Binding the Dragon for the Empress Chapter 162

Condemn Me to Never Leave You Again

---

The kitchen was filled with the smell of fresh fish soup. The man stood in front of the hot stove, wearing a pale blue robe, and his waterfall-like black hair gathered behind his ears and hanging loose. With a pair of tearful peach blossom eyes, he looked at Xuan Long with a smile and said:

"A'Po… I'm sorry I kept you waiting..."

Xuan Long did not think that the person in front of him was real, he must have been hallucinating. Having been wounded by the nightmare demon, when the demonic energy invaded his body, he had hallucinated. Inside the kitchen, in the courtyard, in the bedroom, everywhere he looked, there was Yan Yuan's figure.

But once he went over and touched him, he would turn into nothingness... It was always the same.

It should be the same this time.

He had been injured during the suppression of the demon clan, and it was not surprising that he was hallucinating due to the demonic energy entering his body.

But even if that was a lie, it had been too long since Xuan Long had seen his lover. Xuan Long walked towards the person at the stove and raised his hand to touch the longed-for face, moving as slowly as if time had been slowed down by a delaying spell.

When he was about to touch the face, his fingers stopped in mid-air, unable to move. What if the person in front of him disappeared if he went any further, and when would they meet again?

He paused for a moment before eventually withdrawing his hand, dropping it to his side and whispering, "You're back...."

The man hoarsely answered, "En, I'm back."

Xuan Long: "You're back, are you going to leave?"

Yan Yuan smiled, "Not leaving."

"Didn't you say you wanted to grow old with me? I promise you that when I return this time, I will grow old with you and will never separate from you again in this life."

With tears in his eyes, Xuan Long smiled.

"Okay."

"Grow old together... and never part again."

Yan Yuan stepped forward to hug Xuan Long, who took a step back and avoided it. If Yan Yuan disappeared, how could they grow old together?

"Don't come over here."

Yan Yuan paused, his voice a little hoarse: "What's wrong?"

Xuan Long shook his head, "You just don't have to come over."

"Fine, I won't come over." Yan Yuan was willing to obey him in everything. "Are you hungry? The fish soup is ready, do you want to eat it now?"

"En."

Yan Yuan prepared a bowl of fish soup from the pot and brought it to the table. Xuan Long sat down at the table and Yan Yuan took his seat opposite him.

Xuan Long picked up the spoon and gently swirled it in the bowl a few times. When it had cooled a little, he scooped it up and took it to his mouth. The taste was still as fresh in his memory, it had not changed.

"Aren't you going to eat?" He asked Yan Yuan.

"I'm watching you eat." Yan Yuan replied.

The injury to his abdomen had caused Xuan Long to lose some of his strength, and after eating the fish soup, he went upstairs to rest. He lay down on the bed and asked Yan Yuan to sit on the edge of the bed. Xuan Long wanted to reach out and touch the warmth of the other man's body, but he knew that if he did, he would not be able to see him. So he just stared at Yan Yuan's face in silence, the dim candle flame flickering on and off, making the person in front of him even more illusory.

"If I fall asleep, will you leave?"

"I'm not leaving, I said I would always stay with you and never leave again." Yan Yuan could not resist the urge to hold Xuan Long's hand, but when he thought that he did not want to touch him for some reason, he stopped halfway and withdrew his hand.

Hearing him say this, Xuan Long was relieved, but suddenly, a tickle in his throat caused him to cough, and the wound on the right side of his abdomen, which had barely been stabilised by his own poor healing technique, broke open. He subconsciously covered the wound on his right side as blood seeped out from between his fingers, and a strong, cold scent instantly filled the room.

"You're injured?!"

After suppressing the demon clan, Xuan Long cast a spell to change his clothes upon his return to the Heavenly Realm where he had met with Lord Yan Jing. As the bleeding had stopped and there was no smell of blood, coupled with his usual ability to endure it and the darkness and inability to see his face, Yan Yuan did not realise until now that he was suffering from an injury.

It had been a hundred thousand years since Yan Yuan's soul had been imprisoned in the irises in the courtyard, watching Xuan Long spend a hundred thousand years in solitude, watching him often go out in good health, only to come back badly injured, knowing that he existed nearest to him, but not even being able to appear before him, let alone having the luxury of being embraced.

He had long since had enough of that pain.

Xuan Long felt himself being gently picked up, and strangely enough Yan Yuan did not disappear this time, he could even feel the warmth of the other man's body through his clothes, making him feel more at ease than he ever had in the past hundred and twenty thousand years.

So he leaned quietly into Yan Yuan's arms, opened his unfocused turquoise pupils and asked, "Where are you taking me?"

Yan Yuan carried him through the door, and clouds rose beneath his feet, "Taking you home."

Home?

Wasn't this his home...

But that didn't matter. In truth, wherever Yan Yuan was, it could be considered his home, so it didn't matter where he went.

Xuan Long curled his lips.

"You're finally willing to come and take me away..."

"I have been waiting for a long time."

Yan Yuan: "I'm sorry."

Xuan Long: "Between you and me, what's the point of saying that, how could I really be angry with you?"

Yan Yuan: "En."

December had already brought about a bitter winter, the sky was covered with snow, whitening the heads of both of them. Because Yan Yuan had cast a spell, Xuan Long did not feel the cold. He lowered his eyes and said, "A'Zhi has grown into a man... he has lived a good life over these years."

"Tai Xu Shenjun said that he was born prematurely and has a strong divine constitution, so he is a natural emperor, but I think that none of that matters much, as long as he is happy with his life, that is the best..."

"Do you think so..."

"Mhmm, yes. It's best if he's happy."

It was rare for Xuan Long to talk this much, and Yan Yuan's heart ached as he listened, so he didn't say much.

"I am not a good father, I can't even learn to please my child. It is good for him to stay away from me, I was born in an unknown way and put you in such a situation, it is because he was not with me that he grew up so well all these years..."

This is what Xuan Long has been hiding in his heart. No one had known about it for the past hundred and twenty thousand years, and there was no one to talk to, so he could only tell Yan Yuan.

Yan Yuan did not want to hear such words. The scene of Xuan Long giving birth to A'Zhi was still vivid in his mind, that was the child that Xuan Long had exchanged his life for, but in the end, the child was not happy, it was no different from stabbing him in the heart with a knife.

"That brat, I will teach him a lesson when I see him, I will show him why the sky is blue and blood is red."

Xuan Long: "Why are you teaching him a lesson? If you teach him a lesson, I will still be the one who is heartbroken. As I said... as long as he has a good life, it will be good."

The corners of Yan Yuan's eyes were red, and he lowered his head to kiss away the snow that fell on Xuan Long's eyelashes, saying softly, "Okay, I'll listen to you, I won't lecture him, I'll lecture myself. Who told me to make you wait for so long, I should be punished, I'll be condemned to never leaving your side again, and never letting you endure loneliness again, okay?"

"... Okay." Xuan Long closed his eyes and tears slipped out of the corners of his eyes.

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

Previous Chapter | TOC | Next Chapter

Translator Notes

We're one week away from finishing the book! Look forward to it!

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

Translated: February 28, 2023