The Cannon Fodder Was Pampered By The Tyrant - Chapter 18

Why go home?

“Osmanthus wine. Taste it and see if you like it.”

Si Yan slowly handed the wine cup to Lin Yutian.

Lin Yutian had just finished bathing; her cheeks were flushed pink from the steam. Holding the cup with both hands, she felt a bit apprehensive.

Ever since Grand Tutor Xu spoke those words to her, every move Si Yan made seemed to take on a different interpretation in Lin Yutian’s eyes.

“How did you know I wanted to drink osmanthus wine?”

Si Yan said matter of factly, “Who else but a certain someone eats osmanthus cake at least five times a week?”

Lin Yutian’s grip on the cup tightened as she said guiltily, “I haven’t eaten it that many times.”

“Mm, you haven’t,” Si Yan said. “Last week, you ate it seven times.”

Lin Yutian: “…”

“Aren’t you busy every day? Why do you remember such trivial details so clearly?” Lin Yutian muttered under her breath.

“No matter how busy I am, it doesn’t stop me from remembering your affairs.” Si Yan gazed at her, his eyes dark and deep. “Every single thing about you, as long as I want to know, I will know.”

Lin Yutian’s heart skipped a beat. She averted her gaze. “Your Majesty is certainly confident.”

“Then why don’t you test me? If I cannot answer, I shall penalize myself with a drink. If I answer everything correctly, you drink a cup. How about it?” Si Yan said composedly.

Lin Yutian had been looking for a way to get Si Yan drunk anyway. Hearing this, she felt victory was within her grasp. She hadn’t known Si Yan for long; she didn’t believe he could actually get everything right.

However, Lin Yutian soon suffered a crushing defeat. Si Yan answered every question she posed and quickly, almost without hesitation. No one had ever remembered these things, some details Lin Yutian wasn’t even clear on herself.

“Drink,” Si Yan said, handing her the cup.

Accepting defeat, Lin Yutian finished the small cup of osmanthus wine. Having never drunk such a thing before, her head immediately felt dizzy, and Si Yan’s image before her began to blur.

She blinked, still refusing to give up on her goal for the day. Feeling indignant, she grabbed Si Yan’s hand and asked, “Did you cheat?” She rested her chin on her arm, looking sideways at him. “Otherwise, why would you remember those…?”

“Which ones?” Si Yan asked back.

Lin Yutian’s eyelashes fluttered. “…The insignificant ones.”

When drunk, she was like a well-groomed cat. Si Yan wanted to reach out and touch her hair, but he pulled his hand back halfway. “If I didn’t know these things, what if you fell into the pond again one day?”

Lin Yutian was very dissatisfied with this answer. She said weakly, “That day was an accident… can you stop mentioning it?”

Unable to hold her liquor, Lin Yutian managed to talk to Si Yan for a while longer before completely forgetting where she was. She slumped onto the table, eyes tightly shut, her soft cheek pressed against the fabric.

“This is the only time you’re ever honest,” Si Yan finally dared to reach out and stroke her face. “Why did you suddenly agree to do these things today?”

“You even insisted on drinking before coming,” Si Yan finally began to murmur his inner thoughts, his tone tinged with a hint of jealousy. “It’s been three months. Do you still fear me this much?”

Si Yan hadn’t been blind to Lin Yutian’s usual resistance. She just hadn’t voiced it. Si Yan knew she didn’t like him. He knew a thousand military tactics and was well-read in various books, yet he didn’t know how to make her stay.

Should I just keep her locked up like this? Si Yan looked at the surrounding architecture, reflecting silently.

“Bad person,” Lin Yutian suddenly spoke. “I hate you.”

Si Yan: “…”

He gave a cold smile. “Then let yourself be locked up for a lifetime by this ‘bad person.'”

“Your Majesty,” a knock suddenly came from the door.

Si Yan reached out and covered Lin Yutian with a cloak. “Enter.” He took a sip of tea. “How was she today?”

The secret guard reported truthfully, “Before Your Majesty returned, she was studying in the room with the Grand Tutor. Then, the Grand Tutor spoke of some of your past deeds.”

“My past?” Si Yan’s expression froze. “What was said?”

The guard repeated the words to Si Yan. The guard was originally apprehensive, but surprisingly, Si Yan’s cold face suddenly broke into a smile.

“That’s all?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Si Yan rubbed the rim of his cup. “Tell me, if someone who has always loathed you hears these stories and suddenly acts less loathsome, what is the psychology behind that?”

Si Yan never spoke much to his subordinates and was usually decisive. This guard had been rescued by Si Yan and became a secret guard due to being soft-spoken. In all her years following him, this was the first time she had heard Si Yan ask such a question.

After much deliberation, she whispered, “This subordinate believes… most likely, she felt pity.”

“Can someone pity a person they hate?” Si Yan had climbed his way up so miserably, so pathetically. Shouldn’t Lin Yutian be happy knowing that?

