The Untouchable Prince | A Norenmin FanFiction

八十二

Eighty Two
Updated: December 21, 2022

The ground was hard and cold on his knees, but Yimu paid no attention to it. There was something, or rather, someone that was more important than his own knees.

On the bed in front of him, an old woman lay still. She was awake, but her breathing was labored. Her heart rate was staggered and her skin was deathly pale. It was clear to the doctor but also everyone in the room that she was at the end of her life, yet she seemed to refuse to let go.

"My son..." Her voice was hoarse and scratchy. "My beautiful daughter..." A gentle smile spread on her face when her gaze shifted to the younger girl beside Yimu.

"Mother..." Yimu replied respectfully, holding back his frustration.

"M-Mama!!" The woman beside him cried dramatically, slumped over the edge of the old woman's bed. She grasped the woman's cold hand desperately, rubbing her thumb over the back of her hand. Her cry was ugly. Her tears drenched her cheeks, ruining the makeup her servants had painstakingly done for her that morning. Her image as the beautiful Crown Princess of Kang was also ruined in front of the dozens of servants kneeled behind them.

"Ai-yo...." the old woman said, lifting a hand to stroke her daughter's tears. "My Jiheo. You're already a grown woman, why must you cry so loud?"

Yimu kept his head lowered respectfully.

There was one reason why he hated this woman, and it wasn't because she was Empress.

"Mother is not going yet. This old woman has got a few more weeks in front of her."

Jiheo continued to bawl into her mother's hand, refusing to release her. "I don't- I don't want you to go! Y-you can't go!!!"

He hated her because of how she raised her daughter.

The old woman only chuckled, patting her face lovingly. "You never could let me go, couldn't you? Ever since you were born, you have never left Mother's side. Whenever the maid tried to pull you away, you would cry and scream and kick until you were allowed to stay. Even when you became of age, you didn't want to leave Mother's side. You even requested to move residences to live with Mother."

She spoiled her.

The old servants and maids that were listening nearby began to shed tears when the memories were brought up. Back then, it seemed almost silly that the princess followed and copied her mother like a shadow, but now it was a distant memory even if it was only five years ago. The old empress was well and healthy back then and seemed to have a fulfilling life ahead of her. It was even predicted by a doctor that she would be able to live at least another thirty years, but now, seeing how the empress was bedridden, they couldn't understand how that prediction had ever been made in the first place.

"It wasn't until you met Yimu that you were finally able to leave Mother's side." The old woman gazed at the prince consort with a gentle smile. "You grew up when Yimu came and became a woman." She looked back at her crying daughter. "You started taking care of the empire both in the inner court and outer court, and I couldn't be more proud of you."

"Mama... stop t-talking..." Jiheo begged as she continued to cry. "Y-you need rest..."

"When Mother went to you and Yimu's wedding, I couldn't be any more happy." She reached over her hand to Yimu, who held out his hand, and grasped it. "Yimu is such a wonderful young man that Mother cannot hate. You've done so much for this small family and dying empire," she was finally talking to the prince consort.

"I am humbled."

"I cannot thank you enough for everything you have done. You've taken good care of my only daughter and showed her the world and taught her everything she needed to know to become a proud empress like her mother." She chuckled. "You've done so much for me that I wouldn't be worried if I were to die now. Everything will be great in the hands of my son-in-law."