The Story Of Dusk

Xiao Jun didn"t say anything, but the look in his eyes were telling Feng Jin to tell them everything that he had heard.

"They had schemed against us! It is impossible!" Feng Jin was so distraught at this time as he kept shaking his head as if he forgot Xiao Jun was waiting for his report.

"Calm down and tell me what is happening." Despite his question, but Xiao Jun immediately could understand what was going on. He just wanted to make sure his guess was right. "Who is the murderer?"

Feng Jin raised his head with grievances as he told his Master with broken voice, he was still so young and a new recruit, so he wasn"t be able yet to mask his raging emotion.

"They said the murderer is Liu Wei." Feng Jin spat his words, it was an obvious lie that they tried to spread, Leader Liu Wei wouldn"t do that without order from their Master.

"What!?" Mo Xuan Fei shocked as he looked at Xiao Jun who was still in his calm expression. "Did you order your subordinate to kill the Emperor?" He looked bewildered, he knew Xiao Jun was bold with his move, but he wouldn"t be possibly became so reckless and made this kind of move while he was still staying in Rockstone Kingdom"s territory, right?

"After the first meeting of the crown prince Mo Qin Yi, they announced that they had caught the murderer of the Emperor and now leader Liu Wei is in their dungeon, waiting for his execution." Feng Jin continued his report. "The officials said because Leader Liu Wei is Master"s personal guard than he would likely had received an order from Master to kill the Emperor and therefore, another squad from military had made their way toward the courtyard."

"Prince Xiao Jun, did you really give your personal guard to kill the Emperor?" Mo Xuan Fei kept asking, his hands were getting sweaty because of this.

"I had never given such a stupid order." Xiao Jun emphasized his every words. "Told them to close the gates and gather here to help Prince Mo Xuan Fei to tear down that d.a.m.n wall!"

Xiao Jun was enraged, his eyes bloodshot red with anger as he strode away from the dinning hall, leaving the two people who was still dumbfounded.

He walked straight to his bedroom and found Qianru and Jinse were sitting on the chair, waiting for him.

"Jinse, prepared some food and water for a long journey." He didn"t even glance at Jinse when he scoped Qianru into his embrace. "And wait for Princess Xiao at the dinning room."

Jinse bolted up and hurriedly ran out of the room after she received the order.

"What happened Jun?" Qianru could feel his anxiousness and hugged him back.

"Are you warm enough in these clothes?" Xiao Jun asked her instead of answered her question. He felt Qianru nodded in his arms. "Good."

"Something big is going on right?" Qianru guessed it correctly.

"Yes, I need you to listen to me." Xiao Jun released his hug and cupped her tiny face instead. "Liu Wei is accused as the murderer of the Emperor Mo Qian Yuan and now he is in their hand, however…"

"However, their real aim is you, because you are Liu Wei"s Master?" Qianru finished his explanation.

Xiao Jun smiled at her and rubbed her hair gently. "Clever." He said proudly. "Now, I want you to go to the dinning room, we will leave this place through the secret pa.s.sage way that Mo Xuan Fei had found out immediately, but remembered to not tire yourself." Xiao Jun warned her sternly. "Jus sit on the side."

Qianru nodded obediently and stared at Xiao Jun. "And what you will do?" She was getting nervous, she knew what Xiao Jun answered would be, but she still didn"t like it.

"I will get my personal guard back." Xiao Jun said resolutely.

Qianru knew it, but she still couldn"t bring herself to forbid him to do that, Liu Wei has been a great person for Xiao Jun and always very loyal toward him, therefore, Qianru didn"t want any harm fell on him, but she didn"t want Xiao Jun was getting hurt either.

"Please be careful…" She whispered almost cry. This probably the extreme danger situation that she knew Xiao Jun would face. "Please comeback to me… to us…" Qianru rubbed her belly as tear trickled down on her face.

She wanted to be selfish and made Xiao Jun to stay, but in the end she would feel bad if they didn"t try to save Liu Wei, moreover Xiao Jun wouldn"t change his decision, so it could be said as a naught attempt to convince him.

"Of course I will." Xiao Jun kissed the tip of Qianru"s head as he grabbed her hand and walked out of their bedroom.

The moment they were out of their room. They could hear the commotion behind their courtyard wall. It was more likely the commotion that was produced from the group of military soldiers that were approaching their place.

"What is that?" Qianru looked at toward the gates direction and found herself was at lost.

"Military soldier." Xiao Jun answered her curtly while keep walking to the dinning room, didn"t stop to check it.

Xiao Jun was familiar with this noise as he was also from the military and the sound was the same like in his memory.

Upon hearing Xiao Jun"s answer, Qianru became pale. "Are they here for you?" She asked while trying to keep her pace.

"Yes." Xiao Jun nodded.

"Jun… If you figth with them…" They will kill you… Qianru didn"t dare to say her last words, so she kept her word hanging.

But, Xiao Jun understood what his wife was trying to say nonetheless. "I will not fight with them. It is not necessary." Xiao Jun said rea.s.suringly.

