Chapter 14 – Lingering Fears At Heart

There was a flash of confusion in Zhu Yunxuan’s eyes as if he didn’t quite get the indication behind Liang Zhen’s words. 

Liang Zhen leaned closer to him and repeated softly beside his ears: “Your majesty, allow me to escort you back to the bedchamber.”

“No need……no need……”

Zhu Yunxuan shook his head in disorientation before unsteadily standing up only for his legs to lose their strength as he sat back into the chair again. Gao’an rushed forward to support him but was pushed aside by Liang Zhen. 

Liang Zhen stared at the slightly drunk Zhu Yunxuan in front of him with attentiveness. His gaze darkened before ordering Gao’an in a deep voice: “Leave with everybody else, no one is allowed to enter unless they are summoned.”

Gao’an refused and unsettlingly looked towards Zhu Yunxuan: “Your majesty……”

“Leave.” Liang Zhen repeated himself.

“My lord you mustn’t……”

Liang Zhen shot him a cold glare and cut off his unspoken words before bending forward and lifted Zhu Yunxuan with his arms. 

Zhu Yunxuan was startled and was on the verge of instinctively putting up a fight. Liang Zhen grasped his hand and walked into the bedchamber with large strides while carrying him in his embrace. 

After being tossed into the bed, Liang Zhen’s body has already pressed down on him from above before he had time to process what’s happening. Zhu Yunxuan was imprisoned beneath him with his hands held high and legs weighted down. Searing kisses descended one after another. This gave him a huge shock as the tipsiness he felt from earlier vanished in an instant and he desperately started protesting: “Let go of me……Let go!”

Liang Zhen’s scorching breaths gushed onto his neck, causing him to sweat: “You have no shame! wu ——!”

With their lips sealed, a slippery tongue pried open his teeth and viciously entered before stirring inside his mouth, forcing his tongue to corporate as well. The tip of his tongue probed in and repeatedly searched every corner and crevices between their lips.

After being forced to endure such an intense kiss, Zhu Yunxuan suffered from a lack of oxygen as tears nearly poured out from his eyes. The actions of the man above became increasingly rough, nibbling on him with fierceness as if trying to tear him apart before eating him in a whole. The sound of heavy breathing echoed beside Zhu Yunxuan’s ears before forcing him to lose consciousness. 

A while later, Liang Zhen’s movements finally came to a halt. After their lips parted, they met each other’s gaze as bitter hatred filled Zhu Yunxuan’s moisty eyes. Liang Zhen was slightly stunned before lowering his gaze and asking him in a murmur: “Does your majesty resent me to such a degree?”

“Let go of me.” Zhu Yunxuan gritted his teeth.

“What if I am unwilling?”

“As I’ve mentioned before, if you ever dare to have the intention of forcing me again……”

The corners of Liang Zhen’s lip slowly curved upwards: “Your majesty, do you have any qualifications to refuse me at the moment?”

“You—— !”

“This throne of yours was bestowed to you by my own hands, and as long as I have the intention, I am able to reclaim it anytime, don’t you believe me? Haven’t you always wanted to know what the late emperor said to me before he fell into a coma that day? How about I tell you right now?”

The candle flame behind Liang Zhen reflected the smile at the corner of his lips, which was inexplicably bizarre. Zhu Yunxuan stared at him with fierceness and Liang Zhen’s gaze darkened even further before he used his hands to gently caressing the other party’s cheeks: “The late emperor said that as long as I wanted the throne, he would have put down a decree to restore my authority and modified the legacy.”

Zhu Yunxuan clenched his fist with great force. Liang Zhen looked at him with a smile and softened his tone before continuing: “I refused, so that old geezer had no choice but to give me a confidential decree, stating that I could use it to restore my identity and dispose of the new emperor at will.”

Zhu Yunxuan’s eyes widened incredulously and the smile in Liang Zhen’s gaze deepened: “Don’t you believe me?”

Zhu Yunxuan’s heart gradually submerged into the void. Of course he believed it, how could he not? 

His imperial father has long lost his sanity. As long as Liang Zhen’s involved, even the most bizarre accusations are likely to be true. 

As the new emperor, his position wasn’t stable in the first place, with an exception to a few who genuinely supported him, the majority did not treat him with conscience. Liang Zhen is already in possession of a strong military force, once he brings out the secret decree and starts a rebellion, just how many people would be loyal to him afterwards? His elder brother in a distant place, no one would be able to save him.

No one……

“Your majesty, are you stricken with panic?” Liang Zhen’s hand rubbed on Zhu Yunxuan’s lips, repeatedly tracing his beautiful and attractive lip outline. 

Zhu Yunxuan closed his eyes and murmured: “Is there any use to panic? You’ve been keeping a trick up your sleeves all along not only for this occasion.”

