Xian Xu swallowed his saliva for the hundredth time as his nervous mono-lid eyes peeked at the empress sitting elegantly on her huge sofa. Her penetrating gaze glued on his face waiting for the information she wanted.

Her hair was tied up on a polished high bun with a huge gold hair pin dangling over it..

"Speak!", The word slipped through her pink thin lips making Xian Xu's legs tremble beneath his dress.

He gulped again to moisten his dry throat,

" Your highness, pardon this servant for rebutting but there is nothing really going on between his highness and his mai-"

Xian Xu's clear lie was cut off in middle by a sudden shattering noise. Shocked, he looked down at the broken pieces of the expensive tea cup that was on the table intact a few seconds ago.

"Ooops!", The empress clicked her tongue a few times feigning regret but the next her lips curved up to form a smile, a malicious smile.

"Look at the tea cup. It was useful but obviously replaceable. Nothing is gonna change even if *aijiye break it into thousand pieces, nobody will know." Her deadly warning was low sending a shiver down his spine.

*

God knows, how Xian Xu's subconscious mind urged him to spill everything and he was going to but,

"She is not ready" The emperor's pained voice when he was talking to his General again rang in his ears stopping him.

No, his one selfish decision would drag G.Li in neverending misery and the emperor himself would not be able to protect her when bigger issues were screaming for his attention.

And that girl was too stupid to handle it on her own.

But the main question is how the hell the empress dowager got to know about her??

"Please pardon nucai(this lowly servant) for his incapability to provide you with any information, His highness was too busy to give his precious attention to any lowly maid." Xian Xu let out the words, his head bowed down, his fingers hidden inside his fist trembling in fear.

"Shame! Here aijiye thought qijiye could die in peace knowing my son had someone to take care of him after me", The empress' voice was laced with sadness and regret as she ushered him to leave with her hands.

Eh??? Empress Dowager wil support G.Li???!!!

Xian Xu stood their stunned even when Elder Jiang was dragging him to the door. The empress got annoyed watching him struggling with elder Jiang.

"Do you have death wish? Why are you not getting lost?", She yelled irritated and beckoned the guards to throw him out before closing her eyes for a nap. She badly needed rest.

But her eyes snapped open as Xian Xu's next words rang in her ears..

"Gongsun Li! Her name is Gongsun Li!"

Faraway at Han State, Gongsun Li suddenly sneezed.

Which moron in this world is cursing me?

Black.... everything was pitch black all around him as he frantically continued to run.

Heavy pants escaped his lips in exhaustion but he didn't dare to stop, he had to pass through the darkness and grab the shining ray that was radiating from a seemingly unreachable distance.

That was a ray of light .. a luster that could illuminate the darkness of his life and flood it with happiness and laughter. A gleam that could remove the undeniable heaviness from his chest..

As he ran closer to the beam, the ray formed a round face..a beautiful little face with innate sparkles in those eyes and the usual grin on those lips.

He knew the face very well.Why wouldn't he?

It was his little wife, the only light in his darkness filled life.

"Zhen Zhen"

Her sweet voice called as his pace turned impossibly faster to grab the light and cage it into the prison of his heart never letting go.

But the more he ran closer, the ray seemed more distant, more vague as if it was fading...

It was fading!

"No!", a panicked choke left his throat as he witnessed the ray turning deem losing its once happy brightness. The dancing sparkles faded into the darkness and he horrified observed the light to melt into an anguish black.

"That's what you'll do to her, Zhu Zhen. The more you want to cage her, the more she will wither like a dead flower."

A serene voice rang all around him as he stood there utterly helpless. His panicked gaze roamed all around frantically trying to catch the source of the voice in vain.

"No! I won't let her go. She- She'll be happy with me.", he yelled frustratedly to no one.

"She will lose her colors, son. She will be lost in the oblivion of conspiracy and greed and no one, not even you could turn her back. So,let her go."

The serene voice again rang as a freezing breeze brushed through Zhu Zhen's body making him shudder.

"Never. Never", he screamed in the air covering his ears with his hands.

But still those three words managed to slip through again and again twisting his heart painfully.

"Let her go"

"She will wither like a dead flower"

"Let her leave"

The words chimed in the air like a ringing temple bell making his heart throb painfully like it was twisted with a knife.

"Never", a word he intended to shout came out as whisper mixed with his heavy breaths.

" You have to."

The serene voice again boomed for the last time before his eyes snapped open in the middle of the night. His body was drenched with cold sweats resulting from the horrible nightmare he had a few minutes ago.

Zhu Zhen quickly swiped his gaze all around his chamber before shouting,

"Appear!"

A bunch of guards, eunuchs scrambled to the chamber with their heads bowed down.

"Prepare the carriage. I am heading back now!"