Chapter 35 : Attentive Care

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WARNING: Descriptions of blood and gore ahead. Proceed at your own risk.

The night was pitch black, and the rain was relentless. Murong Heng’s entire body was drenched as he stood in the blanket of rain. His heart was chillier than the cold that enveloped his body. When he caught sight of the trail of blood on Shen Ci’s neck being washed away by the rain, he wished he could immediately rush over and snatch away the dagger, kill Wang Er, and rescue Shen Ci.

However, he couldn’t do that. He could see that Wang Er was determined to win. If he doesn’t witness Murong Heng beheading himself, he might not let Shen Ci go so easily. With this in mind, Murong Heng drew out the sword at his waist and laid it across his own neck.

“Your Highness, don’t do it!” Fan Hu roared beside him. He stared ferociously and clenched his fists. The rainwater flowed from his wet hair downward, obscuring his vision.

“Quiet.” Murong Heng threw him a glance, then turned his head to eye Wang Er, who was holding the dagger, and said in a condensed voice, “If I cut off my own head, you will keep your word and let him go.”

“Naturally.” Wang Er lifted his head. Even though he’d uttered the words, it wasn’t what he was thinking. He had already planned that once Murong Heng killed himself, he would hold Shen Ci ransom. When he was able to flee in one piece, he would kill Shen Ci before returning to the capital to claim credit.

Once Murong Heng dies, the Iron Halberd Army will be without a leader and naturally become disunited. This way, the emperor can send troops to quash them. When all of them were captured, he, Wang Er, would be lauded for his meritorious service! His name would be remembered throughout history!

Shen Ci stood in front of Wang Er, unable to see anything. He could only sense what was happening around him through his hearing. When he heard the sound of the sword being unsheathed, his heart leapt, and he said subconsciously, “Murong, don’t!” He is a prince. How could he die for him?

“Shut up!” Upon seeing him cry out, Wang Er feared that Murong Heng would go back on his word and refuse to kill himself, so he hastily jerked the knife. However, he didn’t expect it to etch deeper, abruptly injuring a vein in Shen Ci’s throat. Blood flowed out nonstop. The heavy rain wasn’t able to wash it away.

“Don’t hurt him!” Upon seeing this, Murong Heng’s gaze overflowed with distress. He eyed Wang Er’s sinister face and, from an inconspicuous place, met someone’s gaze. Consequently, he swung his sword at his own neck to hack it off!

Wang Er focused on Murong Heng’s movements and elatedly relaxed his grip a little. His whole body appeared to be unmoving, and he gawked at the person opposite him without blinking. He could visualise the splatter of blood that would come, but—

“Ah!” At some point, a feathered arrow shot out from the darkness and pierced straight into the centre of his back. His eyes widened, and his whole body slumped forward weakly. His shock-filled gaze never left Murong Heng.

Seeing that the strategy had succeeded, Murong Heng discarded the sword he was holding and rushed over. He hauled Shen Ci over, ignoring everyone’s looks, and pulled him into his arms. He hugged his waist with one hand and applied pressure to the wound on his neck with the other. He turned his head and shouted, “Summon the military doctor!”

“Ah, yes!” Fan Hu and the others were also dumbstruck. They came back to their senses after a while. One of them went to call the military doctor over to the commander’s tent, while the rest went to deal with that damned Wang Er.

Murong Heng carried Shen Ci up horizontally and rushed towards the tent. He didn’t have time to pay attention to this Wang Er. Once he arrived inside the tent, the military doctor managed to hurry over as well. Murong Heng placed Shen Ci on the bed, letting him lean on his chest. “Examine him, quick,” he said urgently.

The military doctor had more or less heard about the two of them in the army and understood how important Shen Ci was to Murong Heng, so he dare not be negligent. He asked Murong Heng to remove his hand before carefully checking the wound on Shen Ci’s neck.

After a short while, he breathed a sigh of relief. As he treated the wound, he said in a low voice, “Your Highness, be at ease. Gentleman Shen’s injury is not serious, but his throat is hurt. I’m afraid it will take some recuperation before he can speak loudly again; otherwise, it will definitely affect his speech in the future.”

