Chapter 60: Between the Emperor and the Moon, who do you care about more...?
Seventeen felt hot all over from his gaze and didn't even dare to turn her head away.
He was already embarrassed enough by dressing as a woman, but His Majesty's gaze made him even more uncomfortable.
However, he quickly comforted himself, remembering that many of his brothers in the camp had also taken advantage of women for missions, and he had no choice but to do so as well.
But soon, he had no time to think about these things anymore.
They walked very fast. Seventeen was initially carried by His Majesty and sat in front of him, his back against His Majesty's chest. This made him very uncomfortable, as the other's beating heart was imprinted on his back.
But as they continued their journey, Seventeen had never felt that riding a horse was such a painful thing. He had injured a spot on his waist during the fight with the group of men in black. Although it wasn't serious, the riding posture caused him to bounce around from time to time, making his face turn pale with pain.
His face looked rather pale, as if something had churned his head to pieces, and he couldn't think of anything, nor could he form a coherent thought.
At the same time, he had no energy to care about how close he was to His Majesty, and he fell back onto that solid chest.
Long Langyue looked down at the person lying in her arms who seemed about to faint, and asked in a low voice, "Why don't you rest for a while?"
Seventeen shook his head weakly: "No need, we can't delay things."
Long Langyue didn't say anything, but simply rode the horse more steadily.
He glanced at it and noticed something was wrong.
Seventeen didn't seem to be suffering from riding a horse... He remembered that Seventeen could ride a horse, so how could he be in such pain after only half a day of riding?
Thinking of this, Long Langyue's expression hardened, and he pulled on the reins to stop. The people following behind were puzzled, and Xiao Mowen rode up to his side and asked, "Your Majesty, have you discovered something?"
Long Zhaoming was truly a novice at riding a horse, unlike Seventeen. His inner thighs were chafed raw, but he endured it without making a sound.
Long Langyue glanced at him and said calmly, "Let's rest for a while. Everyone is a bit tired from traveling back and forth."
Xiao Mowen frowned, somewhat puzzled. Long Zhaoming secretly pinched him and laughed, "Your Majesty is understanding."
Long Langyue looked at him without saying anything, and the others naturally had no objections, so they all dismounted to rest.
They were indeed quite exhausted, and several of the Imperial Guards leaned against a tree and fell asleep immediately. Long Langyue led his black horse aside, and Seventeen stepped forward and asked, "Your Majesty, how is the situation in Yejing?"
"Seventeen still has time to worry about Yejing?"
He jabbed the man in front of him in the waist, and Seventeen's face turned pale instantly, his eyes widening as he stared at Long Langyue.
But Seventeen immediately realized that this was His Majesty.
"His Majesty......"
Seeing that Seventeen's expression had calmed down, Long Langyue was somewhat displeased. If Mingyue were here, the two of them would have had a playful fight.
"Come here, let me see where you're injured?"
Seventeen came closer and looked behind him. Some were sleeping; no one was watching them.
He no longer hid it, pulling down the shirt around his waist to reveal his slender, fair waist.
Long Langyue hadn't expected this person to be so uninhibited, pulling at his clothes right in front of him, but a strange sense of fullness rose in his heart.
Does this mean that Seventeen trusts herself a lot?
A large purplish-blue bruise was clearly visible on her fair, jade-like waist. Long Langyue frowned when she saw it and reached out to touch it, but Seventeen bent over and dodged backward.
"His Majesty...!"
Seventeen called out in a low voice. Long Langyue paused, then casually withdrew her hand: "How did you get so badly injured?"
"Oh? This isn't serious."
Seventeen was bewildered; was a bruise really that serious?
"No wonder you didn't look well earlier. Take a rest first. Everyone is tired too. We'll continue our journey later."
Long Langyue reached out and ruffled Seventeen's hair. The familiar touch startled Seventeen. His gaze drifted to His Majesty's face, looking at those extremely similar eyes.
