Accidentally Having a Baby with the Future Emperor - Chapter 77

Xiao Rong lifted his head and stared at the face before him; a face so striking he would never have dreamed of seeing it there. For a moment, words failed him.

“Rongrong!” Xi Rong called again, striding quickly into the cave.

Seeing Xiao Rong pale, bloodstained, and haggard, he bent down in alarm. “Rongrong, how are you? Are you hurt anywhere?” He reached out, gently took the sword from Xiao Rong’s hand, and pulled him tightly into his arms. “It’s all right now. Don’t be afraid.”

At that, Xiao Rong’s eyes turned red. Hot tears spilled down his cheeks in heavy drops, his body trembling belatedly as the danger and fear caught up with him.

Xi Rong felt the quivering in his embrace all too clearly and only held him tighter, wrapping the boy’s slender frame against his chest. “It’s all right,” he whispered again and again, low and steady.

Gradually, Xiao Rong calmed under that voice. He steadied himself, wiped his tears roughly against Xi Rong’s shoulder, then pulled back slightly and asked, “How did Your Highness arrive here?”

By the dim daylight filtering through, he could see that Xi Rong’s robes were drenched, his whole body spattered with mud. His boots were caked so thickly that their true color could hardly be seen. Apart from the lack of blood splatters, he looked scarcely better off than Xiao Rong himself.

“I came across the Prince of Jin and your bodyguard,” Xi Rong explained briefly.

Xiao Rong understood immediately. He glanced toward the entrance, but saw no one else. “Your Highness came alone?”

“Wuzhuo runs fast,” Xi Rong replied.

Although he said it lightly, Xiao Rong knew full well that the instant Xi Rong heard of his peril, he must have abandoned the entire Eastern Palace retinue and rushed there without hesitation. The thought made him gaze at Xi Rong, dazed, his eyes lingering on him.

Xi Rong pressed again, “Are you hurt? Let me see.”

Xiao Rong shook his head and lowered his eyes with a small laugh.

Xi Rong froze at that sound. After a moment, he ground out, “You can still laugh? Do you even realize—”

“Realize what?” Xiao Rong asked.

Xi Rong’s chest heaved. His clenched fist cracked audibly at his side as he said between his teeth, “For the Prince of Jin’s sake, you’d throw away your life? Xiao Rong, since when have you become so nobly selfless?”

Xiao Rong.

It was the first time Xi Rong had ever called him so directly by name.

Xiao Rong answered calmly, “A minister serves his lord. If it were Your Highness in danger, I would have done the same.”

Xi Rong’s lips twisted. “‘A minister serves his lord,’ is that it? Anyone may be your lord, then? Him? Is he worthy?”

Xiao Rong fell silent. He knew the truth was already set; whatever he said now would only stoke Xi Rong’s anger further. Better to conserve his breath and let him rage.

Xi Rong’s eyes fell on something by Xiao Rong’s side. He frowned. “What is that?”

“A mantrap,” Xiao Rong replied at once, his tone suddenly lively. “It must have been left here by someone before. If that wretch Cui had really dared to come in, one leg would be ruined at least.”

“And then?”

“Then, I’d have used him as a hostage and forced those two outside to kill the remaining hounds for me. With Cui’s life in my hands, wouldn’t they obey my command?”

Xi Rong’s face barely shifted, his voice cool. “So, by your reckoning, I ruined your ‘grand plan,’ did I?”

“Of course not,” Xiao Rong said lightly. “Even with the trap, it wouldn’t have been easy. But Your Highness descended like a god and, with a single arrow, shot straight through him. You were far deadlier than any trap.”

Xi Rong’s jaw tightened, his profile carved into a hard, cold line. He gave no reply.

Xiao Rong propped his chin on his hand, studying him. “Your Highness, how did you manage to find this place?”

He knew the hunting grounds well and the cave was tucked in a remote spot, hard to stumble upon. He himself had found it by accident. Cui Cheng had only tracked him thanks to the hounds. No one else would be so lucky.

