After the Cold and Aloof Husband's Mask Falls - Chapter 48

At this moment, the sun completely sank, and only the final lingering glow of the twilight remained between heaven and earth.

Inside the room where the lamps had not yet been lit, the black shadows were like pools of thick ink, invading from every crack and crawling up the bodies of the two people until their mouths and noses were enveloped, making it impossible to breathe.

A long silence passed.

Gu Wanlan moved. “Cui Jue, do you still want to ask about Xiao Sun?”

“Yes.”

Gu Wanlan took a deep breath. When she forced herself to speak, she sounded normal. “Cui Jue, you likely heard what was said in the flower hall just now. The Emperor entrusted me to look after Xiao Sun. In the future, it will be impossible for me to cut ties with him completely. This is the grand scheme of things; I cannot change it. If you care—”

“Gu Wanlan, are you going to divorce me?”

Cui Jue suddenly spoke, cutting off her words.

Gu Wanlan’s whole body jolted. She gripped her spear tightly and averted her eyes in distress. “Perhaps that is the cleanest and most direct way.”

With a sharp rip, the sound of fabric being torn echoed in the darkness.

“Clean and direct?”

A cold laugh spilled from the shadows where Cui Jue stood. Gu Wanlan couldn’t see his expression, but at that instant, her body captured a signal of danger; the hair all over her body stood on end.

Before she could retreat, Cui Jue grabbed her hand and pressed it ruthlessly against his chest.

The spot her hand touched was slick and wet!

Gu Wanlan snapped her head up. Cui Jue, brooks no refusal, forced her hand deeper. With her vision blocked, the moist sensation under her fingertips became even more acute; she could even smell the scent of blood rising from there.

That was…

Gu Wanlan’s scalp felt like it was exploding. She tried to jerk her fingers away, but Cui Jue’s voice followed immediately like a heavy hammer.

“Gu Wanlan! How do you expect to cut ties with me cleanly!”

Gu Wanlan felt like she was being driven mad. Guilt, loss of control, self-reproach, and annoyance—everything was like vines growing out of the darkness, strangling her tightly. She knew she was in the wrong and couldn’t face Cui Jue, so she could only dodge pathetically.

But Cui Jue refused to give her even a moment’s breathing room. He reached out and gripped her jaw firmly, forcing her to look at him. “Gu Wanlan, do you even have a heart?!”

He pressed closer, step by step, nearly speaking through gritted teeth.

“The handkerchief you deliberately dropped back then… the hand warmer you specifically sent back when no one was around…”

The spear in Gu Wanlan’s hand hit the floor. A massive wave surged in her heart.

What… did he mean?

When she had deliberately seduced him back then, he… had known all along?

With a thud, Gu Wanlan’s back hit the cold wall. She realized she had nowhere left to retreat.

Cui Jue leaned in, the darkness in his eyes churning like a trapped beast struggling against its bonds. “Now, simply because you feel I’m in your way, you want to kick me aside. Then with whom did you plan to conceive the child you wanted to use to maintain the Protector Duke’s Manor!”

Gu Wanlan’s mind exploded. Suddenly, she thought of the day it snowed—his sudden display of affection and his request for intimacy.

So he knew everything.

The string of reason in Gu Wanlan’s mind snapped instantly. She no longer hid anything, shouting at him regardless of the consequences. “Yes! Since you know everything, I have nothing left to hide! I am no weak woman who cannot lift a hand. I am calculating and deep. Back then, I only saw that you were easy to manipulate and closely related to the Cui Liquan I despise, so I seduced you on purpose!”

“I chose you as a live-in husband only to maintain the Protector Duke’s Manor!”

“As for Xiao Sun, do you think I want to have further dealings with him? I finally steeled my heart to make a clean break, and now I’m entangled again because of the Emperor’s request!”

“So, even if it weren’t Xiao Sun, it would be ‘Wang Sun’ or some other ghost! If you care, then break things off with me right now! In the face of the grand scheme and the greater good, what does my personal selfishness matter?! I am simply ashamed to—”

“But I care!”

“What…”

Suddenly interrupted, Gu Wanlan looked up at Cui Jue in a daze. Having just vented her frustrations wildly, her mind was currently a total blank. In this world, nothing else seemed to exist. There was only the ringing in her ears and the only person before her in the dim light.

