CHAPTER 510: CHAPTER 510 : (EXTRA) THE DETHRONED CROWN PRINCE (10)

"Ah..."

Xie Jianshen winced when Jiang Rufeng pressed a cloth soaked in rice wine against his wounds to disinfect them.

"Hiss..."

A soft smile laced Jiang Rufeng’s lips when he saw Xie Jianshen looking away, not wanting to see the horrible gashes on his arm.

"You have been very brave," the alpha lion commented. "I am sorry that it happened."

"Hmpf," Xie Jianshen grunted in response.

He did not need any kind of praise for his courage or whatever. It did not lessen the pain in his arm at all.

"Are you angry that I came late?"

"..."

The omega said nothing in response.

"I am sorry," Jiang Rufeng sincerely said as he finished bandaging Xie Jianshen’s arm. Xie Jianshen withdrew his arm from Jiang Rufeng’s grip soon after.

"You said that you were going to leave after you finished dressing my wounds," the omega said without looking in his husband’s direction. "You have finished. Please take your leave."

"No."

In a single, desperate surge, Jiang Rufeng bridged the distance between them and enveloped Xie Jianshen in a fierce embrace.

"...!!!"

Xie Jianshen’s eyes widened in shock. He instinctively raised both hands to push Jiang Rufeng away.

"You promised...!" he cried out, reminding Jiang Rufeng of the list of requirements he agreed to honor.

"I know," Jiang Rufeng murmured, but the arms tightening around Xie Jianshen’s body remained unyielding. "It was all my fault. Please don’t be angry anymore, I beg you."

Xie Jianshen let out a derisive scoff as his arms fell from Jiang Rufeng’s body.

"Did you take me for a child?" he snapped. "I don’t get mad over such a petty incident."

"I do, though." Jiang Rufeng rubbed his face against Xie Jianshen’s slender, swan-like neck with an exasperated sigh. "The day we exchanged vows beneath the watchful eyes of heaven, our ancestors, and each other, I made a promise to myself. I solemnly vowed that I would protect you forever."

"That is unrealistic," Xie Jianshen creased his brows in displeasure. "Besides, I am not that weak."

"Do you have to be weak in order to allow others to protect you?"

Jiang Rufeng raised a hand and brushed along Xie Jianshen’s cheek.

"Do you have to be strong all the time?"

Xie Jianshen’s response was a convulsive grip on Jiang Rufeng’s hand, his knuckles turning white.

"If I did not stay strong, I might have died in my infancy."

That was because the other eight clans did not relish seeing another dragon take the Dragon Throne for another period. A young child was prone to sickness and accidents. Orchestrated or not, eight of nine palaces would rejoice to have Xie Jianshen remove himself from the line of succession.

And that was why his differentiation into an omega was secretly ground for celebration for the power-hungry palace masters, who saw themselves or their sons sitting on the throne for a change.

Including Jiang Rufeng, the Shuiran Palace Master. He might earned Xie Jianshen’s permission to marry him, but he was far from earning the omega’s affection.

The wounds Xie Jianshen bore went far deeper than the gashes Jiang Rufeng had just treated. They were scars etched upon his soul, inflicted in his youth and festering into adulthood.

"If it makes you feel better, I shall renounce my claim on the Dragon Throne forever," Jiang Rufeng spoke. "No one from the Jiang family shall covet the Dragon Throne for as long as they keep the Shuiran Palace Master seat."

Xie Jianshen’s gaze, a flicker of icy mistrust igniting within, snapped towards his husband.

"What do you wish to achieve with such an empty promise?"

"Your peace of mind," Jiang Rufeng softly said with a little shrug. "You might not believe or want it, but I do wish to protect you."

Jiang Rufeng’s fingertip traced a path down Xie Jianshen’s chest, pausing just below the hollow of his collarbone.

"And that includes your heart."

These words might melt average omegas into a puddle of tears, but they did not have much impact on Xie Jianshen.

He ended up kicking Jiang Rufeng out of his quarters a while later.

But from that day on, their interactions became more amicable. When Jiang Rufeng came over to enjoy a simple cup of tea under a flowering tree with his wife, Xie Jianshen no longer questioned his motives. He also did not urge Jiang Rufeng to leave as soon as possible, either.

Eventually, after two months passed, Jiang Rufeng started spending his nights in Xie Jianshen’s private quarters.

One night, Xie Jianshen’s first heat arrived. Locked together behind closed doors, when flower petals showered the courtyard and covered it in a yellow and red blanket, the couple finally consummated their marriage.

Jiang Rufeng even had the cheek to tell his wife in the morning, that he was thankful the pill Xie Jianshen fed him before their wedding failed to perform.

In response, Xie Jianshen looked him deep in the eyes and said, "I made a mistake back then. Apparently, lions are immune against it."

And then, he threw Jiang Rufeng out of his chambers and forbade him from spending the nights there ever again.

It took two more months before Jiang Rufeng learned to hold his tongue and Xie Jianshen agreed to sleep with him again.

Jiang Rufeng discovered that the keys to Xie Jianshen’s heart were not grand gestures, but a sincerity as vast as the endless ocean and a patience that mirrored the boundless sky.

It wouldn’t be easy to heal the wounds that festered deep within Xie Jianshen, but Jiang Rufeng, with newfound access to those hidden depths, tirelessly worked to mend them. He sought to convince the guarded omega that there was at least one soul in all three realms who craved nothing more than to hold his hand, whether or not he needed it.

The second soul soon arrived in the form of Jiang Muchen, the little lion cub who stuck to Xie Jianshen from the day he was born.

"I am glad you changed your mind about giving me an heir," Jiang Rufeng said when they sat together on the garden patio one sunny day. Xie Jianshen was safely tucked in his arms, and little Jiang Muchen was sleeping soundly in his mother’s embrace.

"Hmpf," Xie Jianshen snorted. "In return, you better keep your promise about keeping your claws off the Dragon Throne."

In response, Jiang Rufeng merely shook his head and laughed.

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Author’s note :

So that was how Xie Jianshen and Jiang Rufeng grew into the couple we knew at the beginning of this story, hehehe~

Rufeng : Am I not awesome?

Jianyu : *nods* Brother-in-law, you are awesome.

Fengxi : Meh. Only a little bit.

Jianshen : At least he didn’t kill his wife twice and let his son die within several days after birth.

Fengxi : QAQ I said I was sorry!