Upon hearing what he said, the big weight in Murong Heng’s heart could finally be cast off. He held Shen Ci’s hand. Both their soaking-wet bodies were pressed together. Murong Heng, in particular, didn’t have a chance to remove his armour yet. He waited until the military doctor had finished treating Shen Ci’s wound before slowly standing up to fetch some clean clothes and changing both Shen Ci and himself. At last, he sat by the bed, staring at Shen Ci, who had fallen asleep at some point.

Murong Heng held Shen Ci’s hand and pressed it against his cheek. The cool and smooth touch made him unable to put it down. He kept his gaze on Shen Ci’s sleeping visage for a moment and muttered in a muted voice, “Luckily, you’re alright…”

Earlier, he’d deliberately acted as if he were about to commit suicide, but it was merely a tactic to delay the attack. He discovered one of his undercover guards was hiding in the distance with a raised bow and arrow in his hands. It was due to this confidence that he’d put his all into saving Shen Ci.

As Murong Heng helped Shen Ci tuck in the quilt, he couldn’t resist leaning down and dropping a light kiss onto Shen Ci’s dry lips. He remained with him for a while before getting up to deal with that treacherous Wang Er.

In the camp’s underground dungeon, the dim candles flickered, giving off a gloomy feeling. The chilly breeze blew past their ears, causing one to shudder. Murong Heng took large strides through the long corridor and came to the innermost part. He saw Wang Er tied to a wooden frame. The arrow in his back had not been extracted, and his face was extremely pale, like a ghost.

“This Prince will not pursue your reason for betrayal.” Murong Heng spoke in a deep voice after a prolonged silence. He would only use the cruellest way to make him die after much suffering. He really shouldn’t have done it, but who told him to hurt the person Murong Heng loves the most?

“Heh, if you want to kill or main, do what you like.” Wang Er said scornfully and bitterly laughed several times. His distorted features appeared somewhat terrifying in the dim candlelight.

“You are a man too. Unfortunately, you have no foresight. Why is is worth you sacrificing yourself for such a useless wretch like Murong Yu?” Murong Heng wasn’t angry when he caught the look from Wang Er that clearly showed he wished to kill him. He had plenty of time to waste on him.

Wang Er didn’t respond upon hearing the words.

“Forget it; I don’t really want to know.” When Murong Heng finished speaking, he shrugged his shoulders indifferently. Following that, his expression turned sinister. He reached out to take a dagger, walked up to Wang Er, and backhandedly stabbed it between his shoulder bones. Wang Er screamed out in pain; cold sweat dripped down his face. Murong Heng pulled out the dagger, threw it aside, and said coldly, “Wang Er, because you hurt him, you can’t live, only die.”

As soon as the words fell, a soldier walked out from behind them, holding various instruments of torture in his hands. Murong Heng made his way to the side, sat down, and began drinking a cup of tea as if nothing had happened. The ghost-like wails from Wang Er continuously permeated his ears. It was obvious that he was in a world of suffering, but Murong Heng didn’t lose focus and had no intention to stop the soldier at all.

He would have to pay the price since he dared to hurt his Ah Ci!

One cup of tea later, all sorts of instruments of torture had been used on Wang Er. The soldier who meted out the torture had a very good sense of boundaries. He made Wang Er suffer extreme pain, yet he wouldn’t end his life right away. Prior to the torture, a ball of rags had been stuffed into his mouth in order to prevent Wang Er from biting his tongue and committing suicide when he was in excruciating pain.

Murong Heng had just finished drinking a cup of tea. He stood up and walked leisurely over to Wang Er to meet his extremely weak gaze. All of a sudden, he released a chilly laugh. He swayed a couple of times and then sliced off all the tendons in his arms and legs. He deliberately took a blunt knife, tapped it on Wang Er’s wrist, and absent-mindedly said, “These two hands were the ones that touched him just now, right?”

When Wang Er heard his words, he abruptly detected a shivery feeling in his heart. In that instance, he felt that he was extremely foolish. How could he have thought that this Prince Heng was a useless idiot? He is clearly a bloodthirsty wolf! But before he could ponder any further, a sharp pain immediately pierced his wrist, and he saw Murong Heng using the blunt knife to forcefully hack off his two palms!

