CONTENT WARNING
This chapter contains themes that some readers may find sensitive or unsettling, including complex family dynamics and taboo implications. These elements are integral to the plot and are portrayed as morally conflicted and taboo within the story's world. They are not endorsed or romanticized. Please proceed with care, and feel free to skip if this content is distressing. Your well-being is important. Thank you for engaging with the story thoughtfully.
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Long Yan promptly sheathed his sword at the sight of Zhen Hua shaking her head. The man standing beside her must be her son. There was an eerie familiarity in his stance that he couldn't put his finger on. And when the Crown Prince turned, the blood drained from Long Yan's face.
Long Fei was standing in front of him. The respect in his touch and the careful way he helped her was unmistakably a doting son tending to his mother. He had never seen his elder brother near Zhen Hua in the Celestial Realm. His elder brother had always kept his distance from women.
A sharp, twisting ache coiled in his gut. It was an emotion he couldn't name as his eyes twitched.
How could this be? He made it abundantly clear that he had cut ties with them the last time they met by beating them to a pulp. Now, he was tending to her?
His mind reeled, struggling to grasp the reality before him. His gaze flickered between them—the glistening sorrow in Zhen Hua's eyes, her plastered smile faltering as her trembling hands reached for Long Fei. He had the same face, the same voice, the same elegant mannerisms. But the way he looked at her was different.
Of course, Elder Brother would have taken the Amnesia Elixir. Why didn't he think of it earlier? If Fate had written for him to be reincarnated as a prince in a faraway kingdom, his elder brother would also be a prince. But to be reincarnated as Zhen Hua's son? Fate was cruel to all of them.
He held his forehead as it throbbed. Elder Brother had been reborn with his memory wiped clean, reduced to a mortal who knew only what he had experienced in this life. To Long Fei, Zhen Hua was his loving mother, and Long Yan was nothing more than an Imperial Guard.
Should he be upset? Or pity his unassuming brother? Zhen Hua had planned to dispose of her son after securing her power as Empress Dowager. But now that child turned out to be the reincarnation of her beloved immortal, whom she had searched for across the realm. Would she still have the heart to follow through? Fate had usurped all their plans, built over decades, in a single stroke.
He clutched his head and let out a hysterical laugh. A bitter taste filled his mouth, his hand curling into a fist at his side. They had searched for Long Fei's reincarnation for her desires, her obsession. And now, here they were—a mother and son bound by blood, something he could never comprehend.
He was raised in the wild by wolves. He had clawed his way into human civilization, only to become a servant to his elder brother—who remained royalty and pampered from birth.
The truth was undeniable. The Crown Prince was Long Fei reincarnated.
"Elder Brother…" The words slipped out before he could stop them.
The Crown Prince turned to him, and his cold, piercing glare bore through him. "How impudent. Know your station. You will follow palace protocol. Address my mother as 'Your Majesty' and me as 'Your Highness'. If I hear you address us casually again, I will have you flogged and expelled from the Imperial Palace." His expression didn't waver. "Now call for the Imperial Physician." He pointed to the door.
A chill crawled up his spine. There was nothing recognizable in his brother's eyes now. No warmth. No familiarity. No past. The words struck deeper than any wound ever could. He flinched, forcing back his outrage. That old, cruel gap in their authority had returned.
The truth pressed down on him, suffocating. Zhen Hua's love for the immortal Long Fei had led them to this wretched path. And now, with his brother reincarnated and oblivious to the past, he was the Crown Prince. And Long Yan? A servant.
A fire flared within him as he bared his sharp teeth. There was no reason for him to stay as the Imperial Guard anymore. He had enough of this charade. In this lifetime he should be stronger than his elder brother. He threw a punch at the Crown Prince, his eyes widening as he blocked but was still pushed back. Growling, he pounced on the prince, like a wolf claiming his prey. They hit the ground with a resounding thud.
"Guards!" the Crown Prince yelled. Long Yan had suddenly turned into a rabid beast, pinning the prince beneath him. Snarling, he clawed at his prey with wild fury.
The Crown Prince tucked his chin and raised his forearms tightly over his head, absorbing the savage strikes. Then, with a surge of strength, he drove his feet hard into Long Yan's hips, bucking his body upward in a powerful bridge. The momentum rocked his assailant off balance.
Seizing the opening, the Crown Prince twisted sharply to one side, trapping the guard's nearest arm beneath his own. With a grunt, he rolled them both, reversing their positions. He pinned the guard's arms to the floor and pressed down with his weight. The rabid guard bit him on the neck where there was no armor. With a sickening crunch, the prince punched the beast in the jaw and swiftly pressed on his bleeding neck.
The Imperial Guards spilled into the hall, rushing towards the Crown Prince. They dragged their fellow guard who had just committed treason from under the royal. The prince immediately stood in front of his mother in a protective stance, while holding his wound as blood dripped down his armor.
As the Imperial Guards dragged Long Yan away, he elbowed one, kneed another, and kicked the last, sending him tumbling over the others. He briefly turned his head, snarled at Long Fei, wiped the blood off his chin, let out a low howl, and vanished into the shadows of the Palace.
He and Zhen Hua shared a secret rendezvous in a hidden basement beneath her chambers. Whenever she needed him, she could blow the bamboo wolf whistle he had hand-crafted for her. His sharp ears could detect its high pitch a mile across the palace grounds, allowing him to sneak back anytime, undetected.
As much as he wanted to kill Long Fei, he couldn't. Not yet. Perhaps leaving him alive was the cruelest punishment of all.