Binding the Dragon for the Empress Chapter 98

Time is Running Out

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Everything in front of him became unreal.

Xuan Long suddenly remembered the day when they first met. The afternoon sun was extremely nice and warm, he was cultivating at the bottom of the pond when he heard the sound of a fight coming from the shore, and when the noise stopped he went up to the shore to see a white and beautiful human man who was badly injured and fainted on the shore.

If he had not been saved, the human would have died.

When he was very young, he had received kindness from a human who had saved his life, and the light that had come to him in his desperation had guided Xuan Long to live kindly like a little spark of fire in the night, but he couldn’t see it through to the end.

So he picked the unconscious human up from the shore.

For the first time in nearly 10,000 years, Xuan Long was living with a human being, and he was not used to it. He was afraid that the human would be afraid of him, so he avoided him as much as possible, only appearing when delivering medicine or food, ready to send him back to the shore once he had recovered.

Who knew that the human was not afraid, but even pestered him, pampering him and saying that he wanted to be married to him.

Xuan Long knew what it meant to be husband and wife.

To be husband and wife was to be inseparable for the rest of one's life, until death.

He really thought that person wanted to be married to him, and since he had moved his heart, he gave everything he had to him without reservation, and in the end, it was a crushing defeat.

He had lost.

It was his fault that he was so stupid that he couldn't even tell the difference between true love and lies.

Fortunately, it was all coming to an end.

He was exhausted, and in his next life, he would never want to come back to the human world again...

Xuan Long's heart was calm as he watched Yan Yuan thrust the dagger at him, the tip of the blade piercing the blood-red prison garment and penetrating his heart. It was only a little bit, and he could not even feel the pain.

Yan Yuan's hand was shaking, he looked fierce, his jawbone clenched tightly, and a beastly roar came from his throat.

Not knowing what Yan Yuan was hesitating about, Xuan Long reluctantly dragged the heavy chains, slowly lifted his blood-stained hand and reached for Yan Yuan's wrist, holding his hand and helping him push the dagger in.

"Like this, it won't kill me."

"It needs to be pushed harder."

With a 'pshh' sound, the dagger instantly penetrated nearly an inch of flesh and blood. Yan Yuan woke up as if from a dream and jerked the dagger back, falling to the ground. There was no emperor's prestige left, but rather he looked like a panic-stricken child.

"No..."

"No...!!!"

Xuan Long's breathing was deep and slow, his eyes half-darkened and faintly watching him.

Yan Yuan crawled back to Xuan Long, straightened up and raised his hand to slap him.

"That's what you're after isn't it!!!"

"You don't want to die."

"Don't even think about getting rid of me like that!!!"

Xuan Long's face turned sideways from the inertia, and after a long, quiet moment, he inaudibly said, "Don't hit me again..."

Don't be as cruel as Mother.

When Yan Yuan left, he could almost be described as running away. The gloomy prison full of rich cold fragrance made him feel suffocated, the dying Xuan Long made him feel suffocated, and the moment the dagger pierced into Xuan Long's body, he almost drowned in a great fear.

The emotions that burst from the depths of his soul caused his heart to ache and his blood to chill, as if he had sunk ten thousand feet into the sea with a boulder, accompanied by overwhelming despair.

Xuan Long can't die...

Xuan Long can't die...

This thought filled Yan Yuan's head densely like insects, causing him a sharp pain in his head and nearly driving him crazy.

Mo Zun did not tell Ning Zhiyu that if a person who had been infected with the demonic compulsion moved on and fell in love with another person, his soul and body would both suffer from a rebounding addiction and gradually become abnormal.

In the past, Yan Yuan was considered generous and benevolent, and clear about right and wrong. After all, he was a 19-year-old boy, so bright smiles were common, but now a gloomy hostile pressure was on him, and he was a completely different person. No one dared to approach him easily, even Chen Yan was more cautious than before when he accompanied Yan Yuan, like walking on thin ice.

When Yan Yuan rushed out of the prison, Chen Yan, who was waiting outside, greeted him respectfully: "Your Majesty..."

He burst into the night without a word, his peach blossom eyes scarlet as blood. Chen Yan was startled and hurried to follow him with his lantern.

Day after day passed, and Yan Yuan's mood became less and less normal. He suddenly developed a persistent headache overnight, and when he had an attack, the pain was so severe that he wanted to die immediately. It was impossible to find out what disease he was suffering from.

Because of this, half of the eunuchs from the Imperial Hospital were dragged out and beheaded, while the rest trembled every day and had their wills prepared and stored at home, fearing that they might lose their lives one day.

Ning Zhiyu was so gentle with the palace staff that the people in his palace were extremely loyal to him. The few people who knew he was pregnant would not reveal such unspeakable secrets. They all thought that if he fell from such a high pavilion, the baby would be lost, but after being in a coma for two months, Ning Zhiyu's abdomen had gradually grown bigger, just like an ordinary pregnant woman's fourth month of pregnancy.

In the beginning, Zong Hua did not say anything in order to protect his lover's safety. Since Ning Zhiyu was seriously injured and unconscious, there were many doctors who came to Luanfeng Hall to help, but he was the only one who handled the pulse diagnosis. The old hospital head retired a few months ago, and Zong Hua has become the new head of the hospital, so it was easy for him to take care of this matter.

