63 Imperial Secrets - Part 2 (2/2)

A person might ask the question: Why? It's still an imperial order isn't it, so what difference does it make if it's a military order?

The answer would be that the military order differed in the context that they didn't leave a person with a second chance. If anyone dared to violate this order, there won't be corporal punishment.

No, the only punishment for anyone who violates the order will be to get killed without exception.

On top of that, His Majesty had also ordered that the shadow guards must stay at least ten paces away from him during these long sleep-deprived hours.

Ten paces were equivalent to around seven and a half meters. It wasn't a long distance by any shot but neither was it a small one.

If an assassin who had great proficiency in martial arts tried their level best, they would be able to harm The Son of Heaven's before the shadow guards reached the monarch to shield him and retaliate against the assailant.

Ning Fu's brows furrowed at this thought.

Didn't His Majesty realise his vulnerability in such a position?

How come the emperor didn't seem to care about his own well-being while placing himself in such a vulnerable position?

Was it that the monarch wanted to be left to his own devices in those hours?

Why? Just because he missed the person in his heart, he didn't seem to pay attention to matters regarding his safety?

Ning Fu thought back to the tenor of the voice His Majesty had used when he had ordered the Imperial Physician to leave. That one 'leave' had contained so much emotion - sorrow, anger at the world, dissatisfaction, hopelessness.

He also recalled verbatim the words the emperor had spoken to the empress dowager.

The proud Son of Heaven's had said that he couldn't love anybody else not because he didn't have a place for another in his heart but because he had given it completely to someone else.

There was a subtle difference between the two sentences. Had the monarch said the first one, it would have meant that he didn't have the heart to love another and reopen his wounds but the monarch had said the latter one.

The difference was subtle but profound in itself. The emperor had explicitly told his queen mother that no matter how much time passed -days, months, years, he wouldn't replace his beloved with someone else.

For a monarch who was supposed to have a harem of three thousand, this was something no one had ever said or even thought.

However, Ning Fu instinctively knew that those words weren't empty promises or lament by the monarch. The proud Son of Heaven's would definitely follow through with them.

Ning Fu gave a sardonic smile at that. He never had anyone close enough to him in that way. He knew his family cared for him and his subordinates were extremely loyal to him but he didn't have anyone who had ever felt as strongly for him as His Majesty seemed to feel for that person.

He wondered what would it feel like to have someone who loved you to that extent.

He himself had never felt that unwavering dedication or love of that sort.

Ah, whatever… Ning Fu shook his head, laughing at himself.

He had always known - known the path he wanted to follow as soon as he entered the army at the young age of ten. Therefore, he never had any expectations or hopes for an everlasting love or sweet nothings written to him on a scented paper when he was far away from home.

He had only ever thought of conquering the battlefield and protecting these lands. He had even less heart for meaningless lust.

It was just that what he had heard today from the dragon's mouth seemed to have sent him off-track and that was why he was thinking maudlin thoughts about things that had no importance in his life.

Still, Ning Fu couldn't stop himself from wondering.

He raised an eyebrow and his gaze flickered with a determined gaze that he himself didn't notice.