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 circ.u.mstances.
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 b.a.s.t.a.r.ds 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 b.a.s.t.a.r.ds.
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 sc.u.m 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.
It was as if she was struck by lightning.
Su Li felt quite unsure of herself, unsure even of the ground she stood on. It was as if she had stepped into the last world.
She was seeing an impossibility and for one insane moment, Su Li even believed herself to have gone mad.
Because this child with the same physique, the same face and the same eyes - could be mistaken as Li Rong"s monozygotic twin.
Su Li"s world was broken and shattered once again when those eyes turned calm and a smile rose on those lips and the child said, "As long as you are safe and alive prince..."
Before he could finish his words, he lost consciousness.
n.o.body understood the meaning of those garbled words but everyone clearly saw how His Majesty blanched at those words.
It seemed the unconscious person and the ruler had some familiarity with each other.
Otherwise, why would he have called His Majesty by his erstwhile t.i.tle of Prince?
Moreover, His Majesty hadn"t been offended at the misspoken words.
At these thoughts, the soldiers who had been repressing, ordering around and venting their anger on the said person, felt their hearts almost s.h.i.+vering and dying?
They knew their Unit Commander.
He never interfered with the low-level conscripts etc and even if they themselves were second-rank generals, he wouldn"t choose to side with them over the monarch.
Meanwhile, Su Li knew that the child was Li Rong.
He had wanted to say "as long as you are safe and alive princess" but luckily, he had fainted before he could finish his words. She knew everyone had misunderstood his words as her former t.i.tle but she wasn"t concerned about that as of now.
With a hammering heart, she questioned, "How is he?"
The shadow guard replied, "Your Majesty, he has a few lacerations and some of his ribs are broken."
With every word the shadow guard spoke, His Majesty"s nostrils flared.
Su Li clenched her lips tightly for fear of spewing out obscenities if she opened her mouth to say a single word.
Seeing the situation deteriorating at a rapid pace, Ning Fu spoke, "The injuries aren"t fatal, Your Majesty. Why don"t Your Excellency send for an Imperial Physician in the meantime?"
Su Li nodded her head to show her a.s.sent to those words and one of the shadow guards ran back to the camp to bring back an Imperial Physician.
For the first time since she had died in her original world, Su Li"s anger exploded of its own accord and she gave vent to her feelings without any care for her position or manners or how it might affect her in the long run.
His Majesty whirled around at The Unit Commander of The Devil Snare Army and asked in a deceptively mild voice, "These people are under your garrison?"
Ning Fu simply inclined his head at the question which was answer enough, if the earlier words of the ringleader of this incident hadn"t nailed a coffin in the reputation of his army.
The leader of the ragtag team repeatedly bowed to the Emperor while begging for forgiveness. The rest also started to plead along with him.
His Majesty didn"t even give them a glance and kept on looking at their Unit Commander.
"Zhen has always admired the military men of Zhen"s dynasty and had always thought of them as honourable men, especially you Unit Commander."
With a cruel and a vicious glint
in his eyes, His Majesty continued, "Zhen thought that the Late Emperor must have seen something extraordinary in you to appoint you as The Unit Commander of the biggest army in the dynasty and not cut your wings to stop you from flying."
"However, it is today that Zhen has realised how you run the army and Zhen is too disappointed in you. It seems your army has no discipline or is it that you condone such practices?" His Majesty questioned Ning Fu furiously.
It was the first time for The Shadow Guards and Ning Fu to watch His Majesty berate someone to such an extent. Usually, even though the monarch"s words were sharp enough to draw blood at first contact, he never gave up all masks of cordiality while in court.
From the emperor"s brusque words it was clear that he wouldn"t let this matter rest after just a few words or light punishment.
"If this is the extent of your leaders.h.i.+p, Unit Commander then Zhen has really overestimated you and your army unit."
Finished with her words, Su Li asked The Head Commander if they could take the unconscious child along with them without aggravating his wounds. When he replied in the affirmative, she left along with her retinue, without giving Ning Fu or his subordinates a single chance to explain themselves.