I didn’t know what kind of experienced he’d gone through before. He might have eaten the skin I’d discarded as a gesture of thriftiness, but it made me feel like he was crazy over me.
The entire dining room suddenly became quiet. The Great Ghost King and the Queen didn’t speak again, and only watched their child. Both of them looked thrilled with excitement, like they were watching their child who had just learned how to walk, taking a step at a time towards them.
After the Ghost Prince finished the skin, he picked up another potato and began to peel away the skin carefully. Then, he put the peeled potato on my plate.
I blinked and looked at him stiffly. “Thank… thank you…”
Maybe he thought the skin he’d peeled himself tasted better, and that was why he’d peeled them for me?
The Ghost Prince remained silent. He retracted his hand and continued to peel the next potato for me.
I felt strange.
Didn’t he dislike others touching his things? Such a person should also dislike touching things that others had touched before. Let alone eating others’ leftovers.
“Bing, you haven’t toured around properly yet. Later, you can take a walk with the Queen…”
“Excuse me,” I cut off the Great Ghost King. “I just conquered Margaery’s livable zone. I haven’t wiped out her underlings completely yet. The leaders of the livable zone are all watching me closely too. They might be waiting for an opportunity. Although Nubis is imprisoned, his spacecraft is stopped outside my livable zone. Hence, my livable zone is still under danger. I am in no mood to dress up right now. For dresses or whatnot…”
Suddenly, the Ghost Prince clenched my wrist. His forceful strength cut me off. Just as I wanted to shake his hand off, I lifted my face and saw the Queen’s disappointed face.
Seeing her disappointed expression, I felt my heart clench.
I, Luo Bing, could deal with a powerful opponent. When my opponent was strong, I would just meet strength with strength and hit them hard. However, I really couldn’t deal with a disappointed mother.
The Ghost Prince slowly let go of my wrist. I blinked and looked down. “I… am a Queen now. I… don’t have any outfit that lives up to the title of a Queen. Later, I have to trouble the Queen… to pick a few…”
“Sure.” The Queen was immediately delighted. She smiled at me. “I am glad that Bing can entrust me with that.”
“As for… business…” I furrowed my eyebrows stiffly and glanced at the Great Ghost King. The Great Ghost King seemed awkward too, as if he too didn’t want to ruin the Queen’s mood. I lowered my voice and asked, “When do we talk about it?”
“Cough.” The Great Ghost King coughed and gazed lovingly at the Queen. “When you are done picking dresses for Bing, I need to talk to Bing about business.”
The Queen smiled and nodded. “I won’t interrupt you.”
Sigh. I suddenly found the way I’d behaved earlier rude.
I remembered that the Queen hadn’t wanted the Great Ghost King and the Ghost Prince to leave her. My mind recalled her lonely silhouette in the garden earlier. She only wanted someone to talk to, to live like an ordinary woman with a bunch of sisters.
That was why she liked to prepare gowns for everyone.
I had always been active in the war, and had always disguised myself as a man. That was why I had been in battle mode all the time. I’d long thrown aside the sensitivity of a woman. Now, I felt awkward as I tried to pick it up again.
I had been a man for too long and had forgotten how to be a woman. I’d lost a woman’s gentleness and sensitivity as well.
I should have noticed the Queen’s disappointment. I had used to be a person who’d been sensitive to people's feelings. Now, I was numb towards everyone’s emotions from being in a war for too long and seeing too many dead bodies.
In the end, I only cared about fighting a war with the Great Ghost King. I’d even firmly rejected his request and put the Queen in an awkward position without noticing her disappointment.
Two peeled potatoes rested on my plate, with fine salt on the side. Even as I spoke with the Great Ghost King, the Ghost Prince had already done so much for me without a word. He was a gentleman and a strange person. He didn’t bother about other people yet he took care of me.
It might seem like I was fancying myself as very attractive to him, but the reality was that I could feel an obvious difference in how he treated me versus others. Plus, he’d done everything for me so naturally as though he was an old friend taking care of me.
Turning to look at him, I watched him quietly eating sweet potato alone. His white hair hung by the side of his face, veiling his face from my eyes. His hair was dull, like an old man in his fifties.
I studied him carefully. When we sat so close, the sense of familiarity grew stronger. I was dying to see his face behind his hair and mask. I had a strong feeling that he knew me.
The servant served a tray of eggs. The Queen picked one up and put it in front of me. “Bing, have this.”
I took back my gaze and accepted the egg that the Queen passed to me. “Thank you, Your Highness.”
“Bing, you are welcome. We are a family now.” The Queen’s gentle remark made me stare at the egg in a numbed daze.
Among the merciless Ghost Eclipsers, there was actually a woman as gentle as the Queen. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings, just because those who’d called me their family had still betrayed me in the end.
My heart had turned cold without me knowing. The Luo Bing who had always trusted people and treated people with innocence and kindness had been left behind in a pile of dead bodies.
I… don’t like who I am right now…
Plus, I hadn’t thought that the Great Ghost King and the Queen would have such feelings. If he had really been gentle and kind, he wouldn’t have let the Ghost Eclispers force the slaves into a high radiation zone to mine blue crystal energy, or let the miners die in misery.
“Bing, what’s wrong?” The Queen asked with concern.
I really want to tell you to stop pretending. I know that you are nice to me now because you want me to be the North Star under your husband’s control.
But I held back. The innocent Luo Bing that I’d abandoned long ago told me that the Queen was different from the Great Ghost King. At least, she truly cared for me. She was a gentle Queen. She might not know what the Great Ghost King had done outside. Or perhaps she had just treated those slaves like the other Ghost Eclipsers, and had felt no mercy for them.
Smiling faintly, I shook my head. “Nothing. It has been a while since someone told me that I am their family.” I smiled and looked at the Queen.
The Queen turned quiet. Her eyes behind the mask filled with pity. When she extended her hand to hold the hand I was holding the egg with, her hand felt soft and gentle against my skin. “If you are willing to, we can be your family. Meteor can be your…”
Meteor? Could that be the Ghost Prince’s name?
I was dumbfounded. As I worried about what her husband was going to say, before I could stop the Queen, I heard her continue, “... Brother.”
“Brother?” I was surprised. Everyone had told me that the Great Ghost King wanted an alliance through marriage yet in the end, he’d wanted the Ghost Prince to be my brother. It was as embarrassing as it was surprising.
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