Rushed this one out for the holiday. May you share good food with even better company.
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone~!!! ?
Chapter 17
Su Shi"s psyche finally collapsed.
After spending so much effort, he still couldn"t get out of this world smoothly. Even a blink of the eye would be caught by the protagonist.
His chest felt so stuffy that he couldn"t breathe. His stomach also felt uncomfortable. Su Shi lowered his head sullenly. He felt so depressed that he didn"t want to speak at all.
Translations by Vanilla Muse.
Originally, Wayne thought that he just had a guilty conscience, and quietly waited for a while, but then he thought that something was not right. With his brows knotted tightly, he held onto Su Shi"s shoulders. He squatted down to meet the other"s eyes. His heart suddenly felt an indescribable sinking.
"Daniel…"
He had thought that Daniel would continue to resist till the end, and even be like before, holding on to a cold expression and pushing them away with the long accustomed indifference and arrogance. But he suddenly realized that he seemed to have forgotten about the other party"s present health condition.
Probably because his body was too weak, Daniel didn"t even have the energy to confront him. He just lowered his head and held on to the side of the bed. His face was pale and almost transparent.
The patient gown was slightly ill fitting, showing a silhouette that was too thin around the shoulders, making his figure seem thinner than Wayne had ever seen before.
Su Shi looked so weak that it made Wayne"s chest feel silently repressed and disconsolate.
What made it even harder for him to breath was seeing the rim of that person"s eyes redden.
He never thought that Daniel would have such a fragile side.
When that man appeared in front of his eyes, he was mostly arrogant and indifferent. His look was so cold that one would think the very blood within his body was frozen. Yet, sometimes he would show calmness and gentleness, and he would smile at him faintly, but then he would turn around and throw away his life without a word.
He never thought that those eyes would actually become hazy with wetness.
Su Shi was tearful for a spell before he finally recovered himself and put his collapsed psyche back together. He raised his head and was about to speak, but suddenly fell into a very warm embrace.
"I"m sorry…"
Wayne brought him into his arms. His hold was soft and gentle. He raised his hand and slowly stroked the other party"s thin back. "I know. It"s been very hard, hasn"t it?"
Of course. It has been so arduous that tears were about to fall.
The psyche that he had just put back together was thrown into disarray by the sudden gentle appeas.e.m.e.nt. Su Shi"s grievances were hurting in his chest. He quickly took two deep breaths and finally blinked back the wetness in his eyes. He raised his head to speak, but out of the blue Wayne gently kissed him on the lips.
"I"m sorry, Daniel, sorry…"
Wayne repeated the apology over and over again. His voice was low and soft. He soothingly patted the taut body in his arms. A silent pain spread in the pit of his stomach.
During those days and nights when he had his ideals to guide him and his comrade-in-arms to accompany him, Daniel was walking all alone.
A single person concealed in the dark, bearing a blackened name and his comrades" misunderstandings. How heavy was this pressure? He couldn"t imagine at all.
Daniel wasn"t being stubbornly willful, nor was he acting independently without thought for others. He was just used to facing all the dangers alone. He was used to standing out by himself and protecting everyone behind him.
But he was also an ordinary person. He also felt tired and depressed. At the time when he couldn"t bear the heavy weight on his shoulders, he would also reveal a rare glimpse of fragility and weakness to others.
He still had tears. He still wanted to live.
It"s just that it"s been too long since he had someone by his side to care for him in this matter. There was no one that could make him feel at ease and allow him to rely on them. Thus, he almost forgot how to live on well by himself.
"It won"t be like this in the future, Daniel. I swear it, you won"t be alone again."
Wayne gently kissed his pale, cold lips. He met those eyes that were palpitating with fear with his own gentle and warm gaze.
"This is good. Since Wayne is already dead*, I won"t be showing up in front of the insurgent army now. I will find a new ident.i.ty for myself, and stay beside you, until the day of victory…"
[*T/N: He meant when he pretended to be dead to escape prison. So to the ma.s.ses, Wayne is dead.]
The plot was changing too fast. Su Shi, who was caught unprepared, rounded his eyes and lifted his head to look at the other party in astonishment.
The person who was originally cold and almost indifferent, suddenly revealed such a surprised look, without even a little bit of his usual imposing manner, it made others feel that he was very cute.
Wayne couldn"t help but chuckle. He lifted a hand to gently stroke his cheek. His fingers rubbed the slightly curled ends of Su Shi"s hair. "What, not willing?"
"But it"s very dangerous to be by my side, Wayne-"
Daniel rushed to open his mouth, trying to reverse the unsatisfactory situation, but he could only get out one sentence before Wayne raised a hand and pressed it on his shoulder.
"Don"t worry, the most dangerous places are the safest. They would never be able to guess that I would actually go back to the highly guarded government building. You also said that there is someone eyeing your post. There will definitely not be a lack of a.s.sa.s.sination attempts on your life. Just having Nathan to take care of you is not enough, right?"
Oh just great. Now he"s even taking away his chances of getting a.s.sa.s.sinated.
Su Shi"s sight went black. He fell limply against Wayne"s broad shoulder.
Wayne looked at the young man in his arms. Seeing such a seldom action of willfulness from Daniel made the smiling expression in Wayne"s eyes deepen even more. He laid a gentle hand on Su Shi"s forehead and softly kneaded twice. "Get better quickly, understand?"
It must be said that this hug was very comfortable.
Su Shi"s heart felt ashamed as he nodded his head silently, and reluctantly comforted himself with this acknowledgment. His body tightened for a moment, and finally fell into the embrace that was always waiting for him.
There was always other ways. Every defense had a crack. Even if these two people really wanted to keep an eye on him, he did not believe that he would not be able to find a chance to seek death.
From that day on, two people closely monitored Su Shi.
The food was carefully cooked. The stiff starched shirts were replaced with comfortable and warm clothes. His Highness Wayne helped him take care of official government business. The cautious and conscientious Marshal Daniel was completely deprived of the right to work himself to death*. He had no other choice but to close himself off to outside matters and focus on recuperating his health.
[*T/N: The idiom used here is 呕心沥血, literally meaning "to spit out one"s heart and spill blood" or "to work one"s heart out"]
"Even now I am still wondering, what kind of ident.i.ty did he use to sneak in here…"
He already did not have energy left over to reproach the loyal and devoted lieutenant. Su Shi leaned against the headboard and lifted his hand to give himself an intravenous infusion. He couldn"t help but wrinkle his brows in a frown. "So many people, but no one thought that there wasn"t something right about him?"