Binding the Dragon for the Empress Chapter 13

Different Paths for Different People

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"Then promise me, no matter how big a mistake I make or how badly I treat you in the future, you have to forgive me once." Yan Yuan took Xuan Long's hand that was draped over the quilt and spoke like a child acting spoiled with an adult.

There were emotions in his eyes that Xuan Long couldn't understand, like sadness and struggle. Even though Xuan Long couldn't understand, he didn't ask, and simply replied, “En, I promise."

He did not want Yan Yuan to be sad.

As the person who treated him the best in this world, even if he was bad, how bad could he be?

What was the harm in forgiving him?

Yan Yuan's heart fell to the ground. He knew that Xuan Long had always kept his word, and had never gone back on his promises. If he said he would forgive, then he would forgive, and he would automatically ignore anything that he had done regardless of how excessive it was.

As soon as he was in a good mood, his appetite improved. After spending the whole day in Luanfeng Hall guarding Ning Zhiyu, the weather was stifling and he hadn't eaten much during the day. But now, Yan Yuan felt a great deal of emptiness in his stomach, so he ordered someone to bring in the meal and pulled Xuan Long, who had already changed into clean clothes, to sit at the table.

One man and one dragon sat down next to each other. The table was a round, carved rosewood table, and on the table were ten dishes and one soup, served on jade plates and in decorative bowls, exquisite and full of colour and flavour.

Yan Yuan put an appetising cold dish into Xuan Long's bowl, "This is beef braised by the imperial chef in the palace using an ancestral secret recipe, you can't get it in the market, it's much better than fish and prawns, try it. I haven't seen you for a few days, I see that you have lost weight. Is it because you are not used to the food in the palace?"

Xuan Long shook his head and picked up the chopsticks on the table in silence. He still didn't know how to use them very well, and held both of them awkwardly for a long time before he picked up the thinly sliced beef in the bowl, paused for a second in front of his eyes and tentatively put it into his mouth.

He was still not used to the seasoned food of the human race; to him, natural, unprocessed food is the most delicious and tasty, but Yan Yuan had said that in their human race, only animals eat bloody raw meat.

Fortunately, his appetite is weak and he is not overly ambitious when it comes to food, as long as he can fill his stomach.

The piece of beef was not as bad as he thought it would be, it was salty with a hint of sweetness. Xuan Long chewed it a few times and was about to swallow it when a familiar churning sensation suddenly rushed through his stomach, causing him to pause in his tracks.

Yan Yuan looked at the man who had suddenly frozen in confusion, "What's wrong? Is it not good?"

Xuan Long shook his head, waited for the nausea to pass, and swallowed the food in his mouth without changing his face, "Very good."

The food Yan Yuan gave him was naturally delicious.

"Then you should eat more, I heard from Chen Yan that you have not had a good appetite recently. I specially ordered the imperial kitchen to make this fish and prawns, but today I changed it to something different." It was not unusual for one's appetite to be poor in hot weather, and Yan Yuan, being like this himself, did not take it seriously. He merely kept on giving Xuan Long food, thinking in his heart that he wanted to make it up to him, but in reality that was all he could do to compensate him.

“En." Xuan Long replied indifferently, having trouble with the half-bowl of delicious food in front of him, as he had been suffering from nausea for no apparent reason for some time now. He smelled the oils and fishy food that the human race had to put in their cooking, causing the nausea to be more and more serious, so he had cut his diet back from three meals a day to one.

As a demon beast, he likes to eat meat, but now all he can eat are the light vegetarian dishes and white rice that he has never touched before.

“A'Po, what are you staring at? Eat up." Yan Yuan put down his chopsticks and reached out to tuck Xuan Long's long hair behind his ears, revealing the handsome side of his face with the dark gold mask.

This dragon is really clumsy; he doesn't even know how to tie his own hair, it hangs down all day long, but it is undeniable that it is quite pretty.

Xuan Long returned to his senses and slowly ate all the food in his bowl, the churning in his stomach suppressed.

Apart from Yan Yuan, no one else would offer him food like this and ask him if he was hungry, so he did not want to refuse Yan Yuan's kindness.

If he lost it, no one would be kind to him anymore.

"Your body is injured, so rest early after you have eaten." Yan Yuan took Xuan Long's already empty bowl and gave him a spoonful of rich chicken soup, saying under his breath, "I'll stay with you tonight, I won't go."

Xuan Long was naturally happy, but he did not show it even when he was happy. It was not that he deliberately hid it, but that he would not show it.

After washing up in the evening, Yan Yuan let Xuan Long lie down in the newly changed clean bedding, while he himself lay on the outside, leaning against the bed. He was holding a random book that he had found in the library and was telling him a story.

The story was about a snake demon and a rich young man.

In order to practise Taoism, the snake demon killed a lot of people on earth, digging out their hearts and sucking their yang energy. Later, she met a rich young man with a good heart who was not only handsome, but also not as greedy as other mortals who wanted the beauty of the snake demon. For this reason, the snake demon's heart was moved by his Hongluan Star and her heart secretly loved him. (Angel: the Hongluan Star, 红鸾星, is the lucky star in mythology that presides over happy events such as marriage and childbirth.)

For the sake of the rich young man, the snake demon decided to give up her evil deeds and cultivate the good path. After that, she lived like a mortal, no longer thinking of becoming an immortal, only wanting to be with the rich young man.

A year later, on the night of the couple's wedding, a Taoist priest who had subdued the demons approached the rich young man and told him that the snake demon was not human. After listening to the Taoist priest's words, the rich young man slipped realgar into the wedding wine, and when he saw the snake demon in its original form, he stabbed his dagger seven inches into her.

Xuan Long had been drowsy, his consciousness wandering, but when he heard this, he couldn't help but wake up and twist his head, his icy turquoise eyes fixed on Yan Yuan, “Why? Doesn't he love her."

Yan Yuan: "He is afraid."

Xuan Long was silent for a moment, "Why should he be afraid?" Even a demon is willing to give its life to love someone who deserves it.

Yan Yuan: "She has harmed people before. Besides, humans and demons have different paths."

"Humans and demons have different paths..." There was a bit of confusion in Xuan Long's eyes, and his voice was its usual mellow and low tone, “Does that mean that human and demon can't be together…"

“En."

Xuan Long didn't know what to say for a moment, and only after a long time did he say dully, "I've never harmed anyone.”

"I know." Yan Yuan smiled, dropped the book and laid down, moving up to Xuan Long's ear to kiss it, "We are different, we are a destined pair, naturally we will not be hindered by these worldly things."

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: January 23, 2022