The image on the water mirror vanished as if Tian felt that everything that needed to be said had already been said and he didn’t want to be bothered any longer.

Qiu Ling rubbed his neck, feeling that this guess should come pretty close to the truth. Especially in light of the last words Tian had spoken. He should count himself lucky … Yes, from the perspective of the supreme sovereign who was still waiting for his lover to awaken, this was indeed the case. It had barely been two weeks since Jing He fell and they had been separated. Even the three weeks that the Heavenly Emperor had kept them apart from each other before were nothing compared to the length of time Tian had been holding out to see his beloved once more.

Uh … so … had he pissed off the supreme sovereign just now when he said that? Judging from the water mirror above that still showed a blank surface instead of his beloved’s sleeping quarters, Qiu Ling was afraid this might be the case.

His lips twitched but there was nothing he could do. This was what he got for not thinking thrice in front of this person. In the future, he’d better count to ten before saying anything and look at it from Tian’s perspective as a lovelorn man still waiting for his lover’s return.

Ah, hopefully, he wouldn’t keep being angry and show him again what had happened on Jing He’s side tomorrow night. Otherwise, he would have to wait with no news at all. While this was what he had originally expected to happen, it was a lot more difficult to accept after this one exception. To think that he might have ruined this chance at connecting with Jing He at least a little with his own hands … ah, it wasn’t easy to bear.

For now, there was nothing to be done though. Yelling for Tian to get his attention and apologize certainly wouldn’t impress the man. It might instead piss him off further. While his expression never really changed, he probably didn’t have much patience to deal with others. Otherwise, why was he living alone in the High Heavens? So, considering that, it was better to keep as quiet as possible so he wouldn’t set Tian off further.

Anyway, it wasn’t like he had nothing to do. Tomorrow morning, he’d have to go back to the throne room to accompany Jing He’s father and he wouldn’t leave there unless the Heavenly Emperor himself left. So, his schedule was basically booked until tomorrow evening. As for the remaining hours of tonight … well, he should first finish this letter of his and then get a few hours of sleep.

From what Tian had just said, it sounded as if it shouldn’t be a problem to let Jing He know these things he was writing down. At the very least, he wouldn’t be in danger of shattering his soul once again. While it might still shock him, it would also show him his sincerity in bettering their relationship and prove to him that he could trust in his honesty even though he hadn’t always told him the full truth in the past.

Qiu Ling took a deep breath and looked at the letter again. These things, they had happened long ago. All of them were bad memories he’d rather forget but he couldn’t deny that it was these experiences which had made him into the man he was today. This should naturally be made clear to his beloved and he shouldn’t spare him any of the details.

Of course, in a letter such as this, he could only give a rough overview first even if it was a long one. For more than that, they’d still need to have a talk. He didn’t mind though. He might not be able to bring himself to tell Jing He all of this to his face as an initial confession but he could open up about it after his beloved was aware and had had some time to make up his mind about how he thought of this. By then, he could see from his expression and behavior what he thought and he’d feel much less anxious in telling him the rest.

Having made up his mind, Qiu Ling picked up the ink stone again, slowly grinding the ink as he thought of everything else he wanted to tell Jing He. To be honest, there was a lot. He usually didn’t think much about this but he was five times Jing He’s age, even older than the Heavenly Emperor. Heck, that bastard had not even been an adult yet when he became king of the dragon race. It would be ridiculous to think that there weren’t about a million things he had experienced that Jing He had never heard about.

Of course, much of that time hadn’t been spent on anything noteworthy. Well, no specific noteworthy events, at least. It felt more like there had been large periods of time in his life that were dedicated to certain stages: There was the first part of his childhood in the dragon king’s palace, the years in the countryside, those spent in the wilderness, then the return to the capital city and the early period of his reign when he did everything by himself, building his reputation as a conscientious king.

Later, he chose his advisers and pulled back little by little. He hadn’t had any plans yet but subconsciously, he had probably prepared to fade from the dragons’ mind, quietly choose a successor, and leave again so he wouldn’t have to continue being afraid of being found out. That vague idea only came to an abrupt end when he finally met Jing He and realized that his status was paramount to being able to marry this person.

Yes, his life could indeed be described with such broad brush strokes and he didn’t know where to begin detailing all of it for Jing He. Most likely, not all of it would fit in this one letter. No, these almost thirteen thousand years could fill a whole book all on their own. So, for now, he should just stick to his early years. This should also be what his beloved knew least about so it couldn’t hurt to spend some more words on it.

Deciding on this, Qiu Ling dipped the tip of the brush into the freshly ground ink and continued to write silently, adding a few paragraphs before he finished this letter. Looking at the dark sky outside the window, he finally sighed and went to bed. In a few hours, another day would begin. It would be another day without his beloved but, at the very least, it also meant that he was one day closer to reuniting with him

~~~

Little Theater

Qiu Ling: Almost thirteen thousand years. You could probably fill a book with all of those events!

Author: We won’t. Not in this life.