Before the dagger could reach the pair, His Majesty had pushed the other boy far away from him with such a force that it didn"t seem his body could even stand after that and at that moment, the dagger had already reached His Majesty.Nung Fu would thank the G.o.ds till the day he died for Zhou Sheng"s quick reflexes - the boy pushed the monarch a bit and thankfully, that slight push displaced His Majesty from coming in the direct path of the dagger.
The pointy end of the dagger caught only the excess fabric of His Majesty"s robes and the monarch was pinned to a tree behind him.
Thankfully, the dagger hadn"t knicked His Majesty anywhere on the body - it was just a hair"s breadth away from the joint between the emperor"s neck and his shoulder.
At that moment, all four of them -The Empress Dowager, His Majesty, The Unit Commander of The Devil Snare Army and the new favourite of His Majesty: Zhou Sheng - stood frozen.
The Emperor almost hung awkwardly from the pinpoint where the dagger had stuck itself in the bark of the tree. He looked frozen - whether in fear or in anger was a tossup.
The Empress Dowager had reflexively held on to the closest thing to her in her anxiety, which turned out to be Ning Fu"s raised arm that had just thrown the dagger.
The Empress Dowager had quite a strong grip on Unit Commander"s arm - so strong that her golden nail guards encrusted with jewels pierced at least four layers of his clothes and drew blood from his arm.
Meanwhile, Ning Fu"s eyes were wide in shock and fear. He could feel his sweat trickling from his forehead, down his neck and underneath his clothes.
He had done the unthinkable!
Even if he had thrown the knife in a misguided attempt at saving his liege, he had still let fly a deadly weapon in the direction of the monarch.
The ominous silence was broken by a howl - a howl that was full of anger and everyone watched petrified as Zhou Sheng stood from where he had fallen and stalked like a vengeful ghost towards His Majesty.
"Are you out of your freaking mind? What were you thinking when you pushed me away? Who asked you to act gallant and n.o.ble? You don"t care if you live or die any longer, is that it?" Zhou Sheng snarled at The Emperor.
n.o.body...n.o.body had ever dared to talk to The Imperial Family in that sharp tone.
Even cairens who had given birth to their children never dared to raise their voice at their sons or daughters.
Why?
Because it concerned the dignity of The Imperial Family and n.o.body wanted to commit a taboo that could lead to them being sent to the execution grounds.
However, it was as if Zhou Sheng had lost all his sense of reason and he kept on berating His Majesty with an acerbic tone, "What? Now you don"t want to say anything? Speak up! d.a.m.n it! I"m asking you that what went through your mind when you did that? What? This is the second time...second time. You..."
At that point, it was as if the boy had lost all his ability to speak. He simply tried to dislodge the dagger from its position but everyone present could see that his hands were shaking too terribly to be of much use.
Zhou Sheng"s tirade brought Nung Fu and Empress Dowager back to earth and with a frantically beating heart and his body temperature cooling rapidly, Ning Fu knelt with a resounding thump on the gravel path of the gardens.
Even if he could feel those pebbles burrowing themselves into the crevices of his knees, Ning Fu didn"t pay them any mind.
He felt that he really deserved death a thousand times.
If that dagger had drawn a single drop of blood from The Son of Heavens, his one action would have pushed his subordinates and his nine familial relations into a deep abyss with the tag of treason hanging over their heads.
In the deafening silence that surrounded them, His Majesty spoke to Zhou Sheng in a sheepish tone - as if trying to cajole and coax someone very dear to be him, "Don"t be angry. don"t be angry. It was just a reflexive action. Nothing more."
Yet, everyone present could hear the faint tremble in the emperor"s words and it made all of their hearts twist in worry.
Zhou Sheng still didn"t seem to be modified as he snapped, "Really?" and he finally freed the dagger from the tree with no small amount of force.
It was as if he was taking out his worry for the monarch and his subsequent actions on the dagger itself.
Then in a flurry of robes, the boy turned towards Ning Fu and leapt for him - as if he was moments away from ripping him limb to limb.
Ning Fu could postulate the boy"s next course of action from his kneeling position - the boy would try to plummet him for daring to harm His Majesty.
Though those weak hands wouldn"t hurt him physically, it would be a large blow to his self-esteem.
Still, he was the one at fault here - even if unintentionally.
Ning Fu braced himself for the approaching beating and he vowed that he wouldn"t fault the boy for his thoughtless actions.
The boy was a conscript in his garrison at best and a commoner at worst, if it had been any other situation - Ning Fu would have cut the other person to pieces for their audacity and arrogance that fuelled the a.s.surance that they were ent.i.tled to even raise their hands against him.
Yet, in this instance, he didn"t dare even breath loudly.
However, at that moment, His Majesty spoke up.
"Zhou Sheng! Stop." That sharp tone of voice was a better force of deterrent than anything else in the world to Zhou Sheng.
The boy pulled up short, one foot raised high as if to kick the kneeling Unit Commander.
For a second, Zhou Sheng didn"t respond to the verbal command. A few tense seconds later, he lowered his leg and with a grunt walked back to His Majesty and gave such a look of loathing to Ning Fu that The Unit Commander felt that if it hadn"t been for His Majesty stopping the mere slip of a boy, he would have killed Ning Fu right at the spot and coloured the gardens blood red.
Just as The Empress Dowager took a step forward to go and check on her son, she saw a scene that almost gave her a heart attack.
She saw as that boy - her son had called him Zhou Sheng - ignored everybody present and pulled the fidgeting monarch to his side and gently pulled at the torn fabric.
When he had made sure that His Majesty wasn"t harmed in any way, he gave an admonis.h.i.+ng look to the emperor and lo and behold! the emperor took his chastising look with poised grace - as if used to having the other person worry about him and scold him for his intended or unintended mistakes.
There seemed to be a silent conversation taking place between those two people - a conversation that didn"t need any words and it looked as if both of them understood what the other was conveying through their raised brows and blinking eyes.
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They were comfortable enough with each other to have real, tangible camaraderie between them.
Her son - the ruler of all under heaven - had his cheeks tinged red with embarra.s.sment, and squirmed uncomfortably.
Nonetheless, he didn"t turn away from the other person.
Her child whom she had heard didn"t even allow his servants to dress him was comfortable enough with this unknown boy to allow him to have physical contact with him.
Allow him to check over his body so as to a.s.suage the boy"s worries.
Allow a mere commoner into his personal s.p.a.ce.
Her child didn"t feel any kind of discomfort with the boy"s closeness to him and didn"t have his guard up against him.
It was surreal.
It was unprecedented in action and then like a strike of a thunderbolt from a clear sky, Empress Dowager had an epiphany.
She stumbled back and would have fallen on the ground disgracefully, if not for Ning Fu holding her from the hem of her sleeves.