534 Prince Consort Awakens, His Memory
The sky was bright and it was early in the morning in the Capital in October. The air was moist and cold.
The Prince Consort moved his body and slowly woke up from his sleep. He raised his slightly sore arm and pressed his throbbing forehead. He opened his eyes and looked at the top of the tent where the five-colored broken jade was hanging. He then lifted the curtain and looked at the ancient and elegant room. An unfamiliar feeling arose in his heart.
“This is…” He spoke in a hoarse voice.
Suddenly, a bright figure barged into his vision. She took the curtain that he had pushed aside and handed it to a maidservant at the side. The maidservant hung the curtain on the tent hook and the figure’s owner sat down by the bed.
The Prince Consort subconsciously moved in to put some distance between them.
The Queen saw his reaction and smiled gently. “Don’t be afraid, it’s me.”
“Who… are you?” The Prince Consort asked in shock.
“I’m your wife,” the Queen said gently. She was clearly used to such a situation and did not look surprised at all.
The Prince Consort couldn’t care less about her reaction because he quickly discovered a new problem. “You’re my wife, then… who am I?”
The Queen reached out her weak hand and gently placed it on his forehead. The Prince Consort dodged, but he couldn’t. The Queen’s hand pressed against him and she said softly, “I’m the Queen of the Nanzhao Nation. You’re my Prince Consort.”
“The Queen… Prince Consort…” The Prince Consort murmured in a daze.
The Queen smiled and said, “We’ve been married for many years. There are some things you might not remember, but it’s fine. I’ll help you remember. Your situation is a little complicated. I’ll tell you in detail later. Let the imperial doctor take your pulse first.”
The Prince Consort did not seem to hear her words. He was only muttering to himself. Suddenly, he looked up. “Zijun?”
The imperial doctor who walked forward with the first aid kit paused. The Queen’s eyelashes trembled slightly.
“Are you… Zijun?” The Prince Consort looked at the Queen in a daze and asked. There was a figure in his mind, as if it was covered in a halo of mist, making it impossible to distinguish.
The Queen glanced at the imperial physician. The imperial physician lowered his head. The Queen retracted her gaze and quietly pushed the hair off the Prince Consort’s forehead. “Yes, I’m Zijun. I’m glad you still remember the name you gave me after the wedding.”
“Ah.” Hearing that she was Zijun, the Prince Consort heaved a sigh of relief. The resistance in his eyes was gone. He obediently lay on the bed and let her touch his forehead. The way he looked at Zijun was affectionate and gentle.
The Queen smiled at him, then turned around and instructed the imperial doctor, “Take the Prince Consort’s pulse.”
“Yes.” The imperial physician walked forward and carefully took the Prince Consort’s pulse. “Your Highness, the Prince Consort’s body is fine, but he’s a little weak. I’ll carefully nurse him back to health. Your Highness and the Prince Consort, please be at ease.”
“Thank you, imperial physician,” the Queen said.
The imperial physician left with the first aid kit. The Queen said to the maidservants in the room, “You guys can leave too.”
“Yes.” Everyone filed out.
“What happened? Why am I…” The Prince Consort pressed his aching forehead and tried to recall something about himself, but he could not think of anything.
The Queen took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat off his forehead. “Don’t be anxious. I’ll tell you slowly. You were injured in the past to save me. Not only did you ruin your appearance, but you also fell ill. Sometimes, you’ll suddenly forget the past. This isn’t the first time.”
“No wonder you don’t look surprised at all,” the Prince Consort said ashamedly. He first touched the right side of his face and didn’t feel anything. Then he touched the left side of his face and finally felt a hideous scar. “It’s really hard on you to look at me…”
It was unknown if he was talking about his looks or saying that he could never remember her.
“Where’s Cong’er?” He asked suddenly.
The Queen’s expression froze. She smiled and said, “On the way back to the manor. He went on a tour and said that he wanted to rush back before my birthday. It’s this month.”
The Prince Consort rubbed his head strangely. “Why do I feel like I’ve just seen him?”
