Chapter 222

Chapter 222. Waiting for Her to Change Her Mind

Cailin suddenly understood.

So it was not that Chu Feng had not stopped her. He had been waiting for her to turn back on her own.

From beginning to end, Chu Feng had always been giving Cailin the right to choose.

If she truly wanted to leave, with Chu Feng’s personality, he definitely would not try to make her stay like this.

Yet Chu Feng had been watching from the shadows from the very beginning. Clearly, he had been waiting for her to figure things out herself and turn back of her own accord. Although he said those things aloud now, in truth, he wanted Cailin to stay.

This insincere man...

For some reason, Cailin suddenly wanted to cry and laugh at the same time. Because she failed to control her expression properly, her face ended up looking extremely strange.

At that moment, Chu Feng did not quite understand. He frowned slightly, stared into her eyes, and said each word in a low, powerful voice, “Do not worry. You do not need to consider anything else, because I have said before that you are mine. You only need to ask your own heart carefully. Do you truly want to leave?”

Cailin stared blankly at Chu Feng as an indescribable emotion surged in her heart.

Just now, Cailin had already told Chu Feng about all the worries in her heart, but Chu Feng had not mocked her, nor had he laughed at her. Instead, he had answered all of Cailin’s questions earnestly.

Moreover, Chu Feng had used his actions to tell Cailin that he had never regarded her as a prisoner, let alone a plaything. From the very beginning, when Chu Feng brought Cailin back, he had already regarded her as one of the most important people to him.

She was even so important that he, the emperor of the Great Chu Dynasty, was willing to give her the right to choose.

This truly shocked Cailin deeply. What virtue or ability did she possess to make an emperor of the Great Chu Dynasty, an emperor feared by everyone, willingly abandon sleep in the dead of night and wait here for her to change her mind?

How could that be possible?

That was simply impossible.

Yet this impossible thing had happened to Cailin, and it had even made such an outstanding man bow his head for her sake.

This was something Cailin had never dared to imagine before.

Cailin recalled the time when she had still been among the Ancient Royal Clan. Although she and Yuntian had been Childhood Sweethearts, in the eyes of the other clans of the Ancient Royal Clan, the two of them had long been A Match Made in Heaven.

But in truth, there were some things that only Cailin herself understood most clearly.

Although she and Yuntian had indeed been inseparable back then, meeting almost every day, and had even once discussed a marriage alliance between their two clans, whenever that matter was brought up, the clan leaders and elders of the Desolate Battle Kui Ox Clan would all treat Cailin with an extremely condescending attitude.

In the eyes of those from the Desolate Battle Kui Ox Clan, Cailin’s Heaven-Devouring Python Clan was fundamentally unworthy of their leader, Yuntian.

There were even influential cultivators within the Desolate Battle Kui Ox Clan who kept advising Yuntian to take Cailin only as a concubine, saying that Cailin’s status was unworthy of the legitimate position.

For the legitimate position, he had to seek a clan of higher standing. Openly and secretly, they simply looked down on the Heaven-Devouring Python Clan.

When they said these things, Cailin had still been able to understand them at first. But now, thinking back on it, she felt that she had simply been a joke.

Perhaps because she had never seen true love before, Cailin had not understood what it meant for both sides to give for each other.

But now, after feeling Chu Feng’s love for her, Cailin suddenly understood what true love was.

As it turned out, Yuntian’s love for her had also been limited. Although the people of the Kui Ox Clan had all urged him in that way, Yuntian, as their leader, had not spoken a single word on her behalf. He had even gone along with their suggestions.

Looking at it now, Yuntian’s love had been nothing more than that. It was far, far inferior to Chu Feng’s love.

Chu Feng’s love was open-minded. It considered things from Cailin’s position. Yuntian’s love, however, had been incomparably narrow and incomparably selfish.

At this moment, Cailin suddenly realized that she was deeply fortunate she had not ended up with Yuntian back then. Otherwise, even now, she would have no idea what sort of life she would be facing.

It was very likely that Yuntian would eventually still listen to the elders of the Kui Ox Clan and ignore her completely.

Cailin’s tears welled up once again.

And they became increasingly fierce.

The key point was that this time, Cailin’s tears were not born of grievance, nor of sorrow, much less fear. They were tears of happiness for herself.

At the same time, she was moved by everything Chu Feng had done for her.

She was shaken.

Only by Chu Feng’s side could Cailin feel something she had never felt before—the feeling of being cherished, being valued, being placed at the very tip of someone’s heart.

So it truly was different.

Cailin opened her mouth with effort again, wanting to say something. Yet when the words reached her lips, they turned into sobs.

Seeing her like this, Chu Feng suddenly smiled again. In truth, when the two of them had first come into contact, Chu Feng had already clearly understood Cailin’s character and personality.

He knew that Cailin appeared as though she were covered in thorns on the outside, but deep down, her heart was extremely soft.

Chu Feng raised his hand and gently stroked the top of Cailin’s head twice. This time, his smile was especially gentle and especially doting.

In the next moment, before Cailin could react, he reached out and gently pulled her into his arms. His chin rested against the top of her head as he lightly brushed against her hair.

“You said earlier that you were afraid of becoming a Demoness who brings ruin to the nation and disaster to the people? That you were unwilling to hear those rumors and gossip?”

At first, Cailin truly had not expected Chu Feng to still be in the mood to hold her at a time like this. But slowly, she gradually accepted him. Buried in his embrace, she gave a muffled “Mm,” her voice still carrying a sobbing tone.

Chu Feng chuckled softly. His laughter sounded above her head, carrying the vibration of his chest as it passed into her heart.

“Since what you care about is this matter, then I will clean it up thoroughly. Not only will you not be a Demon Consort, I will also make you the most honorable Princess Consort of the Great Chu Dynasty.”

Chu Feng spoke these words with imposing force, and his voice was also very loud. He did not sound as if he were joking at all.

Cailin froze outright. She lifted her head and stared blankly at Chu Feng before her.

Her eyes were filled with confusion.

Yet beneath the moonlight, Chu Feng’s eyes were extraordinarily bright. They carried a smile, tenderness, and a trace of light and firmness that she could not understand.

Chu Feng lowered his head and looked at Cailin’s eyes, which were filled with tears and confusion. He looked at her slightly parted lips and the tear stains on her face that had yet to dry.

At this moment, Chu Feng felt heartache for all of Cailin’s pain.

Before Chu Feng came to this world, he had not understood matters between men and women especially well. But now, he suddenly remembered a certain saying.

Although he had once thought that saying was foolish.

Now, however...

Chu Feng suddenly looked at Cailin before him with incomparable seriousness and determination.

“Do you need to obtain a proper status before you can feel at ease?”

“Very well.” Chu Feng paused, then said each word clearly. His voice was not loud, yet it exploded beside Cailin’s ear like thunder.

“In that case, I will make you the Empress of Great Chu. Are you satisfied with that?”

Cailin froze completely.