Love & Legacy (Zhanyi)

34. Bruise after bruise

The next day in the early morning the prince landed in Gusu, or more like his own personal cage of gold. And to his great relief, his security team, Seungyoun, and Jiang Cheng were the only people that came to receive him. Though on the way, Jiang Cheng did tell him the king couldn't be there due to some important meeting in another kingdom to which the prince didn't pay much attention. As he was busy with his own grief. And once back to the palace, the prince retired to his room without meeting anyone saying that he was tired. Seeing the state he was in no one dared to say anything as the prince entered his room closing the door with a slam.

The next three days were gone in a split second, even before the prince realized. King Lan Qiren was still in the other kingdom. The loushi was absent too, so the prince didn't have anything to do. As for Zanjin, the prince was informed that currently, he was in New York due to something related to his studies. But the biggest shock for the guards that had been watching Yibo for years was during those days, the prince didn't come out of his room, not even for once. Neither did he sneak out of the palace, nor did he speak more than a word to anyone. He would only answer succinctly as if he wasn't interested in the conversation. It was as if the person inside wasn't their prince, at least not the prince they knew. Though his coldness brought him the title of Cold prince among the people, inside his palace the prince wasn't that way. The Yibo they knew was someone, who couldn't stay still at one place, he always needed something to do, if not anything he would just indulge himself in training but the person inside the room was too stationary too calm that they couldn't help but become awe-struck with shock.

During those three days, all the prince did was wake up, check his phone for god knows what, then eat whatever Jiang Cheng brought for him, check his phone once again. In hope of the non-existent messages and calls before drifting to sleep again. Though the prince didn't like to admit it. He still left all the ways for Zhan to reach out for him even if the officer put in the littlest effort. He didn't change his number. He asked Jiang Cheng to stay in touch with Zhan's team in the same way his right-hand man did when the prince was still in South Korea.

Somewhere in his heart, the prince still held a hopeless hope that the officer might get back to his senses and try to make the things up between them. Which never really happened. At least not during these three days. The prince himself wasn't sure whether he was capable of moving on from the officer or not. Because he didn't even try. His whole life, he never expected he would find someone who could make him feel this way. But now that he found he didn't dare to let it go so easily. Though he claimed to forget everything about the officer back then he couldn't. It might have been different if his heart was made of ice, just like the mountains of Gusu. Sadly, that wasn't the case. He was a human in the end with blood, flesh, and emotions. But then again, his mind wouldn't let him reach out to Zhan out nor did his heart let him be at peace. Hence these days the prince spent most of the time with his mind and heart fighting over the other.

During which his only solace was sleep. Which is the reason why he didn't even leave his room was. Sneaking out no longer seemed fun to him, nor did doing anything else interested him. All he wanted to do was lay down under his blanket as his quilt provided him with warmth, cocooning him. Where would often, have the most beautiful dreams about the things that were seeming to be impossible in real life. The prince would often dream about his time with the officer. Just as though the officer was still by his side. Just as though they could still talk to each other like before. As if he traveled back in time to the days where they used to cook together, do the daily chores, argue on the stupidest things. Though it made him sad when his dreams came to an end the prince was still happy to feel those feelings again. Even if they were nothing but just a dream. Hence the prince chose to spend most of his time sleeping like a dead man. And not even his right-hand man dared to wake him.