After the Cold and Aloof Husband's Mask Falls - Chapter 61

The shadows receded, gradually revealing the face of the person behind Eleven. First was a well-defined nose, then eyes colder than the moonlight of tonight.

It was Gu Wanlan!

Cui Qiong’s breath hitched. He instinctively turned his head to look at Cui Jue beside him, only to see Cui Jue’s face deathly pale and his lips trembling slightly. He merely stood there, gazing at her from across the distance, with only the full moon hanging in the center of the courtyard between them.

A long silence ensued.

Cui Jue took a step toward Gu Wanlan, but with just this one step, it seemed as if all his strength had been hollowed out. His figure actually staggered. Cui Qiong hurriedly stepped forward to support him. “Brother…”

But the moment he gripped Cui Jue’s arm, Cui Qiong was stunned.

His brother’s hand was actually shaking! At this moment, where was the decisiveness and aura his brother had possessed just moments ago when he, as the Master of the Cui family, swung his sword to decapitate a man?

He was actually afraid. As for what he feared… it was practically self-evident.

Cui Qiong supported Cui Jue, looking up with a complex expression. He had only just uttered the three words “Gu Wanlan” when the long sword in Gu Wanlan’s hand was pressed against his throat.

A fierce, violent glint surfaced in Gu Wanlan’s eyes. “Today’s matter has nothing to do with you. Get out.”

Seeing Cui Qiong held at swordpoint, the guards in the courtyard moved again, the atmosphere once more becoming thick with tension.

“Listen to her. Fall back!” Cui Jue pressed his hand to his chest and barked out the order, an unnatural flush appearing on his face.

Cui Qiong pursed his lips tightly. With a grand wave of his hand, he ordered everyone to retreat from the area. After the attendants had finished removing the bearded man’s corpse and he knew he could stay no longer, Cui Qiong suppressed the worry in his heart and turned to withdraw as well.

But as he reached the point of closing the courtyard gate, Cui Qiong gritted his teeth and stopped. When he looked at Gu Wanlan, his face even carried a trace of pleading. “Gu Wanlan, do not make decisions while you are angry.”

Angry?

When she first discovered Cui Jue’s true face and realized he was the Master of the Cui family, she was likely extremely infuriated—to the point that she was momentarily careless and allowed the secret guard to discover her tracks.

But now…

Gu Wanlan lowered her eyes, looking at the hilt of her sword soaked in blood, feeling only a deepening sense of irony in her heart.

While she was worried for his life and digging through a pile of corpses, what was he doing? While she was preparing to tell him the truth about herself, what was he plotting?!

Even earlier, on that snowy night she entered the palace, the man she had caught a glimpse of in Emperor Qingyuan’s hall was likely this husband of hers who claimed he was going to his study to paint.

Technically, he hadn’t lied to her; he had only said “he entered the palace with Cui Qiong.” The rest—that “he was merely Cui Qiong’s strategist”—was entirely her own speculation, and he simply hadn’t denied it.

But… it was too ridiculous.

She actually burst into loud laughter.

“Cui Jue! Playing with me like a fool, did you find it very amusing? Watching me go out of my way to save you several times, did you find it very amusing?!”

“No! I have never harbored such thoughts!”

Cui Jue’s face was ghastly pale as he hurriedly walked toward Gu Wanlan, but when he was only an arm’s length away, he forced himself to stop.

Right now, she must utterly loathe… his approach.

Cui Jue’s fingers curled, and he lowered his voice to explain, “Wanlan, I hid things from you for a reason, but I never had the intention of mocking you!”

Drawing closer, Cui Jue realized that Gu Wanlan’s hands were actually covered in blood. His heart skipped a beat, and he reached out to grab her wrist, saying urgently, “Are you injured?!”

Gu Wanlan stopped laughing, her mood becoming unexpectedly calm. She cast a nonchalant glance at her own hands. “Oh, it’s from others. I was afraid you were dead, so I used my hands to flip over those corpses one by one. I must say, the feeling at the time was quite peculiar.”

Cui Jue felt as if his heart had been gripped fiercely by someone, and as if his brain had been split in two by an axe—half was shamelessly delighted that Gu Wanlan truly cared for him, while the other half was terrified by her current indifferent manner.

The two emotions twisted and turned frantically, and in the end, they both transformed into deep heartache and self-reproach.

At the thought that he had inadvertently made her experience the same heavy and painful emotions he had felt in his past life—even if only for a moment—it was enough to make Cui Jue feel suffocated with guilt. He took a step forward and pulled Gu Wanlan into a tight embrace. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have let you worry for me. I’m sorry—”

He… looked like he was about to cry.

Gu Wanlan allowed Cui Jue to hold her, leaning against his chest, thinking calmly. But she was a bit tired now and had no leisure to discern whether his current emotions were real or fake. “It has nothing to do with you. Thinking about it now, it was simply that I wanted to do it, so I did it.”

Cui Jue’s heart plummeted. His hands holding Gu Wanlan began to tremble. “Gu Wanlan, why aren’t you angry? I deceived you, why aren’t you angry!”

Gu Wanlan pushed Cui Jue away and said tonelessly, “I just suddenly feel it’s meaningless.”

“Cui Jue.” Gu Wanlan slowly raised her head to look at him. “Whether you were ever sincere to me, and whether I was ever sincere to you… Cui Jue, it’s meaningless now.”

Cui Jue’s whole body shook, as if he had been struck by a freezing spell, standing frozen in place.

It was a long time before he seemed to snap back from a dream, murmuring, “What do you mean, that you ‘were ever’ sincere to me?”

It had been at most an hour, but as Gu Wanlan recalled it now, it felt as long as a year.

