The Emperor and Princess Ning An hurriedly rushed toward Taiye Pool and just as expected, they found Huangfu Xian covered in blood behind a rockery near the pool.
The scene was unforgettable for the Emperor—unlike usual, Huangfu Xian’s legs were not covered with a thick blanket. His legs were coated in fresh blood, the empty trouser legs fluttering in the cold wind. His hands, too, were smeared with blood. Even his cheeks, the corners of his eyes, and neck were spattered with bloodstains.
One drop was trickling down the corner of his mouth.
His eyes were hollow, and his gaze dark and menacing. His figure was solitary and incomplete. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
A feeling surged up from the depths of the Emperor’s heart, indescribable as if it were a chill or perhaps horror.
A thought flickered through his mind—how could there be such a frightening child in this world?
Huangfu Xian was only thirteen years old, a year younger than Gu Xiaoshun, yet the chill he exhibited was not something a normal person should possess.
The Emperor’s gaze fell on his empty trouser legs, and his throat choked up.
"Xian’er! What are you doing!"
Princess Ning An nearly roared as she ran over. She tightly grasped Huangfu Xian’s shoulders, shaking his slender body in a state of collapse, "What have you done!"
Huangfu Xian remained expressionless, allowing her to shake him back and forth in the cold wheelchair.
Tears welling in her eyes, Princess Ning An said, "Speak! What have you done! Why did you do this!"
As the Emperor came to his senses, he stepped forward to pull Princess Ning An away. Covering her face, she leaned into the Emperor’s embrace and began to cry uncontrollably, "It’s all my fault... I’m to blame..."
The Emperor looked around and didn’t see any dog carcasses. Whether the child had thrown the dog into Taiye Pool was unknown.
Thinking how a thirteen-year-old could be so cruel, the Emperor couldn’t help but close his eyes and take a sharp breath.
Because he was Ning An’s son, he had to tolerate it.
Ning An had already suffered too much, and he couldn’t let her be harmed any further.
"You go back first, I will have a talk with him," the Emperor said to Princess Ning An.
Princess Ning An, crying, glanced at Huangfu Xian. The Emperor patted her shoulder reassuringly, "I won’t do anything to him, I just want to have a good talk with him."
A nephew by marriage, he couldn’t get angry, he couldn’t get angry.
The Emperor said to him, "If you want to resent someone, resent me, not your mother. Don’t do things to upset your mother."
But Huangfu Xian looked away from the Emperor, instead gazing at the calm surface of Taiye Pool, and said in an icy tone, "She betrayed my father. It’s her I will resent. I will never forgive her in this lifetime. Of course, I will never forgive Your Majesty either. You better kill me sooner rather than later, because once I have the power, I might continue my father’s cause to restore our dynasty!"
"You!"
"I am a prince of the Great Li Dynasty. My father’s blood runs through me, and as long as I live, the Great Li Dynasty is not extinct!"
...
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, Your Majesty!"
The voice of Eunuch Wei was approaching from afar.
The Emperor snapped back to reality, only then realizing he had already returned to the Imperial Study Room and had been lost in thought for quite some time.
He had almost strangled the child, he had very nearly killed him!
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