The moonlight spilled in at that moment. But he seemed to be the moon’s favorite, making him the only source of light in this gloom. Only now, the eyes he used to look at her were brighter than the moonlight.

“But I care,” Cui Jue said, his hands on her shoulders. He leaned down and spoke every word with absolute seriousness.

“I care about how you feel.” “I care about your emotions.” “I care about your selfishness.”

Gu Wanlan suddenly felt a sting in her nose. Her heart was like a sponge soaked through with water; now, with just a light squeeze from Cui Jue, all her emotions collapsed into a disorganized mess.

She instinctively reached out to wipe her face, but when she touched her cheeks, she realized that at some point, she was already covered in tears.

Reason gradually returned. However, the outburst just now seemed to have exhausted all her energy. Knowing she had revealed her true form to Cui Jue, she didn’t bother to hide anymore, letting the situation be what it was.

“Cui Jue, you are truly a good person,” Gu Wanlan said, completely abandoning her strange competitive streak. She slumped somewhat defeatedly against his chest, her voice muffled.

“To be honest, none of these messy affairs have anything to do with you. Yet I took my anger out on you like that today, and you still comfort me… I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry. It was I who utilized your kindness at the beginning, and I who dragged you into the awkward situation between me and Xiao Sun. But because you are a good person, you have been very tolerant of me, always standing on my side and thinking for me. No matter what, you have done nothing wrong.”

Cui Jue lowered his lashes and remained silent.

Gu Wanlan leaned there for a while, her heart completely calmed. She silently felt the warmth coming from the man before her. Perhaps the moonlight was too gentle, or perhaps the current atmosphere was too good, but she couldn’t help wanting to say a bit more to him.

“Actually… I was a bit frantic today. Back when I practiced the spear, no matter how long the session, I never slipped. I don’t know how to describe the feeling at that moment to you, but if I had to use another example, it would be like this: you were forced to put down your painting for a while, and you were confident that once you finished dealing with those idle matters, you could pick up your brush again and be even better…”

“But in reality, it’s very hard. A person’s energy is limited. When you have to spend your energy dealing with and coping with all sorts of distractions, in the end, it’s hard to say if you can still produce the same paintings as before.”

“What’s scarier is that you might even completely forget the original intention you had when you first put down the brush.”

Cui Jue simply let Gu Wanlan bury her head in his embrace. He reached out and tentatively patted her back. “Wanlan.”

“Mhm?”

Following the curve of her spine, Cui Jue gently patted her back. He turned his head to look at the lonely night sky outside the window, his eyes deep. “Why do you practice the spear?”

Gu Wanlan paused. “…I’m sorry, I can’t say yet.”

“Mhm.” Cui Jue didn’t mind and simply continued, “But I think you likely don’t intend to participate in some competition. Therefore, whether the spear technique is precise or useful might not be as important as you think.”

Gu Wanlan froze.

“Who your judge is, who your opponent is, and even what that spear in your hand truly represents—perhaps those are what matter more.”

That was it. The spear in her hand in the future was not just her alone, but the thirty thousand soldiers of the Gu family army under the Protector Duke. Her current struggles and battles with people in Xijing were merely the things she had to go through to reclaim that spear.

“Cui Jue.”

“Mhm?”

Gu Wanlan grabbed his collar, used it to wipe her face, and said muffledly, “Actually, if you weren’t a painter, you’d be quite suited to be a teacher.”

Cui Jue let out a light laugh. “Teaching our future child alone is enough. So, does Madam still want to divorce me?”

Gu Wanlan smiled as well. Following her heart, she reached out both arms and hugged him, explaining in a low voice. “Cui Jue, it’s not that I want to divorce you. I just…”

She nudged her head, finding a more comfortable spot in his embrace.

Cui Jue lightly stroked her hair, looking down. “Just what?”

Gu Wanlan’s voice was extremely soft. In the dark room, it was like a feather brushing past his ear, vanishing if one didn’t pay attention. “I just discovered…”

“Cui Jue, it seems that sometimes I can’t… face you as frankly as I used to.”

Her arms tightened around his waist as she murmured, “But… it shouldn’t be like this.”