After Breaking Free From The System's Control - Chapter 14

The incense burning inside the hall was calming storax, its fragrance drifting in delicate threads through the air.

Yet it did nothing to soothe the inexplicable agitation suddenly rising in Xiao Li’s heart.

He had been discussing flood-prevention measures for Jiangbei’s spring floods with several Grand Secretaries when, halfway through the conversation, his heart abruptly sank without warning.

It felt as though an invisible hand had seized it and squeezed hard.

After one terrifying instant in which it seemed to stop completely, it began beating even faster and more erratically.

The Grand Secretaries’ argument over materials for the embankments blurred into an indistinct buzzing in his ears.

Only one thought remained horrifyingly clear.

Jin Tang.

He needed to see Jin Tang immediately.

“Your Highness?”

Grand Secretary Sun noticed the change in his expression and stopped speaking, calling to him in confusion.

But Xiao Li had already risen abruptly.

He did not even have time to offer an explanation.

He knocked over the teacup beside him, spilling warm tea across the corner of a memorial, but he paid it no attention.

The hem of his purple robe swept over the threshold in a sharp arc as he shot out of the Imperial Study like an arrow released from a bow, leaving the room full of important ministers staring at one another in bewilderment.

The corridor wind carried the lingering warmth of late spring and struck Xiao Li’s face.

Yet it could not dispel the chill spreading upward from the depths of his heart.

His strides were long and urgent.

The palace servants dropping to their knees along the way caught only a glimpse of dark robes whipping through the air and a stern face so strained it was nearly unrecognizable.

“Your Highness! Your Highness! What is—”

Wang Zhong spotted him hurrying over from a distance, and his heart immediately lurched.

He rushed forward to meet him.

Xiao Li seized Wang Zhong by the arm.

The force of his grip made the elderly attendant suck in a sharp breath of pain.

Xiao Li could not concern himself with propriety.

His voice was tight and hoarse from urgency.

“Where is His Majesty?”

Wang Zhong was startled by the panic in his eyes and answered instinctively,

“His Majesty? His Majesty is resting in bed.”

“I need to see him.”

Xiao Li struggled to steady the heartbeat threatening to burst from his chest.

“Now. Immediately.”

Wang Zhong had never seen Xiao Li look like this before.

He asked no questions and hurriedly agreed.

“This old servant will take Your Highness inside at once.”

The two softened their footsteps and entered the inner bedchamber without a sound.

The room was dim.

Only a single lamp burned in one corner, flickering on the verge of going out.

The first thing that caught their eyes was the set of everyday robes carelessly piled upon the footstool beside the bed.

They lay there like a withered flower, silent and lifeless.

Wang Zhong’s heart gave a violent leap.

A terrible premonition seized him.

Abandoning all caution, he rushed forward in a single stride and, with trembling hands, tore aside the hanging imperial yellow bed curtains.

The hazy lamplight revealed the scene upon the dragon bed.

Jin Tang was curled deep within it.

His entire body looked as though he had just been pulled from the water.

His plain white inner garment clung tightly to him, outlining the frighteningly thin bones of his young frame.

His long black hair had been soaked through with cold sweat and lay in wet strands against his pale cheeks and neck.

It only made his complexion look even more deathly white.

There was not the slightest trace of color in his lips.

Only the deep bite marks pressed into his lower lip showed a shocking stain of dark red.

Jin Tang’s entire body trembled uncontrollably in fine, constant spasms.

Even the imperial yellow mattress beneath him had been soaked through with cold sweat, leaving a large, darkened patch.

He appeared to have fainted.

His eyelashes were tightly closed, but his brows remained furrowed in pain.

His breathing was so weak it was nearly impossible to detect.

“Your Majesty!”

Wang Zhong was scared out of his wits, his voice rising into a distorted cry.

Xiao Li stopped breathing.

The sight before him was even more horrifying than his worst expectations.

The young man looked as thin as a sheet of paper, as though those violent tremors might tear him apart at any moment.

A chill surged from the soles of Xiao Li’s feet straight to the top of his head.

Every limb and bone in his body went rigid.

“Quickly! Summon Imperial Physician Shen! Hurry!”

Wang Zhong whipped around and screamed at the stunned attendants behind him.

A young eunuch scrambled away in terror.

Wang Zhong forced himself to remain calm and looked toward Xiao Li, whose face had also gone pale as paper.

His words came out incoherently.

“Y-Your Highness, please watch His Majesty. This old servant—this old servant will have someone change the bedding. It—it is soaked through. This will not do…”

The words seemed to jolt Xiao Li awake.

He drew a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

Yes.

The soaked clothing and bedding both needed to be changed.

He strode forward, bent down, and carefully slipped one arm behind Jin Tang’s neck and the other beneath his knees.

The weight in his arms was so light that Xiao Li’s heart clenched again.

The icy dampness seeped through the thin inner garment, accompanied by uncontrollable shivering.