If Yan Yuan were to find out that Ning Zhiyu was carrying someone else's child behind his back, not to mention what he would do to Ning Zhiyu, it would be a mortal sin for Zong Hua to have failed to inform Yan Yuan of the matter in the first place.

Therefore, this matter must not be revealed.

During this period of time, Zong Hua has thought of many ways and tried several newly prepared abortion pills to feed Ning Zhiyu, but to no avail. His belly grew bigger and bigger every day, and he could not hide it anymore.

Ning Zhiyu's body was so thin that he was like a piece of paper, and when his belly grew, it became more and more strange. He could barely cover it up with bedding before, but now the bedding couldn't even cover it up.

When Yan Yuan had a splitting headache, he loved to drink, and when he got drunk, he felt better and often came to see Ning Zhiyu in Luanfeng Hall. He found that Ning Zhiyu was abnormal. The pregnancy-like signs startled him and he thought it was some sort of disease, so he panicked and asked Qingmei to go find the imperial doctor.

Qingmei, as one of the few people who knew, was nervous, and her eyes darted between Ning Zhiyu and Yan Yuan: "Your Majesty… the Empress, is pregnant."

Yan Yuan frowned, looking bewildered: "Pregnant?"

He supported his vaguely painful forehead, and was so drunk that he didn't hear anything wrong with it for a moment.

Qingmei's breath shuddered, "Yes, that day when you were drunk, you consummated your marriage with the Empress... have you forgotten?"

Yan Yuan tried to recall, it seemed to be that there was a day when he invited several courtiers to the palace for deliberations, drank too much and went to Luanfeng Hall after nightfall, and everything after that was gone.

When Qingmei saw that he looked uncertain, she bravely continued, "The Empress wanted to have an heir with you, so he took a fertility pill, and not long after that night, he was found to be pregnant. You don't blame him for taking matters into his own hands, do you?..."

Yan Yuan frowned and murmured, "Pregnant… A'Yu is pregnant..."

"How can he be pregnant with such a weak body, how can he give birth..."

He had seen Xuan Long get pregnant, he knew how hard it was to get pregnant. Xuan Long had ten thousand years of Tao, but he was tossed a few times and nearly miscarried, not to mention Ning Zhiyu.

Qingmei continued, "It is because of the unstable foetal pulse that the Empress did not tell the Emperor in time, fearing that if there was any accident to the son in his womb, it would, it would cause you grief..."

"Falling from such a high place, the son in the Empress' womb is still alive, so it must have been sheltered by heaven, Your Majesty, you must not blame the Empress..."

Yan Yuan waved his hand and laughed, "How could I, how could I blame him, I am still too happy to be upset."

"I am happy..."

He lifted the wine jug in his hand, tilted his head and poured it into his mouth, the transparent wine was like nectar gyulu, making people intoxicated. (Angel: Nectar gyulu is a metaphor for delicious wine that comes from Journey to the West.)

"Your Majesty, you should not drink... too much wine will hurt your body.”

Chen Yan had previously discouraged Yan Yuan quite a few times, nagging at Yan Yuan enough for him to get annoyed, so he asked someone to drag Chen Yan down and reprimand him with twenty heavy sticks. Chen Yan was an old eunuch who had grown up with him for so many years and was punished for such a trivial matter, lying in bed for half a month and not being able to get up. Yan Yuan’s actions were really cold.

Chen Yan could not persuade him, so how could Qingmei? Luckily, Yan Yuan was so drunk that his temper was better.

When he was drunk, he often went to the prison to seek out Xuan Long to vent his desire. He didn't know whether it was an illusion or not, but after each time they had sex, his headache always eased, his body didn't feel uncomfortable and his temper got better.

People always like to find things that make them feel better, it's completely instinctive.

Since the unsuccessful extraction of his heart, Hua Niang has visited the prison several times to treat Xuan Long's wounds, but no one dared to remove the demon chain from his body without Yan Yuan's permission, and the round hook went through the bone in his shoulder, so there was no way for the wound to heal.

As a result, his body remained bloody and unclean, but Yan Yuan enjoyed making love to him, taking off his trousers and then doing it, causing the chains on Xuan Long's body to rattle incessantly and the hooks embedded in his shoulders to tug at the flesh and blood, gushing out more blood.

He was more than eight months pregnant and Xuan Long's belly had grown even larger, so it was not the right time to bear all that. Yan Yuan did not care about that, he only knew that he could find a moment of relief when he was buried in Xuan Long's body. He embraced Xuan Long's body, kissed the corners of his lips and said in a blur: "Do you know, A'Yu is pregnant..."

"I'm going to be a father..."

Xuan Long's back was against the wall, his legs forced to bend up to rest on Yan Yuan's waist, and with his towering belly blocking his view, he couldn't see his lower body, he could only feel the pain all over his body and the blurring in front of his eyes.

"Is that so?"

"Yes, I am overjoyed..." Yan Yuan exhaled his drunken breath against his ear.

Xuan Long's voice was extremely low and unsteady: "Then... congratulations."

Yan Yuan was so energetic that by the time he had finished, it was almost dawn. Feeling that Xuan Long's body was too cold, he conscientiously asked someone to find a dry quilt to cover him with.

There was straw underneath him, and even if the quilt on top was thicker, how warm could it be?

The piece of flesh that had been plucked out of his heart was already the limit of what Ning Zhiyu could do to hold on to his life for two months.

Ning Zhiyu's time was running out, and so was Xuan Long's.

‿︵‿︵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: October 1, 2022