The Forget-Worry herb was nurtured alongside the civilization of this land.
The Nile River deposited the plains on both banks, the fertile soil of the delta, and the beautiful river valley. The nutrients in the silt nourished this civilization, and also brought mysterious seeds.
This plant grew rampant in the lush, water-rich areas of the riverbanks and the delta. The purple hues that dotted the watery wilderness adorned this great river civilization even earlier than the blue lotus. The people of the Nile praised it as a sacred object, believing it was a gift from the gods.
It wasn’t very filling to eat, its nutritional value insufficient, but people discovered it could be used as a spice and could allow those who consumed it to strengthen their bodies and forget pain. When medicine began to flourish here, they used this plant extensively in surgical procedures to numb patients’ perception of pain.
When the dosage became excessive, they finally discovered the drawbacks of this plant. Those who had undergone surgery could not break their dependence on the sacred object. Once they went without it for an extended period, they would fall into endless suffering, not just physical pain, but their emotions would also become depressed, low, irritable, and anxious.
After realizing this, the ruler should have decided to ban this “sacred object,” whose drawbacks outweighed its benefits, for all Egyptian physicians. After all, they had another mineral medicine called “Memphis Stone”. If the goal was merely to anesthetize patients during surgery, the latter was entirely sufficient.
“However, before the ban could be issued, a physician discovered a better way to utilize the Forget-Worry herb.”
Halfway through the story, the purple in Shamule’s eyes deepened, darkening along with the evening outside.
Xin Hexue attempted to connect the key points of the story, “Turn the Forget-Worry herb into incense?”
Shamule nodded silently. The hand clutching Xin Hexue’s was already slick with a liquid, whether cold sweat or hot sweat. His grip was like a tightly tied knot.
“More or less. That physician tried burning the Forget-Worry herb.”
Initially, the physician only used his own patients for verification.
Unexpectedly, the fumes produced by burning the Forget-Worry herb, when inhaled by the patients, led them all to claim they had borrowed divine power. They felt no pain, no fatigue. Even a sickly young man who had never trained and had been bedridden since childhood could kill a lion and disembowel it with a sharp stone.
Egypt at that time was facing threats from numerous desert tribes.
The ruler changed his mind. He wanted to build an indestructible army of lions, and all he needed was the purple plant called the Forget-Worry. After all, this plant was found everywhere from the Nile banks to the delta, it was inexhaustible.
As long as his army had enough Forget-Worry Incense, they would conquer the lands in all directions.
Under the immense benefits, those drawbacks were tolerable, acceptable, and not worth mentioning. Moreover, they could be suppressed by a constant intake of the Forget-Worry Incense.
But even before the expansion of the territory came natural disasters.
The Nile waters swelled beyond their limits during the Aket season. After the floods receded, there were persistent high temperatures and drought, bringing a locust plague of a scale not seen in a hundred years.
The year, with flood, drought, locusts, and turmoil, led to a great famine.
The bark of date palms and other trees was stripped for food; dried weeds could also be eaten. Yet, what was still readily available were those Forget-Worry herbs that remained lush and abundant even after the locust plague.
People burned the Forget-Worry herb; inhaling the fragrance could make them forget their hunger for a time, preventing them from resorting to eating themselves.
But it turned out that the Forget-Worry herb was not inexhaustible either.
When they could finally no longer find this plant in any corner, a man-made disaster more terrifying than flood, drought, and locusts arrived. Even the experiences on the road to the underworld would not be so horrific.
Just as the benefits brought by burning the Forget-Worry herb were superior, the drawbacks of the incense were also much stronger than before, and they arrived fiercely. The people of the Nile fell into a great madness.
They forgot their own relatives, and did not recognize their own children. After losing their reason, they slaughtered based on instinct, turning their blades against each other. The slight, twisted pleasure gained from the splatter of pain could suppress the pain, but only for a brief moment.
This civilization did not end from foreign invasion or tribal threats, but nearly perished at the hands of its own people.
Fortunately, relying on the Nile, the survivors were able to restart their civilization.
Until the era of Shamule’s birth over five hundred years later, the purple plant had long since disappeared, becoming a hieroglyphic symbol in murals and epics. They all thought the Forget-Worry herb had gone extinct in that distant era, during that great famine.
At that time, Shamule was still the age that Tisis is now, and the mistress of this land was on the verge of breaking with her husband.
By chance, she purchased a female slave.
“That was Taibesha.” Shamule’s lips twisted slightly, his expression cold. “She was a princess expelled from Assyria, but she was skilled in witchcraft. Fleeing south from Assyria, she found this plant at the bottom of a cliff in the Sinai Peninsula. She brought the only remaining seeds to Abydos, the old capital now.”
“And presented them to my mother.”
To use a phrase from another civilization, it was like opening Pandora’s box once again.
“However, this time, the scope of use was greatly limited.”
The user also feared repeating past mistakes, using the Forget-Worry Incense only to cultivate a small-scale guard force. Even so, it was enough for his mother to lead this guard force and, with the support of other lords and nobles, become the Pharaoh of Lower Egypt.
Perhaps from years of dealing with potions, Taibesha, after only a few experiments, mastered the dosage of Forget-Worry Incense, reducing the drawbacks to half their original strength, though the power gained was equally weakened.
