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Chapter 5 | Doubts

The Royal Doctor rushed over from the royal school breathlessly and met Liu Yi at the palace's front gate. When he heard that the Emperor was angry, he couldn't help but feel anxious, and he carefully walked forward. "I have arrived late. Is His Majesty unhappy?"


Liu Yi shook his head, "His Majesty isn't unhappy..." Before the royal doctor could breathe a sigh of relief, Chief Liu went on to say, "His Majesty is very angry. I can't guarantee that if you go in now, you won't be punished."


The royal doctor's heart stilled, he nodded and walked in briskly. The maids in the chamber had been ordered to leave and two figures could vaguely be seen on the dragon bed behind the curtain. The royal doctor approached carefully. "Your Majesty, I was too late when I arrived at the royal school. Please forgive me."


"Royal doctor seems to have become quite old and his legs haven't been working properly. Should I help you remove it?"


Behind the curtain, Qi Xutian's voice was calm and without any ups and downs, holding Qi Mingyue who had stopped bleeding in his arms and was asleep. He caressed his cheeks, the young and tender face was no longer bloody, "Forget it, it would be too unsightly to see you without legs. I'll just make you disappear, then you don't be able to tarnish my sight anymore. What do you say?"


Through the curtain, the royal doctor felt an icy gaze land on him, there was a looming bloodthirsty murderous intent in them. He fell on his knees with a thump, "Please, Your Majesty, forgive this old minister..."


"Father..." Qi Mingyue's soft and childish voice suddenly sounded, laden with drowsiness, "it's so noisy, what's going on?"


At the end of this sentence, the royal doctor felt chills run down his spine and continued to beg for his life. "Your Majesty, the distance between the Royal Hospital and the Royal School is a lot. It is also accurate that I'm getting older, my legs don't function as well as they used to. Please consider my commitment to the palace all these years..."


Qi Mingyue looked at the man holding him, "You are going to kill someone over such a minor thing?"


"A minor thing? I feel very distressed for you. There is so much blood and there is also a wound on the forehead, I don't know when the scar will fade," Qi Xutian said coldly. , "If the royal doctor's legs were more useful, MingEr would have suffered less and I would not feel so distressed for MingEr. It is a serious crime committed by the royal doctor, how can you say this is a small matter?"


"Okay," after listening to his long list of words, Qi Mingyue's head hurt so much that he felt like he was going to faint and fell back on him, "I'm fine, let him go."


The royal doctor kneeling on the ground trembled with fear and did not dare to raise his head. He only heard Qi Xutian say: "Since MingEr wants you to live, then you will live. Still, aren't you going to come and see the wound?!"


Qi Mingyue listened to him say this and helplessly prepared to sit up. He did not intend to argue on this matter any further. Qi Xutian had already held him up and let him lie in his arms for the royal doctor's diagnosis and treatment.


The royal doctor lifted the curtain and saw the Emperor leaning against the side of the bed with his robe loosened, he held the Second Prince in his arms.


Although the Second Prince was pale, he did not look sick and weak. With smooth black hair and eyes squinting lightly, he glanced at him as he lifted the curtain. The royal doctor was swept by that glance, and suddenly he saw a glimpse of His Majesty when he was young. He realized that the Second Prince was so extraordinary, it was no wonder that the Emperor liked him so much. But he didn't dare delay and carefully set aside his hair to reveal his injured forehead and began examining the wound, "His Royal Highness' wound has stopped bleeding, it is a skin injury and there seem to be no major problems. But there is excessive blood loss and since His Royal Highness is young, he needs to be rehabilitated through medicine and nutritional soups, in addition to that, he must consume blood-enriching meals every day. After about three months, he would be back to peak health."


"En. You must boil the medicine every day and send it to Xuantian Palace. Also, supervise the making of his daily medicine in the imperial kitchen. You can’t slack off. If you can’t do this well, in my opinion, there is no real need for the royal doctor to stay in the palace."


The threat in the words of His Majesty, the royal doctor naturally heard it. Thus, he quickly agreed and left after paying respects, only to find that he was drenched in a cold sweat. He really felt that he had barely survived today. It was also because of the kindness of His Royal Highness. But it was really strange, His Royal Highness' attitude towards His Majesty did not seem to hold admiration. It seemed as if he was just talking to someone ordinary and His Majesty didn’t mind. Was His Royal Highness really different? He abruptly thought back to what the Grandmaster had said five years ago, it seems that there was... an alien star... Calamity bringer... 


He felt shocked all of a sudden and saw that Chief Liu was standing right in front of him with an expressionless face. His eyes looked straight at him. Somehow, the royal doctor felt a cold shiver run down his spine, it was as if Chief Liu knew what he had been thinking about, "Uh, Chief Liu..."


"Please have a safe trip." Liu Yi stepped aside to make way for him.


"Thank you." The royal doctor hurried past and still felt that it was strange. Everything that happened today made him have a strange feeling but he didn't dare talk anymore and quickly rushed to the Royal Hospital.


