Chapter 20：My Beautiful Memories I've Missed

I went into the position that Liuxian told me and I followed every step that he said. I would seal all my critical points of my body, but when he says to unseal a certain part I would do it, and like he says, it was painful. It was so painful I wanted to cry out but, I stopped myself and continued following the instructions.

The pain was like having to sleep on closely put needles that have just been put in the furnace, but yet spread far enough that it could go through your skin all the way until it reaches your meat and cooks every inch of your skin.

I was sweating excessively, but I didn't care about the pain or any of the past. What mattered to me was the curse. I was willing to go through this pain to break that curse. I was willing to deal with this pain to live a normal life again. To be able to live as a human and not a demon.

Prince Wu was crying on the inside seeing that his wife was sweating from the pain. He wanted to help her deal with the pain, but he didn't want to distract her at this critical point. He could only protect her and make sure there was no disturbance at all during this process.

While Zhao Ling was still in her meditative state, there was a loud noise that almost caused her break loose, thankfully she was able to concentrate again and did not get hurt. Prince Wu was about to behead the person causing the huge intrusion when he saw that his woman was almost hurt, thankfully she was calm enough to focus again. If any harm came to her, he would have killed that person without reason.

Prince Wu went to check on the person causing the loud noise. It was a girl at the age of 16. She was Prince Wu's cousin who so wanted to become one of his wife so badly. When she had heard how he brought his concubines with the Old Madame to the temple, she was enraged. It was out of tradition, and so, she tried to barge into his court, but was stopped by his personal guard, Zheng Zhong.

"Ma Chang, what are you doing here? If you have something to talk about, you should just tell Shao. He can answer your questions."

"Hmph! I don't trust the words of anybody about what you do unless it comes from your mouth!"

With his hand on his heads like if he was having a headache, he asked, "What do you want to know?"

"I heard that you brought a concubine with you for Aunty's trip to the temple. You know that that is against traditions. Madam has never allowed a concubine out."

"What about it?"

"Like I said, Auntie has never allowed a woman out of the mansion unless they were a servant. What if she caused problems for you guys during the trip?"

"Whether she did or not is not up for you to decide. Mother accepted the idea of letting her go, so do want to go against her decision? Besides, the matter already passed, why are you barely bringing it up?"

"Brother Lim, I'm your cousin, naturally I'd be worried. What if she caused something to make our house's reputation go down?"

"You are not the head of our house. You don't have to worry about it."

"Brother Lim, I'm still a member of the Wu Clan. I'm just wo-"

"Don't be. And leave me alone. This is my last warning to you. Don't behave as if I belong to you. Don't act like a fake white lotus. It disgusts me." Usually, Prince Wu would let whatever this cousin of his said go, but she had almost harmed his wife indirectly, he had to punish her somehow. He didn't want to be too rough on her though. If she had a complaint on him, she would go tell Mother and it would be so much more trouble to deal with. Mother spoils her too much.

What Prince Wu had said hurt Ma Chang, but being a persistent person she was, she couldn't give up. She left and headed to Madam's court instead to go let out her anger and sadness. In her head like always, "Aunty will definitely make Brother Lim go out with me for the day. She always had and she will definitely continue to do so, after all, I'm the Wu Clan's princess."

At the Madam's court, she was also having a headache with this girl. Ma Chang may be the princess of clan and spoiled, but perhaps she was being spoiled too much.

Aaigh... Perhaps I have spoiled this girl too much. "Chang'er, why don't you leave for the day? This old woman is tired and wants to retire to bed rest."

"Eh? But Auntie, it's still only the afternoon."

"Chang'er, the older you get, the more tired you get. You are young now so you wouldn't understand, but in the future, you will definitely understand."

"Alright. Chang'er will go back home. Chang'er hopes Auntie has a good rest."

"En... Go on."

In the Madam's room, she was stating her dislikes towards her niece, Ma Chang. "Sigh, I always spoiled her at first and let her stay beside Lim'er's side to make her happy, but it seems, she has gotten more greedy. This is my fault for spoiling her so much."

"Madam, this servant thinks that it was not Madam's fault, but Lady Chang's own fault. This servant seems to think that perhaps her true personality like this."

"If her personality like this then, I am happy that I did not choose to make her Lim'er's wife. I do pity the girl Bai Xiangxiu."

"Madam, it seems your liking to Concubine Xiu has increased."

"Of course! Not only does she have a good personality, she can cook such delicious dishes. A skill every woman should have for being a wife. Not only that, she is good at massaging. If my son was ever tired after a days' work, she can relax his tense muscles. She is a good wife."