The guard said sincerely, “Perhaps that person doesn’t truly hate you. Perhaps she is just being duplicitous.” Speaking these words made the guard break into a sweat, she was terrified of saying the wrong thing.

But her answer seemed effective. Si Yan chuckled softly. “Dismissed.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty. This subordinate withdraws.”

As she turned to leave, she heard Si Yan say, “You and her can take a leave for the next two days.”

The guard paused, her stiff demeanor suddenly turning awkward. “…Who?”

“No need to hide it from me,” Si Yan lowered his head to sip his tea. “I know everything.” That was why he had arranged for the two of them to monitor Lin Yutian together.

The guard immediately knelt. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”

After the guard left, Si Yan took another sip of tea somehow, it tasted sweet.

“Duplicitous?” He looked thoughtfully at Lin Yutian, then leaned his elbow on the table, moving closer to her face. “Did you feel pity for me?”

So, everything today wasn’t a scheme to escape, but simply because she felt sorry for him? Recalling her awkward, fidgety behavior earlier, Si Yan’s mood improved further.

Lin Yutian used to be able to sleep anywhere, but after lying on the table for a while, she became uncomfortable. She tried to shift her position, her arm flailing into empty air, but she was caught steadily in Si Yan’s arms.

She regained a moment of clarity. In her dream, she had imagined tricking Si Yan into going out to play, only to accidentally fall off a cliff. She thought it was finally over, but when she opened her eyes, it was still Si Yan.

“Why is it you again?” Her expression was pitiful, the corners of her eyes flushed red, thinking she was still dreaming. “I want to go home.”

Si Yan recalled what he had done to Lin Yutian’s former home and family. He figured burying some dog bones there later would have the same effect. His tone had never been so gentle: “If you want to go home, I can take you back.”

But Lin Yutian didn’t become happy. She scrambled out of Si Yan’s arms, her face red with accusation. “It’s because of you that I can’t go home!”

Si Yan thought she was throwing a tantrum. “I said, I allow you to go home.”

“Liar.” Lin Yutian’s head was spinning; she could only lean against Si Yan’s chest. “I did all that, and you still won’t let me go back.”

For once, Si Yan didn’t understand her. “You did ‘all that’?”

When drunk, Lin Yutian became honest, answering almost anything asked. “…Making you angry.”

“Making me angry?” Si Yan thought back. Picking at her food, insisting on cold drinks, making a mess of the room, causing ridiculous rumors from time to time… wasn’t that all normal? Did this girl think she was making him angry all this time?

“Why don’t you get angry…?” Lin Yutian asked a string of questions that had been suppressed in her heart for months.

“The things you do aren’t enough to make me angry.” Si Yan’s eyes were full of tenderness. “Why does Ayu want to make me angry?”

Even in a dream, Lin Yutian remained guarded. “…Hmph.”

“Not telling you.”

“If you don’t tell me, I can still find out,” Si Yan teased her intentionally.

“You can’t.” Lin Yutian looked up suddenly. She was clearly very drunk, but her eyes were bright. For a moment, Si Yan thought she had actually sobered up.

“I am the Emperor. I can find out anything.”

“It’s useless.” Lin Yutian suddenly felt a sense of superiority. She couldn’t help but reveal a bit of the truth to him. “If I go home, you will never see me again.”

“Then I will place hundreds of secret guards by your side, so that every step you take is counted clearly.”

“Stupid Si Yan.”

“…”

Lin Yutian hummed and said, “Even a thousand secret guards won’t work.”

Si Yan realized that the “home” Lin Yutian spoke of might not be the same home he was thinking of. He continued to coax her, “Then why does Ayu want to go home so badly?”

This time, Lin Yutian refused to speak. She blinked at Si Yan, seemingly falling into a daze herself. Finally, she said weakly, “Money.”

“I can give it to you.”

Lin Yutian looked down, fiddling with the tassels of the jade pendant at Si Yan’s waist. “…Don’t want yours.”

“Why not mine?”

“Because it’s not mine.” She looked at Si Yan and couldn’t help but reach out to touch his face. “And you aren’t mine, either.”

“That’s easily fixed.” Si Yan curled his lips. “Wouldn’t becoming my Empress solve that?”

Lin Yutian had been relatively stable, but at Si Yan’s words, tears began to fall continuously. “Fickle liar.”

Si Yan was amused and irritated by the “liar” label. “When have I ever been fickle?”

With tears still hanging on her face, Lin Yutian was dazed by the question. Finally, she pursed her lips. “If you aren’t now, you will be later.”

Si Yan wiped away her tears, also voicing the frustration in his heart. “You demand this of me, yet don’t you have someone else in your heart too?”

I didn’t even mind, yet here you are demanding things of me.

Lin Yutian was already insecure about this issue. Si Yan’s failure to give a direct answer only confirmed it in her mind. Just as she was about to cry again, Si Yan sighed helplessly and pulled her into his arms.

“Fine, I won’t force you.”

They had plenty of time. He just needed to drive that “other person” who had appeared before him out of Lin Yutian’s heart.