Ten Months On

Chapter 34: Search

The First Prince, Han Rui threw all the scrolls and brushes on his desk to the floor in a fit of anger.

"What a great Sun Rui! What a great Sun Rui!!" Han Rui laughed darkly as his subordinates cowered below.

"What use are you if you are going to fail on this prince. Just a simple assassination but you failed this prince again and again. How is it so difficult to kill one woman. Useless!! All useless!!"

Han Rui, the "Dashing" First Prince of Da Li was angry that once again, the title of "Crown Prince" slipped by him.

He was the eldest Prince. It was his right to receive the throne! He had patiently waited, kicking the Second and Third Prince off the list of potential Crown Princes. Only the Fourth Prince was his rival he admitted to. But he had worked together with his enemy to pull their biggest threat down. Sun Rui, their Ninth Brother, had a strong backer in the guise of the Empress but he knew that after that foolish brother of his got his previous Wang Fei killed, he had lost all favour with the Empress, who now placed her hopes on her youngest son.

But to think that in a few months after they had managed to make him lose his Crown Prince position, Sun Rui made a spectacular comeback and frighteningly, had gotten Fourth Brother killed!

Han Rui clenched his teeth again.

What a great Sun Rui, hiding in secret until now. He really fooled everyone with his "playboy" act.

Now that Father Emperor had changed his mind again and appointed Sun Rui to be the Crown Prince again, Han Rui had to start again from scratch to gain the favour of the ministers. It was not entirely bad as this time, he could win the hearts of the ministers who had supported Fourth Prince in the dark.

Yet as he was ruminating, he did not realise a silent shadow appearing.

In the blink of an eye, his subordinates fell with blood pooling down their slit throats.

Before he could shout for help, Han Rui's eyes widened, before darkness claimed him as he breathed his last.

***

"Master, it is done."

The hidden figure knelt and then disappeared.

The person he bowed to remained grim as he stared out the window, his figure hidden under the shadows in the dark roon. The window was open and the cool air slipped in, but in the room, the air felt dead, still as if nothing dared to move inside. The night wind blew ferociously by the window but nothing stirred Sun Rui in his heart.

He was awake. But he felt dead to the world.

The only thing he could think of was the woman that kept his heart warm and alive, spluttering desperately in the bid to see her again.

Killing his First and Fourth Brother left him with no feelings. They were dead in his dreams too. He simply have pushed their deaths earlier in this life.

What did it matter that the officials might condemn him? They were always condemning him for nothing. Plus, they had no proof.

If anything, it could have been the other Princes or the other stronger families. Why would the useless playboy Crown Prince, with his easy ticket to the throne, risk it all by killling his brothers and being branded a murderer?

They might shout that that was exactly the reason for their accusations. Then, might I ask, where was the proof?

Flies.

Everything is meaningless in this world.

All flies.

Before. Now. After.

But.

Soon, he would be able to escort Su Chen back as his Empress.

Life was heading back to its original course. He was once again Crown Prince and to make his life easy, why bother to keep his meddlesome brothers alive?

He did not bother about his younger brothers. They were no threat to him. Maybe pawns in the future.

But things were slowly going back to how it should be.

He had caught sight of her finally after months of tracking. After he had "awakened", he had convinced himself that she had not died and drove himself like a madman, as he combed through every corner of Da Li. Every woman that had looked like her, he had investigated.

He felt like he had gone half mad. Was she alive? Was he so driven to desperation that he started imagining that she is still alive despite the fact that it had been a year and more since her "accident"? Was the woman his men saw really "her"?

He doubted. Fiercely.

Yet could only believe in that tiniest hope that it was her.

Like an insane man traipsing between sanity and insanity. Dreams and Reality.

It was only when his hidden men had found that manager she was so fond of, leading Stork Pavillion, under a pseudonym. Her maid Sui was also there and called herself Mei Ren.

Suspiciously, these people were still alive. Yet, he still could not find her. In the midst of all this, Sun Rui was busy turning things back to the way to it should have been.

Without Su Chen, he had to fight for the throne on his own. It was only fortunate that the dreams he had did foretell key information that had allowed him to catch his brothers unaware and finally, to end them.

The place where he and her belonged, the haven they had made in their life in the dream, he will get it all back for her.

Was he mad? To think that the dream was a reality that should have happened? Yet, his dreams really did foretell accurately the many future events that is to come.

All he had to do was to bide his time and make his move when the opportunity arrives.

Now that he knew where she was and had someone tailing after her, he would escort her back when he is strong enough to ascend the throne.

This time, his Empress could only be her.