Chapter 205 – Stay Here With Me
Ye Zhen was perplexed. Normally, the tear glands had a colorless liquid. In case of injury, it would turn red, but that was essentially blood. But here, it was brown… Bizarre as it was, her mind raced to find an answer and hit upon a possibility.
“Your Majesty, did your eyes not see before?” Ye Zhen asked.
She had known of his sightlessness before, she had met him in that condition. But she did not know how his blindness had come about. Was he congenitally blind or due to an accident? Back then she had not bothered to find out, she was too young to even understand these things. Then suddenly word of him regaining eyesight came. She didn’t know how that happened because no one seemed to talk about it.
Also, during the time she was married to him and the two years she spent wandering in her spirit form, she had not stumbled upon anything related to it either. Thus, now would be the first time she would be gaining information, if at all.
“My eyes were burned with poison when I was young, but were cured later,” Mo Rongzhan said in a deep voice without trying to hide a thing.
This was not a secret. Everyone knew that the emperor of the Qin Dynasty was blind before. But very few knew the reason. However, although his vision was restored, few knew that his eyes often felt uncomfortable; they still felt sore.
Ye Zhen was visibly shocked.
He was poisoned too… What kind of an ill fate did these two brothers have?!
Remembering how Mo Rongyi had been poisoned by her uncle, resulting in prolonged heart disease, she started to ponder over the culprit behind Mo Rongzhan’s poisoning.
Could it be related to the Ye Family as well?
Is this the real reason why he did not spare the Ye Family after ascending the throne?
Ye Zhen sank into self-deprecation. She now knew what he might have felt when she had insisted on marrying him.
Indeed, he must have hated me. Something in her heart tugged, a pain engulfed her albeit momentarily. She recomposed herself and focused on the now.
“Your tears are colored, Your Majesty,” Ye Zhen said in a low voice, “I’ll bring some water to cleanse your eyes.” She added.
Colored tears? He looked down at the white cloth in his hand, half of which was soaked and brown. He was stunned.
“Eunuch Ford, fetch water.”
There were only three people in the emperor’s bed-chambers including the emperor himself. Mo Rongzhan naturally could not ask her to do the odd job. Not out of concern but caution. If someone were to see her, trouble was bound to arise.
The silence in the wake of Eunuch Ford’s departure was particularly trying. Although each one was to one’s thoughts, the air still felt stiff. While the man was mulling over the brown tears, the woman was reflecting upon the injustice the other had suffered. By the looks of it, it seemed it was her kin who had brought fatal trouble to the imperial family time and again.
Eunuch Ford soon returned with a basin of warm water.
A guilt-ridden Ye Zhen considered for a moment. The wrongs that she had suffered were unforgivable, but the ones he had at the hands of her uncle were unjust as well. Thus, she went up to take the copper basin, reached into it, and furtively dropped her miraculous liquid.
Well, truth be told, there was a moment when she considered letting Mo Rongzhan go blind like this. But when rationality had brushed aside her vindictiveness, she concluded this would only bring her trouble. After all, she had personally made the medicated diet. Hence, she didn’t give in to her moment of impulse. Besides, it would be too easy on him.
Taking a clean white cloth, she dipped it into the water, wrung it, and gently dabbed his closed eyes.
“Your Majesty, please open your eyes and let your tears flow out,”
As her soft hands covered his eyes, something in him stirred. Since they were close, all he could do was smell the fragrance wafting from her body. It was a sweet, fruity smell that felt somewhat familiar, yet somewhat different.
Mo Rongzhan shook his head. How could it be the same? The girl I met in the woods back then was unique.Granted they have similarities, Lu Yaoyao is unlikely to be the girl.
Ye Zhen was oblivious to his thoughts and simply focused on cleansing his eyes. When she spread the white cloth on his eyes, more tears oozed. She changed the white cloth to another and another until the third white cloth and the tears were no longer as colored as before.
“Your Majesty, do your eyes still feel uneasy?” she asked.
Mo Rongzhan blinked a few times and closed his eyes. He could feel his eyes were no longer p.r.i.c.king or uncontrollably watering. He opened his eyes and looked at her.
“The uneasiness in my eyes, does it have something to do with your medicated diet?” He was certain it had to be it.
“This official’s daughter’s medicated diet is mainly for detoxifying because I heard that the Little Prince had been poisoned before. It may be because of this that your eyes were affected.” This was the only explanation she could come up with for now.
She fought hard the urge to roll her eyes.
I did remind him that the medicated diet was not suitable for him. Who told him to have it?
Mo Rongzhan silently glanced at her and pursed his lips.
Ye Zhen continued with the cleansing until his eyes stopped watering. Then, she stepped back and said, “It is done, Your Majesty.”
“What medicine did you put in the medicated diet?” Mo Rongzhan asked while rubbing his eyes.
She furnished a slew of names. She knew they were not harmful and she even had Imperial Physician Qi to vouch for her. She had nothing to fear.
This whole “tearing eyes” had had a sizable impact on the once blind Mo Rongzhan. He had felt that he would plummet into that perpetual darkness yet again. But then it had vanished just as it had arrived: abruptly. He found it all very uncanny.
Like a child who had found his lost favorite toy, he looked around the room and beyond. Suddenly, he realized his vision was much clearer than before. Moreover, he could not feel that underlying disturbing pain anymore.
Can her medicated diet really purge the toxins acc.u.mulated for many years?
“Will my eyes be like this in the future?” he asked, still incredulous.
Ye Zhen lowered her eyes in disappointment. She had hoped that he would just go blind, but her miraculous liquid would only help him, not harm him. She had never thought that she would one day help him, of all the people, with her miraculous liquid. But that day came and sooner.
“I cannot guarantee that, Your Majesty.” In case the poison was not completely expelled this time, what would happen if he were to become blind the next time?
“So, there is still a possibility that my eyes will still be like this in the future?” he asked, coldly.
“I don’t know.” She replied flatly.
“Then what do you know?” His tone still frigid.
“This official’s daughter…” She wanted to say I don’t know once more, however, upon seeing him disheartened, she no longer continued.
He lay down on his bed and barked. “Continue attending to my eyes.”
A curl formed at the corners of Ye Zhen’s lips. She frowned.
“Your Majesty, since Eunuch Ford is here he can apply it to you. Just use this water instead of using another medicine.” She did not wish to spend another moment here.
“I want you to be the one to do it.” He commanded. “Stay here with me.”