Dance Of The Dragons
Chapter 290 : Xie Jianyu’s Pain (3)

Chapter 290: Chapter 290 : Xie Jianyu’s Pain (3)

In Zhang Fengxi’s defense, Mingyu misled him when she said that "Qingyun is gone".

"How am I supposed to know that she literally meant that Qingyun left the palace?" Zhang Fengxi reasoned.

"So you think that Qingyun killed herself or worse, I killed her?"

"No, of course not," Zhang Fengxi quipped, although he had assumed that it was the first one.

"So, why did Qingyun leave?" Zhang Fengxi asked further in order to shift the focus of the conversation.

"She said that her parents were looking to match her with a good man. So she asked to be dismissed from the palace."

"..."

They both knew that Qingyun’s excuse to leave was nothing but a blatant lie.

For commoners like her, being employed in the palace was practically a dream come true. It enabled her to get close to the highest-ranking ruler of the clan, and live at the center of power.

Zhang Fengxi knew for a fact that most palace masters refused to take commoners into their palace. They had to pass exams or hail from prestigious families with unblemished reputations in order to qualify for entry into the palace.

But not Xie Jianyu.

Both of Xie Jianyu’s personal maids hailed from humble backgrounds.

Qingyun’s father was a notorious gambler, who went as far as borrowing a large sum of money from a lot of questionable people.

Her mother fell sick from overworking herself, and young Qingyun had to go to the streets to beg for food and money.

When Xie Jianyu was twelve years old, he found her during one of his expedition trips to remote villages. Out of pity, he cleared her parents’ debt in exchange for Qingyun’s servitude.

Mingyu was brought into the palace two years after Qingyun.

She was an orphan who wandered the street and later became a thief.

She tried to rob a nobleman but failed. The nobleman was about to beat her to death when Xie Jianyu came to her rescue.

After Mingyu, Xie Jianyu did not take anyone else under his wings.

The two maids were extremely loyal to Xie Jianyu. They loved, cherished, and respected their young master a lot, just as their master doted on them in return.

Life in Fuxi Palace was a stark contrast to the life they led previously.

So why would Qingyun let go of this coveted, great position by Xie Jianyu’s side?

Who was the lucky man who secured her hand in marriage?

He was unlikely to be a member of the noble family, for the noble family looked down on those beneath their level of power and wealth.

"It’s all my fault," Xie Jianyu said with a solemn voice. "I did not protect her, so she had to leave."

"Baby, it’s not your fault."

Zhang Fengxi cradled Xie Jianyu in his arms and showered his forehead with tiny kisses.

"Of course it is. I must be such a despicable person because she left me twice."

"..."

Thinking about it, the one who accompanied Xie Jianyu to the end in their previous life was Mingyu.

"Uh, what happened to Qingyun the first time around?"

"... Imperial Father tortured her because she failed to take care of me."

Xie Jianyu let out a miserable chuckle.

"In my previous life, Qingyun was in charge of feeding me suppressants. Because she was busy preparing for the festivities, she forgot that one time. My heat just happened to flare up that very night."

Oh.

"That was the night when..."

"Yes."

Xie Jianyu shoved Zhang Fengxi away, his hands trembling with the force of his revulsion. It was as if he was trying to exorcise the memory of the fateful night, to erase it from his mind and heart.

"That was the night we slept together and conceived our son."

Xie Jianyu’s shoulders quaked like the leaves of a tree caught in a storm. His sobs echoed through the empty room, raw and anguished. He hugged his stomach tightly, as if trying to protect the tiny life growing within him from the pain that was ripping him apart.

"Oh, baby..."

Zhang Fengxi put his arms around Xie Jianyu again.

"Baby, don’t cry."

His words only served to make Xie Jianyu’s tears spill without restraint.

"I have never felt this alone in my entire life." His voice was a broken whisper, thick with sorrow and anguish.

A heavy weight pressed on Xie Jianyu’s chest as he contemplated the burden he carried.

It was not just about Qingyun, who had abandoned him in his hour of need.

It was also about Xie Jianshen, his only brother, the closest person who shared the same blood with him, his confidante.

The man whom he defied for the sake of his unborn child.

And Zhang Fengxi, the man he loved the most, the father of his child. The one whom he wanted to trust but couldn’t bring himself to. Not after what he did.

And then there was the baby. His child. The one being who mattered most to him in the world.

And his own upcoming death.

Who would take care of the baby when he was gone?

What if Zhang Fengxi fell in love with another omega who refused to raise his child?

What if the child didn’t grow up well?

What if he developed a skewed personality because he didn’t have a loving mother to care for him?

And what if the war against the Demonic Realm was lost?

The more Xie Jianyu thought about it, the more overwhelmed he felt.

There was a limit to what he could achieve within these eight months.

He was not a god.

"Jianbao, I will always be by your side."

Zhang Fengxi cupped his wife’s tear-streaked face with both hands. "Baby, I won’t harm the child anymore. I will listen to what you say, I won’t do anything against your will anymore."

Xie Jianyu’s eyelids fluttered shut, like the curtains of a window being drawn to conceal a world in chaos. He did not want Zhang Fengxi to see the crumbling ruins of his mental state, the cracks in the facade he had so carefully constructed.

Zhang Fengxi’s chest tightened like a vice, asphyxiating him under the weight of his guilt and sorrow. He wrapped his arms around his anguished lover, his voice hoarse with emotion as he whispered, "My baby... Please, please forgive me."

Hidden behind a garden wall, Mingyu listened to the altercation between Xie Jianyu and Zhang Fengxi. Tears streamed down her cheeks, unchecked, as she grieved for her master’s plight.

But her tears lasted only a moment. She brushed them away with a trembling hand, her resolve hardening. Crying would not help. She needed to take action.