Binding the Dragon for the Empress Chapter 72

Don't Be Shameless

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Hu Le was beaten with a hundred blows. The place where he was tortured was not far from the cell where Xuan Long was being held, but he did not want Xuan Long to hear him, so he did not utter a word.

The snow-white prison uniform was streaked with blood, and Hu Le was lying on his back on the floor, dying.

"Hu Le..."

Hu Le barely opened his eyes, feeling a wet touch on his face. His vision coming into focus, he saw the man's icy turquoise eyes frozen with a watery mist: it was Xuan Long crying.

It turned out that he meant a lot to him, that he was crying for him.

Hu Le was a little happy in his heart, even the wounds on his body didn't seem to hurt as much, and he laughed, making a sound so weak that it was almost inaudible:

“A'Po... don't be sad."

"I told you... I have nine lives, and when this one is gone, there will still be eight left."

"So... don't be sad for me... you just, protect yourself, and you'll be fine..."

Xuan Long knelt down beside him, his cold face expressionless, but in those demonic turquoise pupils, tears dripped silently, falling down his sharpened cheeks. His lips trembling, his voice was clumsy and hoarse, “Sorry... sorry."

“Sorry for what...” Hu Le used all his strength to gently hold Xuan Long's hand, smiling as untamed as he had been when they first met that day. He looked up into the dim, humid air above him, "It's me who is going to haunt you."

"Who let me like you...."

"I know... in this life, we are impossible, it's all my fault for meeting you too late..."

"If there is another life... I may be lucky enough to have a place on your pillow...” Hu Le strained to twist his head to look at Xuan Long, a tiny light shining in his icy blue eyes, his once rosy face was now only pale.

Xuan Long felt a dull ache in his heart. He had no good sleep on his pillow. When he was young, the old dragons in his clan had said that he had the face of a person who is destined to be lonely for a lifetime and that no one would ever love him in his life, and even if they did, he would be killed by them.

He had never taken it too seriously before, but now he somewhat believed it, otherwise why would the only being in the world who had treated him with sincerity have reached such a state?

"...No need for another life, in this life, we can be together."

So, you have to live well.

"Really?..." Hu Le was genuinely happy.

Xuan Long: "Mmm."

"Then we have a deal... You can't go back on your word." Tears dripped from the corners of Hu Le's eyes.

Xuan Long: “Mmm. No backing out. We agreed to go to Suzhou."

"Good..." Hu Le smiled and closed his eyes, unable to hold on and falling into a long coma.

Xuan Long raised his hand, bit his wrist, gently pinched both of Hu Le's cheeks, and dripped blood into his mouth.

When sober, Hu Le was reluctant to take his blood or dragon scales.

As a result, the old wounds on his body had not healed by now, and now he had added new ones. If he is not treated, he will not be able to hold on.

As the blood drained from his body, Xuan Long's vision became a little blurred and he became dizzy with abdominal pain. Fortunately, Hu Le still had the instinct to swallow. After feeding him a lot of blood, Xuan Long curled up beside him and rested.

In the latter part of the night, the sound of heavy footsteps came from far away in the cold cell. After a shivering rattle, the cell door was opened and Yan Yuan, draped in a basalt cloak, walked in, picked the man on the floor up gently, glanced coldly at Hu Le who was covered in blood, and turned to exit the cell door.

He was covered in cold frost and it was cold outside. It did not take long for Xuan Long to awaken from the cold after being taken out of his cell, and his consciousness gradually returned as he found himself in Yan Yuan's arms.

Looking up from below, the other man's jaw was taut, his lips pursed, and his absolutely handsome face expressionless. It had just rained this evening, the ground was damp, the trees behind him were dappled with shadows, and a few guards and eunuchs followed not far away. Among them was Chen Yan.

Certain that he was not dreaming, Xuan Long moved his body, no longer wanting any more intimate contact with this man, and struggled to get to the ground.

"Let go of me."

Yan Yuan's eyes were dark and the arms that imprisoned Xuan Long did not move at all, but tightened instead, "Don't mess with me again."

Xuan Long did not know what he was angry about yet again. Hu Le was still in prison and he had no capital to upset Yan Yuan, so he stayed quietly in his arms and did not move.

Yan Yuan carried the man in prison clothes back to Qiankun Palace, and when he entered the door, the purple-golden heather round table was already full of delicious dishes: steamed fish, longjing shrimp, ginseng hen soup, duck in roasted sauce, and a dozen others, as well as several types of dim sum that he had never seen before.

Xuan Long was placed barefoot on a stool at the table and Yan Yuan sat down beside him, placing his chopsticks on the bowl in front of him.

"Eat."

Xuan Long pursed his lips and did not move.

Yan Yuan waited for a moment and frowned, "I'm talking to you, are you deaf?"

Xuan Long's gaze fell on the table full of exquisite dishes and said in a low voice, "If you want something, just say it."

"I told you to eat." Yan Yuan's face went cold.

He was hungry, but at a time like this, Xuan Long could not eat, so he lowered his eyes, "But you want dragon scales."

"If you won't eat, forget it."

Yan Yuan suddenly stood up, and in the next moment, Xuan Long was picked up unexpectedly, his body was unbalanced so he instinctively wrapped his arms around Yan Yuan's neck, and soon, his body was thrown on the soft bed. Yan Yuan bullied him, and without patience, pulled off his dirty prison clothes that were stained with dust.

"Mmmm..."

“I don't want to do this with you..."

