My Devil Emperor
A Soft Heart

"Don't think the lady who helped me yesterday was the empress herself. Sorry for my impoliteness, Your Majesty the Empress." The voice made Yuan turn his head. He was sitting accompanied by Jingli in the palace courtyard.

"Oh, that's you. What else now? No way, are you lost again?" sindir Yuan threw his face away.

Crown Prince Ling chuckled softly and walked over. He stood beside Yuan and looked at him.

"But it seems, I was right to get lost. I'm lost in your heart" he replied with a face made plain.

Yuan closed his lips with a folding fan and laughed softly. "Are you in the habit of seducing a married woman?"

"No, but the Queen's beauty made me fall in love. I liked you when I first saw you."

"What are you saying!" Jingli who had restrained himself had now taken a step forward, but Yuan held him back.

"Sister, no need to be angry. Some people sometimes have strange tastes that sometimes go against values and laws."

Crown Prince Ling laughed out loud. "Sir, you're too honest. But no problem, I like women like this."

"Sister, let's go back to the palace. It's very uncomfortable here." Yuan stood up, wanting to leave the palace grounds but the Crown Prince came back to stop him. He even took a step further. The man's hand almost touched Yuan's hand but someone had already pulled Yuan away from him.

"Crown prince, I think you've gone too far."

Yuan looked up at ZiXuan who was already standing next to him.

"Your Majesty, you misunderstood. I just want to chat for a while with Empress Xuan," Crown Prince Ling said softly.

"But you saw it for yourself, he refused. Crown Prince, I hope you know your limits."

The man looked unconcerned about ZiXuan, probably because from the age aspect Crown Prince Ling was a few years older than ZiXuan. He even tilted his head looking at Yuan. "Your husband is very possessive, huh?"

Yuan smiled faintly. "That's better than nothing."

"It's not fair. Your Majesty, your life is very lucky. Being able to obtain one woman who was like this Empress Xuan must have been a lot of fun. You take it easy, I won't seize it but can I have a chance to just have dinner with the Empress?"

"What do you mean?"

"Let's bet. If I can defeat you, let your queen accompany me to dinner."

"What kind of empty egg is that?! How dare you make me a betting item! If you want to be served, just ask the waiter to serve you! Even in my home alone, I have never been treated like a maid! I'm bachelor—" Yuan stopped. He blinked his eyes and looked at ZiXuan.

"Why not continue?" zixuan asked while raising her eyebrows.

"Brother, you can't make me a bet! Even if you are my husband, I still belong to myself!"

"Who would want to make you a bet? Crown Prince, I regret having to reject it but if you challenge me to be able to measure the extent of your abilities, then it's fine."

"It is an honor to train with His Majesty, please guide him."

ZiXuan was about to walk into a more spacious area, but a soft, cold hand stopped him. He looked to see the girl beside him.

"You—"

Understanding what the girl was going to say, ZiXuan immediately cut her off. "It's okay. Don't worry."

"Then be careful."

Crown Prince Ling was already standing ready in front. He held a sword with a handle and a black sheath in his hand. "Before, I apologize for behaving like demeaning the Empress, please Your Majesty is not too cruel to me."

ZiXuan chuckled. He picked up the sword Li Wei had given him and walked slowly. "It depends whether you can hold it or not. If it wasn't for our ancestral old relationship, I wouldn't have bothered either. Wait until I get some traces, you probably won't be this arrogant."

"I've heard it. The youngest Emperor of the Qin Dynasty did have great ambitions with the myriad of achievements he had. Cold-blooded and cruel while on the battlefield. The golden generation. Now I can see it firsthand, even bowing respectfully when in age, I am the more senior just that our bloodline is different. But if it wasn't for the loyalty and sacrifice of my ancestors, you couldn't have reached this point either."

ZiXuan nodded. "That's right. You have a good ancestor. It would be best if his descendants could also follow in his footsteps."

On the other side, Yuan looked at the astonished two men who seemed to be conversing. "He is the Crown Prince? Jingli, have you heard of it?"

"There are not many records of the Ling Kingdom, but its ancestors had good relations with the first emperor and founder of the Qin Dynasty. Relationship between master and follower. But it began to stretch when Ling Ji, the ancestor of the Ling kingdom died to make sacrifices. Historically it is said that during the reign of the first emperor, the cultivation practices that were the concept of Taoism were still many, even dominant, of course the challenge to survive was also greater. The first emperor was a ruler as well as a leading cultivator at that time. Because it is too powerful, society perceives it as a threat. Rebellion ensued, but at that critical moment the first emperor experienced an unexpected Qi aberration. Being too ambitious, the first emperor trained too hard so that the flow of Qi became unbalanced. In order to save even more lives especially those who were born without having a spiritual core and stop the war, Ling Ji was said to perform a forbidden spell, destroying himself to repair the flow damage to the first emperor," jingli was obviously very detailed.