Gu Wanlan slowly reached out her hand toward the full moon hanging high in the night sky. The clean moonlight poured through the gaps in her fingers. She let out a sigh. “I suppose it was on that road before coming here. I wanted to know your past and your present. I even harbored the thought of having you fully participate in the rest of my life.”

Cui Jue felt his temples thrumming frantically, his blood rushing to his head. His eyes had turned bloodshot from the sheer force of his emotion, and he needed immense self-control to suppress his urge to touch her hand again. Even speaking became extremely difficult; it took a long while before he squeezed the word from between his teeth: “…’Were’?”

Gu Wanlan made a hollow fist as if grasping the moonlight, then opened her empty hand toward Cui Jue, smiling. “But just like this illusory moonlight that cannot be grasped, the person I wanted to understand and protect was fake—he didn’t exist. There is no gentle painter on Akishiyama, and there is no minor strategist I wanted to pry away from Cui Qiong.”

It was like the skin on his neck felt the great blade hanging beside it, finally sensing the premonition that it was about to fall.

Cui Jue’s pupils contracted. Unable to restrain himself any longer, he reached forward to grab her, but Gu Wanlan seemed to have anticipated his move. She took a step back, leaving only a piece of her sleeve to slide quickly through his palm.

Cui Jue staggered, his grasp hitting empty air.

“As for you, My Lord,” Gu Wanlan looked at the stunned Cui Jue and opened her fingers, finally letting go of the sword she had carried all the way. The blade hit the ground with a crisp clack. “There is no possibility between us.”

Because there was no possibility, any anger was also meaningless.

If he were the true Master of the Cui family, it meant the person who had forced her to discard her military uniform and return to Xijing was him. Even if she now sensed that his opposition to her back at Changping Pass might have had another reason…

Gu Wanlan closed her eyes, forcibly suppressing the bitterness rising in her heart.

But as long as this absurd marriage existed for one more day, Emperor Qingyuan would surely not let her regain control of the military.

“I understand.”

Under the full moon, Cui Jue slowly straightened his posture. It was as if all that panic, humility, and unease from moments ago were dispelled in an instant. As his robes fluttered, he seemed to once again become that aloof and unapproachable cold gentleman, but his aura was even more frigid and dangerous—like a snake with cold scales.

The corners of Cui Jue’s mouth curled into a mocking sneer. “I understand. It turns out that compared to me, Madam only likes that incompetent, cowardly waste who needs you to save him at every moment.”

“Cui Jue! You know perfectly well that is not what I meant!”

Gu Wanlan looked at the man before her in disbelief. At this moment, she actually felt that Cui Jue was so strange it made her a bit afraid.

Gu Wanlan had no desire to engage in useless bickering with him. She turned to leave, but in the next instant, something cold was pressed against the back of her head. “Shh, Madam, do not move.”

Gu Wanlan’s face went pale, a chill suddenly climbing up her spine from behind. “Cui Jue! What are you doing!”

Before the words had even fallen, a warm body pressed against her from behind.

His breath brushed against the back of her ear, like a lover’s murmur. “Didn’t you want to understand him, to know him? But what a pity, I am him, and he is me. We cannot be separated…”

Having said that, as if venting his frustration, he bit down hard on her earlobe, then licked it tenderly as if in consolation.

Gu Wanlan bit her lip hard to prevent herself from letting out a single sound.

After a long while, her face was flushed, and she gritted her teeth. “Does a dignified great family teach its Master to insult a lady in this manner?!”

“Insult?” Cui Jue let out a soft chuckle, his long eyelashes casting a shadow beneath his eyes.

He used the opportunity to tilt Gu Wanlan’s chin, forcing her to turn her head and look at him. Then, in this posture of absolute control, he spoke slowly, “Just this, and Madam feels insulted? In the past, we have done much more intimate things than this…”

Gu Wanlan took a deep breath and forced herself to remain calm. “Cui Jue, let me go. Don’t let things reach a point where they can’t be settled.”

Behind her, Cui Jue became even more bold. He wrapped his arms around Gu Wanlan’s waist from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder, and laughed lowly. “If Madam wants to leave, how could I possibly trap you with my strength alone? If Madam can find the heart to do it, just strike me in the chest with your palm. What could the hidden weapon in my hand possibly do to you then?”

Gu Wanlan’s hands at her sides clenched tightly, her knuckles turning white from the effort.

After a long silence, she moved.

She moved like a bolt of thunder, striking with lightning speed. She reached back and gripped the object behind her head fiercely! The unexpected sensation in her palm made her pause for a fraction of a second, but she didn’t stop. Using the object behind her head as a pivot, she twisted her waist and completely broke free of Cui Jue’s control.

But when she raised her eyes to see what she was holding, Gu Wanlan’s entire body shook.

What Cui Jue had used to press against the back of her head was actually her own sword hilt!

Gu Wanlan hurriedly looked down the length of the blade, only to see that Cui Jue’s right palm, which was gripping the edge, was already a bloody mess. Yet even so, Cui Jue burst into laughter, and eventually, even the corners of his eyes and brows were filled with a smile. “Madam pities me.”

Gu Wanlan kicked the sword out of Cui Jue’s hand, practically wanting to roar at him. “You madman! Do you think I’ll be soft-hearted next time?!”

Gu Wanlan steadied her breathing and said once more, “Lord Cui, the Protector State Duke’s Estate is too small to accommodate a ‘Great Buddha’ like you. Tomorrow I will write a letter of divorce. To the outside world, I will only say my husband has died of illness. That way, when you need to reveal yourself to the world as the Master of the Cui family in the future, you will merely be someone who looks similar to my late husband. It will not tarnish your reputation.”

“Madam has considered everything for me, but…” Cui Jue stroked Gu Wanlan’s cheek with his thumb, his eyes darkening. “Since Madam wishes to divorce me, the debts previously incurred should probably be settled properly first.”