“Understood, Wife.”
The pain he had expected did not come.
Chu Yuan opened his eyes and saw Lu Ronghuai standing in front of him.
Lu Ronghuai smiled at him, a thread of blood spilling from the corner of his lips.
Chu Yuan’s pupils contracted sharply.
“Your Highness!”
When Lu Ronghuai arrived, the black bear’s paw had already swung down. He had no time to stop it. His body moved one step faster than thought and took the blow for Chu Yuan.
“... It is nothing. My hide is thick and my flesh is coarse.” Lu Ronghuai raised his sleeve to wipe away the blood, a smile still lingering in his eyes.
Behind the two of them, the black bear let out a furious roar. It raised both forepaws and hurled itself at Lu Ronghuai.
Lu Ronghuai took the chance to stroke Chu Yuan’s head. “Go farther back. I will deal with it.”
After saying that, he turned without hesitation, drew the dagger at his waist, and met it head-on. The bear’s paws were hard and thick. Lu Ronghuai drove the dagger straight into one of them.
The black bear roared in pain, the sound shaking the woods.
The birds in the trees beat their wings in fright, rising in one great dark mass.
Amid that clamorous noise, Chu Yuan suddenly heard the howl of wolves.
There was a wolf pack nearby.
Lu Ronghuai kicked hard at the bear’s mouth, flipped behind its back, yanked the dagger free, clamped one hand around the back of its neck, and with the other plunged the dagger viciously into the black bear’s eye.
He struck fast and struck hard. By the time Chu Yuan could clearly see what he was doing, both of the black bear’s eyes had already been ruined by him. Blind now, the enormous beast swayed left and right, crashing into the surrounding tree trunks, its howls never ceasing.
Lu Ronghuai waited nearby for his opening. Once the black bear had exhausted itself, he rushed forward and, with one clean motion, slit its throat.
The black bear fell to the ground. The smell of blood spread through the air.
The howling of wolves sounded out once more.
Lu Ronghuai seized Chu Yuan’s hand, pulled him to his feet, and led him forward.
“The smell of blood here is too strong. The wolf pack will arrive soon. We have to go.”
The horse had long since run who knew where. Lu Ronghuai tightened his hold on Chu Yuan’s hand and pulled him through the forest.
“Is Xian Feng all right?” Chu Yuan asked between breaths.
Lu Ronghuai said, “I do not know. I had no time to go back and look.”
He had heard the bear’s cry and rushed over immediately. There were still several killers behind him he had not finished dealing with. He had killed as he came on the way. Fortunately, Chu Yuan had not been hurt.
“Do not worry. Xian Feng’s martial skill is not poor. Even if he cannot overcome them, he will find a way to get free.”
“Mm.”
“Awooo...”
Suddenly, the howl of wolves came from behind them.
Chu Yuan turned his head and discovered that three gray wolves had silently come up behind them, their green eyes fixed on the two of them.
“Get on.” Lu Ronghuai patted Chu Yuan on the backside and bent his waist, intending to carry him on his back.
Chu Yuan lowered his head and saw several fresh sword wounds across his back. He could not help knitting his brows. “Your Highness, this subject can still run.”
“Get on. If I carry you, I can run faster.” Lu Ronghuai caught hold of his arm and, without another word, hoisted him onto his back.
The wolf pack was unlike the black bear. They followed in silence, their limbs strong and swift, their running light and quick. Lu Ronghuai ran forward with Chu Yuan on his back. The trees became overlapping shadows.
Chu Yuan looked back. The wolves were still pursuing them, with every sign that they would not stop until they had caught up.
“Your Highness, put this subject down. Carrying this subject on your back will only make you slower and slower.”
“No.”
Chu Yuan said, “Your Highness, at a moment like this, do not insist on acting strong. Your martial skill is high. There would be no difficulty at all in getting free on your own. Bringing this subject with you will only make this subject a burden in the end.”
“Oh.”
Chu Yuan: “...”
Lu Ronghuai asked, “Are the wolves behind us drawing close?”
Worry filled Chu Yuan’s eyes. “Mm.”
“Kiss me once, and I can run a little faster.”
Chu Yuan said, “Your Highness, this is hardly the time for jesting.”
“If you do not try, how will you know whether I am jesting?” Lu Ronghuai ran the tip of his tongue over his teeth. His breathing had grown somewhat heavy, and a thin sheen of sweat stood on his brow. Even so, his tone remained careless and lazy.
