Chapter 22: Accomplices

“You’ll kill me? I guess dying at a beautiful woman’s hand is not such a bad option, after all. Shall I help you out then?” Ren asked in a solemn voice. I couldn’t tell if he was joking or serious.

Glancing away from me and at the knife held close to the side of his neck, Ren slowly moved his neck closer to the knife until his skin grazed the sharp edge of the knife. Smiling at me, he pushed his neck slightly harder against the knife and to my absolute shock, red blood started oozing out from his neck. Ren…he cut himself on purpose?! Why?!

“No! Ren!” I screamed at him in shock as I let go of the knife.

He’s bleeding. Almost by instinct, I grabbed the long sleeve of my robe and pressed it firmly against his wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding. This is bad, I don’t know if the wound is deep or not but a wound to the neck can be dangerous. He needs to be treated as soon as possible.

“Ren…hold still, I’ll try to stop the bleeding, ok?” I started talking to him as I felt like crying. How did things turn out like this? Why did he hurt himself?

“It’s just a scratch. You don’t have to fret over it,” Ren said as he held my wrist.

“No. We need to get it looked at. I should call the palace doctor…” I replied back, my voice filled with worry as I furrowed by brows with concern.

“There’s no way you can kill me. Healing people is your job. Killing them is mine. Don’t try to reverse our roles,” Ren warned me with serious eyes.

I bit my lower lip in frustration. He was right, no matter what, I couldn’t bring myself to kill him…or anyone. Removing the cloth of my sleeve that I had pressed against Ren’s neck, I could see that his bleeding had stopped. He was right once again; the wound wasn’t deep. I sighed with relief.

“Show me your arm,” Ren ordered.

“What?” I asked blankly, not knowing what he had in mind.

Ren took my arm impatiently and started yanking my sleeve up until my whole arm was exposed. I stared blankly at him, unable to understand what was going on.

“It’ll sting a bit. Bear with it…” Ren whispered.

Suddenly, I felt the cold blade of the knife against the skin of the inner of my wrist followed by a slight stinging pain. Gently, Ren guide my wrist towards the center of the bedsheet dripping my blood onto the sheet.

“What are you doing?” I asked as I tried to pull my hand away. His grip grew tighter, preventing my escape as our eyes met.

“Creating evidence,” Ren replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“For what?” I asked, still quite confused.

“Hush. Not so loud. The emperor and the court will demand to see evidence that I’ve successfully taken your virginity. This fake evidence is for that,” Ren explained impatiently as he watched more of my blood drip onto the sheet.

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Showing virgin blood on the bedsheet as proof is probably something super trendy here in this empire, I guess. I followed Ren’s gaze as I watched my blood drip onto the white sheet, staining it red. Once satisfied that there seemed to be enough blood on the sheet, Ren let go of my wrist before tearing some fabric and started to wrap up the small wound. His hands were gentle as he took care of me, and it didn’t hurt much at all.

“From now on we’re officially accomplices,” Ren stated proudly as he grinned at me.

“What?” I asked. It seems like this is all I’ve been able to say lately as I struggled to follow his evil plans.

“Do you know what presenting fake evidence means?” Ren asked, the grin still plastered on his lips.

“No…” I replied, but I had a guess. It didn’t mean anything but serious trouble…if we were caught.

“Submitting fake evidence is like lying directly to the emperor. If we are caught, we’ll be charged with treason,” Ren stated with a sadistic smile on his lips. I couldn’t phantom how he could take this matter so lightly.

“Treason…” I repeated the word in a whisper. The punishment for treason was my death along with everyone else’s. I felt my blood run cold.

“Don’t worry. I have no intention of committing treason,” Ren said in a warm voice as he patted the top of my head with his large hand.

Despite the situation we were in, Ren was always calm and collected.

…

It was late at night, and everything was silent and dark around us. I lay down wide-eyed and unable to catch a wink of sleep. My mind kept replaying the scenes from earlier in my head. Ren’s kisses and touch still made my heart beat loudly in my chest. I felt myself blushing as my mind turned to the other issue at hand. Ren and I have colluded to fake our relationship but how long can this charade last?

Ren had fallen asleep peacefully next to be on the bed after I had insisted that he lie there instead of on the floor. His face was relaxed and peaceful in his sleep as if everything that happened tonight did not bother him at all. Ren had offered to sleep on the floor just like he had done when he stayed with me at my house, but I couldn’t just let the crown prince sleep on the floor now could I?

So here we are on the same bed with me feeling very conscious of his closeness. I watched as Ren took deep and steady breaths in his sleep.

‘From now on we’re officially accomplices’

Ren’s words ran through my head non-stop. I came here with the hope to save the other villagers from harm but somehow, I’ve managed to committed treason along with the crown prince against the empire. Perhaps, I’ve put the entire village into even more risk than I realized. The only solution is to never get caught. But how long can we keep fooling everyone? How patient will the emperor and the court be in waiting for an heir?

If I succeed in helping Ren become the emperor, I can go back home, right?

There’s got to be a way for Ren to become the emperor without us producing an heir, right?

--To be continued....

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