120 Zhou Sheng's and Ning Fu's Thoughts

Zhou Sheng himself had cut-off all ties with the Li family and when his father and elder brother had cursed him a fool and a white-eyed wolf for helping outsiders to destroy his own family, he had wondered if the people he had treated as his own had really ever known him or if he had ever really known their blackened hearts.

The last straw for him had been when his father had callously evicted him from the Li Residence when he had gone for Princess's first death anniversary.

His entire life he had grieved for his best friend, grieved for the part his family had played in her demise.

The first time he had met her when she was running away from those kidnappers all those years ago; his heart had skipped like he had found the reason and goal of life.Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.

He had always secretly wished to be the one to bring her utmost joy and happiness.

He had always wanted to be the one who she would grace with her heart-warming smiles.

However, he had spent the rest of his life after her death grieving for the fact that his blood relatives had been the ones to snuff out that brilliant spark of life.

That more than anything else had made him realise that Zixi - Young Master Qin was a far better person than he could ever hope to be and see a glimpse of what Princess must have seen in that staunch man.

However, what left him feeling perplexed was that though Princess and he were here, Zixi - the one person that Princes longed for wasn't here with them.

Occasionally, he wondered what could have been if there was no Zixi.

If in the modern world, it had been just him and Princess.

Would he have been able to win her heart?

Would he have been able to let her lower the walls around her heart?

Would he have been let into her inner world that she always seemed to hide from everyone?

He always felt his heart wreaked like the pieces of a shattered glass whenever he thought about the last few hours of her life, the decisions she had made without a moment's thought to her well-being and wondered what it would be like to bask in that kind of love and care.

If...

Sadly, these thoughts were just the figments of his imagination because she had already given away her heart to someone else.

But still, sometimes Zhou Sheng thought about Zixi's absence and thought that if he didn't see the other person in this lifetime and if he had the luck to accompany Princess in another lifetime, maybe he would make a play for her heart.

Maybe, by then the sting of her loss would have lessened and she would give him a chance.

Lost in his thoughts, Zhou Sheng left the Imperial Palace without bothering to greet his brother.

In the end, out of the quartet that had come to the training grounds together, only one was left standing all by himself in the hot, scorching sun – The Unit Commander of The Devil Snare Army – Ning Fu.

Ning Fu didn't know what to make of his own emotions that churned like angry waves of a sea bellowing at the shores at everything he had seen and heard a few minutes ago.

He had always known that the monarch wasn't as benign and affable as he appeared to be usually.

After all, no one who had spent a decade as a hostage and then returned to take the ultimate seat of power all the while blinding everyone with his actions could be a naive boy who didn't know or understand the political intricacies.

He had also seen the deeply hidden cruelty of the monarch when the other person had punished the officers of the Devil Snare Army due to Zhou Sheng.

There had been enough instances when he had been at the end of the sharp tongue of the emperor to know that the other possessed an intellect that was capable of drawing blood with just a few words.

But today he had been able to catch a glimpse of the inner world of the said person and he was left somewhat reeling by what he had seen.

He didn't think anybody – even Zhou Sheng was aware that the monarch had the capability to wash the streets with blood if push came to shove.

The other person was capable of being as cruel as any other Imperial family member but it was only his morals that kept that darkness away.

Perhaps the other person wasn't even aware of this aspect of his nature or perhaps he was aware and consciously hid that part of himself.

Maybe he was ashamed of it or maybe he didn't want to lay down all his cards.

Whatever the reason, that cruelty had bled when he had questioned Zhou Sheng about revenge and Ning Fu felt his blood boiling – in lust or worry, he couldn't decide as he recalled that ruthless look in his eyes.

He spends the rest of the day in nervousness and worries and no matter how hard he tries, his thoughts invariably turn towards the person he has pledged as his liege.

He cannot deny that seeing the crestfallen look on the monarch's face had unsettled him at a visceral level.

He doesn't know what to make of the monarch who is truly kind-hearted to his subjects but also can shed blood at a moment's notice.

The monarch seems a dichotomy of contradictions that seem to co-exist with each other.

He realises that neither is the kindness of the monarch a pretence and nor was the thirst for revenge a mask that was woven to shield oneself from their enemies.

Ning Fu wondered how could a person have such contrasting fundamental differences in their thoughts and what could trigger that person from one end to the other extreme.

He hoped he would never figure it out because he had a faint idea about it and didn't feel comfortable thinking or even acknowledging that fact.

He didn't know why he felt an impulse to draw the monarch closer, to take him in his arms and soothe those furrowed brows when they were on the training grounds.