Chapter 20

That morning happened to be a holiday in the Academy. Little Shen Nuo sat under a tree, pulled out the jade tassel and caressed it in deep thought. His eyes were unfocussed. He did not see three tall figures appear behind him.

These three were the ones who bullied and harassed him the most. Suddenly all of a sudden, his tassel was snatched away by a pair of agile hands.

Shen Nuo's eyes widened. "No!" He gasped. "Give it back to me!"

But the fat guy amid the three cackled insanely. "Give it to you? Who gave this to you? Ah? What new boyfriend did you meet this time? Or should I say, girlfriend?" He clapped and hooted in delight, spinning the jade tassel in his hand carelessly. "Oh, yeah, you can serve as both right? I forgot! What a shame!"

Shen Nuo's eyes turned red at visible speed. He was the only ger in the Capital. But not many people considered it as luck. There were also people who embarrassed him often like this.

But what could he do? He did not want to be a ger. Was it his fault that he was born like this? He ignored the tears that filled his eyes and lowered his head to the senior brothers with a pleading look. "Please return the tassel back, big brother. I can't loose it."

But another one among the three snatched the tassel from the fat guy, threw it onto the mud and smashed it with his foot. Shen Nuo screamed in agony. "Please don't! Noh!"

Tears poured down Shen Nuo's eyes. He knelt there helplessly and picked up the white jade tassel that was stained with dirt. He did not mind his hand getting stepped on and scratched by the boots of his opponents. He only wanted to save the jade tassel. He wiped away the dirt off it with his hands as if it was a precious treasure. His expression was very painful.

"Shen Nuoyan, you're neither a male nor a female!" They smirked derisively. "You're a transgender freak! You don't belong here. You're not worthy of - "

"- not worthy of what -?" Suddenly their smirk was cut off by a cold frightening voice.

The senior students looked at a certain spot behind Shen Nuo and their eyes widened. They went pale in fright. They stuttered. "Your... Your... Majes-"

"Scram!" The cold voice hissed again, grimly, frightening even Shen Nuo down his pitiful nerves. Who was he? He had never heard that of a powerful and an authoritative voice inside the Academy before.

Shen Nuo was scared at first. He slowly stood up and turned to look back.

And under the bright morning golden rays of the sun, a pair of tear stained eyes and a pair of lordly phoenix eye met and locked. Shen Nuo saw the most handsome youth he had ever seen. That person was more than six feet tall, towering above him like a majestic Pine tree above a small and a weak peony bush...

His slightly raised phoenix eyes looked kingly and frightening. There was no slightest touch of  a smile in his cold and indifferent face and the aura around him was really cold and gloomy. His sword brows were dense and there was a bewitching scarlet mole between his brows. His golden robes fluttered in the winds and the pearl crown he wore made a gentle tinkling sound.

Shen Nuo was flabbergasted. He was speechless. He had a terrible guess in his heart. If he was not wrong, this was the person who named him. This person had to be twenty one this year. He had to be the person he had met when he was small but couldn't remember. Back then, this person was the Crown Prince but now - Emperor Li Yan ...

Shen Nuo knelt down immediately and lowered his head to the grassy ground in courtesy. "Shen Nuo greets Your Majesty!"

A cold and a pale slender palm raised his face from his chin, sending a frightening chill down his back. And their eyes locked again...

Shen Nuo was too stunned even to move. He felt somehow strange and scared. His heart was beating wildly. He silently trembled as he kept looking at that cold smile-less face, unable to move his gaze.

That sharp gaze was piercing, unfriendly and was capable of sieving a soul...

Emperor Li Yan, on the other side, suppressed the terrible surge of emotions behind his usually cold face. But under the dense golden sleeve, his fingertips were already slightly trembling. He saw everything that happened right now.

Shen Nuo was clumsily holding onto something which the moment Li Yan saw what it was, felt his heart stop beating...

It was a beautiful white jade tassel with a fluffy tail feather. Li Yan remembered that cold morning from five years ago, during the Spring Festival, under a peach tree, he tightened this tassel of his to little Shen Nuo's waist belt himself.

