Actually.
When I brought Tạ Ngộ Triều back to the capital,
he had already “met” Sở Ương Ương.
It was just that, at the time, Sở Ương Ương had concealed her name and family background, eagerly posing as a miracle-working female physician to treat him.
In a dilapidated temple in a remote rural area,
I invited her to give Tạ Ngộ Triều acupuncture and medicine, treating his blindness.
People as devoted as me, arranging meetings between the hero and heroine,
are truly few and far between.
Quietly swallowing my tears of hurt,
so I could bring someone else's love to fruition.
System: [Don't put on an act. Didn't you get my 300 million in cash?]
[That was compensation for my emotional distress. Thanks.]
Tạ Ngộ Triều couldn't see.
He was very wary of strangers.
He refused to take medicine or accept treatment from Sở Ương Ương.
To trick him,
I pressed the little plastic turtle I'd brought with me when I transmigrated into his hand.
It was the kind people used to face off against each other in livestream rooms.
Tạ Ngộ Triều felt the strange object.
“What is this?”
“It's a cute little turtle. It glows at night.”
“Glows? Is it made of luminous pearl?”
“Not exactly, but close enough…”
I had no idea how to explain modern high technology to him.
“Anyway, you'll see for yourself once you can see again. So you have to take your medicine and get your eyes treated. This is a miracle doctor—you can't just see one whenever you want. You're one lucky kid.”
At last, Tạ Ngộ Triều stopped resisting.
He obediently nodded.
13.
After that,
Tạ Ngộ Triều relied on the power of his former subordinates to take revenge and was reinstated as crown prince.
Everything fell into place.
The System told me: [Host, your mission is complete. You can leave whenever you like.]
That was also when Tạ Ngộ Triều and I were most deeply in love.
After Tạ Ngộ Triều regained his sight,
he had to look at me ten thousand times a day, like a turtle staring at a mung bean.
I asked the System: [What do you think I am to Tạ Ngộ Triều?]
The System showered me with praise: [Host, I'm not bragging, but in the male lead's heart, you're absolutely peerless—you shine like the moon!]
The moon, huh.
Isn't that the sort of thing people keep in their hearts to remember?
The sooner you die, the more meaningful it is.
The longer you wait to die, the more tragic the ending.
I understood.
Just as I was thinking about what kind of death would let me leave this world in the most profound, glorious, and grandiose way,
Tạ Ngộ Triều returned.
He pulled me onto his lap and whispered intimately in my ear.
Though we still hadn't made a promise to spend our lives together,
everyone in the Eastern Palace already assumed I was his future crown princess.
They had all seen how Tạ Ngộ Triều treated me.
I ventured to ask, “In the future… could you make me empress?”
The truth was, I only asked because I'd gotten addicted to holding office.
Just imagine being a mighty empress!
I'd gone to all the trouble of coming to ancient times—wouldn't it be a shame not to experience it?
If he said yes, then I'd wait a little longer before leaving.
Hehe.
Tạ Ngộ Triều didn't answer.
I understood his silence.
No more hehe.
As I thought, that so-called moonlight in someone's heart eventually turns into a grain of rice.
So I wriggled out of his arms and forced a smile:
“Oh, I almost forgot. I made soup for Your Highness today. Let's talk later—I have to go check the fire.”
As soon as I left the room, I told the System firmly: [We're leaving tonight. Right now!]
Let Tạ Ngộ Triều go to his destined heroine.
I wiped away my tears.
Clearly… I'd made the best choice back then. It was a good thing.
So why wasn't I happy?
14.
“Why are you crying?”
“I'm fine, Chiêu Chiêu. Don't worry.”
Tạ Ngộ Triều had been unconscious for an entire day before waking.
Seeing me sitting by the bed with red-rimmed eyes, he gently stroked my face and comforted me.
“Look what I have here.”
A piece of icy jade was placed in my hand.
It was a small imperial seal for the empress, only it wasn't carved with a phoenix.
Instead, it was…
a turtle exactly like the glowing one I'd given him before.
Me: “…”
Then he pulled another turtle from his chest.
“I have one too.”
Me: “……”
They really were a pair of lovebirds.
I couldn't hold back anymore.
I couldn't hold back; a tear ran from my nose. “What is this? Are we a pair of turtle spouses?”
Seeing me laugh, he struggled to smile too and joined in. “What's wrong with being turtle spouses? Turtles live a long time, so I'll get to be with Chiêu Chiêu a little longer.”
But we couldn't keep putting this off forever.
