Chapter 74 - 74....his knight...

His life went well after that, they played, they studied, they practised and they confided with each other.

Everything was going well, for the little Xuan, it was like he was living in a dream, a fantasy novel, and if it was something like that, he didn't want to get out of this book.

The nightmares he had suffered from that brutal place, those vivid memories were also fading away as the new memories with his Linlin were created, and gradually replaced them.

But it wouldn't be life, if it went too well, right?

That day, it was supposed to be a simple play of hide-n-seek.

Because it was raining cats and dog outside, they simply decided to play this game, well the mansion was huge and because they understood each other too well, it'll serve as a good method to judge their mental aptitudes.

Meilin never asked but she knew that he had psychological shadows, one of them was 'too dark places'. It was no new news that he slept living all lights on and abhorred going to the basements even though they were well lit.

This day, Xuan was, as he will say in his future statements, 'too full of himself'. After knowing Meilin, he thought he could win the world, well, he was wrong, habits and trauma are nothing to sneeze at, after all.

Xuan decided to hide in the basement, well, he thought had forgotten everything about the past and he knew that the basement of the mansion was not similar to that hell.

Well, Murphy spanked him on his butt.

In simple terms, Murphy laws = the things you least want to happen will happen.

just a minute after he found a suitable place in the basement to hide, he heard a huge thunderclap, it was like a lightning struck very close to the ground above the basement, which was actually underground, and then suddenly the power in this particular place went off and as luck had had it, he never had a habit of carrying his smartphone 1 .

Before he could even think, he had a problem in breathing, he felt suffocated, the temperature of both his body and surrounding kept on plummeting, his eyes were bloodshot as small nerves started popping out around his temple and after a gap of almost a year, the demon inside wanted out.

By the time a maid found him, only about 10 minutes had passed-no! Ten minutes had already passed...

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!"

.................

Meilin was already on her way down, knowing Xuan, though she knew he will try to outwit her, she didn't expect he would actually go into the basement, even while playing, she didn't want him to be hurt, either physically or mentally...

He didn't like dark places as well as the underground rooms, she didn't know why and she will never ask until he tells her on his own and till then, she will support her and be his strength till then.

She had this bad feeling about the whole situation and by the time she heard the maid's shriek and rushed towards the basement, it was a bit too late.....

The scene she saw, made her heart go cold in an instant and her eyes dilated...

.........

The next day, by the time she got close to his room he was already suffering from that cold...

She didn't know what to do except for calling the doctor to check on him and tending to him.

The anxiety of Xuan not waking up was killing her from the inside.....but she decided to stay strong for her Xuanxuan.

.........

It was on the second day that he woke up, after the doctor visited him, to the face of a kuma-san 1 .

Watching her in that state, he somehow felt both warm and distressed and before he could say anything, the soft body of Meilin had jumped upon him and had softly embraced him in her arms.

Without giving it a thought, he wanted to return it back but his body felt too weak and he himself felt a bit tired of his life, the him from the past.

Maybe it was psychological or maybe he was just too weak at the moment to control them, but he was already crying inside that warm embrace after a long long while....He didn't say anything, he just silently cried.

Meilin felt those tears and though she felt a heart-wrenching pain, she didn't go forward to pity him, she had empathy for him and she believed that sometimes... one should really just cry it all out, it makes you feel lighter, suppressing and forgetting them is not good, every emotion should be cherished, they teache us a lot....and when you know you can't keep it inside, just let it out, let out the ain but not the feelings and emotions at the moment.

He calmed down after a long time, Meilin didn't say a word throughout, all she did was patting his back in a rhythmic and soothing manner...

When she knew he had calmed down, she opened up,

"Xuan Xuan, you know....you're the prince...."

Xuan was not expecting any word of this sort.

"eh?", his voice was croaked.

She gave him a side glance and continued, "....so, you can't stay weak forever, you have the responsibility of so many people, you need to protect them all...so for now take the med, they are a bit bitter but you have to lose something to gain something....and this much is worth it right?"

Of course, him being a prince was not true, he just got this nickname at the school, to her, he fitted the title too well and so, she always compared him to a prince

He knew that Meilin was tempering him to become the best version of himself and will come to realize in the future that, even back then she was sure to give away the place of heir to him, though he knew what she meant, he still asked because being at the top is always too lonely,

"cough cough L-Linlin..but... but..who is going to protect me? My parents...hmph", he had a self-mocking curve on his lips, "they never cared nor are they here anymo-", but before he could finish, he felt a soft palm over his lips and so, he looked up..he met her eyes..they always held this unusual light, it attracted people to her, as she looked straight into your eyes you will feel like she could see straight through you...it gave her a confident and brilliant aura, it was not something to expect from an 8 year, but befitting her title, as the heiress to the Qin...

He heard her say, "Don't worry, if you don't need them, then they don't matter....I'll give you all the love and care that you will ever need,..."

Hearing this Xuan felt his heart skip a beat, maybe he had realised it back then that he was already in love with this seemingly quiet but confident and kind little her....

She continued with a doting smile, " and since you're the prince, of course, you have knights to protect yo-", a bulb lightened up inside her brain, "..that's right!! I will be your knight in silver armour and protect you...hm..I'll be your knight and promise by the name of a Qin that this knight will protect you forever......and ever...I'll be both your strength and support."

She was already kneeling on the bed with him under him and hence, she simply gave him a kiss on his cheek...

" I'll be your knight, Xuanxuan!!"

Well, the time period of their childhood is supposed to be around the early 2010s(It's not like I'm staging their actual age according to our calendars, just wanted to make myself clear lol)...so smartphones were still a thing even then(I did my research). kuma means bear in Japanese and Japanese people love to add the honorifics "-san" to everything out there!(It sounds really cute to me..haha)...Anyway, saying this, it meant that, since Meilin had those huge dark circles from being sleep deprived, she looked like a bear...similar to pandas and tanuki.