Otherwise, the guards of Xiao Royal Residence who had been separated from him would not have taken so long to arrive.

How could he not be astonished that Xi Rong had found him?

Xi Rong lowered his gaze. “You truly want to know?”

Xiao Rong nodded.

“Then perhaps,” Xi Rong said dryly, “it was just a blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse.”

“….”

In truth, Xi Rong’s path to this place had been anything but smooth. He had lost his way more times than he could count. The rain poured too heavily and hoofprints and bloodstains had long been washed away. Even the carcasses of the hounds had ceased to appear. At one point, Xi Rong had nearly despaired.

Not since he was seventeen had he felt such helpless, suffocating despair.

Perhaps Heaven took pity, for he stumbled upon a mudslide blocking a mountain path and beneath the debris lay the crushed remains of several hounds.

Those beasts would never have ended up there without cause. Staring at the collapsed slope, Xi Rong pieced the truth together. He ignored the very real danger of a second landslide and forced his way upward, dragging Wuzhuo along.

Why on foot? Because he needed both hands free to dig through the debris as he climbed. He feared that Xiao Rong, like the hounds, might have been buried alive while fleeing.

Luckily, when he had searched the whole collapsed slope, he found no other bodies, neither man nor horse.

In that moment, he had been so profoundly grateful to Heaven.

For the second time in his life.

The first had not been long ago, in the mountains of Songzhou, when they had pledged themselves to one another.

The price, of course, was that he had ended up smeared with mud head to toe, his hands caked as if he had rolled in the earth itself. But after crossing that ridge and entering the next hollow, he had discovered two Imperial Guards and three hounds. Then, he had witnessed Cui Cheng struck by an arrow.

He had dispatched the guards and the hounds first and then dealt with Cui Cheng from horseback.

Now, when Xiao Rong looked at the mud staining his clothes, he already half-guessed the ordeal. Softly, he said, “I know it must have taken Your Highness tremendous effort to find me here, didn’t it?”

“Not at all.” Xi Rong brushed at his mud-stained sleeve with a blank expression. “I merely tripped and fell.”

Xiao Rong cared little for the brusque reply. He stretched his legs, smoothed his wide sleeves, and leaned against the cave wall. At last, he could enjoy the rain outside with an easy heart.

No thunder, no lightning could frighten him anymore.

Meanwhile, Xi Rong rose, first tossing the mantrap out into the underbrush and then walking wordlessly into the cave’s depths.

Xiao Rong tilted his head, watching him light a tinder. With his back turned, Xi Rong inspected every corner and then crouched to arrange the dry grass on the ground. When the bed of straw was ready, he returned, scooped Xiao Rong up without a word, and carried him deeper inside, laying him carefully on it.

Xiao Rong submitted docilely.

However, when Xi Rong sat to the side with that same cold face, refusing to speak, Xiao Rong smoothed his robes and declared, “I’m hungry.”

As expected, Xi Rong’s eyes flicked to him at once.

“I had no appetite this morning,” Xiao Rong added, “so I skipped breakfast.”

Xi Rong frowned, stood without hesitation, and strode toward the cave mouth.

“Wait,” Xiao Rong called him back. “I’m afraid to stay here alone.”

Xi Rong let out a short laugh. “The heir of the Xiao clan, keen, cunning, and fearless enough to risk everything for his ‘lord,’ to lure away the hounds single-handed, now claims to be afraid?”

“I truly am afraid,” Xiao Rong said again, fixing his gaze on Xi Rong’s back.

Xi Rong halted. He turned his head slightly. “So, would you rather go out and be drenched in rain?”

“My robes are already soaked through,” Xiao Rong replied. “Another drenching makes no difference. But I’d rather face the rain than sit here alone. What if more hounds or other beasts come in? Besides, that useless Cui may not even be completely dead yet.”

The reasoning was, undeniably, sound. With the brambles cleared from the entrance, the cave no longer had even that flimsy barrier.

After weighing the risks, Xi Rong turned back and conceded, “Then we’ll go together.” He knelt to help Xiao Rong into the boots and socks he had taken off earlier.

