The Untouchable Prince | A Norenmin FanFiction

九十六

Ninety Six
Updated: October 9, 2023

The sky was still dark when Shotaro arrived at Yimu's residence. The sun was just barely showing off its bright rays of light in the early morning, and few birds had started chirping their morning songs.Why Yimu had called to see him so early, Shotaro knew very well. In fact, he knew so well that he couldn't stop worrying the entire way here.

"Well, speak to me." The Chinese male was sitting at his desk, busily flipping through documents for the court meeting later that day. His eyes were dark with bags, signs of a restless night, and he still wore the same clothing as the day before. He was busy and didn't want to waste a lot of time, so his words were short and firm. "After your first few meetings with Youngeum, anything to report to me?"

Shotaro could only stand there in silence, chewing on the inside of his lip.

"Well?" He gazed up from his pile of paper, raising a brow at the Japanese. "Are you going to talk to me or not?" It seemed his temper was short today.

"I..." What should he say? What should he say to this man that had lied to him for so many years, manipulated him for so long? Shotaro couldn't just outright yell at him because then it would implicate Yongqin, and that was the last thing Shotaro wanted to happen right now, considering... considering that his new allies are sitting just outside the Imperial City.

According to Yongqin, it wouldn't be long before the harmony of armies would barge in. He would soon be set free from his long entanglement with Yimu. He just had to hold on for a little longer, so he could only force himself to lie, "I haven't really found anything, Your Highness."

"..." Yimu put down the paper he was holding, almost aggressively as he now fully put his focus on the boy.

"Don't- don't get me wrong, I've been trying. He... he just seems to have caught onto what I've been trying to do. His cautiousness is extreme. It's hard to even get him to mention anything about his possible connection with the enemy." Hah, how false was that? Would Yimu even believe such a lie? This man was hard to fool, for how long Shotaro had known him, this fact was as clear as day. Yet, somehow, he still forced himself to continue to lie to his face. Whether that would come back to bite him in the end... Well, it's already too late to even think about at this point.

"So he knows that you are trying to spy on him?"

"It's possible." Shotaro tried his best to keep himself composed despite his nerves running rampant. 

Thankfully, Yimu didn't inquire any more as he gazed back down at his papers, "you can leave."

And, of course, without being told twice, Shotaro left, but not without feeling slightly uneasy. This uneasiness followed the Japanese even as he returned to where he was residing. No, it wasn't an uneasiness. It was more like a predictive feeling, a bad feeling. A feeling that Yimu was going to put forth another foot, which in this case may cause Shotaro to lose his only way out.

Before Shotaro even made a step into the courtyard, he suddenly pivoted on his heel and quietly, under the protective hood of the early morning, slid away to find Yongqin.

If he had the power to redo his mistakes, this was going to be it, and it wasn't going to let the opportunity slip away from him. Yongqin was this long awaited opportunity, and he had to save him.

✾✾✾

The tension was gone.

The tension of the unknown territory that was Kang. It was all gone because now they knew. They knew every intricate detail about this small empire including the layout of its Imperial City and that mysterious dungeon Li Yimu had built underneath it. The map they got from Minhyung, and the long written description of the inside of Renjun's cell.