Binding the Dragon for the Empress Chapter 82

Raise Him for Me

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The next day, Xuan Long woke up to find himself in Yan Yuan's arms, or to be more precise, the other man was wrapped around him like an octopus: his legs resting on him, his hands circling his neck, pressing his stomach with a vague pain.

Xuan Long gasped with difficulty, and just as his hand pushed up against Yan Yuan's chest, the latter opened his eyes. Yan Yuan withdrew his leg and, extremely naturally, lowered his head and kissed him on the corner of his forehead.

"Awake?"

"You coughed up blood yesterday and scared me."

“Hua Niang said that you were suffering from accumulated depression... If you feel bored staying in this palace, after your injuries get better, I will take you out of the palace for a while, it just so happens that there is a temple fair next month which is very lively."

Xuan Long didn't understand why Yan Yuan could still act as if he cared for him when they had both come to this point. Wasn't it tiring to act like this?

At least he, the audience, was already feeling tired.

Xuan Long looked away, trying not to look at him as much as possible, "You should take your empress."

It was overcast and gloomy outside the window, threatening to rain soon, and the hall was dark as well.

Yan Yuan felt that Xuan Long was deliberately seeking displeasure, and his face darkened: "You think I treat you badly, and now that I've tried to be nice to you, you don't appreciate it. Then tell me, what do you want to do?"

He doesn't want to do anything.

He just wants to stay in peace and quiet and live out the last days of his life.

Xuan Long: "I want... to go."

Yan Yuan: "Impossible, don't even think about it!"

The cracked wall can't be mended so easily, and a relationship that's shaky when the wind blows won't be restored to its original state by a cheap gesture of goodwill.

The unreserved love and trust that had been squandered once was like a river flowing away, never to return.

It's just that Yan Yuan still doesn't understand.

He thought that Xuan Long was easy enough to coax, easy enough to deceive, and that he would be able to hold him peacefully until he grew old, and that a slap on the wrist and a sweet date would be a great gift. (Angel: Slap on the wrist and a sweet date means that after hurting someone, you will give them benefits.)

Xuan Long knew it was useless to say more, so he stopped talking.

After Yan Yuan yelled at him, he began to regret it. Hua Niang had already said that Xuan Long was in a bad mood and was coughing up blood because of his depression, so why should he bother with someone who was sick?

"Alright, let's not argue, okay?"

"What do you want to eat for breakfast?"

"You've been in a coma for so long and you ate so few mouthfuls of porridge last night, you must be starving, I'll accompany you to have breakfast before going to court."

Xuan Long looked inside at the snow-white walls, "Where is Hu Le?"

The only thing he was worried about now was the child in his belly and the little fox.

Yan Yuan's brow wrinkled slightly, "He is already outside the door. From now on, he will only be allowed to be a gatekeeper outside the door, he will not be allowed to entangle himself with you too much in the hall, lest he say something that should not be said and lead you astray."

Xuan Long: "His injury... is it healed?"

Yan Yuan coldly lowered his face, "I don't know."

Xuan Long struggled to back away from Yan Yuan's arms, wanting to go out and take a look, however he had little strength and was instantly pressed back into Yan Yuan's arms. Yan Yuan leaned in and covered his body.

"All you know is thinking about him, why don't you care about whether I'm okay?"

This was so uncalled for that Xuan Long's icy turquoise eyes turned to him, seeing his face flushed and his skin glowing, and moved his lips, "Why do you need me to care?"

Yan Yuan's black face was unforgiving: "That is no reason for you to go against me."

One moment it was Yan Huo Heng, the next it was Hu Le, just how many things was this dragon hiding behind his back?

Xuan Long was not very articulate, so he was no match for Yan Yuan: "... Get out of my way."

Yan Yuan snorted, "Unless you admit that you love me, I won't allow you to go out and see him."

"......" Xuan Long's body stiffened and he turned his face away, closing his eyes.

Yan Yuan twisted his face around, “Say it."

Xuan Long's pale lips were pursed tightly, his expression stubborn.

Yan Yuan stared at the man beneath him with his eyes closed for a moment, then leaned close to him and smiled softly, rubbing his thumb over the ugly scar: "They say it is difficult to open your mouth when you are deep in love. You are hesitating... then you must love me very, very much. Isn't that right?"

Xuan Long lowered his voice: "No..."

Yan Yuan's expression changed and his fingers pressed down heavily: "No?"

Xuan Long felt the scar on his face that he was born with suddenly stinging sharply, as if a blazing fire was burning, and in a trance, a monstrous karmic fire appeared before his eyes, suffocating with red on all sides.

When he was struck by the demon blade in his chest, he knew he was going to die, but he held on to his last breath and waited for the man to come and see him one last time. Fearing that the man would cry, he coaxed him saying that he was not in pain, when in fact it was very painful. The magic blade pierced his chest, and the pain of that wound would strike right through his soul, tugging at the fact that even breathing was painful.

It was just as painful as it was now.

He does not understand why he recalled such a nonsensical dream he had thousands of years ago, perhaps because of the deep despair that was no different from this moment. At that time, it was because of the knowledge that he was about to leave, and now it was because the man he had once thought to be his lover had cruelly revealed the scars of his heart over and over again, leaving him to bleed.

“... Never loved."

Such an answer, could Yan Yuan be satisfied?

Thinking about it, he was not very satisfied. The hand clinging to his face turned to move to his neck and suddenly applied force: "You are lying."