The result is as it is now: the surrounding nations are wary and dare not invade.
Xin Hexue was a good listener. He did not pass judgment on the story, just looked at the storyteller, occasionally nodding. When the storyteller met his gaze, he would be enveloped in those pink-hazy eyes.
Emotions churned in the depths of Shamule’s eyes, and he articulated clearly, “Do you think my mother using me for experiments was because she relied on me, or because she had already given up on me?!”
Judging from the entirely different meanings of the twin brothers’ names, it was probably the latter.
Xin Hexue’s shoulders were firmly pinned by Shamule, and the other party was holding them as if he were a lifeline.
A faint red rose in Shamule’s eyes. Xin Hexue averted his gaze and noticed the sun had set outside. The Nile was a tranquil blue, the last trace of crimson having sunk beneath the water.
It seemed Shamule had been staying by his bedside these past two days, never leaving, without the leisure to continue inhaling the Forget-Worry Incense.
“It hurts.” Xin Hexue frowned.
It didn’t actually hurt that much; Shamule was controlling his strength, causing the hand gripping his shoulder to tremble.
Xin Hexue didn’t pretend to be in pain either; it was just that he was good-looking. Even with little expression on his face, just looking at Shamule with those eyes was enough to appear pitiful.
Shamule’s heart twitched, and he released Xin Hexue with dejection on his face. “I used too much force… I’m sorry.”
Words rarely heard from a Pharaoh were blurted out.
“Do you know why, when splitting back then, my mother chose to take me, and not Rahotep?”
Shamule asked quietly.
“She was convinced that after Rahotep grew up, he would unify the Two Lands. Her son had to be a benevolent and rational ruler.”
Therefore, this mind-altering Forget-Worry herb could not be allowed near Rahotep.
Shamul loathed Rahotep, and he didn’t like Tisis either. The former was his benchmark of excellence; the latter made him even more aware that…his mother was also capable of loving her child, just not him.
Tisis was his half-brother from the same mother. On the soil of Lower Egypt, his mother fell in love with Huowen’s elder brother and gave birth to a child who didn’t need to consider inheriting the throne, only needed to receive the love of his parents. What he had never obtained was something Tisis was born with.
Shamule also hated his mother.
But ultimately, what Shamule hated most was his own self, who had never received love.
A person who has never received love does not know how to give love. He came into the world as nothing more than an empty shell.
Shamule learned plunder from war, so he captured the Divine Envoy and bound him to his side; he realized this person’s significance to him was greater than all his previous treasures, so he also poured out his treasures to Xin Hexue…
Look, as long as you respond to me with love, everything that belongs to me will belong to you.
But this method didn’t seem to work.
He learned divine curses from knowledge, so he took Xin Hexue to that silent temple, bound their two names tightly together, so that even in the afterlife, they could not be separated. So, was it successful?
It seemed not.
Shamule still had not found love in those eyes.
He was like a disheveled traveller walking deep in the desert, possessing only clothes, a water flask, and a dagger. He cast all these into an abyss with devotion, hoping for some response, but there was none. Not even the sound of the dagger hitting the bottom of the abyss reached him.
What else could he do?
Could he only make Ankh hate him?
His jaw was clenched so tightly his eyes were bloodshot, and a faint bloody taste seeped from between his gritted teeth.
Xin Hexue’s fingertip pressed against his eye socket, squeezing deeply. Warm liquid inevitably flowed from Shamule’s eye.
The next second, the depressed Shamule realized he was being embraced by Xin Hexue.
In a submissive gesture, he rested his forehead against the Divine Envoy’s thin chest.
Because of the difference in height and build, Xin Hexue could only hold his head.
The bronze mirror reflected a snow-white face, his eyelashes lowered.
If any third party had been present, they could have read a kind of divine compassion on the divine envoy’s face.
He felt Shamule was pitiful.
So he stroked the lion’s mane.
He saw a shadow of his own distant past in Shamule. It was so long ago, back on minor planet b3081.
The young Xin Hexue, amidst the day-after-day heavy study load, immense pressure, and overwhelming illness, would find life somewhat dull. In moments of respite, he would also ponder: did his parents love him?
But for the present Xin Hexue, these were probably all just dust that could be brushed off casually.
“It’s alright.”
Xin Hexue combed through Shamule’s hair and spoke softly.
He knew what kind of person he was…he was cold, hypocritical and cruel…but it was all alright.
Someone had come for him; someone accepted everything about him unconditionally, and most importantly, he also loved himself just the same.
Xin Hexue’s eyes stared into the void. It was unknown if he was speaking to Shamule, or to the Xin Hexue of long ago.
Perhaps the atmosphere had reached such a point.
Shamule gradually straightened his back and stared at the collar of Xin Hexue’s robes that he had already accidentally rubbed open. From his angle, he could see a pink point. His Adam’s apple moved. He held Xin Hexue’s shoulders, but there was a strong tendency of his hands moving downward. “Speaking of which… you seem very sensitive. Yesterday, just from my licking, you…”
A sharp, crisp sound rang out.
[Shamule Love Value 90]
Xin Hexue’s face was calm. “…Shut up.”
“That felt good!” Shamule laughed loudly. “Excellent.”
