My Liege And I

Running in Futility

Chapter 82

Queen Elora
Furiah

After she was done explaining what had happened in the time they were apart, she saw in his eyes so much conviction, too much of it that it scared her.

"This is a sign, Li Lian. This is a sign that you and I are to be together forever. You have given me what no other woman could give me." He looked down at their baby in his arms and kissed him on the cheek. "My son." The words spelled out his shock. "This is my son."

Elora shook her head, choosing to believe she had just heard wrong.

"It is a sign for nothing. We just happened to have a child together. It does not foretale anything for our relationship. How we were, it shall stay the same."

He frowned like she had lost her mind and gave his back to her as he swayed Yan Xiang back and forth.

"Who knew I had a son all this while? Look at you, so handsome and capable," Yuwen Hong whispered softly with so much pride. "The Heavens have spoken for us. A family, you, your mother and I. It is written in the stars."

Li Lian's fists involuntarily clenched, panic slowly wrapping around her like an insidious shroud. Only he could do this to her. It was as though her words were futile echoes in the vast emptiness, bouncing off an unyielding stone wall that would remain indifferent to her pleas.

"I kindly ask that Emperor Huizhong leave this place if he will not be cordial with me," she said.

He stopped swaying and slowly turned to her.

"You have a penchant for ruining things," he remarked, his tone carrying a mixture of observation and accusation.

"The one who killed the uncle of their son ruined things," she spat.

"Do not wield my pursuit of justice as a weapon against me. You will not succeed in tearing me away from my son!"

Justice? Justice, he said! He lost reason long back. "If that was what I wanted, I would not have told you the truth!" she lashed back.

"You belong to me, Li Lian. That fundamental truth has never wavered. The freedom you currently enjoy is a concession I granted and permitted. Have I been so benevolent that you dare entertain the notion of challenging my authority?" he asserted, his words laced with a chilling mix of possessiveness and disdain.

In a sense of anxiety, she lunged and took her baby from his hands. "I kindly ask you to leave!"

"Or what?"

"Or... Or I will kill you!"

"Then go on and kill me. Pull out my heart from its chest and kill me!"

Her hands started to tremble as tears submerged her eyes.

His eyes widened, the depth of them chilly void and cold. "What gall you must possess. Do you truly believe you can bring yourself to harm the father of your own child?" he scoffed, mocking her display of bravado. "Guards!" His command reverberated through the air, and immediately, the ominous thudding of approaching footsteps resonated from outside. It signalled the encroachment of people towards her child's vulnerable sanctuary.

The captain entered and saluted his master.

"Capture my wife and child. We are taking them back home. This is your empress."

"Ridiculous!" she screamed.

Yuwen Hong started to laugh at her. He laughed at her so much he bawled over in glee.

"Oren!" she desperately called for her father.

Each peal of laughter felt like a dagger, cutting through her self-esteem and shrouding her in a suffocating darkness. The intensity of his amusement seemed to magnify the weight of the walls closing in on her, creating an oppressive atmosphere that made it difficult to breathe.

"Oren, please! Come help!"

His glee manifested not only in the sound of his laughter but also in the malicious glint in his eyes, which danced with sadistic pleasure.

"Li Lian, you cannot run from me!" he snarled.

And that is when she realised she was running for her life into the darkness of the night.

"Wherever you run to, I will be waiting for your capture!"

"No!" she protested.

"Li Lian," she could hear another Yuwen Hong calling her. "Li Lian, wake up, you are dreaming."

"No! Please! Do not take my baby away!"

"No one is taking him away."

He shook her body until she opened her eyes, tears stroking her cheeks. His gentle hand pushed the hair covering her face and wiped away her tears with his thumb.

"Was it a bad dream?" he whispered. "Shh. It is over now."

Elora could feel her garments stick to her body. She was drenched in sweat with her heart beating. Taking a deep breath, she tried to relax, though it appeared impossible.

It was just a dream, she reasoned. A few hours ago, after she explained everything to him, he had been called away before they finished talking.

"Who was trying to take away Yun Xiang?"

Of course, him. No one else would threaten her that way, except him.

When she did not answer, he could tell the response by her eyes.

Sorrow cast on his face, with unbelief and dejection. "I would never. Really, Li Lian. Do you not understand how much I care for you?"

She bit her lower lip to stop the display of her fragility.

"Far from me, be it. You are Yun Xiang's mother. You have as much a say as I have. He is our son, after all." He took her hand and wove her fingers with his.

When it was her turn to speak, her voice cracked. "I am afraid that... what I have to say in response to you wanting me back will dig a trench between us."

Though he seemed to understand why she thought that way, he somberly shook his head. "What we decide to do with our feelings and love does not affect what we decide to do as mother and father. Even more so that you are the mother of my heir, you deserve the respect of this world. Anyone who is to touch you and cause you distress, I will not let them off."

He kissed the palm of her hand affectionately. "Believe me, Li Lian. To see you break before my eyes was a nightmare unfathomable that I am still to escape. To live without you is worse than drinking poison, but I would rather bear it than see you cry because of me ever again."

S.V