But he did not know that Shen Nuo still kept it. He thought Shen Nuo must have already lost it... but reminding the scene forth him a moment ago, he did not know what to feel. Shen Nuo did not think twice to get his hands stepped upon and wounded for the sake of keeping this jade tassel safe. So Shen Nuo still cherished it.  Why?

Li Yan coldly watched the young child who knelt forth him. That child's face was pitiful, with tear stained eyes and swollen lips after having bit them himself in nervousness. His eyes were very red at the ends and his hands were scratched amid traces of blood.

Li Yan silently pursed his lips and continued to look at him. For many years, he thought that his feelings were just his wishful thinking that would never come true. Shen Nuo was a small kid. How long will he take to realize his feelings?

Li Yanlong was of course thick faced and cold blooded. He was not ready to look at Shen Nuo's eyes and say that he loves him. So he never thought a relationship would be possible between them...

But now, his heart stopped beating. Why was Shen Nuo still keeping that tassel?

After Li Yan's father died five years ago, he had to ascend the throne. But he was not happy.

He used to love his father. But his father left. His mother was long gone. After his father's death, he was the only person that was left from the Imperial Family... He was bound to a marriage that he did not want to happen.

But in his heart, the position of the Empress had always been reserved to one person. But he could no longer keep that promise he gave to himself... for the sake of his late father who died without grandchildren... He had to marry someone that he did not want to. He was forced into a marriage that he didn't want to happen...

Emperor Li Yan pursed his thin lips. "Too late!" He said, narrowing his eyes coldly.

You're too late! Only if you were born at least five years earlier, you would be my wife today, you would be my Empress but it's too late!

On the other hand, Shen Nuo looked stunned again. Too late for what? To greet? He greeted too late?

He was still small. He was very frightened. He repeatedly slammed his forehead upon the grass looking horrified. "Please forgive me, Your Highness!"

That day, Li Yan stared at Shen Nuo who was confusedly bowing at him and swore to himself in his heart that he would not let go of Shen Nuo no matter what. He swore to himself in his heart that he would definitely marry Shen Nuo one-day...

He forcefully retracted the jade tassel away from Shen Nuo's hands. Shen Nuo's eyes widened. "Your Majesty!" He said in a mournful voice. "Can I have it back?"

"No!" Li Yan said in a cold voice emotionlessly.

Shen Nuo didn't say anything further. He silently lowered his head and stared at his feet. But cold tears slid down the sides of his face and stained the grass below.

"Even Your Majesty wants to bully me..." He raised his red eyes slowly and smiled at Li Yan. That smile was wrenched with so much sorrow and pain. It was indescribably beautiful but also very mournful. It was too seductive and intoxicating...

Li Yan felt as if he was stabbed in his heart. If he continued to wait here, he knew he wouldn't be able to maintain his cold face anymore. His aura grew even colder. He pursed his thin lips even tighter. He narrowed his eyes darkly.

Looking at Shen Nuo's miserable face, he really wanted to bully him even more. He wanted to bully Shen Nuo until he cried like that day he did once under a peach tree, snuggled by a pair of warm hands, the very first day he saw the world...

Li Yan looked at him coldly. "You want this?" He shook the tassel between his slender pale fingers. "Then come find me and get it by yourself!"

Leaving the little kid to stare at him stunned, he flicked his golden sleeves and left him there that day...

"Your Majesty!!!"

Emperor Li Yan snapped out of his thoughts suddenly and stared at his ministers who looked startled. He was speechless. He couldn't believe it himself.

He just summoned an extra Court Session to discuss the siege of Xu Lin Pass but how dare he get distracted? He couldn't believe it himself that while his ministers were explaining him the situation, he had been blankly flipping through his past memories...

He pressed his brow bone, feeling suffocated. The ministers who saw that his face was pale were even startled.

Prime Minister as usual, ventured forth again, nervously. "Your Majesty, is everything alright?"

Li Yan shook his head slowly. "Zhen is fine! Where did you stop? And who's leading the siege? Prince Altai right?"

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