If Tạ Ngộ Triều kept going on like this,
if he still didn't meet Sở Ương Ương, the world's rules would punish him.
His heart would feel as if it were being carved by a knife, tormenting him without end.
He might even… die.
But for some reason, something had gone wrong. In the five years since I left that world, their plot had made no progress at all.
I decided to bring him and the heroine together myself.
15.
I brought Sở Ương Ương into the palace.
When Tạ Ngộ Triều heard, he turned his head away in a sulk and dodged the medicine I offered him.
His gaze darkened, devoid of light.
“Chiêu Chiêu, you still want to push me into someone else's arms.”
I clasped his hand tightly.
“You understood long ago that everything in this world is predetermined. I had my own reasons for approaching you, too. You know that loving Sở Ương Ương is your destiny, don't you?”
He didn't deny it. Instead, he asked me,
“Do you remember what you said before you left five years ago?”
“You said, ‘The person who owes you a kindness is Sở Ương Ương. She's the one you should love. Forget me.’ Is that why you want to abandon me?”
“Thẩm Chiêu Chiêu, do you really think I'm so foolish that I can't tell gratitude from love? Oh, by your logic, should I fall in love with every imperial physician in the Imperial Medical Bureau? That makes no sense.”
“Could you be a little braver? I love you simply because you're you. I'm willing to defy the world's plot and rebel against my own fate to love you.”
He took my hand.
A gentle kiss landed on the back of my hand.
“Because love knows no bounds. Love is instinct.”
With a soft plop,
a hot tear fell.
Before I met Tạ Ngộ Triều, I always thought he was nothing more than a prewritten character, a string of code without a soul.
But I forgot.
The one who is loved will grow flesh and blood with a kind of madness.
I shook my head.
“But Tạ Ngộ Triều, I don't want you to die.”
He spoke with absolute certainty.
“As long as my soul never fades, what's so frightening about my body perishing?”
“Chiêu Chiêu, what was the name of that tomb you told me about? Oh, right, the pyramid. If I don't have much time left, then we should make the most of it now… Mmph.”
“Don't say such gloomy things!”
I hurriedly clapped a hand over his mouth.
I couldn't bear to hear another word from this dying yandere.
“First, as long as I'm alive, I absolutely won't stand by and watch you wait to die.”
“Second, pyramids don't belong to our civilization. You can't build one, or the people in our timeline will call you Korean.”
“Third, you've misunderstood.”
I went around the screen and dragged out Sở Ương Ương, who'd been hiding behind it, watching the show and laughing so hard she could barely breathe.
“Sở Ương Ương didn't come to drive us apart.”
“She came to join us.”
16.
Last night, I went to look for Sở Ương Ương.
[All-powerful System, do you know where Sở Ương Ương is right now?]
System: [Of course. She's at the residence, counting mosquitoes.]
…
I was furious!
How could she be so idle and still refuse to follow the plot?
Then what had I worked so hard to build up over all these years?
System: [You work hard. You like being busy.]
[… ]
Just as I thought.
I sneaked inside and saw Sở Ương Ương standing blankly in the courtyard.
Could she even see them clearly?
She couldn't actually be feeding the mosquitoes, could she?
A strange man stood beside Sở Ương Ương.
He didn't look like a eunuch or a guard.
He looked more like a male concubine…
I bounced around like a mudskipper in a melon patch.
[System, who's that person talking beside Sở Ương Ương?]
The System didn't seem surprised at all: [Oh, he's Sở Ương Ương's system.]
[Can you systems turn into people, too? He's pretty handsome. Why don't you turn into a person as well?]
The System fell silent for a few seconds.
[Because his father is the Supreme God, and he's a second-generation system! I'm a workhorse system, while he's the system world's spoiled princeling who argued with the Supreme God and came down here to experience life. How could we possibly be the same!?]
All right, could you lower your voice a little?
You're making so much noise.
The System realized I was starting to dislike him a little.
Trying to salvage its image after that outburst, it said: [Host, don't underestimate the bond between us!]
I was curious: [We have a bond?]
System: [That's right. If you fail the mission, it'll affect my chances of getting promoted.]
Wow, what a profound bond.
16.
I picked up two branches.
I pricked up my ears and crept toward Sở Ương Ương——
The second-generation system's helpless voice rang out: [Host, Tạ Ngộ Triều is your male lead. We've been here for years, but your plot progress hasn't budged at all…]
Sở Ương Ương suddenly turned toward the second-generation system.
Her eyes went wide.