Travelling With The Enemy | BL

Chapter Seventy Seven

Once the drug in Wang Bao's system began to wear off, he was awoken by an intense pounding in his head along with light cramps in his lower stomach. The pounding headache made Wang Bao almost fall back unconscious but he tried his best to stay awake. As a way to try and soothe his sore head, Wang Bao kept his eyes shut and tried to rely on his other senses to tell him where he was. From his sense of touch alone, Wang Bao could feel he was on a damp stone ground while both of his wrists were bound with a thin metal chain. It wasn't until Wang Bao had taken a few deep breaths that his heart began to tremble in fear. Although the scent of damp mossy stone bricks was common in a lot of countries, Wang Bao recognised the smell immediately. Maybe it was denial but Wang Bao slowly opened his eyes in the hopes of being wrong about where he had been taken. Although his vision was slightly blurry at first, there was no denying that he had been taken back to his family's palace dungeon.

The moment Wang Bao's eyes focused on the damp mossy stone walls of the cell he was chained to, his heart sank and his blood ran cold. Despite knowing he was in a helpless situation and that he should save his strength lest his mother come in and beat him, Wang Bao couldn't stop the want to escape in his heart. With a vigorous hand, Wang Bao tried to pull against the chain that was wrapped around his wrists and drilled into the wall. The loud clanging of the metal against the stone rang loudly against the stone walls until Wang Bao heard an aged raspy voice call out from another cell.

"W-Who is there?"

The voice may have been laced with pain and exhaustion but there was no denying the owner of the voice was Mr Liu. Wang Bao quickly called out his dear old friend's name but the only reply he received was muffled sobs. Hearing Mr Liu cry for him made Wang Bao's eyes fill with hot tears as well, but he forced himself to stay focused and called out Mr Liu's name again followed by some questions.

"M-Mr Liu, why are you down here? And what about Old Liu, is he here as well?"

It took a little while for Mr Liu to calm himself but even after stopping his tears from flowing, his aged voice was quiet and stuffy.In order to hear the words coming from Mr Liu's cell, Wang Bao leaned closer to his own cell door and strained his ears.

"I was taken here as soon as Queen Mother heard news of your disappearance; as for my brother, we both read your note before he left the palace as well. Very few people knew about his return to the palace after the beginning of the war and it wouldn't have been good if Queen Mother found out."

Wang Bao's hands were beginning to go numb from the chain being pulled against his wrist, but he continued to lean forward while asking Mr Liu urgently.

"Do you know where he went?"

Before answering, Mr Liu let out a series of dry coughs. The sound was enough to make Wang Bao's heart hurt. Since his own birth to now, Wang Bao could count on one hand the amount of times Mr Liu had been sick. It was rare for him to have so much as a sniffle, let alone a bad cough. After regaining some composure, Mr Liu was finally able to continue speaking but his voice was more hoarse than before.

"My brother didn't tell me since it would be too dangerous. As soon as Queen Mother found out about you leaving with the Giant, she brought me down here to be interrogated. I was interrogated everyday for two months but since I didn't talk, not that I knew anything about you anyway, she left me down here to rot."

On one hand, Wang Bao didn't want to push Mr Liu too far for answers since his condition was so poor but on the other, he couldn't sit idly and wait for someone to come save him. If he was able to get any information about his mother, then as soon as he was free, Wang Bao could make contact with Nakai or his brother. Speaking in a quick but calm tone, Wang Bao said to Mr Liu.