, Jin Country doesn’t have a hostage from Lu Country. Since the Lu Country Crown Prince is here, why not keep him as a hostage?"
Her voice was sweet, filled with tender affection, Prince Jin, upon hearing this, felt his heart soften a bit, filled with sweet joy. This intense emotion was highly enjoyable to him.
For someone who hadn’t felt any emotions for many years, suddenly understanding what joy and happiness were, naturally, he became somewhat addicted to it.
He nodded unconsciously: "Alright."
Anning played with Prince Jin’s fingers: "The Lu Country Crown Prince is also my cousin. I left my home to come to Jin Country, and though it pleases me to be by Your Majesty’s side, it is not home. Over time, I inevitably miss my relatives. If my cousin stays in Yang City, when I miss home, I could still speak with him, that would be enough."