"Oh." Yuan nodded when he did not understand. But he could catch the point, this grudge was caused due to Ling Ji's death. But due to the different castes, his descendants also could not do more than pull away slowly. Though making sacrifices was Ling Ji's own decision and choice.

"Sister, do you also have anything to do with Ling kingdom?"

"Why can the Empress think like that? My homeland is the Zhou kingdom!"

Yuan chuckled. "Alright, alright. After all I thought your name and Ling's royal ancestor were almost the same."

Jingli narrowed his eyes and flicked his lips. "What is the same? My family name is Su. All my family was born in the royal land of Zhou."

"alright. Alright. Don't upset. I'm just the origin" Yuan said, persuading him.

Yuan simply smiled and refocused his eyes as the fight began.

Crown Prince Ling moved to take the first strike. His eyes seemed to have another look. An arrogance and hatred. His killing intent was so visible that it made Yuan a little worried.

Yuan walked up to Li Wei leaving Jingli who was seriously watching.

"You are General Li Wei, right?" tanya Yuan made sure. Although he was already convinced that he had met several times and also the result of asking Jingli, it would still be embarrassing if he was wrong.

Li Wei looked down respectfully. "That's right."

"This—is it alright if His Majesty fights? You must know the condition, right?"

Li Wei smiled amiably and said, "Your Majesty will not take up the challenge if he himself doubts his success. Empress don't worry, Your Majesty can definitely defeat her."

Yuan breathed a sigh of relief. But a few seconds later he seemed to think of something and looked back at Li Wei.

"General Li, can you help me?"

Just up ahead, the fight was getting fiercer. If noticed indeed Emperor Xuan's field mastery was wider than Crown Prince Ling's. He did not shy away from the attack the opponent launched but blocked it well.

Crown Prince Ling slashed his sword swiftly, like a boomerang sweeping towards Emperor Xuan.

Emperor Xuan squinted his eyes. He stepped back due to the barrage of attacks, but his facial expression looked very calm, only the part of his eyes slightly changed.

Seeing his opponent as showing weakness, Crown Prince Ling smiled obliquely. He even accelerated his attack as fast as he could.

But due to grossly underestimating the opponent, he didn't even realize Emperor Xuan was taking one step more in front of him.

A very strong clanking sound was heard. A sword bounced off after it split into two halves. Both of them stuck in the ground.

"I'm sorry, I'll replace it."

It happened very fast. Crown Prince Ling stood sculpting with a silver sword around his neck. If it moved just a little, maybe he would be in another realm right now.

Crown Prince Ling smiled. "It deserves to be Emperor of the Qin Dynasty. Your Majesty, you are amazing," he said as he glanced towards ZiXuan.

ZiXuan lowered his sword. "You're amazing too."

"Then, Li Wei, bring the Crown Prince back to rest" he continued.

"No need, Your Honor. I plan to come back today."

"Then—"

"Empress!" The shrieking sound made either ZiXuan or Crown Prince Ling turn her head.

ZiXuan ran over to the fallen Yuan sitting with Jingli holding his head in the lap of the girl.

"Miss Jingli, quickly call the palace physician. Your Majesty the Emperor, I will escort the guest to the outside. Crown Prince, come," Li Wei said.

Jingli immediately handed Yuan to ZiXuan and ran to call the physician, while Li Wei went to escort Crown Prince Ling who was about to leave the empire.

"Wakeup. Stop pretending" ZiXuan said as he blew the girl's eyelashes.

Listening to him, Yuan immediately opened his eyes. He hurriedly withdrew from ZiXuan's embrace and stood up followed by the man.

"Your Majesty, are you okay?" asked Yuan while staring at ZiXuan from top to bottom.

"It's okay. Let's go back."

Yuan held his arm. He revealed the outer layer of ZiXuan's clothes and saw a wet stain there. But since the color of the shirt was black, it was not clear that it was a blood scar. "You lied."

ZiXuan snorted in annoyance. "That's okay. You can go back to your palace." He pulled his clothes from Yuan's hand. "Eh? Why are you crying? Don't cry" he continued in a panic as he watched the girl shed tears.

"Brother, you scolded me. I'm just worried about you."

"Did? When did I scold you?"

"Your eyes are looking at me like that. You must be angry!"

"My eyes? Alright, alright. No cry. What do you want?" ZiXuan tried to persuade the girl in front of him. It's not without reason, he just doesn't like to hear people's cries.

ZiXuan felt very uncomfortable. He could have left the girl by now, but his conscience prevented. He was a little unbearable when he saw Yuan cry. Is this the charm of a pretty girl? But he's not like this usually.

"Let me help treat your wounds."

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