63 Imperial Secrets - Part 2 (1/2)

Su Li gave a start at the lady's words, her eyes widening slightly.

A heavy silence filled the study.

The Empress Dowager continued, ”Your Majesty, even if you can't open yourself to the bright world outside right now, you shouldn't give up hope. Maybe you'll even surprise yourself.”

Su Li looked away from the aged lady and her mouth filled with a bitter aftertaste.

With a forlorn expression, she replied, ”Queen Mother, Zhen understands that love is a wonderful thing but Zhen cannot love because, first, Zhen can never love another and secondly, Zhen doesn't have his heart with himself to give another, Zhen already gave it to him completely and irrevocably.”

When the Empress Dowager heard her son's words, she felt an indescribable pain in her heart. She watched as her son seemed to be lost in his own thoughts and he appeared so lonely.

Oh, her child.

Her precious child had turned into a man and he seemed to have experienced his own share of not only physical pain in his exile but even an emotional one.

The smile that stole His Majesty's face was bittersweet at best and both mother and child knew that it was no use talking about this as of now. The Empress Dowager bid farewell to her child and took her leave.

Meanwhile, The Unit Commander couldn't seem to unlock his limbs to move. The conversation he had just heard, left him feeling... he didn't even know how to describe his present mood. Slowly, he moved away from his hiding spot and left The Imperial Complex on staggering footsteps.

The same evening, his subordinate general sent him a scroll of information regarding the monarch. Ning Fu felt his throat dry while looking at the scroll.

He didn't feel inclined to open the scroll after what he had inadvertently heard in his haste to prove himself. However, it was as if he had an itch since then that he couldn't help but want to scratch. Ning Fu had never felt so indecisive.

Hesitating about it, but for a moment, he still opened the scroll and greedily took in the words written on it. The words read that His Majesty didn't have a large retinue and didn't allow any of his servants to touch him.

He had been taking his baths by himself except the first few days of his coronation, none of the eunuchs or maids helped him dress for the morning court or even for the evening wear.

The emperor only had one rule for his personal servants - none of them was allowed to touch his body - no matter the reason.

Though strict, the monarch never talked to his servants in a condescending manner.

Reading the words on the scroll, Ning Fu felt baffled.

Who had ever seen a noble behave this way?

Suddenly, Ning Fu had another thought streak through his mind.

Could it be that the emperor never allowed anyone to touch him because he couldn't bear to let anyone except the person in his heart have any kind of physical contact with him, even platonic?

The whole report was as if a glowing recommendation for someone's promotion.

The only thing Ning Fu found odd was that the general had written about some hushed whispers between the servants that His Majesty wouldn't sleep the whole night through.

It wasn't that the monarch awoke once or twice in the middle of the night.

No. It seemed to be a daily occurrence.

Every night without fail, the emperor would wake up in the middle of the night with a sweat-drenched back and once he was awake, he would never stay in his quarters, no matter what time it was.

Afterwards, he would either roam in the various gardens of The Imperial Palace or sit somewhere out of the way, generally in a pavilion just off the beaten path that leads to The Inner Palace.

What was even more confusing was that His Majesty had given military orders to his shadow guards that neither they nor anyone else was allowed to disturb his solitude in those moments until and unless it was a matter of state importance on par with an imminent war threat at the borders or the death of prominent Imperial kin.

If the order had been just given casually, it wouldn't have raised eyebrows. After all, even kings would want some peace and quite from their hectic schedule but the military order was a point of contention.