Romancing the Son of Heaven

Stratagem 26: Do the Right Thing for Your Beloved! (5)

Despite the Heavenly Empress's best efforts, nothing really changed after that day. Well, save for the fact that Jing He was now closing the doors to his actual sleeping chamber each night to make sure that something like what had happened that morning wouldn't occur again. But other than that, he was still just as conflicted about his relationship with the dragon king.

Even even though his mother's words had made him think a little, just that alone wouldn't be able to undo years of trying to conform to what his parents expected of him and what he deemed to be the right way to behave as the crown prince of the Nine Heavens. It would've been a wonder if she had been able to make him change his mind that easily. Really, if that was possible, she wouldn't have been worrying about her son in the first place.

Despite the fact that nothing had changed, things weren't that obvious at first. Even though Jing He didn't sleep well and was anxious most of the time, he did his utmost to hide his tiredness, pretending that everything was alright. But Qiu Ling who had spent almost every day with him for the past four years was naturally able to catch on after a while. Seeing that Jing He seemed to neither sleep well nor eat well, he also became anxious.

If he tried to silently inquire, Jing He would always pretend that everything was alright and that he didn't understand what the dragon king was talking about. He would always thank him for his concern but he didn't admit to anything because he didn't want to seem any less than perfect in front of the man he loved. Unfortunately, these inquiries added to his own worries and worsened his state further, making Qiu Ling panic in return.

No matter how the dragon king thought about it, he just didn't know what to do so. Fretting by himself for quite some time, Qiu Ling finally decided that he just couldn't go on like this anymore. As usual, he barged into An Bai's study, cutting right to the chase. "What do you know about Jing He's current situation?" This guy had been going regularly to see his beloved before so he should definitely know what was up, right?

An Bai's brows twitched. "His Highness." He knew that it was likely of no use but he couldn't help but stress the Son of Heaven's title again. Naturally, Qiu Ling just raised his brows at him, clearly not getting it. An Bai sighed and motioned at the chair on the other side of his table. "Why don't you have a seat and tell me what happened, Your Majesty? That way, I might be able to help you."

While An Bai's reprimand might've gone over Qiu Ling's head, he immediately rushed over and plopped down in the chair to speak about his grievances when he was invited to do so. "He looks like he hasn't been able to sleep well in quite some time already. And recently, he's hardly eating while I'm there. I'm afraid it's not any better while I'm not."

An Bai slowly nodded and waited for his king to say more but Qiu Ling was already looking at him with an expectant expression, clearly thinking that he would be able to gain some kind of insight just from that.

An Bai took a faint breath, trying to tell himself that he shouldn't have expected anything else. In any case, his king had always been like this. There really was no reason to expect him to suddenly be different. In any case, he could still make a few assumptions. "I guess this will be the same issue as what happened the last time. In fact, I would assume that this is merely a continuation from then, instead of anything new. The herbs that Your Majesty brought over the last time shouldn't have helped much."

Qiu Ling furrowed his brows when he was reminded of that. "Yes, what kind of herbs did you give me? Are you sure they're working?"

An Bai ignored the accusation in his words and just gave a straightforward answer. "The herbs shouldn't be the problem. The problem is that His Highness probably has some troubles recently that he is unable to come to terms with. While the herbs that I gave you can alleviate the symptoms, they can't eradicate the root of the problem. And that is what would need to happen for His Highness to go back to his usual self."