“Ah!” Wang Er howled skyward and struggled violently. His wild movements caused the wooden frame behind him to shake. His whole body was soaked, and he couldn’t tell if it was cold sweat or the rain from earlier. He widened his blurry eyes and noticed Murong Heng eyeing his own two legs. Assuming that he was going to turn him into a human pig, Wang Er trembled all over and couldn’t help begging for mercy: “Your Highness, spare my life! Please spare this lowly one’s life! This lowly one will never dare to again!”

Upon hearing his cries for mercy, Murong Heng raised his eyebrows to look at him. Then, with a mighty swing of his hand, he cut off something below Wang Er. Amidst his wails, Murong Heng forcefully slashed his throat. Blood spurted out. Wang Er began spouting rasping noises.

He’d nearly caused Shen Ci to lose his voice, so Murong Heng had also used this method to cause his death. His throat had been slashed, and blood was spewing out. After a while, Wang Er’s entire body became limp, and he witnessed his own body gradually lose temperature. His eyesight became increasingly blurred. At last, everything returned to silence.

After Wang Er was executed, Murong Heng’s mood greatly improved as he headed back to the commander’s tent. He always remembered what Ah Ci said to him: If you want someone to fear you, you need not play the devil to frighten them, but to be ruthless when they least expect it. Destroying one’s will, starting from their weak points, is the most effective way to break their tenacity!

Back in the tent, Murong Heng washed off the stench of blood from his body and sat down at the side of the bed. Shen Ci was lying on the bed, and he noticed that his face was slightly flushed. Murong Heng stretched out his hand and discovered that he was really hot. He quickly instructed the guard outside to summon the military doctor. After making a diagnosis, the military doctor withdrew to decoct the medicine. Murong Heng sat on the edge of the bed, wrapped Shen Ci in a blanket, and held him in his arms to induce his body into sweating.

One hour later, a thick liquid concoction of medicine in a bowl was delivered. Murong Heng supported Shen Ci with one arm and held the medicine bowl with the other. He lifted the medicine bowl to Shen Ci’s lips. Shen Ci seemed to be somewhat parched from the fever and obediently drank all of the medicine. Although his brow wrinkled as he drank, it was fortunate that he didn’t spit it out.

After he finished drinking the medicine, Murong Heng had the soldiers bring over two quilts to cover Shen Ci’s body with. He wrapped him until he resembled a silkworm cocoon. Two quarters of an hour later, Shen Ci’s body began to exude a fine sweat, and the heat gradually subsided.

It was already very late at night by the time anyone took notice. Murong Heng patiently assisted Shen Ci to wipe the sweat from his body and change him into clean clothes before falling asleep with his arms around him.

The next morning, Shen Ci awoke from his slumber. He felt that he was being embraced by a pair of strong arms. He couldn’t resist reaching out to stroke Murong Heng’s handsome face. When he thought back to what happened last night, his heart felt grieved. If it wasn’t because his eyes couldn’t see, it probably wouldn’t have caused him such great inconvenience.

Murong Heng had woken up long before Shen Ci. When he caught sight of Shen Ci’s expression gradually turning downcast, he could immediately guess what he was thinking about in his heart. Murong Heng stretched out to take hold of Shen Ci’s hand and placed it tightly on his chest. Then he leaned closer to his ear and said in an extremely gentle voice, “Ah Ci, don’t think too much. After I conquer this great country, I’ll try my utmost to heal your eyes.”

“Really?” Shen Ci never thought that one day he would be able to recover his eyesight. His eyes widened with surprise.

“No jests, truly.” Murong Heng lowered his head and kissed the corner of Shen Ci’s lips. Their breaths intermingled, and their bodies pressed together. All of a sudden, the person in his arms cautiously approached and pressed a light kiss on Murong Heng’s cheek. Murong Heng was taken aback and instantly seized Shen Ci’s lips violently. In his heart, he felt more elated than winning a battle.

Once he claimed the throne, he would search the world for famous doctors to cure Shen Ci’s eyes. If they couldn’t be cured, he was willing to be his eyes for the rest of his life and guide him throughout his future path.

Shen Ci recovered from his illness. Two days later, Murong Heng continued to lead the army. Three months passed in the blink of an eye. When early summer came, the Iron Halberd Army breached Changzhou, which was only two cities away from the capital.

As he stood atop the city walls and looked down, Murong Heng held Shen Ci, who was beside him, tightly. His heart was filled with a myriad of emotions.

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