I Quit Being This Female Lead (GL) - Chapter 30

In winter, the sky began to snow.

The flakes drifted down, turning the rooftops of the entire Imperial City into a white ocean.

A layer of snow had already fallen in the Cold Palace courtyard. Several maids were arranging for people to start clearing the snow, piling the thick snow up to be transported away.

Today, Mangkai wore an elegant long dress and a sapphire-colored cloak. The fluffy collar framed her entire face, keeping her warm.

The snow continued to fall, covering the branches piece by piece, flake by flake.

“Your Highness.”

Xiao Lu came in from outside, patting the snowflakes off her clothes.

The room was warm, and before she finished patting, the snowflakes melted into her clothing.

Mangkai looked at the young girl holding a basket containing orange tangerines.

“These are tangerines sent by the maids from the Palace of the Emerald Phoenix.” Xiao Lu placed the basket on the small square table and smiled at Mangkai. “Because of the snow, the path from the Palace of the Emerald Phoenix here hasn’t been completely cleared yet, so Consort Chun can’t come today. We can finally have some peace and quiet!”

Mangkai couldn’t help but laugh. “Why do you dislike her so much?”

Xiao Lu grumbled, “It’s because the way she looks at Your Highness isn’t right, and she’s always being physically intimate. I just don’t like seeing it.”

Mangkai picked up a tangerine, peeled it, and said helplessly, “Stop thinking nonsense. She’s just young.”

“Hmph. Only Your Highness can’t see it.”

“…”

Mangkai put a segment of the tangerine to Xiao Lu’s lips, feeding her a bite. “Hurry up and get back to your work. I’ll be fine here alone.”

Xiao Lu chewed the tangerine with bulging cheeks and smiled. “Thank you for the gift, Your Highness. You are so sweet~”

With that, she scurried away.

Mangkai was stunned for a moment, realizing the little girl was flirting with her again. She smiled wryly and ate a segment of the tangerine.

The tangerine that had just been delivered was still cold, but it tasted exceptionally sweet in her mouth. The intense citrus aroma filled Mangkai’s palate.

So sweet…

Mangkai looked out at the heavy snow still falling outside the window, marveling at how the northern snow fell like a quilt, while also wondering.

Will that woman still come tonight?

With so much snow, probably not.

Thinking this, Mangkai sighed, put the half-peeled tangerine aside, and prepared to find a book to read, otherwise, this winter would be too boring.

It was night.

Xiao Lu came in to help close all the doors and windows, leaving only a small corner window open for ventilation. She then tidied Mangkai’s bedding, making it warm and cozy before saying, “Your Highness, it’s time to sleep.”

Mangkai watched Xiao Lu finish everything and asked, “Is it still snowing outside?”

“Yes, it is,” Xiao Lu said. “It’s getting heavier. The snow we cleared today was probably a waste. We’ll have to clear it again tomorrow.”

Mangkai pulled her coat tighter and sighed. “I understand. You should go rest too.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

After Xiao Lu left, Mangkai took off her outer clothes and slipped into bed.

The room was warm and carried a faint fragrance, which was the incense Xiao Lu secretly obtained from a familiar maid to calm the nerves and aid sleep when burned in the brazier at night.

Mangkai lay prone on the soft pillow. Having been in this ancient world for so long, she was gradually starting to like the era without electrical appliances. Although not playing with her phone at night was sometimes boring, it didn’t hinder her sleep.

Yet, sometimes, she still missed high-tech products.

Just as Mangkai was drifting off to sleep, she heard a ‘creaking’ sound from the ventilation window in the corner.

But Mangkai was too sleepy. She struggled internally for a moment, decided it might just be the cold wind blowing in, and didn’t feel like bothering with it.

It’s fine as long as it’s warm in the quilt. Xiao Lu and the others will surely close the window when they see it open tomorrow morning.

Thinking this, Mangkai remained lying on the bed, not moving at all.

“Heh—”

Just then, a soft laugh entered Mangkai’s ear. The laugh was very close, seeming to come from right beside her bed.

Mangkai slowly opened her eyes and saw a woman dressed in a white long dress and a purplish-gold cloak standing by the bed, staring at Mangkai.

That person was Sister Musician.

Or rather, the current Female Emperor.

Xun Fangwen looked at Mangkai’s groggy, half-opened eyes and couldn’t help but curve her lips into a soft smile. This hazy look was truly identical to that person.

She reached out a finger and gently tapped Mangkai’s nose.

“Why are you sleeping so early tonight?” Xun Fangwen looked at Mangkai and asked, “Didn’t you used to climb onto the roof in the middle of the night?”

Mangkai listened for a while before realizing the person had entered her room. She immediately sat up, wrapped in her quilt.

“How did you get in?”

“What, you don’t want me to come in?”

Mangkai rubbed her nose, shaking her head. “No, it’s just that we used to meet on the roof. It feels strange to be in the room now.”

“It’s too cold today,” Xun Fangwen cleared her throat and said. “The snow on the roof is too thick. I was afraid you couldn’t climb up.”

She certainly wouldn’t say she wanted to take this woman to see the snow view.

Mangkai pulled her neck back. “It is indeed very cold today. I thought you wouldn’t come.”