Xuan Long always felt pain in Yan Yuan's presence, but compared to the pain in his heart, any external injuries on his body, including the gruesome wound on his back, were practically insignificant.

"Never... loved."

Yan Yuan was so angry that his chest rose and fell violently, and the bruises on the back of his hand flared up as if he wanted to strangle him alive, but he actually kept his strength collected. He quickly loosened his strength and leaned close to the man beneath him, his lips touching Xuan Long's from time to time as he spoke, smirking.

"Hmph, you're just lying to yourself with your mouth. If you didn't love me, would you have picked me up and returned me to the thousand-year-old pond? Would you have plucked the inverse scale to heal my body and take care of me?"

"Would you have willingly fallen beneath me, let me fuck you, and insisted on having my children?"

"You clearly love me too much... and you still won't admit it."

Xuan Long was always stubborn. Yan Yuan was tired of it and was too lazy to dwell on it with him, anyway, such things can be known in one's heart, and Xuan Long's denial will not change the fact.

"There are many people who care about me, indeed, you are not the only one."

When he got out of bed and put on his shoes, Yan Yuan felt something under his buttocks that was particularly prickly. He got up and turned around to see a pointy tip under the mattress, which appeared to be some kind of silver jewellery.

Yan Yuan pulled it out and looked at it, his pretty eyebrows wrinkling.

"Why is this silver hairpin here with you?”

Xuan Long twisted his head to look as an afterthought, and was also stunned to see the silver hairpin with cloud patterns in Yan Yuan's hand. He had few things, and most of the cupboards and drawers in the hall were empty, so if he had put the silver hairpin in those places, it would have been easily discovered.

This was just as embarrassing to him as Yan Yuan's naked revelation of his thoughts. The Han Po who fell in love with Yan Yuan, the Han Po who was willing to pluck his scales to save someone for Yan Yuan, and the Han Po who bought this silver hairpin identical to Ning Zhiyu's at the stall, were all pathetic jokes.

Xuan Long strained to sit up, not even feeling the pain in his back at this point, and held out his hand towards Yan Yuan: "Give it back to me."

Yan Yuan laughed: "Give it back?"

"This is a gift I bought for A'Yu from a stall when I accompanied him out of the palace for the last Qixi Festival, why do you have it here?"

"No wonder he lost that one and couldn't find it, it was stolen by you."

Xuan Long didn't explain and stubbornly held up his hand, the movement tugging at the wound. Cold sweat seeped from the corner of his forehead, "... This is mine. Give it back to me."

Yan Yuan held up the not-so-delicate silver hairpin in his hand with amusement, "Yours, where did you get it? I didn't expect you to be so filthy, stealing the fish last time was enough, but you even want to take A'Yu's silver hairpin. What are you thinking?"

There wasn't really much difference between admitting that he had done something as ridiculous as that and the other person thinking he had stolen something.

Both would leave one ashamed of oneself.

Xuan Long withdrew his hand in silence, no longer struggling in vain, and hung his eyes without saying anything.

Yan Yuan was quite happy: “A'Yu was upset for a long time when he lost this silver hairpin, I have to take it back to him and surprise him on the day of his birthday. If you want, there are plenty of treasures in the treasury, just let me know, there is no need to engage in such petty thievery."

"I know you envy him, the good he gets from me, but you shouldn't take what is his."

"When I have finished my court work today, I will go and choose a new hairpin to give you, so don't think too much about it."

"......"

When the time came, Chen Yan called Yan Yuan outside to go to court, and Yan Yuan left with the silver hairpin in his hands with great joy.

Didn't this prove that Xuan Long cared for him?

When the silver hairpin was lost, Xuan Long's spiritual power was still there and he knew the invisibility technique, it was not surprising that he could know that the silver hairpin was his gift to A'Yu for him for the Qixi Festival, which was an easy thing to do.

It would have been even easier to take his belongings.

Yan Yuan knew that Xuan Long himself did not care about such material things. That is why he was more and more pleased, and he was full of joy throughout the morning court without even knowing it.

The moment the door of the palace closed, the large Qiankun Palace returned to silence. Xuan Long fished the Iris jade pendant out from under the couch and looked at it for a long time in a daze, his fingertips rubbing over it, it was so cold that it contained no warmth.

Recalling all that had happened before and looking at it again, he closed his palm and tried to throw the jade pendant out, but his arm was too weak to lift it.

Yan Yuan had not lied to him this time, Hu Le had indeed been released. He had fed him blood before leaving the dungeon that day, so his wounds were not infected and he had already recovered by now. It’s just that the food in the prison was not good, so Hu Le lost a lot of weight.

Xuan Long asked Xiao Zhanzi to bring food to him and asked Hu Le to come in to eat, but Hu Le refused, fearing that if he angered Yan Yuan, Yan Yuan would vent his anger on Xuan Long. It would be fine if it was him, but Xuan Long could never withstand it.

He did not know what threat he had received from Yan Yuan, but Hu Le refused to even see Xuan Long for a prolonged period of time, so Xuan Long had to go inside and talk to Hu Le through the door.

"Hu Le... there is something I would like to ask you."

"Go ahead."

"In a few months, the baby will be born… then I will try to find a way to convince Yan Yuan to let you go, and you will raise him for me… okay?"

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

We're half way done!

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

Translated: September 15, 2022