Embers of Love

Chapter 47

    The silver dragon stormed back to Xuanji Palace, berating himself for his carelessness. He had taken a set of confidential state documents back to his quarters to peruse before going to bed. However, in his hurry to depart from Xuanji Palace before the Light Immortal awoke that morning, he had forgotten to take the papers with him. There was no choice but to return to his place of residence to fetch them himself.

    Normally, he could have entrusted such a task to Kuanglu. However, in light of the crafty performance that she had staged with the intention of provoking some sort of contributory, destructive response from Juying, the Heavenly Emperor had dismissed the fairy for two weeks. So as to not let Immortal Taisi lose face, he had veiled his intentions under the guise of giving Kuanglu a "deserved break". However, for the Fairy Shangyuan, whose only desire was to remain at his side and serve him, she understood it as punishment.

    Pausing at the gates, Runyu dissipated the enchanted ward with a wave of his hand. It was quite risky for him to be there. But that was fine, it was close to Weishi; around the time when the Light Immortal was supposed to take her medication and soon be sound asleep. He could enter and exit Xuanji Palace without her ever knowing that he had set foot on the premises.

    Stealthily, he successfully retrieved the documents from his room and prepared to depart.

    "I don't want to!" He heard the childish complaint from the adjacent room. Runyu froze, glancing at the wall that separated their sleeping quarters. She was awake? Had she still not taken her medication up till then?

    "Light Immortal, you must," came the desperate pleading of a palace maid. "If you keep missing your medication, you will not be able to recover."

    As the dragon spirit unconsciously approached the doors to her room, the sounds of her muffled wailing increased in volume. "But... but it's so terribly bitter!" she cried piteously. "If I have to drink another spoonful of that vile, wretched prescription, I'll... I'll-"

    "You'll what?" came the stern response.

    Upon hearing the Heavenly Emperor's voice, an involuntary shiver ran down Juying's spine. How long had it been since she last heard his voice? Despite being enclosed in the warmth of several blankets, she still felt as though the air had turned slightly chilly.

    Meanwhile, the young palace maid tensed and a terror-stricken expression crossed her features. Turning around, she set the bowl of medicine down and sank to her knees. "May his majesty forgive nubi for being incompetent. Nubi has been unable to persuade the Light Immortal to take her medication."

    "How many rounds has she missed?" Runyu inquired, refusing to look at the fire qilin.

    After some hesitation, the palace maid answered, "Four."

    "But that's because I'm fully recovered!" Juying protested. "I barely feel any more pain and I can move around without issue. Within a day or two, I'll be back in peak physical condition, so there's no longer a need to for me to ingest that horrid medicine-"

    Turning a deaf ear to her outcries, Runyu kept his steely gaze fixed on the palace maid. "Four, you said? Very well. Then you shall report to Thunder God Yunxiang and Lightning Goddess Shengguang to receive four rounds of punishment."

    Stricken with terror, the palace maid submissively resigned herself to her fate. "Nubi receives his majesty's command."

    Juying's eyes widened in alarm. "Oh... come now, isn't that a bit too harsh?" she laughed nervously. "How could you expect a young girl to survive four rounds of tianlei* and dianguang?* Don't you think you're being unreasonable?"