Chapter 220

Chapter 220. A Queen Must Never Bow Her Head

Cailin sniffed, then continued, “I can feel how good you are to me, but you are the enemy of my Heaven-Devouring Python Clan. If I do not leave you now, I feel like I will only become more and more unable to live without you. When that time comes, what am I supposed to do?”

She spoke those few sentences very softly, like feathers brushing lightly past the ear, yet those few simple words struck Chu Feng’s heart with crushing force.

In that instant, Chu Feng felt as though his heart had skipped a beat.

She had said she was afraid she would not be able to leave him!

Chu Feng paid no attention to the rest of her words. Only that single sentence pressed against his heart like an immense weight.

It was not love. It was fear.

Who said the people of the Ancient Royal Clan had no emotional intelligence?

Was Cailin not clear-headed enough?

Cailin was simply afraid of falling too deeply, afraid of being unable to pull herself back out, afraid of being hurt in the future...

But the very fact that she was afraid already said everything.

If she were not already unable to leave him, why would she be afraid? It was precisely because that had already begun to happen that she felt this way.

Chu Feng still stood there, still watching Cailin’s small body curled up in the corner, her shoulders shaking as she cried.

But this time, Chu Feng suddenly smiled.

It was a very light smile, a very faint smile, yet it carried a kind of gentleness and happiness Cailin had never seen before.

It was not his usual careless attitude, nor his usual lazy ease, but a softness that came from the heart, a warmth so tender it seemed capable of melting ice and snow.

Cailin was still sobbing quietly, clearly lost in her own emotions.

Then Chu Feng curved his lips and walked over, crouching down in front of her.

At that moment, the dignified Emperor of the Great Chu Dynasty slowly and carefully reached out, gently took hold of the hand she was using to cover her face, and lowered it bit by bit.

“If these were the things on your mind, why did you not tell me sooner? I am not a god. Naturally, I cannot know every thought in your heart. But would it not have been fine if you had simply said it like you are doing now?

When I brought you back before, I already told you that here, you only need to be yourself. You do not need to worry about anything else. So why do you never listen to me?

The mouths belong to those people. They can say whatever they want. Just do not let them say it. As for everything else, it has nothing to do with you. Even if the sky falls, I will hold it up for you.”

Perhaps it was because Chu Feng’s comfort truly was effective, but Cailin, who had kept her head lowered the whole time, finally lifted it and looked at him through tear-filled eyes.

At that moment, the bright moonlight fell across Cailin’s face, illuminating those misty eyes, that reddened nose, and those lashes still clinging with tears.

The shimmering light in her eyes made them look watery and especially vivid.

Though Cailin looked so disheveled, so fragile, so heartbreakingly pitiful at this moment— when Chu Feng looked at her, he felt only that her beauty was beyond compare.

Indeed, there really was something slightly different about Cailin of the Ancient Royal Clan from the women of the Human Race.

There was an indescribable exotic charm hidden between her brows and eyes.

Especially when she looked this soft and full of feeling, she stirred an almost imperceptible ache in the heart, along with a powerful urge to protect her.

She was so beautiful that Chu Feng’s heart softened completely.

He reached out and used his thumb to gently wipe the tears from Cailin’s face. His movements were careful and tender, as though he feared hurting her.

“Tell me, are these things you are worried about not just needlessly tormenting you? Are you foolish?” he said softly, his low voice tinged with heartache. “You said it yourself. No matter what, you are still the queen of the Heaven-Devouring Python Clan. Since that is the case, then a queen ought to stand high above all others. Why trouble yourself over such useless things?”

“Did I not already tell you before? You should simply go on living as freely and boldly as you did before. Just continue being your queen.”

Chu Feng spoke those words with unquestionable dominance. Cailin sniffed again and looked at him with watery, aggrieved eyes, but did not say anything. Her eyes were red and swollen, yet they were still as bright as ever.

Seeing her like this, some place deep inside Chu Feng softened into a complete mess.

He suddenly remembered the first time he had met her.

Back then, Cailin had truly been as stubborn as a little hedgehog, her gaze full of vigilance and hostility whenever she looked at him.

If he teased her, she glared at him. She would even lift her hand, unable to resist wanting to slap him. If he drew near, she would dodge away, like a little beast ready to flee at any moment.

That was probably why Chu Feng had directly chosen such an intimate method to obtain her Seven-Colored Spiritual Aura.

Otherwise, if that had truly not been possible, Chu Feng might have chosen some other path.

Later, she had been forced to offer up her Seven-Colored Spiritual Aura. Though she said nothing, her eyes had been full of humiliation and unwillingness. Chu Feng had thought she would hate him, that she would always hate him.

And later still, when Chu Feng thought back on it carefully, things had indeed changed just as Cailin had said.

The way she looked at him had changed from vigilance to complexity, from complexity to avoidance, from avoidance to… to the way she looked at him now...

Now, she looked at Chu Feng just like an ordinary young woman would, her eyes full of feeling. Sometimes, she would even grow shy without realizing it. At that moment, Chu Feng suddenly seemed to understand something.

Her tearful eyes could not hide the deep dependence within them.

Just as Cailin had said, she had already begun to depend on Chu Feng.

But Chu Feng felt no aversion to that at all. On the contrary, he even felt a trace of joy.

Since she had already begun to depend on him, then naturally Chu Feng would take good care of Cailin, and he certainly would not let her leave him so easily.

Chu Feng’s expression suddenly turned serious. He cupped her face in both hands and made her meet his gaze.

His thumbs lightly stroked her cheeks, feeling the fine softness of her skin and the faint trembling in her body. And because Cailin struggled slightly, Chu Feng’s palms pressed a little harder, instantly squishing her round little cheeks into a puffed-up shape like a pufferfish.

She was unbearably adorable.

“Listen carefully to me now,” Chu Feng said, enunciating each word. His voice was not loud, but it carried a certainty that allowed no doubt.

“You were never some transaction to me, nor some prisoner, nor some castoff I could summon at will and throw away just as easily. You are the woman I chose.

You are mine. You are someone I acknowledged with my own mouth. You are someone I will protect for a lifetime... Just now, you said you had already begun to depend on me. Then depend on me for the rest of your life.

During that time, you do not need to think about anything at all. You only need to be yourself, because the one I like is precisely that version of you. As for your identity, you do not need to worry in the slightest. One day, I will give you an identity that belongs to you alone.”

The two of them held each other’s gaze just like that, while Chu Feng’s voice coaxed and guided her, impossibly gentle.