Xiao Li lifted Jin Tang into his arms.

His movements were as gentle as possible, as though handling a priceless treasure that could shatter with the slightest carelessness.

Unconscious and unaware, Jin Tang rested against Xiao Li’s chest.

His head drooped weakly, brushing against the side of Xiao Li’s neck.

His cold breath touched Xiao Li’s skin, bringing a faint, trembling tickle.

Carrying him, Xiao Li quickly walked toward the padded couch beside the window.

Wang Zhong was already directing several attendants with swift efficiency, ordering them to replace the wet mattress as quickly as possible.

Xiao Li gently placed Jin Tang on the couch.

He took the dry sleeping robes Wang Zhong hurriedly handed him.

When his fingers touched the ties of Jin Tang’s inner garment, his movements paused for an instant.

Then he untied them cleanly.

The soaked fabric was removed, exposing the young man’s thin body completely beneath the dim yellow light.

He was far too thin.

Every rib was clearly visible.

His collarbones were deeply hollowed.

His waist was so narrow that Xiao Li felt he could easily encircle it with one hand.

His skin was pale from long years without sunlight.

Dampened by cold sweat, it appeared fragile and translucent, like glass that might break at any moment.

At his shoulder blades and elbows, blue veins could even be seen beneath the thin skin.

Xiao Li’s gaze lingered for an instant upon that impossibly slender waist.

His heart felt as though it had been pierced by countless fine needles, producing a strange, sharp ache.

He pressed his lips together tightly and held his breath.

His movements were swift yet extraordinarily gentle as he wiped Jin Tang’s body and dressed him in dry, soft sleeping clothes.

From time to time, his fingertips brushed the cool skin.

The texture was startlingly delicate.

And startlingly fragile.

He did not dare use even the slightest force.

Throughout the process, Jin Tang remained unconscious.

Only when he was moved did he release one or two extremely faint moans of pain.

Each sound tightened Xiao Li’s heart.

The bedding was soon replaced.

Xiao Li lifted Jin Tang once more and returned him to the clean, warm dragon bed, carefully tucking the quilt around him.

He was about to stand when a faint pull came from his sleeve.

Looking down, he saw that Jin Tang had unconsciously grasped a corner of his robe.

The hand was pale and thin, the knuckles protruding slightly from the effort.

It was as though, within boundless darkness and pain, he had seized the only piece of driftwood within reach.

Xiao Li remained frozen in place.

He did not move.

At that moment, Shen Jiren hurried into the room carrying his medical case, panting heavily, sweat covering his forehead.

He did not even have time to complete the proper formalities.

After a hurried bow, he asked urgently,

“Eunuch Wang, has His Majesty’s old illness returned?”

“Yes! Imperial Physician Shen, quickly—please examine His Majesty!”

Wang Zhong immediately moved aside.

Shen Jiren sat upon the footstool beside the bed.

After steadying himself, he extended three fingers and carefully placed them upon Jin Tang’s wrist, which lay outside the brocade quilt.

The bedchamber instantly became terrifyingly silent.

Only the suppressed breathing of those present and the occasional crackling of the candle flame could be heard.

Xiao Li’s gaze remained fixed upon Shen Jiren’s face, unwilling to miss even the slightest change in expression.

The old physician’s brows drew tighter and tighter.

His graying beard trembled faintly.

Sweat appeared once more upon the forehead he had only just wiped dry.

His expression grew increasingly grave.

After a long time, Shen Jiren finally withdrew his hand.

Even his fingertips were trembling slightly.

With a thud, he dropped to his knees.

His voice was heavy and unable to conceal his fear.

“His Majesty’s pulse this time… is faint and chaotic, like a dying candle in the wind.”

“Compared with last month… His Majesty is even weaker.”

“This subject… this subject is terrified…”

Wang Zhong’s vision went dark.

He nearly collapsed where he stood.

Xiao Li’s heart plummeted with every word Shen Jiren spoke.

The hand hanging by his side quietly clenched into a fist, his knuckles turning white.

Worse than last time.

He looked at the lifeless face upon the bed.

He looked at those brows still tightly furrowed even in unconsciousness.

An overwhelming helplessness—and a fear Xiao Li himself had not yet fully understood—rose like a tide and swallowed him whole.

Outside the hall, the night was thick as ink.

Inside, the young emperor lay sunken deep into his sickbed, barely breathing.

And the Regent, who had only just taken hold of power, stood beside the bed.

The candlelight stretched his shadow far across the cold floor, as though he, too, carried a burden weighing thousands of pounds.

Xiao Li’s dark gaze remained fixed upon Jin Tang’s face.

That faint grip still clutching his sleeve seemed to burn itself into his heart like a brand.

Author’s Note

I cannot take this anymore. That old fossil of a boss called me, and the last thing he said was, “You have worked hard. Good people will be rewarded.”

Then if he is a bad person, should he not receive retribution?

Why has his punishment still not fallen upon him? [cracking apart]