“You think about him day and night and keep dreaming of him.” With that, the Queen changed the topic. “By the way, we still have an adopted daughter called Xi’er. You dote on her very much, but she’s not in the manor now. She entered the palace to greet Father and Mother.”
The Prince Consort tried his best to construct a scene of a family of four in his mind.
“Is there a mirror?” said the Prince Consort.
The Queen was stunned. “You…”
The Prince Consort said, “I want to see what I look like now.”
The Queen looked at him affectionately and said, “In my heart, you will always be the best.”
The Prince Consort felt that he could not stand her affectionate gaze. He lowered his eyes and said, “I just want to see.”
The Queen sighed helplessly. She stood up and walked to the dressing table. She took a mahogany mirror and returned to the bed to hand it to him. “Actually, you don’t have to look.”
The Prince Consort decisively took the mirror and looked at the face in the mirror. Time had left traces on the face, but the facial features were still the same. The right side of the face looked no different from a normal person, but the scar on the left side of the face…
“I already told you not to look.” The Queen snatched the mirror. “If you mind, you can wear a mask like before.”
The Prince Consort paused and nodded. “Alright.”
The Queen handed him a silver mask and said gently, “There are many things in your study that you treasure. Do you want to take a look?”
The Prince Consort left.
The Queen stood under the porch and watched him walk into the study opposite. It was not until he entered the room that the gentleness on her face finally disappeared. She asked the imperial doctor beside her coldly, “Why does he remember more and more things faster? The last time he remembered Cong’er was three days later. This time, he started to think about him when he woke up. There’s even Zijun!”
The imperial physician sweated and said, “I don’t know why this happened either. Perhaps the Prince Consort was agitated by something?”
The Queen said coldly, “I don’t want any more accidents.”
“I’ll do my best,” the imperial doctor said.
The Queen looked at him and said, “I don’t want you to do your best. If you can’t keep the secret you need to keep, I’ll take your life.”
The imperial physician shivered.
The Prince Consort entered the study and flipped open the unprocessed memorial on the table. The handwriting of the memorial made him feel familiar. He picked up his pen and wrote a few big words. It was indeed the same as the handwriting on the memorial. It seemed that he had handled these memorials correctly.
Some memorials were recent, and some had been accumulated for several years. This meant that he had indeed been living here.
He also found his handwriting in the booklet on the bookshelf. The calligraphy and paintings hanging on the wall also came from his handwriting, and there were many letters and handwritten notes.
There were records of his experiences and some things that he might have needed to record in the past. Most of them were state affairs and politics. He opened a drawer and took out a stack of well-collected tracings. There were Cong’er and Xi’er among the tracings. It was undoubtedly something for the two children.
He continued to search and found a few family portraits. There was a beautiful woman and a young pair of children. His gaze landed on the face of the seven or eight-year-old child. The child looked like his mother.
The Prince Consort was stunned for a moment, then he smiled knowingly. Looking like Zijun was not bad either.
After that, he found a few more portraits of his family. It seemed that every year, he would draw a portrait of them. The children in the portraits had grown up, and the Queen had also become a gentle and virtuous woman.
He put the portrait away and returned it to the drawer. Suddenly, he touched something. With a click, a secret compartment at the bottom of the drawer opened.
Was he hiding something here? The Prince Consort bent down and took out a scroll from the secret compartment. The scroll was heavy, and his heart skipped a beat. For some reason, he felt that there was something extraordinary here. He looked out. He did not understand why he was so nervous. He turned around and blocked the scroll with his body. He untied the ribbon on the scroll and slowly unfolded it.
It was a portrait of a young man.
As the scroll unfolded, he saw the face of the person in the painting clearly.
“It’s Cong’er.” The Prince Consort was suddenly disappointed. He could not say what he was looking forward to just now.
In the other room, the Queen looked coldly at the portrait on the table. The person in the portrait had a face that was almost identical to the Prince Consort, but he was younger and did not have that hideous scar.
The Queen picked up the portrait and threw it into a brazier expressionlessly.
