“Then let’s bolster the number of guards all along the border. I don’t believe that we can’t stop them.”

“Well, we can’t stop them from going around the Qishi Sea or the Western Sea and I am saying that this is the route they are actually taking. You’re just not listening.”

Chun Yin glared at Yu Bao. “No, it’s you who isn’t listening. What do you want me to do? Throw someone into the sea and expect them to stay there and keep an eye on the situation? Who is going to do it? You? Because it’s certainly not going to be me and whoever we appoint won’t take kindly to it.”

Yu Bao scoffed. “So we’re supposed to just let it go?”

“Have I said that? I am saying we should work on what we already have. If we know for sure that they can’t slip through there, then we can still bring it up again and discuss. If all the other options have already been exhausted, then it’ll be easier to find someone willing to try new strategies as well. But you can’t put the ox before the cart. We have to take this step by step.” Even if he hadn’t become king, he still understood more about the ways of leading a kingdom than most of Jinde’s advisers. And, well, he also knew their king better than all of them so he could say with absolute confidence that Jinde would never agree to have someone keep watch from inside the sea. He’d call him ridiculous if he even tried to bring it up.

Yu Bao didn’t share his view though. “You call me hasty but I am just thinking of our people. How long is this supposed to last? In the past, you would have agreed. It’s all just because you’ve turned so weak-willed since you got married that you —”

“Speaking of which!” Jie Cheng raised his voice, interrupting when it was clear that their disagreement would turn into a full-blown argument the next second. He glanced through the room before pointedly looking at Chun Yin and raising his brows. “Where’s your son?”

Chun Yin furrowed his brows. Even if Jie Cheng had interrupted Yu Bao, he had heard enough to know what that asshole had wanted to say. Of course, he wasn’t happy and wanted to give him a piece of his mind. As if he wasn’t frustrated enough with having had married that woman! If he could turn back time and have a do-over of that night, he’d be more careful. But now, he was already in this situation and still had to deal with people like this putting their noses where they didn’t belong.

He glared at Yu Bao before motioning behind. “Where else could he be?”

Jie Cheng pressed his lips together and motioned for him to take a look.

Chun Yin stared at him and then turned around. “Fuck!” He slammed his hand on the table, raked the other through his hair, and then dashed out of the room. “I’ll be back in a minute!” How far could that brat have run?

He looked around the corridor, not slowing down in the slightest as he hastened in a specific direction. Recently, he was taking the child along whenever he went to discuss with the others. He didn’t need to. He had a wife at home who could very well take care of their child but … maybe Jinde’s words were getting to him a little. He suddenly felt scared to leave Qiu Ling with her if he went out for a longer time. So, under the excuse of ‘wanting his son to learn from an early age’, he tended to drag the child along. As a result … the little brat took off whenever he wanted.

It wouldn’t be bad to have to search for him every now and then. Anyway, that child took after him and was robust enough. He wouldn’t get hurt out there. It was just that he had a tendency to run to the same place every single time. Or, no, it shouldn’t be called the same place. Rather, he ran off to see the same person each time and that … was really giving him a headache.

Chun Yin reached the door to the throne room, silently cursed his life, and then poked his head in. Looking around … there was no child and no golden-haired beauty either. He sighed, walked to the other side of the room, and stepped into the corridor on the other side, making his way over to Jinde’s set of rooms instead.

Standing in front of this door, he hesitated a while longer until he finally knocked. Unfortunately, he didn’t get a response. Well, that didn’t have to mean anything. Jinde liked not reacting when he suspected it was him. It had become a whole thing between them recently. He sometimes felt as if he was air.

He hesitated for another moment and then opened the door, stepping inside. He looked through the rooms one by one, then sighed, and went out again. Alright, not in his private rooms either. Then maybe the study? Or the library? Both were places Jinde frequented and that brat of his had already figured out as much as well. They were both so predictable.

Chun Yin checked the usual places one by one but not even one golden hair was found. Where had those two gone?

With no other common spots to check out, he could only start asking around whether anyone had seen Jinde. Of course, he could have asked about Qiu Ling but … fewer people would pay attention to a small child running around. Meanwhile, you couldn’t quite ignore the kind and with Jinde’s looks, he was hard to miss.

This choice turned out to be right. It only took a few moments for one of the guards he grabbed to raise his brows. “His Majesty? I believe he went to the training field behind the palace earlier.”

“Thank you!” Chun Yin didn’t stay to exchange more words and rushed out there, although his steps slowed further the closer he came. The reason he had originally rushed to find Qiu Ling was that he had hoped to find him before he found a certain golden-haired beauty. He just … couldn’t look into Jinde’s eyes these days and he felt especially guilty whenever he had to pick his child up from his side. Jinde was really the last person in the immortal realms who should have to look after that brat. And yet, Qiu Ling always rushed to his side.

