A few minutes later, the two of them were already lying in Jinshi's bed, both on their sides and facing each other. Illuminated by the soft orange light of the candle on the table, since Maomao had decided to let it burn until morning, just in case.

And now it just stood there, a little light, defying the impenetrable obscurity in the room. Just like Maomao in Jinshi's eyes.

Or no, not quite. For Maomao's light naturally wasn't so weak that it could go out from the smallest breeze just like that candle.

There was silence. Not a single word was spoken, however, the atmosphere still couldn't be considered an unpleasant one. Neither for him nor for her.

Having pulled her arms slightly towards her upper body, Maomao watched how Jinshi let out another yawn, gave her a tired smile, and finally reached for the blanket to cover them both up. Which actually wasn't really necessary on such a warm summer night... but since she already knew that the young lord was freezing, she didn't say anything. As long as he was comfortable, she would somehow bear through the heat. No big deal.

The apothecary had to admit that his bed clearly couldn't be compared to a mere straw mat, as nice and soft as it was. Even though she actually already knew how lying in it felt like. It wasn't the first time, after all... however certainly the first they were lying there together.

The memory of the incident during the ritual nearly made Maomao let out a snort. It was almost kind of ironic: first, it was her sleeping in that very bed with a wound on her head after having basically saved his life, and now it was Jinshi himself, having suffered a head injury while catching her from falling. Even though hers hadn't led to such severe consequences as his did.

Indeed, it felt a bit as though destiny was mocking them both, playing with them. Turning them into something akin to figures of a board game.

Maomao sighed softly and closed her eyes. What nonsensical thoughts... she must really be awfully tired.

All of a sudden, she felt Jinshi's fingers on her shoulder and upper arm, caressing them ever so gently, as if making sure that she was really there with him. Then he pulled her a bit closer towards his body, put his arm around her and finally cuddled up to her, still shivering a bit.

Maomao opened her eyes again, slowly, almost like a cat that had awoken from a nap, curled up on her owner's bed. She was once again pressed against Jinshi's chest, and her head was resting on the biceps of his other arm, like on a pillow.

"Oh, I thought you were already asleep," she heard his voice above her and could feel his Adam's apple that was touching the top of her head vibrate a bit while he spoke. "Sorry, I hope I didn't wake you up."

"You didn't, sir. Don't worry."

Sensing Jinshi's once again calm heartbeat against her body, Maomao didn't even find the right words to explain just how glad she was that he had finally stopped crying. Only the occasional hiccup coming from him, plus the few faint traces of tears still visible on his face and his slightly swollen eyes had remained as the last evidence and basically a proof that this man, usually known as the highly graceful "celestial nymph", had been wailing like a small child just mere minutes ago.

So intensely that she had already started to believe she would never be able to calm him down. What a relief. That thought caused a strong wave of fatigue to flood her entire body. No, to spend the rest of the night sitting on his bed would indeed have been too much for her...

The apothecary placed her hand on his waist and clenched it into a fist, while her other one was on Jinshi's chest that was rising and falling under her palm. She sincerely hoped that there would be no more such incidents until daybreak. Way too much had already occurred for a single day.

Jinshi moved a bit, and Maomao, who was covered up to her chin so that only her head was peeking out of the blanket, instantly snapped out of her thoughts and flinched as she felt something icy touch her bare feet.

"Goodness, are those his feet?!"

she gasped in thought.

"They're almost colder than his hands!"

But on the other hand, it was actually not that big a surprise if one thought about it, she found.

"What's wrong, Maomao?"

He sounded sleepy, but also a bit worried.

"Nothing. It's just that your feet are cold as ice, like your hands."

"Ah, sorry..."

"It's fine, sir... No, let them where they are." She trapped his feet between her own before he could move them away. "They need to be warmed up as well, at least a bit." Her feet were, just like her hands, much smaller than his, but she still hoped that their warmth would be enough.

In response, she felt him hug her a bit tighter still and then softly run his thumb over her cheek.

"I'm so grateful to have you by my side..." he muttered.

Maomao didn't say anything to that.

However, a few minutes later, she moved her head so that she could look at his face.

"Master Jinshi?" she spoke quietly again after having made sure that he wasn't sleeping yet. "Can I ask you a question?"

Jinshi blinked a few times and then started to play a bit with her hair, rolling a strand of it carefully on his index finger.

"Sure."

"What would you have done, if I hadn't woken up while you were kneeling next to me earlier?"

That was something she had been wondering about the entire time.

It was written on the Moon Prince's face that he hadn't expected such a question at all. He thought for a bit and then smiled again. Maomao felt his hand place itself on her back once more and start to rub it gently, as if it had already become something like a habit to him.

"I would still have stayed with you and held your hand, watching you sleep."

"On the hard floor?"

"Yes. I wouldn't have minded anything as long as you are with me. And as long as I am touching you, the darkness won't be able to harm me."

"I see..." Maomao's voice sounded as if she had a lump in her throat. She averted her gaze, and there was a look in her eyes that was difficult to decipher.

***

Once again did he find himself lying under the blanket and on top of that smooth, cool bedsheet. Just the same as earlier. Once again enveloped by a merciless obscurity, since the small flickering flame on the table unfortunately wasn't enough to chase it off.

However, there was a big difference after all: the fragrance of perfume still floating in the air had changed, altered with a discreet herbal scent, and a wonderful warmth was fighting a relentless battle against the cold stuck inside his body. A cold that was stubbornly refusing to leave his limbs in peace.