Liang Zhen lowered his head and leaned closer towards Zhu Yunxuan’s ear before whispering softly: “Your majesty, what about me? Why are you still concerning yourself with getting married and having children? Am I not good enough for you?”

“How laughable! Who do you think you are……”

“What do you prioritize? Your throne? The nation? Or…… is it the formally abolished crown prince?”

Zhu Yunxuan’s pupils abruptly shrank: “What are you intending to do?!”

Liang Zhen lets out a low chuckle: “The abolished prince had a son that’s at least over four years old by now right? That’s certainly enviable, I heard that he is quite a lively and clever little rascal……”

“If you have the nerve to lay your hands on them, I’ll drag you down to hell with me even in my death!”

Liang Zhen was unfazed: “Perhaps it’s considered an honor for me to receive such hostility from your majesty.”

Zhu Yunxuan stared at him with a pair of crimson eyes before sneering: “You are only able to flaunt your status in the capital. Do you actually think that you can lay your hands on them when General Dingyuan is around?”

Liang Zhen shook his head with disapproval: “Your majesty is well aware of how despicable and shameless I can be. At present, they are the ones in the light and I am the one in the dark. No matter how capable General Dingyuan is, he can’t keep his spouse and children under his protection all the time. If I truly do have such an intention, there would certainly be an opportunity in the future. After all, I have no lingering attachments, although I don’t want to lose my life that easily, I am not afraid of death either.”

Zhu Yunxuan’s resentment reached its peak: “I am going to get rid of you! I will…….”

Liang Zhen’s lip pressed downwards once more, blocking all his unspoken words. Zhu Yunxuan gave him a bite, causing Liang Zhen to taste blood which had manifested amidst his agony. After retreating away, he licked his bitten tongue and lightly laughed: “Your majesty is sure becoming capable.”

While staring at him with persistence, the tears in Zhu Yunxuan’s eyes continued to gush out. Liang Zhen wiped away all the tears accumulated on his face drop by drop: “Behave……”

Zhu Yunxuan closed his tearful eyes and stopped struggling.

Liang Zhen’s kisses descend upon his lips once again, becoming much more tender and affectionate. After a while had passed, a seemingly absent sigh sounded beside Zhu Yunxuan’s ears: “No need to fret, I won’t do anything to them.”

Zhu Yunxuan bit his lip with force which nearly left blood marks in its wake, but Liang Zhen was extremely gentle and tried every means to please him. Resentment encroaches on logic, but his body is dominated by instinctive feelings, tearing his soul into two halves, one of which is extreme agony and the other is irresistible degradation. 

Liang Zhen embraced Zhu Yunxuan with their hands interlocked, and called out to him in a whisper: “Your majesty……”

Zhu Yunxuan sobbed as he shook his head and dug his fingers deep into the flesh of the other party’s shoulder, refusing to open his eyes till the end. 

Liang Zhen’s gaze darkened even further before hugging him tighter in his arms.

Once the last candle flame in the bedchamber had been extinguished, there’s only an ambiguous resonance which was deliberately suppressed for a long time. 

During sunrise, Gao’an shouted in a trembling tone from outside of the palace: “Your majesty, my lord, it’s time to wake up or else we will miss the morning court if we are late.”

Zhu Yunxuan seems to be fast asleep without moving an inch. Liang Zhen, who is holding him tightly in his embrace raises his hand before making contact with the other party’s forehead and discovers that he is having a low fever. 

Liang Zhen’s mood worsened as he stood up and instructed Gao’an after handily draping on his coat: “Summon the imperial physician before asking someone to deliver a message that the court will be adjourned for today since the emperor is unwell.”

A quarter of an hour later, Zhu Yunxuan was still asleep even after Gao’an had led the imperial physician inside. Liang Zhen sat by the bedside and embraced him before asking the old imperial physician named Fang in a frown: “Why is our majesty’s fever acting up again when he is obviously fine yesterday?”

The imperial physician lowered his head, with how intimate both of them are, anyone can tell what’s going on. A shock wave reverberated in his heart, he no longer dared to take another glance. 

After taking his pulse, the old imperial physician cautiously replied: “Your majesty hasn’t fully recovered, and suffered a cold last light. I’ll write down two additional medical prescriptions.” 

“Would two prescriptions be enough?”

The imperial physician steeled his heart and gritted his teeth before falling onto his knees, pleading with him: “My lord, our majesty still hasn’t recovered from a serious illness, therefore such acts…… must not be committed ah!”

Liang Zhen narrowed his eyes and coldly spoke up after a moment of silence: “There are matters that you should keep to yourself, being a blind and mute may not be without benefit.”

A shiver ran down the old imperial physician’s body as he answered: “I wouldn’t…… dare.”

The imperial physician was sent away to prescribe the medication and Gao’an was also dismissed while holding back his tears. Liang Zhen bowed down and rubbed his dry lip against Zhu Yunxuan’s forehead with a trace of lingering fear in his heart.