It happened when Huo Beilong was six. His empress mother, who was laughing at his stories, one day was coughing out blood.Huo Beilong, who didn"t understand anything back then, can only panic and raced out to get help, despite his mother"s cries of refusal. He wanted to tell his imperial father about his mother"s illness, only to be obstructed by one of his imperial father"s concubines.
Huo Beilong foolishly revealed her mother"s weak condition to the concubine, not noticing the feral grin she was giving him. The concubine expressed her concern and promised to tell his imperial father. He nodded obediently, not forgetting to thank her, before rus.h.i.+ng back to his mother.
It has been months that Huo Beilong"s imperial father hadn"t been visiting his mother despite knowing the news of her getting ill. Well, that was what he believed in the past anyway. But his imperial father"s concubines kept on coming in at out of his mother"s residence at their own free will, with or without permission.
They emphasized how much they were worried about his mother, and so they kept on bringing in gifts and tonics. Huo Beilong believed them.
They fed his mother various medicines every day. Huo Beilong was happy that they were willing to take care of his mother, not aware of the schemes behind all their smiles.
Huo Beilong would appreciatively thank them for their daily visits, not discerning that his mother was growing frailer by the day.
Huo Beilong thought that she was getting better since her complexion did appear healthier. He a.s.sumed that all those tonics his mother drank, worked.
The physician who took care of her mother was under the jurisdiction of one of the concubine"s family. He believed her "sincere" advice and allowed the physician to do whatever he wanted. She fed him lies that the physician was one of the very best, that he would surely cure his mother of her illness.
Now that Huo Beilong thought about it, he was really senseless back then. If the physician was as great as what the concubine had a.s.serted, then why isn"t he appointed as the imperial physician, given that the imperial physician"s wages were significantly higher than regular physicians.
Huo Beilong was the one who permitted the concubines to have free reign over his mother.
Huo Beilong was the one who allowed her mother to consume all that "tonics".
Huo Beilong was the one who thoughtlessly believed the concubines.
Huo Beilong was at the one at fault.
Yet, Huo Beilong blamed it all one them.
And when Huo Beilong"s mother finally choked out black blood and pa.s.sed away due to poisoning, he suddenly felt lost. He can"t believe that his mother, who had just smiled so beautifully a few minutes ago, was permanently withdrawn from his life. The light in his eyes dimmed, and he felt like his world had crumbled into unrecognizable pieces.
The concubines, who were situated in the same room as Huo Beilong back then, watched and grinned at his misfortunes.
Huo Beilong endured their jeers and taunts and was thoroughly bullied through the years of growing up.
It wasn"t easy.
His life wasn"t as smooth-sailing as before.
Huo Beilong"s trust was thoroughly and brutally crushed and demolished by the concubines. And since then, his aversion for females grew to hatred.
Huo Beilong abhorred females. But to keep a pretense of a regular prince, he accepted three women from his imperial father. One would act as his legal wife, and two would act as his concubines.
Huo Beilong had never visited them, not even once. To him, they were mere decorations. Taking them in is similar to him attaining unneeded pets. He left them in their own courtyards, never letting them partic.i.p.ate in any events or banquets. He left them to their own devices, as long as they don"t interfere with his life.
Then one day Huo Beilong met this strange girl who wouldn"t even give him a second glance. She was so focused on eating that she didn"t even notice the envious stares from other ladies in the same hall.
Her beauty s.h.i.+ned even brighter than the stars. She was just like the radiant sunlight illuminating a dark, gloomy room. Those were what Huo Beilong first thought of as he first laid eyes on her.
She was meek and demure in front of his imperial father. Huo Beilong wondered what she was like in the war. He heard that she was the one leading the troops. And the victory was all thanks to her courage and intelligence.
Huo Beilong didn"t know what to think of her. But then he saw the interaction she had with one of his imperial father"s concubines. And his eyes gleamed coldly.
She was just the same as everyone else.
Huo Beilong"s imperial father then granted him another engagement. And it was with the very same girl sitting right next to the general, Guan Chengyi.
Huo Beilong was unhappy.
Huo Beilong didn"t understand his imperial father"s intention. Did he want to mock him by granting him a marriage with a commoner, or to elevate his status by gifting him the warrior who led the soldiers to victory?
Huo Beilong was confused.
To Huo Beilong, his imperial father didn"t mean anything to him as he had long abandoned Huo Beilong and his imperial mother many years ago. Even to his imperial mother"s last breath, he didn"t even once visit her since he was too busy dealing with his oh-so-beloved concubines. He only came during his imperial mother"s funeral reception, when he realized that her illness was all due to the concubines" devious plot.
His imperial father did sentence them to death by las.h.i.+ngs, but it still doesn"t change the fact that his mother is gone, forever.
Huo Beilong wanted to vent out his emotions. Stress was really eating him alive from inside out.
.
Then they had their second meeting.
Huo Beilong openly told Fang Xiang that he didn"t like her.
She just laughed at him and agreed with the same thing. She didn"t like him as well.
Huo Beilong was shocked. That was the first time that a girl told him that she didn"t like him so bluntly. He was used to all the flatters he heard from the court officials and their daughters. But he never once heard a rejection as bluntly as what she had said.
She resumed eating as if he wasn"t there and asked him for a plan to break their engagement.
Huo Beilong was confused by her different character. Her persona in the banquet and her image before him were like two different people. But he didn"t seem to mind it since he had always been surrounded by uncountable two-faced people all his life.
Huo Beilong had questioned if she would care about her reputation, but she nonchalantly brushed it off as if it has nothing to do with her. For a girl, reputation is extremely important. He didn"t understand why the girl in from of him was so complicated.
But maybe… Huo Beilong was the complicated one.
Then the girl offered him a pastry that his servants prepared.
She said that it tasted good.
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Huo Beilong examined the pastry she was pointing at — it was the lotus mooncake.
Sweets were something that he disliked as well. It reminded him of those evil women jumping around inside the palace walls. They may act as sweet as honey but they were devils inside.
But Huo Beilong couldn"t comprehend why he had eaten the cake right then. It was highly unusual since he had always refused to eat anything sweet. So, eating the pastry was really something out of character, even for him.
Maybe because the cake"s presentation looks very appealing, or maybe it"s because she said that it was her favorite.
Either way, Huo Beilong swallowed one inside his mouth.
It was sweet.
So sickeningly sweet.