Reunion of a second chance

Chapter 5

The Emperor could not bear to see his Blind Concubine this weak. So weak in fact that he had a hard time staying in a sitting position, never mind moving around. His eyes were also seemingly closing on their own as soon as he drank the water that the Emperor offered him. At least he had been able to drink it on his own.

Although the Emperor would have loved to kiss the Blind Concubine despite his chapped and pale lips, he would not dare. He was here to take care of the Blind Concubine and not to assault him because of his lust. He had to control himself or everything would be lost in a matter of seconds.

It would really not do if the Blind Concubine became afraid of him even now. The Emperor had had enough of that, he wanted their relationship to go back to the time when the Blind Concubine did not know that he was the Emperor and thought of him as a simple palace guard. Everything had been so much simpler back then.

But they could not go back to that time anymore. There was too much pain hidden between them. The Blind Concubine could not see because of the Emperor and nothing would ever change this fact.

As the Blind Concubine was now sleeping, the Emperor decided to look around the house for a bit. He had not been here ever since the moment the Blind Concubine moved in. He did not dare to, fearing that he could be discovered sneaking around and his deception would be discovered.

At that moment, the Blind Concubine would understand that the Emperor had been tricking him all along, promising to release him from the palace but keeping him prisoner all this while. He would surely lose the rest of the trust he had in the Emperor, if there was anything to lose there. The Emperor was more convinced that the Blind Concubine resented him with his whole heart and did not harbour any other feelings for him anymore.

At one time, the Emperor had dared to believe that the Blind Concubine had come to love him just as fiercely as he loved him. They had shared a bed and had a wonderful night together. Just that one night soon after the Blind Concubine discovered his true identity. They never went back to that kind of relationship again.

The Emperor was internally mourning all the lost possibilities while walking around the house. He wanted to see how the Blind Concubine had been living. He had intentionally told the servants not to disturb him. For one, the Blind Concubine had insisted to be left alone. And for the second, the Emperor was terrified of the Blind Concubine finding out his little scheme and resenting him more. If that was even possible.

After a while of searching, he found a blanket. He took it back outside and careful not to wake the Blind Concubine up, he covered him securely. It scared him how the Blind Concubine's hands were ice cold even though the weather was pretty warm already. It must have been because he was so weak and malnourished.

He had searched the whole house. He had actually expected it to be in a disarray seeing that its occupant could not really take care of it because of him being blind. But nothing could have been further from the truth.

The Blind Concubine's house was very neat and well arranged. There was nothing out of the ordinary. Except for dust accumulated everywhere. The Blind Concubine must have been taking good care of his house until the point where he could not anymore because of his sickness.

The Emperor sat down and made himself comfortable. He was expecting to be waiting for quite a while before the Blind Concubine would wake up again. At that time, he would have to make sure the Blind Concubine ate something otherwise he would really wither away.

He wanted to sit on the divan with him. He wanted to take his beloved Blind Concubine into his lap and caress him affectionately, perhaps even kiss him. He did not dare to however. He was too afraid of the Blind Concubine's reaction if he woke up to a stranger kissing him. Or even worse, if he realized that the Emperor was in fact no stranger.

***

The Blind Concubine regained consciousness only slowly. He did not even force himself to open his eyes at first. It would make no difference anyway, there would still only be darkness for him to see.

His memories were only coming back to him in bits and pieces. However, seeing that he was laying on his soft chair and his head was not spinning around crazily anymore, he must have fallen asleep like that.

And then, he realized that he was not cold. Not like all those times when he slept on his soft chair and forgot to take a blanket. It was still only early spring and the temperatures at night were not too high yet. He was usually freezing when he woke up. Not this time though. He wondered what had changed.

The Blind Concubine lifted his hand to move it around. It was his only means of seeing the outside world so he was quite good at this skill.

As he was blindly groping around, he realized that there was indeed a blanket which covered him from neck to toes. It was strange, he did not recall going back inside his house to fetch one before falling asleep.

The Blind Concubine froze. He suddenly remembered that there had been someone else with him before he had passed out. If his memories were not deceiving him, that someone had given him water to drink. And that someone must have also brought the blanket for him.

The Blind Concubine was finally fully awake. He sat up abruptly and his eyes flew open as if he was hoping to actually see anything. He wondered if that person was still around or if they had departed already.

Would they ever come back? Had the Blind Concubine wasted his only chance to talk with someone? The thought only made him sad.

As it would be impossible for him to see and also to get up and blindly search, he called out instead: "Is anyone here?"

The Blind Concubine's lips parted in a small smile upon hearing the sound of a chime. So the person was still here! The Blind Concubine was suddenly so happy that he could not even remember the last time he felt like this.

He turned in the direction where he thought the chime had rung from. He could not be entirely sure but he did his best. He inclined his head slightly.

"Thank you for the blanket."

If the ringing of a chime could sound happy, it would have surely done so at this time. It made the Blind Concubine even happier that the person was indeed still here. And apparently trying to communicate with the Blind Concubine. Although, why were they not speaking?

"Can I ask who you are?" tried the Blind Concubine again. There was a funny feeling of unease steadily growing in his guts. Something was not quite right.

The sound of the chime was very short and somewhat obscured this time. Apologetic if the Blind Concubine should describe it. It was clear now; it was not that the person would not talk to the Blind Concubine, they could not.

Just to make sure, the Blind Concubine inquired kindly: "Can you perhaps not talk?"

A short and sharp ringing sounds was his only reply. A confirmation.