CROWN PRINCE'S CONCUBINE

The young man was fast asleep on the bed hugging his pillow, he was very tired and didn’t wait for the Crown Prince like he usually did. The young man slept so soundly that he had a dream.

A black shadow perched on a tree branch, it was late at night past midnight and the two-night watchmen opened their eyes wide looking around them close to each other in fear.

“W-what is that?” both of them were ready to run away when a strong wind blew towards them, in an instant a black shadow was already in front of them holding the two together.

“Akkhhh! Help!!”

The screams of the two could be heard from far away, but none of the residents dared to come out let alone peek through the window, no matter what happened no one dared to risk their lives.

The sound of terrifying creature roars filled the silence of the night, from the two blackened bodies with two eyes glaring through something long and shiny. The moonlight briefly reflected the light of the attacker’s long body and was dragged across the ground. Dragging the two bodies wrapped around its long tail carrying the two bodies crept between the buildings and dropped them on the way, right in front of the Orchid inn.

Brukk.

Whatever the creature that was so large and long was still creeping between the roofs of the residents’ houses, the long black snake with glowing yellow eyes, and forked tongue turned its head towards Bai Ying and attacked him with its mouth wide open.

.....

“Arrgghhh!”

“Ah!”

Bai Ying woke up. He opened his eyes wide, gasping for breath and breaking out in a cold sweat, it was a very bad dream. And it felt so real.

“Hoh Hoh hoh” Bai Ying looked around, it was in the inn room, he could feel what the giant snake-like creature felt, Bai Ying held his chest, it was very painful, something like enormous anger stabbed in his heart, so deeply.

Bai Ying turned his head towards the door where the Crown Prince had just entered.

“Your Majesty”

Luo Xiang widened his eyes as he saw Bai Ying’s pale face as if he has just seen a ghost, he approached quickly.

“Ying Ying, what happened? Did you just have a nightmare?” He immediately walked over to Bai Ying and grabbed his cold palms.

Bai Ying wanted to speak, but his lips were still trembling, something pressing against his chest had yet to go away, and he can hardly breathe because of it.

“Eh”

Luo Xiang squeezed Bai Ying’s palms and pulled the young man into his arms.

“Oh boy, why are your hands so cold?” He lifted two of the young men’s palms and put them to his cheeks to make them warmer.

“Eh, Your Majesty, servant, saw who the attacker is, who is the perpetrator of the black corpses murder”

Luo Xiang touched Bai Ying’s cheek.

“What attacker? Which one?”

Bai Ying looked at the Crown Prince deeply.

“That, the one who attacked the residents and cause the body to be blackened, Your Majesty, that is, some kind of giant black snake, it has a pair of bright yellow eyes with a long forked tongue, it deliberately dropped the corpses in front of the inn, maybe because it knows we’re staying here”

Luo Xiang looked at Bai Ying with his big eyes, he was at a loss for words. As he had thought, he couldn’t confirm the theory because it was only a legend, but, Bai Ying saw it in his dream, then, it was indeed true, this is not something he wishes to happen at this time or anytime.

“Eh that, was just a dream Ying. There’s no giant black snake creature anywhere, it’s just a legend, you must have heard it from somewhere before you went to sleep, stay calm it was just a nightmare”

Bai Ying grabbed Luo Xiang’s big palm against his cheek, looking at the Crown Prince’s worried eyes, he saw the glint in the man’s eyes.

“Your Majesty, Your Majesty knows something right? That thing, really exists right? That black snake, that wasn’t just a dream.”

Luo Xiang was silent, he couldn’t hide anything from Bai Ying. He would immediately know that he was hiding something from him. He caressed Bai Ying’s cheek with both hands lifting the young man’s face to take a deeper look.

“Ying, if it is right, then this is not something we can deal with, according to the legend, the Black serpent demon has its own power and domain, and during this time it has never taken more victims than it needs, so, all of this will pass and the citizens will live in peace again. This legend has already happened a hundred years ago, brother didn’t know if this was true or not before, but, seeing what happened, and your dream now, it might all be true.”

Bai Ying gripped the Crown Prince’s hand tightly.

“Then, Your Majesty, can’t we do something about this? Are we going to just walk away after knowing the bad things that happened in this town?” Bai Ying asked.

Luo Xiang looked at Bai Ying for a moment, he nodded slowly.

“Whether we like it or not, that’s what we have to do. This is not something we can deal about it, if it’s really the Black Serpent, that is definitely none of our business.”

Bai Ying lowered his hand and bowed his head deeply.

Crown Prince lifted the young man’s chin slowly to see his pair of wistful eyes.

“Ying, what are you thinking?” he asked.

“Don’t put your face like that, look at me”

Bai Ying turned his head, not looking at the Crown Prince, he was probably already disappointed in him. He brushes the man’s hand off him.

“Your Majesty, this, is not Your Majesty that Ying er knows, not a Crown Prince who ignores his people, this isn’t Your Majesty, even though the serpent is very powerful, however, it has no right to take people’s lives as it pleases, that is so horrible”

Luo Xiang stuttered. He was about to take Bai Ying’s hand back but the young man shrugs him off.

“Eh Ying..”

Bai Ying raised his head to look at the Crown Prince with a pair of deep looking eyes.

“Whatever the legend of the Serpent is, but killing humans is beyond the limit, no creature is allowed to take other creature’s life as they please just because they want it, isn’t that what Your Highness used to say?”

Luo Xiang clenched his fists after failing to grab Bai Ying’s hand.

“Heh, that’s right Ying, but the Black Serpent is a creature from the heaven that is cursed to live in darkness for all of its life, in its life cycle it needs to take the essence of some humans to survive, and the heaven allows that as long as it doesn’t cross the line. We, can’t do anything about it, killing it is also useless, it will reappear after the appointed time, it is a curse that it must accept after all the power given to it”

Bai Ying raised his head to look at the Crown Prince, he just heard the story, but whatever it that, the Crown Prince must have had a reason, though he didn’t want to believe it, he should have trusted in him.

“But Your Majesty, how many humans it must kill to obtain the essence? Will all of this be repeated indefinitely?” Bai Ying asked.

Luo Xiang shook his head, he touched Bai Ying’s cheek and lowered his head to see the young man’s disappointed face for a moment.

“Heh, unfortunately, I don’t know about that either, but what is certain is that apart from killing a few humans, that creature must not do anything bad, or else it will receive a very heavy punishment from the heavens.”

Bai Ying lowered his head, trying to hold back the tightness in his chest after the nightmare earlier, he let the Crown Prince come forward and hug him, stroking his hair gently,

“Heh, forgive this brother for disappointing you, Ying, but, some things, are beyond our control, and don’t always work as we want it, let this pass, for the sake of balance in life we ??must not interfere, later you will understand the rules”

Bai Ying raised his arms around the waist of the Crown Prince, dropping his head into the big man’s broad chest.

“Your Majesty, can be a Realm King also not rectify what is wrong and out of place? I feel what the serpent is feeling, the pain, suffering, loneliness and hatred are enormous, if it is true that it is a creature cursed by the heavens, it must also hope that the curse will disappear, or, whatever is that.”

Luo Xiang nodded.

“That’s true, but, for now, we can’t be careless, let’s go home and ask Elder Yi about this matter, maybe he has an answer for us”

Bai Ying tightened his embrace, and he nodded.

“Yes, Your Majesty, Servant, understand.”

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