Chun Yin stopped at the edge of the practice field, looking around for his son and the lover he had betrayed. Why his child was so attached to him … he could understand it very well. Whether it was Biao Han or him, it was clear that neither could deal with the child as well as Jinde did. They didn’t have the same patience, the same gentleness, the same understanding. Nobody did. Jinde … would have been the perfect parent which … made all of this hurt even more. Qiu Ling’s looks didn’t help either.

He hated to admit this even more but, actually, if you squinted enough — or just got absolutely drunk like he had that night — then Biao Han resembled Jinde. She had the same height as him and the same kind of slender limbs. Her hair was a little darker than his but had the right length and while her eyes had a tint of red but in the twilight when the night just started, it came close enough. The worst was probably her facial features. They were just a little softer than his but the shape of her brows, eyes, and lips was pretty much exactly the same as Jinde.

It was bad enough to deal with this in his daily life. Every day he came back to what was now considered his ‘home’ and had to look into that face, he wanted to kick himself. Over and over again, he would wonder how he had been able to maneuver himself into this situation. He had done wrong by the woman who was now his wife, he had done wrong by the child whom he now had to raise, and he had definitely done wrong by the person who now had to look at what was basically a bad copy of himself next to the man he loved. Who hadn’t he hurt?

And the worst thing was that the unfortunate reminders likely weren’t able to stop there. It hadn’t been as clear at first but by now, it had been several years since Qiu Ling was born. Looking at him now … that child obviously resembled himself a lot but, for whatever reason, fate liked to toy with him. This son he had had with Biao Han, he managed to slowly grow a face that picked just the right features to make him and Jinde look related when they stood next to each other. It was maddening to see. And if it felt that bad for him who had made the mistake, then it should be worse for Jinde who had to live with the consequences despite no fault of his own. So why the fuck did this child like to cling to him so much?!

Chun Yin’s brows furrowed when he still couldn’t spot the brat even after looking over the whole practice field twice. Well, he couldn’t see Jinde either so he shouldn’t be that surprised. But if they weren’t here …

He thought for a while and finally, his gaze was attracted by the path leading to the side, past the field, and toward a small grove. Could it be …?

He thought of the time he had brought Jinde here for the first time and of the many times they had gone there afterward. He hadn’t checked but chances were that Jinde still went there every now and then. He himself couldn’t bear to do so, always feeling reminded of those times when everything had been so much easier and they had still had a future ahead of them, one in which they would be together. He … didn’t like thinking about it, now that even the last chance of that was lost.

Chun Yin lowered his head, staring at the ground. He hadn’t noticed but … it seemed that today, snow had fallen for the first time this year. It wasn’t much, only a thin blanket barely covering the ground, but it did seem to take him back to that day when his relationship with Jinde started to become closer.

He sighed and finally followed the path, slowly walking to the grove before he stopped at its edge. He wasn’t sure if he should go. If Qiu Ling really was with Jinde, he didn’t have to worry about him. Anyway, if the little brat had found him already, taking him away now wouldn’t change anything. He might as well leave them be and wait for the child to come back on his own or, well, be sent back by Jinde. It might be better if he did.

Even though he told himself that, Chun Yin still walked down the path, lightening his steps as he approached the clearing in the middle of the grove. Between him and Jinde, his physical skills had always been better. If he didn’t want to be found, he wouldn’t be. He could just … go and take a quick look, and then leave before he was noticed. Surely, Jinde wouldn’t want to see him anyway.

Chun Yin soon reached the edge of the clearing and just as expected, he found one tall golden-haired beauty and one dark-haired small child huddled together on the tallest stone next to the pond. Just as usual, Qiu Ling was clinging to Jinde, looking as if he didn’t intend to let go anytime soon. Thankfully, Jinde didn’t seem to mind and let him hold onto him, quietly talking.

Chun Yin’s gaze softened as he saw the two of them like this together. In a different life, these two would not be unrelated and that would be Jinde with their child while he wouldn’t have to hide back here, unable to approach. Unfortunately, it wasn’t possible in this life.

He suppressed a sigh and finally went back, not wanting to disturb. Jinde had always liked children. Even though he should feel ambivalent about this one … he might still enjoy this kind of quiet moment with him. Anyway, he hadn’t ever sent him back yet so that should tell him something. His child was innocent so Jinde with his gentle personality could treat him as such. It was only he who had betrayed him who did not deserve such treatment.