The Side Character Wants to Lie Flat

Seeing the dazed look on the woman’s face, Li Ji’s mood improved slightly.

He picked up a cloth, wet it, and prepared to wipe Hua Manman’s face.

Hua Manman tried to refuse. "You don’t have to, I..."

But Li Ji pressed the cloth directly onto her face and began scrubbing vigorously.

He had never waited on anyone before, so he was incredibly rough.

He nearly scrubbed the skin right off Hua Manman’s face.

She yelped in pain.

"Gently, gently! This is my face, not a sheet of iron!"

Li Ji tossed the cloth into the basin, then picked up a cup of mouth rinse. "Open your mouth."

Hua Manman looked at him, her eyes filled with terror.

She said hastily, "I’ll do it myself."

Li Ji didn’t force the issue this time.

He thrust the cup into Hua Manman’s hands, walked over to the wardrobe, and pulled out two sets of clothes.

He held them up, comparing them.

He realized the clothes were all huge. They might pass as a nightgown for Hua Manman, but they were far too large to be worn as day clothes.

Li Ji stuffed the clothes back into the wardrobe and called for Jinxiu.

"Go and bring out the clothes the Princess Consort used to wear."

Jinxiu was taken aback.

Ever since the Princess Consort passed away, all her belongings had been meticulously sealed and stored.

Other than the Regent King himself, no one was ever allowed to touch them.

He had always treasured them, so why would he suddenly want to bring out the Princess Consort’s clothes?

Jinxiu longed to know why, but she was always mindful of her place and knew not to ask questions she shouldn’t.

She forced down the urge to ask and replied obediently.

"I’ll see to it at once."

「Not long after.」

Servants walked in, carrying two large chests of clothes.

Li Ji opened the chests, then looked back at the woman sitting on the bed and asked.

"Which one do you like?"

Hua Manman stared at the neatly folded dresses in the chests, utterly astonished.

She had heard the conversation between the Regent King and Jinxiu, so she knew these dresses had been left by the Regent Queen.

The clothes still looked brand new and vibrant, a clear sign they had been meticulously cared for.

It was proof of how much the Regent King cherished the belongings his late Princess Consort had left behind.

Yet now, the Regent King was laying these clothes out before Hua Manman, letting her take her pick.

The implication was self-evident.

Hua Manman’s feelings were a complicated mess. She looked at the Regent King as if he were the world’s biggest scumbag.

’If I were the Regent Queen, I’d be rolling in my grave right now!’

’This damn man has no decency!’

Li Ji heard her thoughts and knew she was cursing him again.

His expression darkened.

Hua Manman politely refused.

"Thank you for your kindness, Your Highness, but it’s not necessary. Given my current status, it would be inconvenient for me to wear a dress."

Li Ji asked blankly, "What do you mean it’s inconvenient to wear a dress? Are you planning to be the Heir of Prince Yu for the rest of your life?"

His question stumped Hua Manman.

’She had planned to find a chance to slip away, escape the clutches of the Yu Royal Mansion, and start a new life with a new identity.’

’But now she had already left the Yu Royal Mansion.’

’There were no more spies from Prince Yu watching her.’

’She could finally be herself!’

An idea suddenly sparked in Hua Manman’s mind.

She looked at the man and asked cautiously.

"You won’t charge me with deceiving the emperor for disguising myself as a man, will you?"

’Deceiving the emperor? Even if she started a rebellion, I’d protect her with my life!’ Li Ji thought.

But he still remembered how she had just been cursing him in her head.

He decided to scare her on purpose.

"As the Regent King, I must, of course, enforce the law impartially. How else could I command public respect?"

Fearing he would actually do as he said, Hua Manman immediately resorted to shifting the blame.

"I beg Your Highness to be merciful!

I didn’t mean to deceive the emperor! It was Prince Yu who forced me to dress as a man.

He would have killed me if I didn’t do what he said.

It’s all his fault! It has nothing to do with me!"

Li Ji was stunned for a moment. He hadn’t expected her to throw her "ally" under the bus so quickly and completely.

He frowned. "But aren’t you Prince Yu’s actual granddaughter? How could he have the heart to kill you?"

Before, Hua Manman would have hesitated, wondering if she should reveal the truth.

But the Yu Royal Mansion’s actions last night had chilled her to the bone.

She would have to be an idiot to keep hiding the truth for the Yu Royal Mansion.

So, without a moment’s hesitation, she told him the truth.

"The truth is, I’m not Lu Man at all! I’m not Prince Yu’s granddaughter, and I have absolutely nothing to do with the entire Yu Royal Mansion!

I’m just an innocent bystander who got dragged into this!"

She practically shouted the last sentence.

Those words had been bottled up inside her for far too long, and now she could finally let them all out.

A wave of relief washed over her.

’So liberating!’

Li Ji, in fact, had long suspected as much.

Hearing Manman tell the truth, he wasn’t surprised in the least. In fact, it only confirmed what he already thought.

It was a rare opportunity, her being willing to open up and speak honestly, and Li Ji wasn’t about to let it pass.

He walked over, sat on the edge of the bed, and pressed her further.

"If you’re not Lu Man, then who are you?"

"I’m Hua Manman!" she said without hesitation.

She paused.

She remembered that the Regent King had called her by that name before.

The Regent King seemed to have known her true identity all along.

’But I’ve never met him before.’

’Logically, there’s no way we should know each other.’

Li Ji spoke slowly. "You only remember that you’re Hua Manman. Do you remember anything that happened between us in the past?"

To avoid any misunderstanding, he stressed, "Between you and me. It has nothing to do with Lu Man."

Hua Manman looked utterly lost.

"Did we know each other before?"

Li Ji stared intently into her eyes but heard nothing from her thoughts.

That meant she was telling the truth.

She really didn’t remember him.

Even though he had anticipated this, Li Ji couldn’t stop the ache in his chest.

It was supposed to be a story about the two of them, yet now he was the only one who remembered how it went.

He pressed on, unwilling to give up.

"If you’ve never met me, why is your handwriting so similar to mine? And your horsemanship and martial arts—who taught you those?"

Hua Manman opened her mouth to answer, only to find her mind was a complete blank.

She truly couldn’t remember a thing.

She couldn’t remember when she’d learned calligraphy, or who she’d practiced riding and martial arts with.

It was as if there were gaps in her memory.

She had forgotten so much.

Hua Manman stared at the man before her and spoke in a daze.

"Did we... really know each other before?"

Hearing her words, Li Ji felt his eyes begin to sting.

"Of course. We’ve known each other for a very long time."

Hua Manman could find no trace of them meeting in her memories.

Her first instinct was to doubt his words.

But on second thought, she felt he probably wasn’t lying.

A man of the Regent King’s status had no reason to deceive a nobody like her.