Chapter 119
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Han Jiao was awakened by pain.
It was still dark, just before the break of dawn.
Initially, the pain in his body made him involuntarily tense his legs. A strong, achy sensation spread from his joints to the roots of his legs, like a leg cramp that rendered his legs useless for a while.
Han Jiao furrowed his brow and opened his eyes, wanting to rub his legs, but the sensation of his palm gliding over his skin made him freeze.
Gradually, his mind cleared, and he realized he wasn’t lying on a bed but in someone’s arms.
With this realization, Han Jiao noticed that what was fastened around his lower back wasn’t a blanket but the person’s arm beneath him.
He must not have been fully awake yet.
What a strange dream is this?
Han Jiao closed his eyes, wanting to rest a bit more to fully wake up.
In passing, he tried to recall what he was doing before falling asleep.
It felt like a distant memory, but he struggled and finally remembered that he should still be at Prince Yan’s residence, having a meal with the big boss.
He opened his eyes again and, with the light from a few lamps in the room, surveyed the bedroom before him.
Strangely, it had the same layout and furnishings as his own bedroom.
What a vivid dream, even the pain felt so real.
Unable to resist his curiosity, Han Jiao slowly lifted his head to see who was holding him in the dream.
In the instant when he glimpsed the person’s refined jawline, Han Jiao had actually recognized him. His heart began to race!
He immediately pulled his head back, refusing to confirm the person’s identity.
It really was a bizarre dream.
He closed his eyes, hoping to wake up quickly. This morally compromising dream made him unable to face his own motivations.
Time became difficult to endure.
He felt like a long time had passed, especially with the unbearable pain in his body, which made him even more awake.
He opened his eyes once again, but everything before him remained unchanged.
He was still lying in the arms of the current Crown Prince.
Han Jiao truly began to panic.
He struggled to recall what happened before falling asleep, but his last memory was by a low table, having a conversation with the big boss.
He had snatched a glass of wine from Xie Duo’s hand and took a sip, worrying about embarrassing himself by crying while drunk.
Then, it was the current moment, waking up in Xie Duo’s arms, with that painful part of his body making him break out in a cold sweat.
Han Jiao suppressed his trembling, raised his hand to remove the one clasping his waist, and tried to sit up, but the intense pain made him tumble back into the person’s embrace.
This sudden movement woke up the person beneath him. Han Jiao heard a long, comfortable inhalation above, followed by Xie Duo’s groggy, just-awoken voice, “Awake?”
Han Jiao’s breathing grew rapid due to shock. He no longer avoided disturbing Xie Duo, trembling hands desperately pushed Xie Duo away and tried to move towards the edge of the bed. A pained groan escaped his lips as his tense body once again triggered the pain.
The pained expression on his face immediately brought Xie Duo back to full awareness. He quickly sat up, reaching out to pull Han Jiao back into his arms.
“No!” Han Jiao was startled, and the intense pain overwhelmed him again. He tilted his head back, tightly closing his eyes, with sweat pouring down.
Xie Duo’s face turned pale. “Did… did I hurt you?”
Han Jiao choked back his emotions and pointed with trembling fingers not far away, his voice trembling. “Blanket… get me the blanket!”
Xie Duo hurriedly pulled the blanket over and handed it to Han Jiao.
Han Jiao, with shaking hands, grabbed a corner of the blanket and impatiently wrapped himself into a tight bundle. The suppressed sobs finally escaped from under the covers.
“Is it painful?” Xie Duo knelt on one knee by the bundled blanket, bewildered and remorseful. “I thought you were happy. It was my first time, but you can teach me how to do it better in the future.”
The sobs from under the blanket grew even more despairing.
Xie Duo anxiously clenched his fist. “I’ll get an Imperial Physician to look at you.”
Upon hearing this, the person under the blanket couldn’t bear it any longer. He extended a foot and ruthlessly kicked the Crown Prince’s knee, as if to show that he didn’t want anyone to see his current miserable state.
“I’ll go to the pharmacy and ask if they have pain-relieving ointment.” Xie Duo, as if he had found a solution, immediately turned and jumped out of bed, haphazardly put on his clothes, slipped on his shoes, and rushed out the door without considering which pharmacy might be open at this hour.
Hearing the sound of the door closing, Han Jiao immediately popped his head out from under the blanket, raising his hand to frantically grasp his disheveled hair.
He couldn’t fathom why he had suddenly woken up in Xie Duo’s arms, but he was certain of what Xie Duo had done to him.
It was as if the secret of an invisible person’s heart had suddenly been torn apart, laid bare in front of Xie Duo.
Completely unprepared, filled with terror, and overwhelmed by shame.
Han Jiao clenched his fists and tensed his legs, hoping to let the pain in his body tear him apart, to awaken him from the dream.
But there was no escape. His bedroom, every part of his body, still carried traces of Xie Duo, perhaps even inside him.
This was the reality. What had happened last night? How could he face it all?
