My wife is a witch princess

Chapter 82 The problem remains unsolved.

Bruce greeted them at the door, wagging his tail, but Tao Yao was nowhere to be seen.

After noon, the sky inexplicably darkened, with leaden clouds hanging low.

Song Che looked out the window, his heart skipped a beat.

The dim light of day bears a striking resemblance to the suffocating twilight of my dream last night.

He rushed into the kitchen, grabbed the cleaver, and felt its coldness creep up his fingertips. Almost without hesitation, he went to the door, went downstairs, and threw the knife into the communal trash can.

"Song Che," Xia Li followed him out, "How are we going to cook without a kitchen knife?"

"These past few days... I've been buying food." He went upstairs, closed the door, and his voice sounded a little muffled.

Only after he finished doing it did he belatedly realize the absurdity of it all. Because of a vague and unreal dream, he had actually thrown away the knife he used for cutting vegetables at home.

The phrases "restless and anxious" and "worrying about things that are about to fall" seem to mock him.

So what about after that? Will you buy a new one?

This became an unresolved issue.

He shook his head, trying to dispel the restlessness, his gaze falling on the cardboard box his parents had left behind. The box remained unopened. He found some scissors and cut the tape.

Inside was a more refined cardboard box, and judging from its shape and markings, it contained a laptop.

...Now that's great, Xia Li can "work hard" and play games on the computer without always having to think about going out and figuring out those unreliable ways to make money.

The thought briefly lit up his mind, like a match struck and quickly extinguished. Before that moment of joy could even take shape, it was suppressed by a heavier emotion.

Xia Li sensed the turmoil in his heart, but his face remained expressionless, even colder than usual. This made her hesitant to speak.

It turns out that when I used to always have an indifferent expression, this is how I gave people the feeling of being like an invisible wall, pushing away those who wanted to get close and forcing them to retreat step by step.

For the first time, she saw herself in such a clear way.

Song Che opened his laptop, glanced at it, then closed it and set it aside. His phone screen lit up; it was a message from Jiang Shuo, inviting him out. Song Che's fingers tapped rapidly on the screen, replying "Busy, next time," before turning off the screen.

He sent another message to his parents to let them know he was safe. After doing all that, it felt like he had completed a set of routines. What remained was that quiet time he had to face alone again.

Xia Li watched him finish doing all this without saying a word.

She simply stayed in a place that was neither too close nor too far from him.

She suddenly realized that in this small home, if Song Che didn't speak, there would be almost no other sounds; if Song Che didn't take the initiative to care about her feelings, no one else would.

She didn't know how to comfort him, but decided to follow him in case he... did something bad.

This vague idea made her follow even closer.

Song Che walked back to the bedroom, and Xia Li followed him in.

He turned around, as if he wanted to say something.

Xia Li spoke first, her tone characteristically direct and unquestionable: "Don't kick me out. I want to sit here for a while."

"...Okay." Song Che didn't object, walked to the bedside and sat down. "If you're sleepy, remember to remove your makeup before you sleep."

"Yes, I remember." Xia Li sat down on the chair by the window, but her gaze remained fixed on him.

She still wore that exquisite makeup, which, combined with her well-defined features, gave her an almost sharp beauty. Song Che had always thought she was beautiful, but in the dim light of the room, that beauty was amplified, almost carrying an undeniable air of authority, stirring up even more complex emotions within him.

"Why are you staring at me?" Song Che felt a little uncomfortable under her gaze and looked away.

Being gazed at so intently by the person he liked, he was almost afraid to accept it.

"I don't know!" Xia Li answered confidently, but her slightly pursed lips betrayed that she didn't entirely "not know."

"I'm fine, I just need to calm down. You can take a nap and rest." He tried to ease the tension.

You're lying.

"I didn't call you 'Your Highness' this time." He was referring to the title that Xia Li considered a "sign of lying."

"But you don't dare look me in the eye," Xia Li said bluntly.

"This is different, who told you to..." Song Che couldn't help but glance at her again.

Her full, moist red lips and slightly wrinkled, puffy nose—this angry expression, placed on her cool and aloof face, strangely blended into a unique kind of cuteness.

That face was now staring right at him without any attempt to hide it.

"What's wrong with me?" Xia Li asked, her red lips parting slightly.

Song Che's gaze lingered on that red for a moment, and a sudden urge to kiss it surged into his mind. He almost immediately pressed it down hard.

Xia Li may never have truly understood what "liking" meant to her. Under these circumstances, Song Che felt he couldn't bring himself to take advantage of her.

Even though... he knew that with a little guidance and some harmless little tricks, he might be able to touch that alluring warmth.

"It's nothing, just saying." He lowered his eyes.

"There must be something." Xia Li's stubbornness kicked in, and she wouldn't let go.

"If you don't want to talk about it, then leave me alone."

