Chapter 16 - The Silence That Touches the Flesh
"Some bodies cross paths, not to possess each other... but to recognise each other."
At the very moment when the Emperor confessed to Liyan the horrible truth -
That he was not his brother, but his father -
In another wing of the palace, another kind of drama was born.
Xiyue, the Emperor's wife, seems.
She had perfumed herself with care.
Had put on a thin dressing gown, transparent like a night veil.
She was waiting for the Emperor. Not out of love - she didn't believe it anymore -
But because it was his role. His place in the imperial theatre.
She had learned to be beautiful as you learn to handle a blade.
To seduce as we fight: with strategy and silence.
But that evening...
Someone else came in.
Through the window.
Carried by the white light of the moon.
A silhouette.
Black. Elegant. Inhuman.
His shoulders were wide. His gait, silent. His face, pale as the ash of the stars.
Her long black hair did not reflect any light. And his eyes, also black, seemed to aspire to any thought. He wore simple clothes, but his body transfigured them - as if they had been designed for a king without a throne.
- "Xù Fang...? "Xiyue breathed.
But he didn't answer.
He advanced.
She too step back.
- "You are not allowed to be here. "
- "If you really wanted to chase me... you would have shouted as soon as I arrived. "
She looked down. It was true.
This man - whom the world called Xu Fang -
Had another name that no one knew.
Not even his master.
His real name was Ken.
And that evening, he stood there, without a mask.
- "Since I've been here... in this world... I've never known love. "
- "Not even in my home world. Not even here. "
He looked up at her.
- "I came to experiment with it. Not with another woman. With you. "
A silence.
A shiver ran through Xiyue.
- "Another world...? She whispered, without understanding, but already touched.
She approached. Slowly. As in a dream.
His warm and trembling hand touched Ken's cold cheek.
- "Me too... I've never known him. "
- "Not even by becoming the Emperor's wife. "
- "I also want to know... what it feels like to love." She looked him in the eyes.
And said softly:
- "Thank you for coming to our world, Xu Fang. "
A tear flowed on Ken's cheek.
The first... in two lives.
- "My real name... is Ken. "
- "Thank you, Ken," she replied, in a breath.
And without another word, they fell against each other.
Not like two bodies in search of pleasure.
But like two souls... stayed in exile for too long.
For Ken, it was the first time he felt this.
Even in his home world, he had never known such a heartbreaking, sweet feeling.
A pain that hurts...
And good.
For Xiyue, from her childhood to her imperial marriage, she had lived only loneliness, appearance, and obligation.
But there...
They knew.
They understood.
That was it.
Love.
The consequences of that night had just been born.
End of Chapter 16