Xuan Long resisted, but he was stripped clean in no time. Yan Yuan confined him in his arms and worked his way up. Xuan Long put his hands on his shoulders and repeated in a muffled voice:

“I don't want to do this with you..."

“I don't... want to do this with you."

Yan Yuan did not care at first, but the more he heard, the more he cared. He bit down on Xuan Long's shoulder in exchange for a suppressed, muffled grunt. Yan Yuan's gaze was cold, "If not with me, who else do you want to be with?"

Xuan Long was already unwell from the blood loss, but Yan Yuan had to torment him like this. He was angry with him, angry that he had an empress and still lied to him, and angry that he was heartless and treated him with an ulterior motive.

Xuan Long's body was softly lying on Yan Yuan's shoulder, and he said dumbly, "With whom... not with you."

"Looking for death.” Yan Yuan clasped his waist tightly, determined to give him a taste of his own medicine. But when he saw the man's breathing really tighten, he recoiled and slowed down as his gaze fell on his bulging belly, remembering how he almost died that day when the foetus moved.

He was probably really crazy, staying up in the middle of the night to go to the cell to look for this man. He was lying in bed, and the face of Xuan Long just kept floating in his mind.

What the hell was he doing?...

"Liar."

Xuan Long's low murmur re-captured Yan Yuan's attention. His turquoise eyes were lowered, and his long, waterfall-like hair covered his cheeks and fell all over Yan Yuan's body. The two of them were close together, clearly doing the most intimate things, but they seemed to be drifting apart in an unstoppable way.

“...Liar."

"It's all fake... "

"Liar."

The accusations fell on Yan Yuan's heart, making him feel uneasy. His large palm clasped the back of Xuan Long's head, forcing him to lift his head, and his lips blocked his lips in a vicious kiss, gagging back all those words that annoyed him.

Xuan Long's body was feverish and he was no longer conscious by the end. Yan Yuan laid him down on the bed and kissed his cheeks gently, from his forehead, to his eyelids, then to the bridge of his nose and lips. Yan Yuan propped up his upper body, immersed in his heat, not wanting to leave. His palms covered Xuan Long's well-defined face and he looked at his eyes flushed with a perverse scarlet.

"Be good, and I will be good to you."

"Don't make me angry again..."

No one knew how angry he was whenever he saw Xuan Long being nice to the fox demon and standing up for him in a critical situation.

Luanfeng Hall.

Late at night, Ning Zhiyu was tossing and turning on his bed, the events of today had left such a deep mark on his heart that he could not sleep at all.

That Xuan Long, surprisingly, was pregnant with Yan Yuan's child...

"What are you being soft-hearted about? Why haven't you urged him to dig out Xuan Long's heart!"

The demon's cold voice rang out in his head at an inopportune time.

"I'm soft-hearted?..." Ning Zhiyu muttered and repeated.

"I have already followed what you said, deliberately not taking the medicine and accelerating the deterioration of my condition, but did it work?"

"It was Yan Yuan who was being soft-hearted... He simply does not want to let Xuan Long die."

Demon: "That's because you're not ruthless enough! Look at yourself, how many useful things have you done so far?!"

Ning Zhiyu smiled bleakly, "How can you ever know him better than I do? If he really didn't care about someone, he wouldn't have the energy to look at them half-heartedly. Xuan Long is pregnant with his child and he says he dislikes it, but in reality, he runs to the jail in the middle of the night to bring him back. Your demonic compulsion, does it really work..."

"It's useful!" The demon had no doubt about that.

When he was alive, he had used the demonic compulsion to deceive his brother's beloved demon. That demon originally refused to obey, but once the demonic compulsion was used, he became devoted to his brother, and later, when his brother got tired of playing with him and drove him out, he was so disheartened that he exploded and killed himself.

How could it not work?

"Your body is too weak, if you don't do something about it, I'll have to go and find a new host, and then the demonic compulsion will fail and it will be too late for you to regret!"

"Be good to yourself."

Leaving the vicious words behind, the demon inhabited Ning Zhiyu's body and did not speak again.

Ning Zhiyu lay on his back, his hands slowly clenched on the quilt, and his eyes closed in despair.

When the long love affair was finally over, Xuan Long dozed off and tried to sleep. Yan Yuan did not allow him to sleep and carried him back to the table, serving a bowl of chicken soup that the palace staff had warmed up. He held the bowl and used the spoon to bring it to Xuan Long's lips.

"Open your mouth."

Xuan Long turned his pale face away, refusing to look at him.

Yan Yuan had just eaten his fill, so he still had some patience left in him and advised without expression, "Don't be grumpy, you've lost too much weight, you'll have to lose the baby in a few days, your body won't hold up if you go on like this."

"Good boy."

When the bowl and spoon were brought over again, Xuan Long raised his hand to block them, and the bowl was tipped over onto Yan Yuan's body, the boiling hot soup immediately penetrated his clothes and burned his skin.

Yan Yuan jerked to his feet and slapped him across the face, "Don't be shameless!"

There was a loud ‘pa' and Xuan Long was knocked sideways. His mask had been removed when they did it earlier, leaving his face unprotected and leaving five clear fingerprints.

Lining the hideous scars, they looked even uglier.

But Yan Yuan felt a stinging pain in his heart, and with his eyes wide with anger, he turned and left, the door slamming with an ear-splitting thud.

A cold breeze poured in from outside the hall, and Xuan Long covered his lips and coughed stiflingly. There was a sudden wetness in the palm of his hand, and he sluggishly unfolded his palm to see that it was blood.

‿︵‿︵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: August 15/16, 2022