He was indeed didn"t have intention to fight the whole cavalry. It wasn"t because he was afraid, but it was because he didn"t want to waste his energy for unnecessary things.

There was nothing that he could preserve in here, so it was the right time to go.

At least during his stayed here, he could gain much information about both countries, Rockstone Kingdom and Zodasian Kingdom for his own benefit one day, so he wasn"t really at lost in this case.

Both Xiao Jun and Qianru arrived at the dinning room when half of the wall had been tear down and the secret pa.s.sage"s door had revealed behind the debris.  

Mo Xuan Fei was holding the injured Lin Xinyang in his safe embrace when he saw the door was true, that his guess was right. A satisfied smile hung on his lips when he saw this.

"You are really imperial concubine Lin Xinyang." Qianru said when she saw Lin Xinyang with bandage on her head and bruises all over her body.

Lin Xinyang turned her head and subconsciously covered her scar on her left cheek when she realized Qianru"s presence. "Please call me only Lin Xinyang Princess Xiao." Lin Xinyang said timidly. She was hal hiding herself behind Mo Xuan Fei, Didn"t really feel comfortable under other people gaze as she was in low self esteem.

But, Qianru smiled at her warmly. "Lin Xinyang, you can call me Qianru then, I think we will take a long journey together after this, we can be a great friend." She said softly.

Lin Xinyang stunned and raised her head upon hearing a kindness in Qianru"s way of talk and the moment her eyes met hers, she was very sure, there was no judgment in those beautiful eyes. She was sincere with her words earlier.

"I hope we can be a great friend." Lin Xinyang smiled at Qianru and felt slightly fine with her around.

"Of course we will." Qianru rea.s.sured her.

"Good, since you have found new friend, can you accompany Lin Xinyang for awhile? I need to talk something with Prince Mo Xuan Fei." Xiao Jun looked at both women exchanging words impa.s.sively as he gestured Mo Xuan Fei to follow him.

"Prince Xiao Jun, you can call me Xuan Fei." Probably, because of the exchanging words between the women, he had an idea about how to make him closer with this callous prince.

However, unfortunately Xiao Jun didn"t play by the rule and let him down.

"Alright Xuan Fei, you need to still call me Prince Xiao Jun." He said directly as he walked away. "Now follow me."

Lin Xinyang chuckled upon seeing the awkwardness on Mo Xuan Fei"s face when he heard Xiao Jun replied, but covered her mouth hastily when he turned around and glared at her.

On the other side, Qianru was abashed with Xiao Jun"s behavior. "I am sorry for her att.i.tude." She said timidly. "Sometime he is so difficult to understand." She said apologetically.

"It"s alright…" Lin Xinyang still giggled, it was refreshing scene to see after all the depression that she had been through. "I don"t take offense about it."

Qianru looked at both men who was walking out of the door and talked in low voice.

"Do you know where is they holding Liu Wei?" Xiao Jun asked straight forwardly.

Mo Xuan Fei gave some thought about it before he answered Xiao Jun"s questioned. "I think they will bring them to the dungeon." He said quite sure.

Mo Xuan Fei was knowledge with one or two things inside this palace, though it was so rare for him to get involve with anything regarding the palace authority.

"However, that dungeon is under Mo Qin Yi"s authority. Moreover…" Mo Xuan Fei a little bit hesitant when he continued. "If you are planning to safe your personal guard now, I think it wasn"t the right time to do that." Mo Xuan Fei said after a deep thought.

"I will not abandon my guard to be death in their hand." Xiao Jun glared at Mo Xuan Fei, misunderstanding his words.

"No, I don"t mean that way." Mo Xuan Fei shook his head as he waved his hand hastily. "What I mean is… if you want to save him, it much better the moment when they moved him to the gallows."

Xiao Jun knitted his eyebrows tightly. "Why?" He asked suspiciously.

"If you come to the dungeon now, they will have expected your visit, it would likely you are going straight to their ambush, but…" Mo Xuan Fei paused and saw the curiosity in Xiao Jun"s eyes to listen further. "Liu Wei will be sentenced to death no matter what and this execution would be held in front of the people because of the crime that he had committed, before they moved him to the gallows, Liu Wei will be paraded around the city, that will be the perfect time to safe him."

However there was still doubt in Xiao Jun"s eyes. "How if they don"t parade them and kill him right away?"

"No, they will not do that." Mo Xuan Fei was very sure about this. "Liu Wei has committed…"

"He was accused." Xiao Jun cut Mo Xuan Fei"s word and corrected it.

Mo Xuan Fei sighed and followed his word. "Liu Wei has been accused with a very big crime and if they were about to punish him without letting people know who had killed their previous Emperor it will raise a question about Mo Qin Yi"s rule. They will a.s.sume Mo Qin Yi ascend the throne in dirty way."

"He had done that way." Xiao Jun cut his word again.

"Yes, but people out of the palace wall don"t know and will never know about the truth as long as Mo Qin Yi is sitting on the throne comfortably." Mo Xuan Fei said sarcastically.