•••
There were no open shops in the market, not even the bun shop. Pharmacies were out of the question.
Luckily, the night was no longer as pitch black as when he had left. The faint morning light cast a leaden gray hue over the entire market street, at least allowing Xie Duo to distinguish the signs of the pharmacy and the bun shop.
However, no matter how hard he knocked and shouted, no one responded.
In the end, Xie Duo kicked open the door to the pharmacy.
He was fortunate because Seventh Brother’s obsession with herbs had forced him to learn the names of some herbal formulae.
He quickly found three packs of pain-relief ointment on the pharmacy shelf, pulled out a silver note from his pocket, enough to buy ten pharmacies, and tucked it into the drawer of the counter. Then, he turned and swiftly left the shop.
The distressed and frightened look on Han Jiao’s face had left him deeply concerned.
All along the way, Xie Duo remembered the longing and desire in Han Jiao’s eyes from last night. Those vivid memories helped alleviate his fear.
As long as the pain lessened, Han Jiao would become just like last night, unable to leave him, instead of resisting him with that fearful and anxious look.
Thinking of this, Xie Duo relaxed a bit. When he turned into the alley leading to Han Jiao’s home, he glanced down at the few packets of ointment in his hand and let out a relieved laugh.
In this moment of distraction, the young War God didn’t notice the looming threat from behind.
It wasn’t until the blade tip pierced his back by half an inch that Xie Duo suddenly bent forward. He kicked his left foot back, the heel striking, and caused the assassin behind him to release the hilt of the knife.
Just as the spinning blade was about to fall, Xie Duo, who had abruptly turned around, caught it with one swift motion. With a swift step, he thrust the blade towards the masked assailant.
The terrifying speed and power forced the assassin to immediately realize that retreating backward wouldn’t be enough to avoid this strike. They could only kick the ground to the right, sidestepping the fatal blow.
With a muffled sound, the blade tip pierced the assassin’s left shoulder. Without a moment’s hesitation, the Crown Prince flicked the blade!
As he watched his own arm about to be forcibly severed, the assassin’s hands crossed over each other, and with a swift motion, the long blade suddenly broke into three pieces. The bloodied right hand of the assassin gripped the middle piece of the blade, and he forcefully hurled it towards the Crown Prince’s forehead.
Xie Duo effortlessly evaded the flying blade, while the black-clad assailant, one hand clutching his shoulder, vaulted onto the roof and swiftly fled to the northwest.
Xie Duo was about to give chase, but the packet of medicine in his left hand slipped and fell.
He snapped back to reality, lowered his head, and saw that he was holding only half of the blade’s edge in his right hand. The ointment he had bought for the little child prodigy with his left hand was gone.
As if he suddenly remembered where he was, Xie Duo immediately decided to drop the blade handle and bent down to pick up the fallen medicine packet. He then turned and ran towards Han Jiao’s house.
Back at the door of the room where their first intimacy took place, Xie Duo straightened his clothes and gently pushed the door. He found that it was locked.
“I’m back,” Xie Duo spoke with a very gentle tone to the person inside. He didn’t think Han Jiao had locked the door because he was afraid of him. It was getting light outside, and Han Jiao might be worried about his parents discovering their wrongdoing.
In the dim room, Han Jiao, leaning against the door, lowered his head with his eyes closed. Each movement Xie Duo made outside the door sent shivers through his heart, but he didn’t respond.
“Han Xiaobai?” Xie Duo approached the door and softly spoke through the crack. “I bought three packs of ointment. You can use them for now, and later I’ll get better medicine for you when I return to the palace.”
“I… I’m not in pain anymore,” Han Jiao replied as calmly as possible. “Your Highness, please return to the palace quickly.”
Silence outside the door.
Han Jiao suspected that Xie Duo might be angry, but he quickly heard Xie Duo’s response. “I’m not in a hurry to return to the palace. How did you get hurt?”
“My parents are about to wake up.” Han Jiao endured the intense pain. He didn’t know why he could still remain calm. He continued, speaking to Xie Duo as if everything was normal. “You should return to the palace quickly.”
Another round of silence.
“You don’t want your parents to know about me?” Xie Duo’s tone was not as gentle as before.
Han Jiao, on the verge of unbearable pain, slid down slowly along the door, but still answered with a calm voice, “Not for now. Just wait a bit.”
“Fine. I’ll leave before they wake up.”
“You’d better go now. My father gets up very early.” Han Jiao was on the edge of breaking down, fearing that he might lose his sanity in front of Xie Duo any moment.
“At least let me give you the ointment.”
“Leave it outside the door.”
“Why are you suddenly so cold to me?”
“My parents are about to wake up.” Han Jiao just needed half a day to calm himself.
Hearing the fear in Han Jiao’s voice, Xie Duo took two steps back and suddenly noticed a small pool of blood where he had just been standing.
It was only then that he realized the pain from the knife wound in his back. However, he still refused to leave and looked stubbornly at the door. “Hold me for a moment, and then I’ll go.”
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