“I will naturally come if there’s nothing important keeping me away.”

“Hmm…”

Mangkai thought for a moment, shifted her body while wrapped in the quilt, leaving a space for Xun Fangwen. “You sit here. Aren’t you tired of standing?”

Xun Fangwen looked at Mangkai, and after a good while, she said, “Alright.”

The two of them squeezed onto the bed like that. One was bundled up like a giant cotton doll, and the other sat on the edge of the bed, looking at her.

The charcoal fire in the room was still burning, intermittently illuminating their faces.

“You…” Mangkai finally spoke. “You are the Female Emperor, aren’t you?”

Xun Fangwen didn’t look surprised. Instead, she nodded and said, “Yes.”

It really is her…

Mangkai looked at the heroic and beautiful woman in front of her, thought for a moment, and then said, “Those things I said to you a while ago, can you pretend you don’t remember them?”

Xun Fangwen paused, then asked, “Why?”

Mangkai was a little embarrassed. She couldn’t very well say she had just transmigrated and hadn’t gotten used to the environment. She could only whisper awkwardly to Xun Fangwen, “I just felt I was being silly, and I didn’t know you were… back then.”

Xun Fangwen didn’t speak right away. After contemplating for a while, she said, “I can also pretend not to remember.”

Mangkai looked up at her.

Perhaps it was the atmosphere in the room, or perhaps a change in Mangkai’s mindset, but she felt the face of the Female Emperor in front of her overlap with Xun Fangwen’s.

The same eyebrows and eyes.

The same faint smile.

Every one of her actions stirred Mangkai’s heart. Even with a different appearance, even in a different time and space, Mangkai still felt that the person in front of her was Xun Fangwen.

She was that certain.

“Wen…”

The moment Mangkai spoke, she froze. She couldn’t do this. If she did, what difference would she be from those female protagonists who treated others as substitutes!

Xun Fangwen stared at Mangkai, wondering what she was going to say.

“I…” Mangkai was silent for a moment, then said, “It’s getting late. Your Majesty should leave. Your presence in the Cold Palace always creates a bad impression.”

Xun Fangwen blinked. “Will my coming to the Cold Palace create a bad impression?”

“People will gossip about me,” Mangkai said.

Xun Fangwen looked at her thoughtfully, finally sighed, and stood up. “I understand.”

With that, she no longer hesitated, leaving the same way she had come in. Before she left, she even closed the window for Mangkai, leaving only a tiny crack.

Mangkai listened to the sounds outside, but found she could only hear the sound of the falling snow and the crackling of the charcoal fire.

Xun Fangwen…

Mangkai reached out and touched her lips, then closed her eyes deeply.

I miss you so much…

The next day, the snow had stopped.

The snow-covered palace looked like a painting.

The maids, dressed brightly, were running and laughing in the palace path. They suddenly bumped into the Chief Attendant’s entourage around a corner and immediately froze, standing aside to bow, not daring to look them in the eye.

The Chief Attendant glanced at the group of young maids, said nothing, and walked straight ahead.

After the group disappeared around the corner, the young maids asked curiously, “Where is the Chief Attendant going? Is there a palace there?”

“No, is there?” A ten-something-year-old maid said. “There’s only the Cold Palace where Her Highness the Empress is. There are no other concubines’ palaces there.”

“Then what is the Chief Attendant doing…”

“She wouldn’t be going to find Her Highness the Empress, would she?”

“Ah? No way???”

“But there really is only the Cold Palace in that direction. If she’s not going to find the Empress, then what is that group of Chief Attendants going to do?”

Suddenly, the young maids were bewildered, unsure what the situation was.

“I heard the Cold Palace is haunted recently.”

One young maid said with certainty, “Do you think the Chief Attendant is going to catch a ghost?”

“Stop talking nonsense!” Another maid stopped her companion’s wild speculation. “You can die for talking nonsense in the palace. How could the Imperial Palace be haunted by ghosts?”

“But…”

“Alright, alright, stop guessing,” a slightly older maid said. “Whatever it is, it has nothing to do with us. Let’s hurry back to work. Someone will be coming to collect things soon.”

They all nodded and quickly ran off.

Meanwhile, the group heading towards the Cold Palace, after turning a few corners, had a maid walk up to the Chief Attendant and say, “Those few young maids just now were very undisciplined. Should we discipline them? What if they collide with one of the masters while playing in the Imperial Palace?”

The Chief Attendant pondered for a moment and said, “Let it go today. There’s no need to fuss over small matters on a day of great joy.”

The maid felt rebuffed and could only retreat.

When the impressive entourage reached the Cold Palace gate, the usually lazy guards and eunuchs still wore their listless expressions. Even when they saw the approaching people, their faces were spiritless.

“What is wrong with you?” The Chief Attendant walked up, frowning. “Acting like this in front of the Empress’s Cold Palace! If His Majesty saw you, she would surely have your heads chopped off.”

The eunuchs shrank their necks and bowed, admitting their fault.

“Never mind,” the Chief Attendant dismissed them. She adjusted her robes and announced, “His Majesty has pardoned Her Highness the Empress’s house arrest. The imperial carriage has been prepared. Please escort Her Highness back to her sleeping quarters.”