68 Ning Fu's Thoughts

Something was wrong.

Something was seriously wrong or Ning Fu didn't have the complete information with him.

Anyway, either nobody truly knew what had happened to His Majesty while he was held hostage or His Majesty had started forming his own forces while he was with the Northern barbarians and those troops were fiercely loyal to him.

When the monarch had run towards the direction from where sounds of beatings were coming, Ning Fu had never thought that it would lead to such unimaginable consequences.

The monarch had been angry when he had seen the second-rank generals beating a conscript but that anger had changed into a hard, inexplicable expression when the shadow guard had cleaned the blood off that boy's face.

At that moment when the boy had voiced his relief of knowing that His Majesty, the erstwhile Second Prince was fine, the emperor had looked at the child and his eyes had lit up in recognition

It was as if the emperor's precious treasure had been handed back to him and then when he had realised that the second-rate generals had been beating someone whom he knew and cared for, the emperor had a look of utter devastation - as if he himself would fall apart at any second and then he had turned that anger on him and his subordinates.

After the monarch had left him and his subordinates back in the clearing, Ning Fu had instinctively realised that he must do something to extract himself from this catastrophe or he would be buried in the sand along with those idiots. He had called one of his own soldiers and asked a few of them to tie those generals and guard them until an Imperial decree was ordered.

Afterwards, when he had tried to talk with the monarch he had been rebuffed within a moment. With trepidation in his heart, he had listened to His Majesty's words.

For the first time since he had paid homage His Majesty, Ning Fu saw a gleam in the emperor's eyes - something downright vindictive and a lust for blood.

Had it been a few weeks before, he would have been comforted by the fact that the monarch had enough thirst to keep his position but tonight, he wasn't comforted by it.

No, he felt jittery and anxious instead.

The proud Son of Heaven's was magnanimous and benevolent enough to let Ning Fu keep his life even though he had such a large military power with him and had further misunderstood the other person's intentions.

For such a person to be moved by something as petty as revenge, he couldn't wrap his head around it.

All the more, he couldn't get his mind off the glimpse of emotions in his liege's eyes when the monarch had first seen and recognised that boy and it was recognition.

Nobody could deny that.

There was something almost desperate in the way His Majesty had leaned in towards the boy, in the searching, probing gaze - the gaze the child couldn't meet for long.

But whatever His Majesty had been searching for, was absolutely found apparent from the monarch's subsequent reaction.

Ning Fu thought back to the day His Majesty had also subjected him to such a gaze but apparently, he himself had disappointed the monarch.

He couldn't quite put a finger on what it was - which was further making him feel irritated.

Since he couldn't sit still, Ning Fu decided to use his martial arts and see what was going on inside the imperial tent. He was well-versed enough in martial arts, to not let anybody catch him.

His soul had almost flown away from his body when Ning Fu entered the tent and saw the scene inside.

He pinched himself to see if he was having a nonsensical dream.

The pain proved that he was wide awake and wasn't hallucinating.

The boy was lying on the imperial bed!

He looked as if he hadn't moved at all, his face still too pale. However, why was he lying on the imperial bed?

All the more, his liege was sitting at the boy's bedside, touching his face every now and then.

How?

What?

Could someone explain to him that what was going on here?

The Unit Commander's brain short-circuited at that moment and since his brain has stopped working, the person who always questions other people would like to for once answer another's questions.

The answer is almost self-explanatory, Unit Commander. The boy is lying on the imperial bed because His Majesty ordered so and that 'blockhead' Head Commander of Shadow Guards couldn't dissuade the liege from doing this.

Also, the emperor wasn't touching the child's face.

Don't speak anyhow, Unit Commander.

His Majesty is just touching the child's forehead to check his body temperature.

Really, Unit Commander, your stupidity when it comes to His Majesty astounds me.

Nung Fu wondered why was the monarch sitting with his recruit and looking after him.

Finally, a vaguely intelligent question from the man.

However, nobody can answer your question this time Unit Commander.