In the palace, Qi Mingyue was still lying in Qi Xutian's arms, "Father, what do you have to say about today's affairs?"


"What does MingEr mean? I don't understand." Qi Xutian narrowed his eyes, enjoying the feeling of the person in his arms very much.


"Father is such a clever man, why are you pretending to be stupid now? You made such a scene today for such a minor thing, how can I continue to act weak in the palace now? I am supposed to be a poor, neglected prince under house arrest." He raised his eyebrows at Qi Xutian and wanted an explanation.


Qi Xutian raised his eyebrows as well, his lips curved into a smile, and answered carelessly, "Seeing that MingEr is injured, I don't want to pretend anymore. In Cang He, only MingEr can make me compromise. Five years was long enough to cover the fact that you could listen and talk the day you were born. Now that you've entered the royal school, it's normal to be able to read and write. Why bother about those superfluous things? Unless... MingEr is sceptical whether I can protect you?" After saying this, a dangerous look appeared in his eyes.


Qi Mingyue withdrew his gaze and said lightly, "It is easier to hide in the dark and difficult to escape when in the light. Anything can happen after today. Moreover, I don't want to rely on Father to protect me all my life. I must have the ability to protect myself, but now..." He frowned again, "I couldn't even deflect an accidental attack by a little girl. Because of this, I really hate this five-year-old body. It's too weak."


"MingEr really is not willing to be a weak person. In that case, I will first give you two shadow guards, then order for you to be taught martial arts. What do you think?"


"Shadow Guard?" Qi Mingyue naturally knew the meaning of Shadow Guard. From his years of experience in espionage, he knew that the royal family and high-level officials of any country have a group of highly trained team, basically trained from an early age to protect them. Thinking of this, he asked, "Are the shadow guards supposed to protect Father and us?"


Qi Xutian nodded, "Yes, they usually stay by the Emperor of Cang He and the royal children but in this generation, I did not send shadow guards to the other royal children..." He smiled cruelly, "How can a lion cub grow without being pushed down the cliff?"


"Do you want to see how they will confront each other? To determine the heir to the throne?" He had heard that several concubines were pregnant. It wasn't known how many concubines would join the battle.


"Although it's a common technique used by emperors, they never actually want them to kill each other, that's the reason for shadow guards' existence. Why does Father not do this? Since ancient times, haven't emperors paid the most attention to their bloodline?" Qi Mingyue, with modern human thinking, still couldn't understand what his Father Emperor was thinking.


Qi Xutian smiled and pinched his small, white face, "MingEr really knows a lot," then there was a trace of madness in his eyes, "Don't you think it's amusing? You see, when your elder brother and the other princes grow up, they'll understand the value of power the throne represents, then they would fight for it amongst themselves, struggle to survive within the palace walls, and act in all sorts of theatrics. It would be incredibly entertaining. I really want to know, in the end... how many will die?" The end of his sentence was full of pleasure and joy as if he couldn't wait any longer.


Qi Mingyue stared at this man whom he had never really understood, he never doubted his cold-bloodedness or even the crazy thoughts in his eyes, but only raised the question that had been buried in his heart for a long time. "Why is Father Emperor so different towards me? Since I'm the alien star, you should control me better, and even use me to make this play look better. For so many years, you have monitored my behaviour without any action. Why?"


Qi Xutian was not surprised, "Monitoring you is naturally to report your actions to me from time to time. I just want to know what MingEr is doing, I have no other plans. There would naturally be nothing to act upon because their main task is to protect you." After pausing for a while and seeing that Qi Mingyue was not dissatisfied, he asked again, "Do you still like Hong Qui and Ying Ran?"


"Of course, I like them. Otherwise, why would I keep them until now? What's so special about them?" Those who were capable enough to serve Qi Xutian would certainly not be ordinary maids.


"Hong Qui is a good dancer from Lian Tong. Her dancing skills are both pleasing to the eyes and also capable of killing people. As for Ying Ran, she is skilled at the art of poison. She was the disciple of An Yang's medical family, the Yi family. The Yi family has always been righteous. Even though they're skilled in poisons, they never use it to hurt people, since they say poison can be used to heal. But Ying Ran was expelled from the family for killing someone with poison. Later, she met Hong Qui and came to Cang He together and became Light Blades."


"Light Blades?" The name seemed to be the exact opposite of Shadow Guards.


"Light blades are different from shadow guards who work in the dark, they are placed in front of everyone. They won't let others see blood if necessary. It was established by my friend from Jianghu for me." Qi Xutian seemed to know the answer to all of Qi Mingyue's questions but did not answer his previous question.


However, Qi Mingyue didn't forget, "Father Emperor hasn't answered my question yet, why am I so special to you?"


Looking at Qi Xutian's eyes, he did not know what he was thinking, "Do you really want to know?"


"Yes." Qi Mingyue nodded, thinking that Qi Xutian's attitude at the moment was a bit unusual.

 

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