Both those things, the smell of herbs and that powerful warmth, belonged to the petite young woman he was holding in his arms and close to his body.

No, it was no dream and neither an illusion. His flawed, defective mind wasn't as cruel as to play such tricks on him, nor did he have to content himself with mere thoughts and fantasies this time. That adorable little apothecary, who made him feel so safe and cozy without him understanding why, was indeed there, lying in his bed with him.

Jinshi was so happy that he wasn't completely left to his own devices in that strange new world. She was right next to him. There was nothing to fear, no darkness in the universe able to harm him now.

Cuddling with Maomao felt like... paradise. There was simply no other word to describe it. It was the very first time after his awakening with memory loss that he felt truly at peace, even though his body continued to tremble slightly and his hands and feet still refused to get warm. But it wasn't that bad. Maomao's presence would help him overcome anything. It almost seemed as if she had been sent directly by the heavens to be by his side.

Lying in bed with the apothecary in his embrace while stroking her soft hair and rubbing the small of her back felt like medicine. A medicine more effective than even her pills and teas, one that was making him forget his fear of the darkness, the loneliness that was so hard to endure, the never-ending pain, and everything else that was making him suffer. At least for now. As though she had built some kind of protective barrier around him.

He didn't even want to imagine what might have happened if he didn't have her, if he had been denied her soothing presence that night. Most likely, he would have just gone insane with fear before the morning came. Surrendered himself to the dark. Forever.

The mere thought made him clench his teeth, and his heart wanted to start pounding like crazy once again. However, Maomao's little hand on his chest supported it and quickly calmed it down.

She had saved him. Again.

Hah, but in fact, he didn't want to think about anything anymore. After all the things he had already gone through, he simply didn't have any strength left for it. He was tired, so very tired and knew that he should sleep... yet he couldn't. No clue why. Perhaps, a fear was still hiding somewhere deep inside his confused, disoriented soul. The fear that Maomao would vanish into thin air as soon as he fell asleep.

***

"Please try to sleep now, Master Jinshi. You need rest, especially after all the crying."

"Yes. You too, Maomao, you need it as well."

"Maybe. But you more than me,"

she thought.

"I can wait."

Jinshi's cold fingers were now carefully caressing her bangs, so that Maomao also couldn't help thinking how gentle that man had become after the accident. Or had he perhaps always been like that, and she had just never noticed due to being too busy to feel annoyed whenever he had touched her?

Oh, whatever. She could ponder about that later. The most important thing now was to get Jinshi to fall asleep, since he didn't seem to manage to do it by himself, even despite his fatigue. But how? How could she help him? After all, she was already lying in his arms and warming him, so what else could she even do?

A bit at a loss and attempting to think of something, she narrowed her eyes and started to unconsciously imitate him by stroking his long hair that was covering his back and also falling onto the bedsheet behind him. Cautiously and absent-mindedly, until she ended up grabbing one of its strands and rolled it up on her own index finger without even noticing it.

Jinshi didn't comment on that, but when the apothecary looked up to him again, she saw that his smile had gotten a bit wider and that his eyes were half-closed now. Just a bit, just a last push was needed to send him to the land of (hopefully pleasant) dreams...

Once again, Maomao started to frown. He looked so utterly exhausted... and it wasn't the kind of exhaustion after a hard day filled with work, but a physical and also mental one that was completely wearing him out, making it seem as if he even lacked the strength to raise his head from the pillow. And yet he still wasn't sleeping.

With an unpleasant tingling in her stomach that wasn't very far away from actual pain and still remaining silent, Maomao pressed her face against his chest and clung to his clothes with both hands, whereupon Jinshi's hand placed itself on the back of her head. His scent entered her sensitive nose.

For the most part, he still smelled like always: of sandalwood incense and of an expensive, fine perfume that had surely been sprayed lightly on his clothes. It was just that a faint hint of the medicine she had given him earlier was now also lingering in his scent. Almost as if to illustrate that the current Jinshi was different from the one he used to be.

And before she knew it, no, before she could even begin to grasp what she was actually doing, her lips parted, and she started to softly hum a song, her voice slightly muffled by Jinshi's chest muscles.

It was a lullaby, which Pairin, one of her sisters from the brothel and the only true mother figure she ever had, had sung to her during Maomao's early childhood whenever she had found the time to rock the little girl to sleep in the evening before work. It hadn't happened very often, and the toddler Maomao had been left with no other choice than to fall asleep on her own most days, as she had been told years later, but the memory of her sister's song was still there, hidden in the back of her mind.

Look at that. Maomao herself hadn't even suspected that she still knew that melody by heart. Hopefully, it would serve to help Jinshi sleep just as it used to help her back then.

She felt the young lord tense up a bit first and hold his breath for a few seconds, surely out of surprise. But then he hugged her even tighter as her song, as gentle as the small candle's light in the darkness, filled the nightly silence. Yet still not tight enough to hurt her.

Next, she heard him let out a sigh of relief, followed by a yawn, and moved her face away from his chest to hum a bit louder still.

It was working. Jinshi 's trembling finally ceased for good, his breathing became more regular and deeper, his grip around Maomao slackened a bit, and his hand on her head stopped stroking it.

He had succumbed to sleep at long last.

Maomao continued humming her song for a few minutes more while combing her fingers slowly through his disheveled hair. Almost as if to convey to him that she was still there and would stay with him while he was sleeping.

***

A tender, calming melody had started to melt away the last traces of his fear. Now, he was finally able to fall into the deep sleep his body so desperately needed '