Why does Your Majesty... also like to touch my head?
Seventeen thought to himself, but didn't delve into it. His gaze fell on the sword at Long Langyue's waist.
This sword must be the Moon-Cage Sword, the same kind of mysterious sword as Brother Yue.
Seventeen's thoughts wandered, and she thought of what Brother Yue had said before he left.
Do you know the name of my sword?
Seventeen just shook his head in confusion. He didn't know what Yue Ge's sword was called. After all, you can't shout out the name of a sword before you make a move.
As he thought about it, he suddenly realized that he seemed to miss Brother Yue a little.
＊
Before dawn, the group returned to Yejing, weary from their journey.
The Imperial Guards had all left, and Xiao Mowen had been dragged away by Long Zhaoming, leaving only Seventeen and Long Langyue standing in the room.
Long Langyue glanced at Seventeen, whose plain white clothes were almost turning gray, and called out "Yuanfu".
After Yuanfu took the person away to wash up, he sat down in a chair and rubbed his temples.
Others can rest, but he cannot.
The Zhou and Xie families are making increasingly big moves and their probing is becoming more and more obvious. I have a strange feeling that they might take the initiative to contact Seventeen.
Long Zhaoming has already laid enough bait, just waiting for the Zhou and Xie families to fall into his trap like moths to a flame.
They died without a burial place.
Seventeen lay soundly asleep on the small bed he hadn't seen in a long time. The familiar fragrance wafted into his nostrils, making him fall into a deeper sleep.
A figure appeared beside his bed. The person bent down and looked at Seventeen, who was sleeping soundly on the bed. He seemed to reach out and touch the other's cheek, but then withdrew his hand as if he had been electrocuted.
"His Majesty."
When Yuanfu, the eunuch, saw people come out, he was somewhat surprised.
This trip to Jiangnan made me feel that there seemed to be some changes in the relationship between His Majesty and the Seventeenth Prince...
But there are many things that a servant like him can't say; he does whatever His Majesty orders him to do.
"Okay, let's go."
Fortunately, he was still pretending to be sick, so he didn't have to attend the morning court session or face the group of officials who would bang their heads against pillars at the slightest disagreement.
Seventeen slept soundly until noon the next day, finally getting a good rest.
He bent down to fasten his belt, then suddenly paused, as if remembering something, and hurriedly grabbed his sword and went out the door.
Eunuch Yuanfu stood guard outside the study, with no one serving him, presumably on His Majesty's orders.
Upon seeing Seventeen approach, Eunuch Yuanfu greeted him with a smile: "Seventeenth Guard, it's been a long time."
"Greetings, Eunuch Yuanfu. Is His Majesty inside?"
"Yes, Seventeenth Guard, please go in."
Seventeen waved at Yuanfu, her beautiful face dazzling in the sunlight, making Yuanfu's eyes dazzled.
"No wonder His Majesty likes it so much..."
Seventeen didn't hear Yuanfu's mutterings; all he could think about was finding His Majesty.
"His Majesty."
"Hmm? Seventeen's here."
Long Langyue seemed to be playing chess. When she saw Seventeen come in, she smiled faintly and said, "Come here."
“Your Majesty, His Highness told me before that you had been feigning a serious illness to deceive the Zhou and Xie families.”
Long Langyue put down the chess piece in her hand, but her eyes did not look at Seventeen.
"Um."
"Is it really just a lie to them?"
Seventeen lay down beside Long Langyue, just like he had before he went to Jiangnan.
Yuanfu peeked inside and was startled.
These two don't look like a ruler and his subject at all... they look more like...
"Of course, Seventeenth, you think I'm lying to you?"
Long Langyue handed him a chess piece, and Seventeen frowned as he took it, looking somewhat embarrassed: "Your Majesty, I don't know how to play chess."
These words startled Long Langyue. A smile curved her lips as she lowered her eyes and said softly, "Then I won't play anymore."
