EMPRESS LIU

~THIRTY-TWO~

"I killed Luo Guang."

The fourth prince Hong Daqing stood in front of the shabby bed of the disguised Xiao Long. The said man was sitting on his bed looking distracted when the Xiang Wang revealed the truth.

Like a thunder the news hits the young dethroned Wangfei's ears.

He frowned at his husband that he loved so much. "What do you mean?"

This was the first time after so long that the two husbands were talking without any barier between them. It was surreal for the prince himself too. So he couldn't answer at first.

"Wangye!"

His familiar call with this familiar voice brought the prince out of his stupor as he looked at the young man in shabby clothes in front of him. Which couldn't reduce his beauty even a little.

"I killed him. The third marquis. I punished your culprit."

"And why would you do that? You didn't even listen to me then."

This hurt the fourth prince's heart. He knew all along what he did to Liu Changsheng. But actually listening to the man's accusation was even more severe to his heart than he thought it would be.

He lets his heart bare in front of the person he wanted to call his. Always and forever.

"You think I didn't know it was not your fault?" The fourth prince couldn't contain anymore how overwhelmed he was with all of these. "Liu Changsheng. We both were young. I was angry. You think I didn't hear all your pleading voice from in front of the door?

"Shengsheng, we both were young and didn't know better. And I was more angry at myself than with you. That I let it happen to you. That I let anyone else touch you. Anyone other than me. And let them scar you forever.

"Do you know how much it hurt me to do that to you? Who do you think brought you into the room that night? Li gonggong? You think he had permission to? Don't you remember how I was?

"I know it wasn't the right way. But if there was anything I could do to keep you with me I would. And I did.

"Remember Jing Xuanyu? I told him not to come find you, and he wouldn't listen. So I locked you away from him. I couldn't bear to see you get close to anyone. So I did everything so that you have no way to get close to others."

At this confessions Liu Changsheng became furious too. He stood up from the bed stopped the pacing prince on his track, held the lapels of the gray outer robe and forced the Xiang Wang to look at himself.

"Do you listen to yourself? It was not okay for me to get close to anyone else, but it was okay if you did it?"

He pushes the prince away from his body. Turns his head around as if disgusted to even look at the other's face.

"How great would it have felt to see genuine happiness in your own husband's eyes to find out they're going to take another concubine right?"

"Shengsheng!"

"Don't you dare call me that, Hong Daqing. You lost the right long ago." He turns around to face the opposite wall. And tells the other person in the room to leave. Because he knew well if he didn't stop now he'd fall into the abyss of love and pain again. And he hated that feeling as is.

"Just leave, your highness. I just want to prove my innocence and leave faraway. I don't want to suffer anymore. Leave while I'm giving you the chance."

It took his all to push away the prince a second time. But if that means he can break free from this cage of misery he would do it without batting an eyelash.

All throughout his life he has either been naive and believed everyone or have been cautious and believed no one. The middle ground between these two has never occurred to him. He never got the luxury to believe and not be betrayed. He never got to have what he dreamed of. He never got to have the luxury of expecting and having that expectation fulfilled.

Right now he felt like he was standing on the Xuanhua cliff again. On the verge of life, hanging by the balance of someone else's mercy. He was doomed to live a misery. He didn't know what he did to deserve all of these. But he was going to accept it. Because the strength of defying fate has long been dead in him.

A thud wakes him up from his suffering daydreaming. He turned around to see the Xiang Wang still there kneeling on the dirty ground behind him. Maybe never in his life he had to do this. Maybe never in his life he had to engage himself with dirt. Never in his life he had to enter a servant's courtyard. But here he was. Asking forgiveness from his Wangfei. Not caring about the surroundings. Not caring about who sees. Not caring about anything except the person he loves.

"I will not leave. I will not leave until I make myself clear. I will not leave until I have said everything I wanted to say before you were driven to jump into the north sea.

"Dui bu qi. I've made mistakes. A lot of it. I've hurt you. And those mistakes are unforgivable. But I still want you to listen to me. At least give me a second chance. I will do everything to cherish you."

The fourth prince kowtows in front of a servant in disguise. But he still keeps talking.

"You remember the day the bandits attacked the Liu house? It was my first brother's scheme. He himself went there to find you and take you. He wanted to scar you forever. He was always hell bent on making you bow in front of him. But you went out to find me before they could reach you. Do you think you would have known where I was going if I did not allow you to know?

"I knew the moment we met that you like me and I found myself falling for you. Evrey day. Every single antics of yours. Every time you would come find me, I would find myself driven to you. To want to get closer to you. It was not a coincidence that I always carried a peony whenever I met you. It was not a coincidence that your new courtyard in our palace suddenly started having a peony tree. None of it was. You know why? Because I don't like peonies. I just like you."

The fourth prince's eyes gave way to a flow of never ending river of feelings that he held in for far too long. He finally let himself be vulnerable in front of someone he always loved and always will.

"But why would I believe someone who killed my whole family?"

Liu Changsheng too could not contain his feelings. But he did somehow. He left the crying fourth prince alone on the ground and left the room. But if he stayed, he would have known what he needed to know.

"It was not me. I did not kill your family. I really didn't."

Confrontations confrontations and confrontations!! Do you get a slightest idea what is happening! If you do, then keep em comments coming! The winner is going to have a shoutout on the next chapter.....

So try to figure out!

Meanwhile I'll go and write the next chapter!!

All the love
C 💕

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