Unable to deceive him, he began to passively resist.

"Why don't you want to talk about it? I am His Highness, and I have the right to control you."

Song Che remained silent.

He was stubborn, but Xia Li was always more stubborn than him, and she didn't understand what "giving up" meant at all.

"I just don't want to talk about it."

"I feel like you're not calm at all. You're different from before." Xia Li's voice was calm, yet it had a penetrating quality.

She may not know much, but there's one thing she does better than Song Che now—she's never afraid to confront the problem itself.

"You're afraid of something, things you wouldn't let me hear last night. Song Che... does he have things he's afraid of too?"

"Your Highness is very clever," he said with a wry smile.

I'm not happy at all that you praised me today.

"……sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?" Xia Li's tone sounded almost aggressive. She was always taciturn when interacting with strangers, but she could press Song Che for answers.

She knew he was hiding something from her, even his innermost thoughts were carefully guarded. On the surface, it seemed that Song Che was in control, while Xia Li was merely passively learning. But only now did Song Che realize that Xia Li possessed a quiet strength within her, which she simply chose to reveal in front of those she trusted.

"Your Highness, feel free to knock if you want." He was almost giving up on himself.

"I won't knock on you." Xia Li's long eyelashes fluttered slightly, her blue eyes filled with determination. "I want to know why you're unhappy."

"..."

"You still don't want to talk about it. Your mind is still so chaotic. Song Che is different from before. Song Che has always been... steady and composed." She pointed out this obvious change. "You don't want to tell me because you think I'm incapable of solving it. But when you helped me before, you said that if you have problems, you don't have to keep them to yourself. If you speak up, the people around you will help you. I'm your girlfriend... The Magic Mirror said that a girlfriend is someone you can trust even more than a friend, someone who can share your burdens."

She spoke at length, which was quite unusual. His Highness usually only gave instructions or asked questions, rarely stating his views and logic so clearly. Song Che looked at her with some surprise.

Xia Li studied diligently, memorizing everything he taught her, even the things he said casually as a joke. She was always so earnest.

And this is precisely what Song Che fears most at this moment.

"Xia Li." He took a deep breath, his voice hoarse, "Actually, you need to think about the 'boyfriend/girlfriend' thing again."

"I've thought about it."

Song Che shook his head: "No, that might just be because I said a lot of things to you back then, and there was some... suggestive element in them."

Xia Li shook her head as well, her silver hair swaying: "I thought about it all night before making this decision. Although I don't know what 'like' is, that's because I don't understand, but I'm not stupid. I asked the magic mirror, I asked it: 'I'm a witch, I don't want another person to die. I'll be unhappy if I'm alone, but I'll be happy if I'm with him. I can eat a lot of the food he cooks, but when I'm angry I'll want to hit him.' The magic mirror said that's what 'like' is. So, I decided to be your real girlfriend, not a fake one."

Song Che was stunned.

It turned out that Xia Li had been quietly investigating and thinking about so much without his knowledge. She was usually not very talkative, but when she spoke seriously, her words were clear and logical, and her voice, cool and clear, struck people's hearts with a particularly pleasant sound.

This caused him even more pain.

Xia Li had never been in a relationship, and neither had he. He seemed to understand a lot about human relationships, but when faced with real inner struggles, all that knowledge was useless. He still couldn't figure out what to do.

He wanted to escape, but he knew he had to face it. But every time he made up his mind, the moment he saw Xia Li's face, all the words he had prepared would get stuck in his throat, and he couldn't utter a single word.

If Xia Li were faced with such a problem, what would she do?

I guess... I'll feel lost just like I do now.

Regardless of whether Xia Li was confused or not, all she knew was that Song Che was hiding something from her.

"Why don't you talk to me? I can help you figure out a solution," she pressed again.

"Some things...can't be truly understood." Song Che's voice was low. "Unless we switch bodies...just like you can't feel true 'like,' some problems...are just impossible to understand."

He was referring to the almost hopeless lifespan gap that lay between them.

Xia Li fell silent.

She looked at him silently for a few seconds, then turned and went to the bathroom. The soft sound of running water could be heard; she was removing her makeup. After a while, she returned to her bedroom and gently closed the door.

Song Che looked at the closed door and wearily closed his eyes.

But he fell asleep again.

And once again, I fell into that uncontrollable "lucid dream".

This time, Xia Li is in my dream.

It was Xia Li in the summer, wearing that noble witch princess dress, with her signature broom beside her.

But Song Che was absolutely certain—this wasn't the Xia Li he knew. The "Xia Li" in his dream had a bright and natural smile on her face, so real it was heart-stirring.

Her makeup still seemed to be on, and her rosy lips parted slightly: "Song Che, let's go out and play."

The broom beside them seemed to come alive and moved slightly.

Xia Li in my dream has magic... which seems quite reasonable.