Chapter 207 - You've Arrived Too Late (2)

***Past***

"You can ask anyone! Xiong Jingfei will be executed, and not only her but her entire clan!" Zhao Fan screamed inside the dimly lit shabby restaurant that was past its closing hours.

Feng Huan looked down at her with pity in his eyes. He turned around to leave because the person he wanted to see was not going to show up. 

"You don't believe me!?" Zhao Fan blocked his pathway with disheveled hair. She smirked, "Do you think it'll be easy for them to get out being accused of treason? Haha. It'll be a miracle for any of them to make it out alive!" 

She took a breather after seeing Feng Huan froze up. Zhao Fan stood facing him again as she touched his face with her cold fingers.

"Huan, I am a very forgiving person." Zhao Fan rested the side of her face on his chest. "So, I will give you another chance to make the right choice." 

The right choice will be to pick her!

"I won't ask you if you had any other women besides me for these past years. I will forgive you for everything as long as you promise to have only me." Zhao Fan smiled; it's been so long since she last felt Feng Huan's warmth. "Choose me, Huan. I promise you won't regret choosing me."

Feng Huan tenderly stroked the back of her head and closed his eyes as if he was taking in what she was saying. 

"Huan, you don't want to get involved with those whose lives depend on a single word from his majesty's word." Zhao Fan sweetly said, wrapping her arms around his waist. "We can start from where we left off-"

His hand that was tenderly stroking Zhao Fan's head grabbed a chunk of her hair. He pulled on it and lifted her head to face him as he stared down at her. Oh, how he would have fallen for her sweet words if he still lived in the past. 

"Zhao Fan, even if you were the last woman, I still wouldn't want you!" Feng Huan flung her to the side, and she crashed into the tables. 

Zhao Fan's maid was about to shout for her mistress, but Feng Huan's cold glare shut her up. 

"I have my own pride as a Feng." Feng Huan took out his sword from the sheath and pointed it at Zhao Fan. "I'm not a bracelet that you can replace with a different one, Zhao Fan. Once it's broken, you cannot piece it together to be the same one." 

"H-Huan… Y-you know that I…" Zhao Fan's legs couldn't find any strength to stand back up but were able to help her crawl backward. "A-are you going to kill me?"

"How can you expect my love to be the same for you after betraying me?" Feng Huan stabbed his sword into the wall behind her. "I won't kill you, Zhao Fan. I don't want to taint my hands with your dirty blood."

He pulled his sword out from the wall and back into the sheath. 

"Let this be the end between us. I don't want to have a blood feud with someone I once loved." Feng Huan put on his cloak and headed to the door. "Move." 

Zhao Fan's maid that was blocking the exit flinched and quickly moved away.

"Feng Huan! You will regret doing this to me!" Zhao Fan felt hot rolling tears down the side of her face. She hit the table with her palms and screamed, "If I can't have you, no can have you!"

Zhao Fan became too confident that Feng Huan would always come back to her. He will never abandon her because he loved her more than she loved him! She really believed in that until this very moment, when Feng Huan made it clear it was over between them. 

By taking out his sword, he was warning her that next time he won't spare her anymore.

****

Tonight was darker than any other night. 

It was as if luck was on Feng Huan's side by hiding him from the eyes watching him. He was able to quickly lose anyone who was tailing him and doge anyone who may spot him. 

Just when he thought the night couldn't get darker, it did. 

The gated doors that proudly protected the Xiong Manor were smashed into pieces. Feng Huan searched for any signs that meant the owners would come back, but there was none. Instead, the sign he found was that the manor was abandoned, and the owners will never return.

['You can ask anyone! Xiong Jingfei will be executed, and not only her but her entire clan!']

There wasn't a need to ask anyone to confirm Zhao Fan's claim. The sight of the Xiong Manor and soullessness of it was more than enough proof.

On the way back to the Feng manor, he twirled the lotus pink jaded ring around his thumb. He could only hope that the truth will come out, and they will be set free. 

When he got back, the Feng Manor gate was no different from the same conditions as the Xiong Manor. Broken and shattered into pieces like it wasn't a guest who came to visit in the middle of the night but bandits raiding.

He quickly rushed inside to hear his people's cries with his father and mother on the ground, kneeling.

"Father-!"

"Get him!" 

Two soldiers grabbed both of Feng Huan's arms and kicked his knees to force him into a kneeling position. 

"Huan!" Feng Huan's mother cried, seeing her son getting mistreated. "Please don't hurt him!" 

"Mother!" Feng Huan shouted, trying to fight off the soldiers holding onto him. "Father!"

"Shut up!" The leader in charge shouted. "Hurry, make him quiet down." 

A soldier unsheathed his sword and held it up against Feng Huan's neck. "Shut it, or I'll slice your throat to silence you!" 

Feng Heng quickly shook his head to tell his son not to do anything.

Feng Huan never saw such fear in his father's eyes, even after he fought many battles for the country. Why are you afraid of this, father? 

Sadly, he will soon find that the crime Xiong Jingfei's family got accused of will also become his.