Xiao Jun lowered his head as he weighed the pros and cons of the situation and Mo Xuan Fei"s suggestion. He didn"t mind to wait until they brought Liu Wei to the gallows, but during that period of time, they would torture him severely.

"They will torture my guard." Xiao Jun muttered his concern.

"He will be tortured but he will survive." Mo Xuan Fei said with a matter of fact tone. "He will cover in injuries and bedridden for weeks, but he will alive."

"Hmm." Xiao Jun hummed. Not clear if he was accepting Mo Xuan Fei suggestion.

*** 

After the announcement of the Emperor"s death and Mo Qin Yi as their new Emperor, the palace was once again shaken with the news that the murderer of the Emperor had been caught and now was tortured inside the dungeon.

However, the most shocking news was the fact that the murderer of the Emperor was the personal guard of Prince Xiao Jun from Azura"s Kingdom.

With the reason that Liu Wei, as Xiao Jun"s personal guard, wouldn"t work alone without the order of his Master, Mo Qin Yi issued his first imperial edict to bring prince Xiao Jun for further interrogation, and the new appointed general from Mo Qin Yi"s faction would be the one who carried the edict.

He was allowed to use any necessary force if Xiao Jun refused to oblige to come, and by any necessary force that Mo Qin Yi"s mean was all the "necessary method" without exception.

A vicious smirk appeared on the corner of his lips when he stamped the edict with the Emperor"s stamp.

"You want an edict? I will give thousand of it Xiao Jun…" He muttered to himself as he gave the paper to his new general.

The new appointed general knelt and received the edict solemnly, he brought it with him, with a great care before he walked out of the imperial hall and led hundreds of his soldiers to go and get Xiao Jun in his courtyard.

Actually, it was an exaggerated move, as he already knew that Mo Qin Yi had ordered the personal guard to stand by and surrounded Xiao jun"s courtyard, in the other word, there were more than enough people to put Xiao Jun under arrest, but the new appointed General brought more people than it"s necessary.

This showed of power made the opposite faction, those official who once pledge their loyalty to the previous Emperor Mo Qian Yuan, shook their head helplessly.

It wasn"t a day yet, but their new Emperor had started a commotion like this. Most of them had known about the schemes that Mo Qin Yi was doing now, but since their headmaster had fallen into his son trick and the imperial court was flooded with Mo Qin Yi"s supporter, they couldn"t say anything or complain if they still wanted to see the sun rose in the next day.

After Mo Qin Yi had sent away bunches of soldiers to get Xiao Jun, he dismissed the meeting and went back to his new courtyard.

The place that he had aimed since long time, the place that was symbolized his power.

Mo Qin Yi, however didn"t go straight to his bedroom, he walked toward the backyard, inside the pavilion where a man in his dignified Dragon robe was waiting for him, with back was facing him as he looked at the lotus flower on the pond.

"The Emperor from Zodasian." Mo Qin Yi greeted him as he walked closer.

The Emperor of Zodasian turned around and faced the crown prince who now was the Emperor of the Rockstone country.

"I am truly sorry for my lateness." Mo Qin Yi said apologetically as he gestured for the other Emperor to sit down. "It was a though day."

"I am sure it is a busy day for you today." The Emperor from Zodasian smiled at him as he flicked his sleeves and sat down. "I am sure it was hard for you to witness your own father die in your hand." There was sarcasm in his voice that didn"t go unnotice by Mo Qin Yi.

"Yes." However, Mo Qin Yi feign innocent and brew a tea for both of them. "I want to thank you for your help by finding the murderer of my father." He said sincerely or he wanted to sound like it was a sincere grat.i.tude while his opponent didn"t feel it at all.

"No need to thank me Emperor Mo Qin Yi." The Emperor of Zodasian paused his words as he caressed his beard. "The murderer was found by my men, but he was unconscious and beaten up as if he had fought with someone and was knocked out, when my men found him. So, it wasn"t really my men effort to find him."

Mo Qin Yi kept his smile as innocent as it was. "Still, I need to thank you." He insisted.

Actually it was indeed very suspicious for the Emperor of Zodasian Kingdom to find the murderer of the Emperor Mo Qian Yuan, if it wasn"t because the bow and arrow that matched witht the arrow that was shot at Mo Qian Yuan"s chest. No one would a.s.sume Liu Wei was the perpetrator behind the death of the Emperor.

The Emperor of Zodasian had his own suspicious toward this young men before his eyes, he needed to be more careful around him, his guts told him that this man was dangerous.

"Actually I want to thank you if it wasn"t because of your call to say you have something urgent that needed to be discussed with me, probably I will not leave the Imperial study and went my way to the imperial hall to appease the motion from Rockstone official along with Emperor Mo Qian Yuan. Who knows what will happen to me, maybe Prince Xiao Jun"s personal guard would aim at me as well." He said without real grat.i.tude when he said it.

Mo Qin Yi didn"t say a word and poured an empty cup for the Emperor of Zodasian and for him and then he raised his own cup and said. "For your luck." And asked him to drink it also.