Xiao Rong let him. And when Xi Rong straightened, Xiao Rong suddenly raised both arms toward him and said, “I’m exhausted. I can’t walk anymore. Carry me.”

Xi Rong froze.

Without another word, Xi Rong turned his back and crouched down slightly.

Xiao Rong’s lips curved in a faint smile. He immediately climbed onto that solid back, arms winding tightly around Xi Rong’s neck.

Xi Rong carried him out of the cave.

Cui Cheng still lay sprawled across the brambles, an arrow jutting from his back, motionless.

Xiao Rong glanced at him and asked, “Is he dead?”

Xi Rong replied, “It shouldn’t have struck his heart.”

Xiao Rong nodded. “That’s good.”

For all that Cui Cheng was the one orchestrating today’s ambush, when the hounds attacked, he never appeared in person. With only a pack of out-of-control beasts as evidence, it wasn’t enough to condemn him to death. Alive, he would face punishment.

If Cui Cheng were dead, however, the matter would change entirely.

“Do you want him killed?”

Xiao Rong was still mulling it over when Xi Rong spoke suddenly. His tone was calm, almost casual, yet it gave Xiao Rong the distinct impression that if he so much as said yes, Xi Rong would act without hesitation.

Xiao Rong said lightly, “If I killed him, I’d only dirty my hands.”

“Rest assured,” Xi Rong replied, voice still steady, “yours needn’t be dirtied.”

Outside, the rain fell in fine silvery threads, thunder and lightning clashing together. But Xiao Rong no longer felt the cold, nor did the rolling thunder frighten him.

“Your Highness, do you like children?” Xiao Rong asked suddenly.

The question came so out of nowhere that Xi Rong thought he had misheard. After a pause, he asked, “Why are you asking?”

“Just curious. You are the Crown Prince, after all. Heirs must be important to you.”

Xi Rong, of course, had no interest in fathering children with anyone.

After a moment of silence, his expression hardened. “And you are the future head of the Xiao clan. Heirs matter just as much to you. Is the Young Prince planning to bear children with someone else?” He gave a cold, mirthless laugh. “Ah, I nearly forgot that you’ve already come of age. Suitors must be lining up to batter down the gates of the Xiao Royal Residence by now.”

Xiao Rong hurried to explain, afraid Xi Rong might toss him down onto the desolate mountainside in the next instant, “I’m still young. I’ve no plans for marriage just yet.”

Xi Rong said nothing further. But neither did he drop him.

The rain-soaked mountain paths were treacherous with pools of standing water, yet Xi Rong, even with another’s weight on his back, walked as if across level ground. He carried Xiao Rong up to a slope where a crooked tree bore clusters of bright red wild fruit.

“For now, we can’t risk a fire,” Xi Rong said. “We’ll pick some fruit first.”

“I’ll pick them,” Xiao Rong offered.

Xi Rong did not object. He shifted higher up the slope so Xiao Rong could reach the thickest clusters. The wide hem of Xiao Rong’s robe proved unexpectedly useful. In one go, he plucked more than twenty fruits. Xi Rong let him gather them without comment.

Naturally, standing beneath the branches meant that when the wind stirred, raindrops collected on the leaves came down in a rush, soaking them both again.

Back in the cave, Xiao Rong wiped one fruit clean and was just about to bite into it when Xi Rong reached out and took it from his hand.

Xiao Rong blinked at him in confusion.

Xi Rong sat on the other side, cloak spread beneath him. He raised the fruit, took a bite himself, and after a moment said, “Now you can eat.”

Xiao Rong’s lips curved faintly. He picked up another fruit, bright red, rubbed it clean, and said with a smile, “Don’t worry, Your Highness. In the imperial hunting grounds, there are no poisonous fruits.”

Xi Rong gave no reply. He finished his fruit, then rose again and went to collect some dry branches from outside the cave.

“Wuzhuo’s leg is injured,” he said while attempting to coax a spark to life. “He can’t carry two riders. We’ll have to wait for others to find us.”