66 Parallels (1/2)

That night Su Li again woke up after a few hours of sleep. She knew that trying to fall back asleep was useless, so she wore her outer robes and left her tent.

She didn't know what was different tonight but since the evening she had been feeling anxious and restless. Earlier she had thought it was due to that finicky and insensitive girl from The Left Prime Minister's clan. That girl had been trying very hard to get into Su Li's good graces and ultimately her bed.

However, now she couldn't help but feel that something unnerving might happen if she wasn't there to stop it. Su Li couldn't figure out if it was just her jittery nerves acting up or her paranoia but she ultimately decided not to ignore it.

Anyways, even if it was proved to be a false alarm it was no skin off her back.

She moved silently through the camp, secure in the knowledge that The Shadow Guards were following her. They would protect her in case of any unforeseen circumstances.

As she circled the outer edges of the camp, she came across Ning Fu sitting on a nearby boulder, whetting his sword with a whetstone.

When she saw him rising from his position to pay respects to her, she waved her hand in lieu of dispersing the greetings.

Both of them stood side by side lost in their own thoughts when they suddenly heard sounds.

Su Li could feel her pulse skyrocketing at those sounds. She realised that her gut feeling hadn't lead her astray. The sounds didn't seem to be loud enough or close enough to bother the people resting in the camp but the strong wind seemed to have carried them over.

Eyes still turned towards the direction where the noise was coming from, His Majesty ordered, ”Let's go and see what this is all about, ” and rushed forwards.

Watching His Majesty running at full speed, Ning Fu and the shadow guards followed behind her and in a few minutes, they reached a small clearing where a few members of their own group seemed to have ganged up and were mercilessly beating a mere boy who hadn't yet reached his preteens.

The boy had curled up on himself to protect his vitals but the others didn't seem to pay mind to it and kept on kicking the child.

Su Li saw something wet splattered under the boy. She didn't have sharp eyesight at night time but that wetness seemed suspiciously like a trail of blood.

She couldn't help but feel overwhelming anger at the scene and those bastards still hadn't noticed her group.

”Why aren't you all moving to drag them apart?” His Majesty thundered.

Before the shadow guards could do as ordered, everyone saw Ning Fu rush forward and kick all of them apart.

The leader of the gang seemed to be angry that his fun had been cut short and snarled, ”Who dares meddle in the affairs of The Devil Snare Army?”

As soon as those words were spoken, the area turned as silent as a graveyard.

One of the underlings saw that it was their very own Unit Commander standing in front of them and bowed to him while shouting his salutations. At his words, everyone else also bowed to their leader but this display further angered Su Li.

According to these people's reaction, it was a common occurrence to bully someone and it seemed that Ning Fu didn't seem to care or pay mind to such things.

The nerve.

Su Li's expression became even more menacing at these thoughts of rampant bullying in the army.

Meanwhile, the Head Commander of shadow guards thought that his liege was angry because these low lives only cared about that unbearable pest and hadn't paid obeisance of the Son of Heaven's even though he was standing right in front of them.

The nerve of these bastards.

That white-eyed wolf still wasn't giving His Majesty any face.

Thinking up to here, The Head Commander's fury had no bound, he pointed at their noses and bellowed, ”You all are sure something, not bowing and paying homage in the presence of your king. You don't want your clan's lives anymore, is that it?”

In his anger, The Head Commander simply skipped over the life threats to their person and simply dragged all the nine familial connections into it.

At his words, everyone present quailed and realised that the other person besides The Unit Commander was the supreme ruler. Their hearts quailed at this faux-pas and they repeatedly bowed to the monarch, fearing for their and their clan's lives.

Su Li didn't want to pay attention to these scum right now. She was more worried about the child who had been beaten black and blue.

Just as she took a step forward to go and see the child, one of the shadow guards turned the child on his back.

There was a feeble groan as the shadow guard tried to wipe off the blood from the child's face and the child opened his bleary eyes.

The child turned his head to see what was happening around him and his gaze seemed to stop at His Majesty.

He was looking at her, staring up at her from within the arms of another.

A pair of dark brown eyes.

The memory hit Su Li so hard it was like a punch to her chest, her heart stuttering painfully as her lungs seized and her gut twisted.