68 Ning Fus Thoughts (1/2)

Something was wrong.

Something was seriously wrong or Ning Fu didn't have the complete information with him.

Anyway, either nobody truly knew what had happened to His Majesty while he was held hostage or His Majesty had started forming his own forces while he was with the Northern barbarians and those troops were fiercely loyal to him.

When the monarch had run towards the direction from where sounds of beatings were coming, Ning Fu had never thought that it would lead to such unimaginable consequences.

The monarch had been angry when he had seen the second-rank generals beating a conscript but that anger had changed into a hard, inexplicable expression when the shadow guard had cleaned the blood off that boy's face.

At that moment when the boy had voiced his relief of knowing that His Majesty, the erstwhile Second Prince was fine, the emperor had looked at the child and his eyes had lit up in recognition

It was as if the emperor's precious treasure had been handed back to him and then when he had realised that the second-rate generals had been beating someone whom he knew and cared for, the emperor had a look of utter devastation - as if he himself would fall apart at any second and then he had turned that anger on him and his subordinates.

After the monarch had left him and his subordinates back in the clearing, Ning Fu had instinctively realised that he must do something to extract himself from this catastrophe or he would be buried in the sand along with those idiots. He had called one of his own soldiers and asked a few of them to tie those generals and guard them until an Imperial decree was ordered.

Afterwards, when he had tried to talk with the monarch he had been rebuffed within a moment. With trepidation in his heart, he had listened to His Majesty's words.

For the first time since he had paid homage His Majesty, Ning Fu saw a gleam in the emperor's eyes - something downright vindictive and a lust for blood.

Had it been a few weeks before, he would have been comforted by the fact that the monarch had enough thirst to keep his position but tonight, he wasn't comforted by it.

No, he felt jittery and anxious instead.

The proud Son of Heaven's was magnanimous and benevolent enough to let Ning Fu keep his life even though he had such a large military power with him and had further misunderstood the other person's intentions.

For such a person to be moved by something as petty as revenge, he couldn't wrap his head around it.

All the more, he couldn't get his mind off the glimpse of emotions in his liege's eyes when the monarch had first seen and recognised that boy and it was recognition.

Nobody could deny that.

There was something almost desperate in the way His Majesty had leaned in towards the boy, in the searching, probing gaze - the gaze the child couldn't meet for long.

But whatever His Majesty had been searching for, was absolutely found apparent from the monarch's subsequent reaction.

Ning Fu thought back to the day His Majesty had also subjected him to such a gaze but apparently, he himself had disappointed the monarch.

He couldn't quite put a finger on what it was - which was further making him feel irritated.

Since he couldn't sit still, Ning Fu decided to use his martial arts and see what was going on inside the imperial tent. He was well-versed enough in martial arts, to not let anybody catch him.

His soul had almost flown away from his body when Ning Fu entered the tent and saw the scene inside.

He pinched himself to see if he was having a nonsensical dream.

The pain proved that he was wide awake and wasn't hallucinating.

The boy was lying on the imperial bed!

He looked as if he hadn't moved at all, his face still too pale. However, why was he lying on the imperial bed?

All the more, his liege was sitting at the boy's bedside, touching his face every now and then.

How?

What?

Could someone explain to him that what was going on here?

The Unit Commander's brain short-circuited at that moment and since his brain has stopped working, the person who always questions other people would like to for once answer another's questions.

The answer is almost self-explanatory, Unit Commander. The boy is lying on the imperial bed because His Majesty ordered so and that 'blockhead' Head Commander of Shadow Guards couldn't dissuade the liege from doing this.

Also, the emperor wasn't touching the child's face.

Don't speak anyhow, Unit Commander.

His Majesty is just touching the child's forehead to check his body temperature.

Really, Unit Commander, your stupidity when it comes to His Majesty astounds me.

Nung Fu wondered why was the monarch sitting with his recruit and looking after him.

Finally, a vaguely intelligent question from the man.