Destinies : Connected by Fate✔️

Chapter 10

*The Imperial Place: The Emperor's bed Chamber*

An urgent knock on the door, followed by a deep, familiar voice calling his name, alerts Emperor YiLei. Glancing at his sleeping wife, Empress Rouhu, he gently removes her arm draped over his middle and slips out of the room, closing it behind him. "General, what brings you here so late in the night?" The emperor inquiries, his eyes take in his surroundings.

The man addressed to as General bows, "My apologies, your Majesty, but I think you need to come with me to the observation tower."

Emperor YiLei's eyes glimmer with hope. "Lead the way, General."

******

The two men are almost at the base of the observation tower when they are intercepted by YiYang.

The crown prince bows to the two men. "Father, I was on my way to see you. There is something I need to tell you."

"Son, not now, I am..."

"What I need to tell you can't wait, and it will only take a..." YiYang stops speaking at once when he realizes where they were. He lowers his eyes. "Pardon my rudeness, father. I will wait for you here."

The crown prince keeps his eyes lowered as the two men leave. 'I wonder if it's something related to the homecoming beacon.'

Not a moment later, however, he catches a royal guard rushing towards his father's chamber.

"Halt!" YiYang bellows, making the guard stop dead in his tracks. Relieved expression flutters across the guard's face as soon as he spots the crown prince. He changes course and is by YiYang's side in an instance. "Prince, a few hours ago, we heard a suspicious boom at the eastern groves. But we couldn't enter it. A barrier of Yuanjian make stopped us from venturing inside. We went to find the second prince but found his chamber empty. We decided to locate-"

YiYang sighs, "Don't worry about it. I was the one who put up the barrier."

"Your highness, we were not-"

YiYang shakes his head. Ignoring the guard, he continues. "I have camouflaged YiHuang's signal as well. Rest assured, everything is under control. No need to bother father over such trivial matters. He has enough to deal with already." He pauses, observing how the guard was processing the lie he had concocted, and smiles when the novice nods.

"Inform the tactile team to ignore the eastern groves for the time being. I am conducting some experiments that might startle our citizens if they were to venture there; make a PSA asking the citizens to refrain from entering it."

The guard nods.

"If your team has any questions, I ask that they be directed to me. Is that clear?"

The guard nods again. He was new, yet he had heard about the crown prince's lack of interest in anything to do with politics, science, and courtly matters. But now, looking at him, the guard wonders if he was ill-informed all along. For the man in front of him oozed authority and seemed intelligent.

"Is there anything else?" YiYang inquiries when the guard continues to gape at him.

Shaken out of his musings, the guard bows. "My apologies, your highness."

The prince chuckles, "I don't blame you, good man. I have been known to leave women and men speechless on more than one occasion." A wink follows the chuckle.

'At least they were right about him being a flirt.' The guard bows once again, and without catching the prince's eyes, he leaves.

*****