Just as the birds started chirping outside, greeting a new day, the boy's eyes flickered slightly. He opened his eyes slowly and looked around himself, all the while squinting his eyes.

Ning Fu wanted to go and help the child but he couldn't and His Majesty had also fallen asleep by the bedside by now.

Ning Fu's eyes widened at the boy's next actions - when the child realised that His Majesty was sitting beside him, instead of bowing to the ruler, he held the other person's hand.

His Majesty also woke up by the slight disturbance and instead of reprimanding the boy, a warm smile brightened his face and was awarded to the child.

What for? For waking the Son of Heaven's?

Shouldn't the monarch be upset for being woken up in this manner instead of flashing such a sweet smile at the boy?

What had the other person done to deserve that?

Ning Fu felt an unknown emotion tug at his heart when he saw this scene, however, he wouldn't realise for quite some time that the foreign emotion he felt at this moment was remarkably like jealousy.

The boy held His Majesty's hands in his own and with tears in his eyes asked, "I am not dreaming, right? Tell me I'm not dreaming. Tell me that you are right in front of me and this isn't some drug-induced dream."

Su Li could almost feel herself tearing up at Li Rong's words.

No, she couldn't cry.

Not at the moment at least.

Right now she should prioritise his health.

Everything else could wait for later.

She gave him a slight nod and smile in lieu of her answer and Li Rong couldn't help but whisper, "Really?"

Ning Fu saw as His Majesty gently stroked the boy's head, brushing his hairs away from his face and reply, "Really. How...How are you feeling?"

Ning Fu was stunned speechless when he saw both of them leaning into each other, the monarch leaned over the bed and gently hugged the person lying there.

Instead of answering the question, the boy said a nonsensical sentence, "Glad to see you again."

How could someone not answer the question asked by the supreme ruler of all under heaven?

Moreover, the emperor didn't seem to mind his question remaining unanswered and instead laughed at that sentence.

Then as if remembering something, the monarch said, "I'll go and call for a healer to look at your injuries, " but before he could leave the bed, the other person held the king back by their sleeves and said, "That can wait. I'm fine, can't feel the pain much. You...you...how have you been? You didn't do something monumentally stupid again, right? You didn't hurt yourself over something/someone again, right?"

Ning Fu somewhat understood then.

The boy and the monarch seemed to have known each other long before all this and seemed to be quite close at that.

However, how close were they to not even warrant a single 'Zhen' from the ruler when talking to this person?

How close were they for the unknown boy to use 'I' instead of some other self-appellation like 'this lowly one' or 'this small one'?

The monarch who never allowed anyone to touch him - to even help him dress, sat on the same bed as this boy, held hands with him and not to forget even kept on touching this person's face from time to time when the other person had been unconscious.

The monarch laughed with a tinge of sadness at those questions but before he could dignify them with a response, the boy's eyes fluttered again and he went limp and passed down again.

His Majesty became flustered looking at the limp body and shouted at his shadow guards outside, to call for the Imperial Physician.

Ning Fu cocked his head to the side and watched everything with a puzzled look.

Soon enough the physician came in and after the checking the boy assured His Majesty that nothing drastic had happened.

The child was merely sleeping off his pains and fatigue and Ning Fu heard a distinct sigh of relief from the monarch at that.

The unknown emotion flared again and Ning Fu fought to squash it back down.

Afterwards, everyone was sent out again and His Majesty looked at the boy with shimmering eyes, his hand resting atop the boy's hand and whispered, "Don't worry. I'll make sure you are safe from now onwards and I'll make them pay ten-fold for what they did to you."

The monarch further continued, "I never knew the world could be such a dark place to live in. Last time... I...I couldn't do much but this time anybody who dares to harm me or mine, I won't hesitate to kill them."

There was a sad, gentle gleam in the emperor's eyes.

The Unit Commander of The Devil Snare Army - The God of War stared in disbelief as His Majesty finished his words and left the tent.

Ning Fu knew then that though the monarch might spare the lives of his subordinates, they wouldn't be able to escape the wrath of the Imperial might.