A faint smile lingered at the corners of his lips, yet his gaze remained dark and fixed straight ahead. Lu Ronghuai knew Chu Yuan was tense, so he deliberately said such things to distract him, even as he rapidly weighed countermeasures in his mind.
If he remembered correctly, four li ahead there was a cliff wall. The backside of that wall was smooth and steep. The wolves would never be able to climb it.
Just as Lu Ronghuai was preparing to run toward the cliff wall, the person on his back leaned in. Chu Yuan wrapped both arms around his neck and lightly kissed his right cheek.
Lu Ronghuai nearly lost his footing, and his pace visibly slowed.
At his ear sounded Chu Yuan’s embarrassed and annoyed voice.
“Your Highness, this subject has already kissed you. Why are you running even slower?”
Hearing his precious one’s accusation, Lu Ronghuai laughed aloud. He hooked an arm beneath Chu Yuan’s legs and hitched him higher.
“Understood, wife.”
The wolves had already been very near to them. Yet at that, Lu Ronghuai abruptly widened the distance between them once more. Seeing him speed up, the wolves also accelerated in pursuit.
Chu Yuan’s ears were red. One moment he looked back at the wolves, the next he lowered his head to stare at the back of Lu Ronghuai’s head. He bit his red lips lightly. A mist like the thin haze over distant mountains gathered in his watery eyes.
When Lu Ronghuai reached the foot of the cliff wall, he lifted his head and glanced at the smooth and steep rock face above, then instructed Chu Yuan, “Hold on tight.”
Chu Yuan wrapped his arms more firmly around Lu Ronghuai’s neck.
Lu Ronghuai cast one look at the three gray wolves behind them, set the tip of his foot on a stone, and sprang upward with Chu Yuan on his back.
He searched the cliff face for places to borrow force from and vaulted upward five times in succession before flipping into the cave.
Below, the wolves reached the base of the cliff. They craned their necks upward, breath huffing from their muzzles. They scrabbled at the rock face a few times, found no way up, and dug their claws into the earth in frustration.
Inside the cave, Lu Ronghuai set Chu Yuan down and picked a stalk of dry grass from his black hair.
“It is all right now.”
Chu Yuan nodded. He walked to the cave mouth and looked down. Seeing that the three wolves still had not gone, he turned back. “Your Highness, the wolves...”
Leaning against the rock wall, Lu Ronghuai closed his eyes. The cave was dimly lit. Chu Yuan did not know whether it was merely his illusion, but Lu Ronghuai’s handsome face seemed somewhat pale.
Chu Yuan instantly swallowed the rest of his words. A strange feeling rose in his heart, and he walked over. “Your Highness?”
Lu Ronghuai looked up and gave a slow smile, his eyes clearing. “After running so far, I am a little tired. I will rest for a while.”
Chu Yuan returned to his side and studied his face closely. Lu Ronghuai tilted his head, a teasing smile lifting his thin lips.
“Ah-Yuan is staring at me so intently that I will grow shy.”
“Look over there.” Lu Ronghuai raised a hand and pointed deeper into the cave. “I came here once before. The cave is not deep. There should still be some dry branches inside. Ah-Yuan, bring some wood over.”
Chu Yuan turned and walked inward.
Lu Ronghuai watched his back. Once Chu Yuan had gone a short distance away, Lu Ronghuai abruptly turned his face aside, raised a hand to cover his mouth, coughed twice in a muffled way, and forced the blood in his throat back down.
Chu Yuan immediately called out, “Your Highness?”
Lu Ronghuai gave a faint, soundless laugh and forced the corner of his lips up. His voice came out hoarse “It is nothing. I ran too fast just now, and my throat feels a little itchy.”
Chu Yuan came back carrying a small bundle of dry branches.
“The branches below were all rotten. This subject gathered some from higher up. They are a little damp, so they may not be usable,” Chu Yuan said.
Lu Ronghuai took out a fire starter from his robe and handed it to him. “Try first.”
At the cave mouth, Chu Yuan gathered a pile of dry fallen leaves and crouched down to begin making a fire.
After busying himself for quite a while, he finally got the branches burning.
“Your—” Chu Yuan looked up happily, wanting to tell Lu Ronghuai, yet the moment he looked up, he discovered that Lu Ronghuai had already leaned back against the rock wall, his eyes shut.
Chu Yuan put away the fire starter and ran over quickly. “Your Highness?”
Lu Ronghuai did not react.
