The Second Fall
669 Words
However, my call was completely ineffective. The two maidservants remained unmoved.
I felt embarrassed and found it hard to maintain my composure, so I called out a few more times, but the two maidservants continued to ignore me.
Xivier, watching from the side, found the situation amusing. He gave me a sly look, then casually spoke to the two maidservants behind him, "Since your mistress has ordered you, why aren’t you getting up?"
At the sound of his words, the two maidservants paused for a moment before standing up and quickly walking toward me, heads lowered.
I was speechless.
Taimir cast a brief, indifferent glance at Xivier and turned to leave.
"You really surprise me," Xivier said, his voice full of mockery. "With your personality, I never imagined you’d listen to my uncle and marry a human woman."
Taimir stopped in his tracks, turned around, and looked at him. "It is you who surprises me, Prince. To think that you’d fall for a human."
Xivier was taken aback. "Have you investigated?"
Taimir let out a low, cold laugh. "Of course. I must know everything about anyone who enters Panqiu Valley. Even those sent by Tianhai are no exception. So tell me, is the reason you’ve traveled so far really because of that woman?"
Xivier’s lips tightened, and his eyes darkened. "So what if it is? After all, we’ve met before. I knew she wouldn’t live much longer. I came here specifically to send her off."
"Well, that’s good. Luckily, I’ve left her a whole corpse. You can take her away when the time comes, and it’ll be a case of ‘returning what’s theirs.’"
"Then I really must thank you," Xivier said, walking forward, his tone suddenly rising. "What was it that the leader said earlier? That you must know everything about everyone who enters Panqiu Valley? What about your wife? I’ve heard her origins are unclear and that she knows martial arts. With your personality, you would never have kept her around this long. Why did you marry her?"
Taimir fell silent for a moment before replying, "Because she’s rather... interesting."
---
On the way back, I was burning with fever, my mind foggy. I half-closed my eyelids, staring at Taimir, who was sitting opposite me.
Taimir sat sideways, his face hidden, and I couldn’t tell what was going on in his mind.
The silence in the carriage was almost oppressive.
After staring at him for a while, I sensed that Taimir seemed preoccupied, his attention not on me at all. I relaxed my guard for a moment, and as soon as I did, my body swayed forward and I collapsed.
In one day, I had fallen twice—how long had it been since I’d been this unlucky?
In my sleep, I had a long, strange dream. I dreamed that a large black dog was carrying me through a forest. The dog was as big as a calf, with eyes as red as fire. Everywhere it passed, the grass and trees turned to ash, and the ground beneath it was so hot that it seemed to be on fire.
The dim, desolate sunlight covered the forest, and though it was day, there was not a trace of vitality, as if everything had fallen into a deep, death-like sleep.
I felt suffocated and wanted to wake up from the dark dream.
Finally, someone gently patted my face and softly called my name. It was a woman’s voice, reminding me of my mother waking me up many years ago.
I opened my eyes in surprise, only to find a young, beautiful face staring back at me.
"Madam, you’ve finally woken up."
I sat up, still a bit disoriented, and stared at the woman. "Madam? What are you calling me? Sure, my face may look a little old, but I’m still in my prime. You can’t call me that, it’s disrespectful."
The woman immediately lowered her body in a respectful bow and knelt beside me, then called out, "Leader’s wife."
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