Oh. My. Fate?! (BL, Volume 12, Part 2)

228 An Opinion That Couldn't Be Changed

Jing He continued to pace up and down in the main room of his palace. He was trying to look at the problem from different perspectives, trying to see which one was better to choose and which one would have the most dire consequences or if perhaps one of them had consequences that could be averted by taking the right steps beforehand.

He knew that Qiu Ling would always be willing to help him. If he spoke to him and told him that he could not accept the negative consequences for his family and what it would mean to either of their races if the alliance broke down, he would accept that and offer to do whatever it took to make it right.

Of course, it wouldn't be right to tell him to take a step back and simply let him choose his father because of this. No, that would be taking advantage of Qiu Ling's good character, not to mention that it also meant that they couldn't be together which ... he really didn't want to see. No, this was out of the question but maybe there was something else that could be done.

Jing He stopped at the entrance to his study and tried to imagine the situation: Qiu Ling would gently hug him when he told him, his fingers gently brushing through his hair. He might kiss his temple, his lips lingering for a moment before he spoke up. 'Don't worry, my love,' he would say and his breath would caress his skin. 'I will think of something.'

And yes, even if it took some time, Qiu Ling would come up with a solution and would let him know. He would do it for him and also for his people simply because this was the type of person Qiu Ling was. He wouldn't let the circumstances defeat them and would rise above them, just as he always had.

Could he expect the same from his father?

Jing He turned and looked in the direction where the Heavenly Emperor's palace stood in the Nine Heavens. If he went to him and told him about those same worries, what would his father's response be? It seemed like ... it might not be as reassuring as Qiu Ling's.

No, if he told his father that he didn't want to negatively affect Qiu Ling by refusing his advances any longer, his father would certainly huff at the very least or even start to rage again. He would disparage Qiu Ling and tell him that he should know better or that he should listen to him if he didn't. He certainly wouldn't feel for Qiu Ling's plight even though he knew about the curse on the dragon race. His dislike of Qiu Ling was that strong.

As for the alliance ... it seemed like his father's opinion in the first place was that this alliance may not need to be kept. He thought that their side could defend itself and didn't need the dragons to help them. Even if he told him about the other benefits he thought the alliance could bring, his father likely wouldn't be impressed. In the best case, he simply might not care. In the worst case, it was entirely possible that he uttered a negative opinion about the half-bloods and how it was best to keep both races separate to not continue a dangerous trend.

His father ... wasn't someone who took other viewpoints into consideration much. He probably should have been different. As Heavenly Emperor, he had to be the one to make many decisions. Not only a small number of those would have far-reaching consequences. They couldn't be made lightly and every possibility should be taken into consideration. At the very least, this was how he saw it.

Why was it that his father only looked at the alliance and the dragons as a nuisance? It seemed like this may be the reason his opinion of Qiu Ling was so low. But frankly, he couldn't even begin to guess the reason. And even if he did, would it change anything? If this opinion was a strongly held belief of his father's, then he was unlikely to change his mind no matter what. Qiu Ling couldn't change it and he ... he could change it even less.

Jing He sighed to himself and walked further into the study, sitting down at the desk. He had always been good at calming his father down when he was enraged. But that was because it was easy. As long as he paid him attention, as long as he told him that he was right, as long as he said a few nice words and distracted his father, everything would be alright again. It really wasn't difficult for him after years of experience.

But at the same time, he had no experience in trying to change his father's mind on anything. Even if his own true thoughts were the opposite of what his father said, he had never admitted to that. He would smile and nod, sometimes maybe cautiously replying that there may be a reason for how things were but that was all he dared to do.

His father had never taken those words seriously. In fact, his father had never taken him seriously. He saw him as a child that could do nothing on its own or maybe he regarded him as a doll that could be moved wherever he wanted it, acting in the way he desired. When had he ever had the chance to speak his mind? It seemed like ... this had never been an option and after years of such a life, he hardly even dared to speak his mind in front of his lover who would allow him to do so.

Jing He closed his eyes and wondered where he was supposed to take the strength to make a decision from. He knew what he wanted but there was still his father's voice in his mind that forbade him from simply giving in and following his own wishes. It cautioned him to wait until he was told what he should do and to follow that path without looking back because that was what he was supposed to do: to blindly act however he was instructed, just as he always had.