Something turned over uneasily in Chu Yuan’s chest. Both hands bracing Lu Ronghuai’s shoulders, he shook him hard. “Your Highness? Wake up quickly.”
Lu Ronghuai’s eyelids trembled once. He opened his eyes, and clarity returned to them slowly. “What is it?”
Chu Yuan’s delicate brows knitted tightly together. “Your Highness, this subject wants to see your back.”
Lu Ronghuai smiled lazily. “What is there to see in such a small wound? Rest easy. My hide is thick.”
Chu Yuan insisted on looking. Lu Ronghuai had no choice but to clasp his hand and turn the subject aside. “It has only just passed noon. Our provisions are all on the horse. We must let someone know where we are as soon as possible.”
Lu Ronghuai continued, “In a moment, pick out a branch from the fire. The rock face outside is smooth. Use charcoal to leave a mark.”
“I left two or three markers along the way, though not many. The forest is too large. Xian Feng and the others will likely need some time to find us.”
“All right.” Chu Yuan crouched in front of him, the clear depths of his eyes gathered like a river of stars. “Does Your Highness know who sent those black-clad men?”
Lu Ronghuai sat with one leg propped up, his posture unrestrained. Though dust clung to him, it could not hide the nobility about his person.
“They are the Crown Prince’s men,” he said.
Chu Yuan replied, “The Crown Prince did not come hunting.”
Lu Ronghuai made a sound of assent, the warmth in his eyes dropping lower and lower. “Precisely. So this time we have suffered a silent loss. He was not present, and thus his suspicion has been washed away completely.”
Chu Yuan smiled faintly and said softly, “Your Highness is brilliant beyond compare. One day, you will surely find a chance to win this round back.”
“You think that highly of me?” A few more traces of indulgent affection appeared between Lu Ronghuai’s deep-set brows and eyes. “What if I cannot contend against the Crown Prince?”
Chu Yuan looked at him quietly.
“If Your Highness cannot overcome the Crown Prince, this subject will die together with Your Highness.”
Lu Ronghuai laughed again.
“Then I must win all the more. Such a beautiful wife, I cannot bear to have him go die with me.”
“Mm. Your Highness must also live well.” Chu Yuan smiled back at him.
“Rest easy. I will not let you become a widow.”
Chu Yuan: “...”
Leaning against the wall, Chu Yuan sat down and drew up his knees, looking toward Lu Ronghuai. “Your Highness, what did Chu Zhang say to you this morning?”
Lu Ronghuai tipped his head back so that it rested against the rock wall and said in an easy voice, “He said you are not the Lord of Chu’s biological son.”
Chu Yuan lowered his eyes and remained silent for a long time.
“But I did not believe him.”
Chu Yuan’s expression was unreadable. “Why did Your Highness not believe him?”
“One who could raise such a fine Ah-Yuan, Mother-in-law must also have been very fine indeed.”
Chu Yuan buried his head in the crook of his arm. Hugging his knees tightly, he said in a muffled voice, “At the time, that man used this very reason to depose Mother and me.”
Lu Ronghuai turned his head to look at Chu Yuan.
In the leaping firelight, Chu Yuan’s handsome nose bridge looked straight and long. In truth, if one looked carefully, one could still faintly tell that Chu Yuan’s nose resembled the Lord of Chu’s.
When he was young, the Lord of Chu had not lacked for looks. It was only with the years that he had grown increasingly stout, his features gradually losing their shape.
“That worthless wretch of a father of yours, what sort of madness seized his mind, that he would not even acknowledge his own son?”
“He never acknowledged me.”
When he was little, he had all of Imperial Mother’s love. Yet that man had seldom held him or kissed him. He had not understood it at first. Later, after enough time had passed and he had seen enough, he understood. That man did not like him.
“Why?” Lu Ronghuai’s brows furrowed deeply.
Firelight reflected in Chu Yuan’s eyes, but it could not drive away the gloom there. “Imperial Mother gave birth to me outside the palace, then carried me back into the palace.”
In a place like the imperial palace, all manner of dark and filthy thoughts would take root.
Over time, whispers spread through the shadows. The human heart was fragile and prone to suspicion.
“What a pity,” Lu Ronghuai said in a low voice.
Chu Yuan did not understand. “What does Your Highness pity?”
“I pity that at the time I was only a little over two years old. Otherwise, I would certainly have stolen you away and made you my child bride.”
✧ A Word from the Author ✧
《Please Name One Good Point About the Other Person》
Lu Dog: Beautiful to look at.
Yuanyuan: Beautiful in your dreams.
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