Frozen Fire

Chapter 25

If only the Emperor knew that his beloved Consort was dying...

As the Emperor entered their room, he smiled lovingly at the sleeping figure on the mattress. His Consort was so beautiful even though he was sleeping. Slowly he stepped closer. The Emperor's eyebrow furrowed as his eyes caught the sight of his Consort was sweating heavily. Carefully, the Emperor reached for the Consort's forehead. His frown deepened as he could feel the Consort's skin was so hot. His Consort was having a high fever. Later he also noticed that the Consort's lips were losing its color and his body was slightly trembling as if he was cold.

The Emperor immediately stood up and called for the maid servants so they could fetch the royal physician. The Emperor was upset. How could they didn't know that their master was sick?

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Xiao Li was riding her horse as fast as possible. She was disguising herself as a man and covered herself with a long robe. Her horse was running toward the north border of the Kingdom.

She didn't know how long she needed to ride her horse, but she wouldn't dare to stop until he could find Lord Zhiyuan's armies entourage.

Xiao Li knew that the Consort told her to run away and started a new life. But how could she do that when she knew that the man was dying alone in the palace? Both of them was once nothing more than strangers. The two of them were lonely souls. They had no home and they had no family. Their hearts were full of scars. Who the person that could understand the Consort better aside from someone who shared the same fate as him? Although the Consort dragged her and made her trapped in the palace along with him, the man was always taking care of her. He treated her well and gave her a nostalgic feeling of having a family once again. As the time goes by, the girl was becoming very fond of the male Consort and considered him as his own brother.

Xiao Li wouldn't let the Consort die. She heard about Lord Zhiyuan was given the task to capture the rebellion armies. There was this strange feeling that had been bugging her, telling that the rebellion armies' leader was really someone related to the Consort; his older brother. Even though the possibility was small, the girl was willing to take a gamble for the sake of the Consort's life.

Although she had to beg on her knees in front of Lord Zhiyuan to let the Consort met with the rebellion armies' leader, she would do it willingly. Maybe if the Consort met with his brother again, he could change his mind about killing himself.

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Wang Zhiyuan was staring at the man behind the bars. He had a long scar on the side of his cheek, but it didn't make the gentle aura around him disappear. He could be a leader of a rebellion army, but he didn't act like ones. Feng Yu Tian was a charismatic man, just like a true prince.

Capturing the rebellion armies way rather easy than Wang Zhiyuan expected it could be. As they began attacking the rebel armies, Feng Yu Tian immediately stepped forward, seeing that they had no chance for a win looking by their number of the armies Wang Dynasty had deployed to capture them. Above anything, Feng Yu Tian claimed that the most important thing for him was his armies' lives. He didn't want they to die in a futile struggle. So he let himself being captured as long as his armies were pardoned.

Wang Zhiyuan was ordered by the Emperor that his top priority was to capture Feng Yu Tian alive. It didn't matter if they failed to destroy the rebel armies as long as he could bring their leader as fast as possible to the palace. That was the reason why the general of War was willing to fulfill Feng Yu Tian's request since it was the quickest way to bring the man alive. After they destroyed their bases and robbed up all of their weapons, Wang Zhiyuan took Feng Yu Tian heading back to the capital city.

At first, Wang Zhiyuan didn't understand what could make this man so important for the Emperor, but all he could do was to obey without questioning the Emperor's decision. Despite what everyone thought about the Emperor, he was the man that Wang Zhiyuan respected the most.

Everyone knew that he was the true crown prince, but it wasn't true. He wasn't the true son of the previous Emperor, even though only a few people who knew about this fact.

His mother; the previous Empress of Wang Kingdom was cheating with a General, his real biological father. The late Emperor, even though he knew, he kept silent about this matter since he loved his mother very much. Although after he knew about the fact, the late Emperor who was once a gentle and wise ruler of the country, changed became a cruel and cold Emperor. An Emperor who only cared about his ambition. Wang Zhiyuan thought it was the late Emperor's way to distract himself from the wound that his mother created in his heart. Love really could make someone do something illogical.

His brother Wang Qing, later also knew about this fact. But he was the man with deep thought and full of knowledge, a complete resemblance of the late Emperor. Even though he knew Wang Zhiyuan's real status, he still treated him as a real brother with his own way. It was the start of Wang Zhiyuan's blossoming respect toward the man. He silently agreed that if ever there was someone who worthy enough to continue the throne, it must be his brother Wang Qing.

However, Wang Qing was a wise man with a full perspective. He didn't allow Wang Zhiyuan to show their closeness in front of anyone. He knew the palace was full of people who silently wanted to stab him from his back, cutting from inside the folds. That way they could find the hidden enemy among the royals. Wang Zhiyuan didn't hesitate to play along as long as he could help the man he respected.

Somehow, Wang Qing's prediction was true. Everything started when his own uncle started to stir the chaos about the disagreement for the Emperor to take a male Consort and made it as a reason to start a coup d'etat. His uncle told him that he wanted Wang Zhiyuan his rightful position, but he knew that his uncle was someone who full of lies.

His uncle was also one of few people who about that he wasn't a real crown prince. He planned that once Wang Zhiyuan took the throne, he would reveal Wang Zhiyuan's true identity and took over the kingdom for himself.

Wang Zhiyuan glanced once again to Feng Yu Tian. Now he could face the man directly, he finally knew why to bring this man alive was so important for the Emperor. How could he forget this man even though years had passed when the scar on Feng Yu Tian's cheek was his own made? He still remembered that he was once battled with this man in a kingdom they conquered in the north. He was the crown prince of Dao Ling, the Feng Dynasty. Looking at Feng Yu Tian's face, a sense of familiarity suddenly hit Wang Zhiyuan's mind. Although their looks weren't too similar, the same mole in the corner of their eyes was telling Wang Zhiyuan enough about everything he needed to know. Feng Yu Tian would be the key for the Emperor to make the Consort agree to accept him and forget about his revenge.

The Consort must be so happy to be able to meet his long lost brother. The Emperor ordered them to wait in the border of the country. The Emperor wanted them to wait until the coronation's preparation was finalized before they showed up in front of the Consort.

Wang Zhiyuan smiled. His brother was cunningly clever, he should have known already.

The General of War's train of thought was distracted when two of his armies abruptly entered his tent along with a pale looking girl with a male's clothes. In a matter of seconds, Wang Zhiyuan immediately recognized the girl as one of the Consort's maidservants.

Somehow with a her sudden appearance in the border and by looking at the panic expression on her face, Wang Zhiyuan knew there was something wrong happened in the palace.

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