"Your Majesty, I'm not lying to me, I am... I am..."
The words were on the tip of his tongue, but Seventeen couldn't quite bring himself to say them. He couldn't help but think of that absurd dream. After the initial worry, all that remained was shyness.
Long Langyue was puzzled, but seeing that Seventeen looked like she was about to burst, she didn't press him for an answer: "If you can't say it, then forget it."
"No, no! Your Majesty has misunderstood me. I don't think you are lying to me. I'm worried that Your Majesty might really be faking illness."
After Seventeen finished speaking, she felt like she was on fire. Why did she feel so long-winded and pretentious? Was she really that embarrassed when she faced His Majesty before going to Jiangnan?
Long Langyue held the chess piece for a long time without putting it down. A strand of her casually tied black hair slipped down from her shoulder, just covering the corner of her upturned lips.
"Of course it's true. I didn't expect the Seventeenth to care about me so much."
Seventeen stared with wide eyes and said, "Of course! How could I not care about His Majesty? His Majesty is the one I care about most!"
Amused by the childish remark, Long Langyue slowly put the chess pieces back into the box one by one and asked, "Between me and Mingyue, who do you care about more?"
Oh no, this is a life-or-death question.
Seventeen's heart tightened, his dark eyes widened, and after a long pause, he finally stammered, "Then, then it must be His Majesty."
"Really? If Mingyue heard this, she would be heartbroken."
"Ah... Brother Yue shouldn't be such a petty person."
Seventeen scratched his chin, only to see the Emperor's expression change, seemingly angry, but not quite.
After a long pause, he stood up and said, "If anyone comes looking for you recently, you should..."
Seventeen blinked, listening intently to His Majesty's words. As she listened, her gaze shifted and landed on his constantly opening and closing lips.
"...So, do you remember?"
"I understand... Your Majesty, may I see your sword?"
The sudden remark made Long Langyue pause for a moment, her thoughts already racing.
Why look at the sword? Did they discover something? Or...?
"Want to see my sword?"
Seventeen looked up at him, her expression serious, and said, "I've heard that Your Majesty's imperial sword emits a cold, eerie light at night, and can even obscure the bright moon."
Long Langyue raised an eyebrow and smiled, "Why is the rumor so exaggerated? It's just an ordinary Xuan sword."
After saying that, he walked to the bookshelf behind him, picked up the longsword and handed it to Seventeen: "Take a look."
Seventeen carefully took the sword, but the more she looked at it, the more familiar it seemed. This sword... really looked like Brother Yue's sword.
Could it be that His Majesty knew that Yue was going to Jiangnan and specially gave him this sword?
But then I thought it was unlikely. This was the emperor's sword; how could he just give it to someone else to carry?
But......
Seventeen lowered her eyelashes to conceal her thoughts, and said regretfully, "It's clearly a fine sword, but I don't know much about swords."
Long Langyue patted his head and said, "You only need to know that your sword is also top-notch, that's enough."
"Yes, thank you, Your Majesty."
Seventeen smiled at him, and Long Langyue felt a pang of guilt. Was he deceiving a child?
The "deceived" child, completely unaware of the deception, returned the sword and asked, "Your Majesty, when will they contact me?"
"It should be soon. I have already sent out the news that I will select young children from the clans. Although I have not said it explicitly, you should be able to guess that it may be for the purpose of establishing a crown prince."
A ruthless glint flashed in Long Langyue's eyes. The matter of establishing a crown prince would confirm that she was indeed terminally ill, which would urge the Zhou and Xie families to take action as soon as possible.
The current situation in Dajing is not only plagued by internal troubles, but also by a menacing external enemy, which must be resolved as soon as possible.
The Crown Prince... Seventeen suddenly froze, his thoughts in disarray, but he couldn't find the end of the rope.
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Author's Note: Countdown to my identity being revealed! [Milk Tea]
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