"This servant is glad for Madam that she has a good daughter-in-law, but what about the Ling's daughter?"

"I have already talked about her with Lim'er. They have no affections towards each other and does not want to marry. It is bad for a mother to impose marriage on their children when they don't want it. Unfortunately, Madam Ling does not understand this, so I will personally request the Empress Dowager's help in canceling this engagement. She is also a mother, she will understand."

"This servant understands."

"I like Concubine Xiu very much, I would like for her to take care of half of my jobs. The other concubines are not fit for this job. They are far too greedy unlike Concubine Xiu."

"Madam!"

"This lady is getting old. I cannot continue to deal with all the daily house affairs. Call Concubine Xiu over tomorrow."

"Yes."

Back at the Prince's court, the Ponder Residence, the prince was once again guarding Zhao Ling. She had already been in the same position for a day. Once this is finished, she gets to take a day off to calm her body. "That's good", he thought to himself.

After staring at her intensely for who knows how long, Zhao Ling finally woke up. When Prince Wu stared at her wakening, she seemed to have changed, but he couldn't pinpoint it. Zhao Ling who has just woken up was unaware of what had just happened. She had only felt that she has finally restored herself.

"Liuxian, you can leave whenever you want. I'm good now."

Liuxian was taken by surprise at how cold her voice was, but not only that, also that she had no need for him anymore. "Are you sure? I haven't removed your curse yet." Of course, it also had to do with her change of appearance too. She had long black silky hair that flowed down to her ankles. Her doe like eyes that were pure black and her pink lips that were so cute looking. Her appearance had changed to that of an equal to a goddess. Maybe even more beautiful than the gods.

"I can do it myself. Can't you feel that my powers has risen by a lot?"

Luxian was focused with helping her, so he had no idea how the shift came to be. He had started noticing everything now, but unlike him, the prince who was watching had saw the changes.

12 hours after she had started, she had suddenly went into a sleeping position. However, she still responded to the directions of Liuxian, so he did not interfere. But he saw that her scars on her face had started to disappear and the there was scars appearing on her body instead, but they also disappeared after sometime. The whole scarring thing took one hour.

When all the scars had disappeared, her hair had grown at an inhumanely speed and her face and body was changing, too. At first, her hair was growing with the shade of silver, but then turned black. He had no idea about the eyes until she first opened them. He had thought it was going to stay alike like back then, but then, he saw that it was pure black. Black like a black pearl. It was so black, it was like the epitome of darkness.

When she was waking up, he thought the difference in her aura was just his imagination, but how she spoke, made that thought broke. He thought perhaps it was from the thought of vengeance only.

Unfortunately, Prince Wu would never know that his guess was wrong and would only find out in the future after going through many peaceful times with her.

Zhao Ling who forgot that she was not in her original life finally remembered that she was living a different life and these people would not be used to her coldness. With a calm smile, she greeted the prince, "Thank you Your Highness. I will never forget for what you did. It seems I would owe you a lifetime favor."

Prince Wu thought she was just being happy and saying this, but unfortunately he was wrong. He will never know that she had meant he saved her memories until the future comes.

Going to embrace the woman he had just come to love, he lovingly says, "No, I should be thanking you instead. Thank you for not dying."

"Hehe... Didn't I tell you, I won't die. I still have many goals to achieve. If I don't achieve them, I would have lived a regretful life." It seems I will have to hide myself for now, but I need to search for the reason in his change. "Your Highness, it is already night time, why don't you rest now? I'm sure you're quite tired from staying up to watch me."

"Okay."

"Then, this concubine will take her leave."

When Zhao Ling was going to stand up and leave, she found that she couldn't and was stuck.

"You left me tired. You should take responsibility for that. Sleep with me tonight."

"Eh? But, well... Um..."

"Sigh, I won't do anything to you. I'm sure you're tired, too. We'll just sleep. Nothing else, I promise."

"Alright."

Prince Wu carried me in a princess carry to the bed and put me down there softly and got on the bed himself. He put me to the side next to the wall. I was sure that he must be scared I might fall off the bed. I know I won't, but I can't blow up my cover.

Once I heard his equal and calm breathing, I knew he was asleep. I couldn't fall asleep and instead thought about the day. I finally recovered my lost memories. My treasured memories I've missed. My beautiful memories that I love. I can finally remember his smile. His stare. His kindness to me. How he always spoiled me. His over-protectiveness... And... The times it made me so happy seeing him eat up vinegar.

My power has gone back to normal too. However, I've lost 10% of my power during the years. It's fine though. It was only 10%. They will come back to me by the time wake up from my sleep today. Finally feeling the drowsiness, I fell asleep.