1663: Lil Qi, It Hurts, It Really Hurts

Lil Qi, It Hurts, It Really Hurts

Chu Qi patted her gently on the back as he watched the girl lean into his arms reliantly. The expression on his face softened.0

Inside Chu Qi's embrace, Ji'er was able to fall asleep very quickly.

Chu Qi finally felt at peace when he heard the girl's gentle breathing.

He did not want to see Ji'er cry again; he hoped she would always be happy.

Chu Qi remained seated with Ji'er in his arms for a long time as he stared at her little face, fast asleep. It felt like he could never get enough of watching her no matter how long he looked at her.

Eventually, he sighed softly and laid down in bed with her still in his arms.

Chu Qi had promised Ji'er that he would stay by her side, which was why he did not leave the room while she was asleep.

He embraced her carefully as he drifted off to sleep.

However, Ji'er suddenly began crying in the middle of the night.

"Father… Don't kill me… I promise to be good, very good…"

Chu Qi woke up with a start and he felt a stab of pain in his heart when he turned to see Ji'er's face covered in tears again.

He knew she was having a nightmare when he saw her sobbing and shouting while her eyes were still shut.

The words of those servants were still troubling her deeply.

He sat up and hugged her while comforting her gently. "Wake up, Ji'er. It's not real. You're only dreaming…"

Ji'er finally stopped sobbing and fell quiet in his arms.

Chu Qi thought she was still asleep. He was about to lie down again while holding her when she suddenly opened her eyes.

In the dark, her eyes were as black as the night, but the shiny tears within made them look exceptionally bright, as though they had just been washed.

"Ji'er?" Chu Qi caressed her face and called out to her softly.

It took quite a while before Ji'er batted her eyelashes and buried her face into his chest. "I had a dream, Lil Qi. I dreamt about the day I was born. Father tried to kill me by hurling me in my dream. It did not help no matter how much I cried and screamed—Father flung me to the ground in the end. Lil Qi, it hurts, it really hurts…"

At this point, tears began rolling down her eyes and she could not stop sobbing.

Alarmed, Chu Qi lowered his head to kiss away her tears, bit by bit.

Only when her tears stopped flowing did he hold her face in his hands and say to her in a gentle voice, "Ji'er, you said it yourself that it's a dream. It isn't real. You're perfectly safe right now and nothing's happened to you. You're not allowed to let your thoughts run wild again, understand?"

"That's only because you caught me." Ji'er shook her head. Her voice sounded like it was about to break. "Even though it's just a dream, it felt very real to me. If you hadn't caught me, I would have died. It would be impossible for me to survive that."

Chu Qi felt like his heart was about to break as he hugged her tightly in his arms. He had no idea how else to comfort her. All he could do was repeat, "It's just a dream, Ji'er, it's just a dream. Your dream is not real. It's just a nightmare."

Ji'er broke out in tears. "Lil Qi…"

"I'm here, Ji'er, I'm always here." Chu Qi kept kissing her, unsure of what else to do with her.

Ji'er cried for a long time before finally falling asleep, exhausted from all the crying.

Chu Qi hugged her, unable to sleep.

Ji'er was not the only one who could tell that His Majesty's love for Ji'er had a sort of careful cautiousness to it. He could sense it as well.

Was that out of guilt because he wanted to make it up to Ji'er, or was it because His Majesty pitied his daughter's unfortunate life which saw her being thrown off the cliff the day she was born?

Chu Qi suddenly also felt scared about the possibility of the ugly truth. It would break Ji'er's heart. How was she able to live with this knowledge?

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