170: Chapter 170: Wang Dong'er's Initiative and Xue Di's Panic

Should she knock on the door?

If she knocked, if they met, what should she say?

Question her?

Accuse her?

Or... something else?

She didn't know.

She only knew that her chest felt blocked by something, stifling and suffocating, needing to be let out, yet she didn't know how to express it.

Snow Empress's feelings for Lu Jing, and Lu Jing's affection for Snow Empress—these two realizations were like two cold files, grinding repeatedly in her heart, bringing waves of dull pain and bitterness.

Yet, mixed into this pain was an understanding of Snow Empress, consideration for Lu Jing, and uncertainty about the future.

She was afraid to face it, yet she couldn't escape it.

Time ticked away, second by second, amidst the trembling of her fingertips and the struggle within her heart.

The moonlight shifted quietly, casting a longer shadow upon her.

She didn't know how long had passed; perhaps it was a few breaths, or perhaps a long century.

In Wang Donger's azure eyes, the confusion and hesitation were gradually replaced by a clarity that bordered on desperation.

She understood that she couldn't keep overthinking like this.

Regardless, she needed an answer, she needed closure, even if that answer would cause her more pain, even if that closure would bring about changes she didn't want to face.

She took a deep breath, the air seeming to carry the chill of the night, cooling her all the way to the bottom of her heart.

Then, she no longer hesitated, and the hand she had raised finally knocked on the door panel, gently yet exceptionally firmly.

"Knock, knock, knock."

The three soft sounds were exceptionally clear in the silent night, and they also knocked upon the hearts of the two people inside and outside the door.

There was no immediate response from inside the room.

But Wang Donger could clearly feel that the person inside was awake.

After a moment of silence, a voice, cold yet carrying a trace of an imperceptible tremor—as if just startled from deep thought—came from inside, seemingly tinged with uncertainty:

"The door... is unlocked. Come in."

The voice remained Snow Empress's characteristically ethereal and melodious tone, but Wang Donger keenly captured that trace of deeply hidden... panic!

She reached out and pushed open the door.

"Creeeak—"

The door slowly opened, revealing the scene inside the room.

Only a small bedside lamp was on, casting a soft, dim yellow light.

Snow Empress had already sat up in bed, leaning against the headboard.

She was wearing only a thin ice-blue silk nightgown that complemented her temperament, her long silver-white hair draped somewhat messily over her shoulders, flowing with a luster like moonlight under the soft light.

Clearly, she had not been asleep just now either.

When Snow Empress's ice-blue eyes saw that the figure pushing the door open and standing at the entrance against the faint light of the corridor was Wang Donger, her delicate body trembled—imperceptibly to some, but exceptionally clearly to her—for a moment!

Those eyes, usually cold and calm, widened instantly, clearly flashing with shock, panic, helplessness, and a trace of... embarrassment, as if she had been caught red-handed.

"Dong... Donger?"

Snow Empress's voice was a bit dry.

She almost subconsciously clutched the thin quilt covering her, as if it could give her a sense of security, and asked tremblingly: "You... why are you here? It's so late... is... is there something wrong?"

Her question carried a cautious probe, her gaze locked tightly on Wang Donger's face, trying to discern something from her expression.

Did Lu Jing or Qian Renxue tell her?

Or did she guess it herself?

Was she here to settle scores?

Or...

Snow Empress's heart jumped into her throat because of Wang Donger's sudden visit.

The entanglement and panic regarding Qian Renxue's words from last night, which she had forcibly suppressed, as well as the helplessness and shyness she felt when facing Lu Jing during the day, now exploded like a lake into which a giant boulder had been thrown, leaving her heart in chaos.

She could even hear the sound of her own heartbeat like a war drum, seeming exceptionally loud in the silent room.

Wang Donger did not answer immediately.

She just walked into the room quietly, closed the door behind her with a soft click.

This soft sound seemed to cut off the outside world and also seemed to lock a certain invisible pressure completely within this small space, where only the two of them were present.

Then, she turned around, walked step by step to the bedside, and under Snow Empress's slightly alarmed gaze, sat down slowly on the edge of the bed.

She sat very close, so close that Snow Empress could smell the faint, youthful fragrance coming from her, as well as a trace of... the night breeze's chill.

Snow Empress held her breath unconsciously.

She looked at Wang Donger, who was within arm's reach, looking at her lowered eyelids, her tightly pursed lips that had lost their usual luster, and her slightly trembling hands unconsciously twisted together on her lap.

A strong sense of unease and guilt, like cold vines, quietly wound around Snow Empress's heart.

Donger... she looked very sad.

Was it because of her?

The air in the room seemed to have frozen.

Only the slightly rapid, not fully calmed breathing of the two people intertwined under the dim light, telling of the waves in their respective hearts.

Snow Empress wanted to speak several times, wanting to break this suffocating silence, wanting to say something to explain, or... apologize?

However, the words reached her lips but seemed to be blocked by an invisible force.

What could she say?

Say that she really had developed feelings she shouldn't have for Lu Jing?

Say that she was sorry?

But was this emotion something she could control?

She hadn't even figured it out herself.

She could only grip the corner of the quilt more tightly, her fingertips turning slightly white from the force.

Her ice-blue eyes, carrying a kind of near-begging confusion, looked at Wang Donger, waiting for her to speak, waiting for her... to pass judgment.

She didn't know how long had passed; perhaps it was only a few moments, or perhaps it was so long that Snow Empress felt as if an epoch had passed.

Wang Donger finally slowly raised her head.

Her azure eyes were now like two pools of stirred autumn water, shimmering with light, but no longer clear to the bottom, instead filled with complex, heartbreaking emotions.

She did not look into Snow Empress's eyes, but just stared at a void in front of her, her voice very soft, very soft, as if a feather had fallen, yet it carried a power that struck straight to the heart, clearly asking:

"Sister Snow..."

"Do... do you like Lu Jing?"

"Boom—!"

This question, like a thunderclap from the nine heavens, exploded directly in Snow Empress's mind!

It was also like the sharpest ice pick, piercing with absolute precision through the last shred of her lucky disguise!

The question she feared most, found most difficult to speak of, and least wanted to hear at this moment—especially from Wang Donger's mouth—had come after all!

Snow Empress froze completely.

The color on her stunningly beautiful face instantly drained away, leaving only a nearly transparent paleness.

In her ice-blue eyes, all calmness, all dignity, and all aloofness vanished at this moment.

Only boundless panic, embarrassment, helplessness, and a kind of panic at being completely seen through, with nowhere to hide, remained!