Luna tilted her head to look at Xiao Tianyao, her expression didn't show much when she replied. "My father."
Xiao Tianyao paused for a moment to look at her. "He abused you?" He continued to smear the ointment on her back, but the tone that he used to ask was very rigid.
"No." Luna closed her eyes tiredly, trying to get rid the torturous moment with her father. "He trained me to become strong."
"Where is he now?"
"He is dead."
There was a long silence before Xiao Tianyao said softly. "That reason still can't justify his action."
After he rubbed the ointment on her back and helped her to eat some porridge, Luna finally fell asleep, but Xiao Tianyao insisted to keep watching while she was sleeping. Afraid she would turn around and hurt her back.
It has been five hours since Xiao Tianyao brought Luna back to his mansion, however, when the first sunlight touched the horizon, an imperial decree came.
A eunuch from the palace came with twenty armed people, they sought for Xiao Tianyao presence.
This sudden visit raised a little bit commotion among the people in Xiao Tianyao's Mansion, no one dare enough to disturb their master at time like this. The animosity aura that exuded from him was enough to suffocate any of them until they lost their footing.
At time like this, Qianru, who had been waiting for more than five hours for Xiao Tianyao to come, volunteered herself to tell him.
Relief expression waved all of their faces when she said this and without waiting for another second, she trudged toward his room.
A soft cracking sound was heard not long after that, but he let the person came inside the room without even lifted his head from the wounded woman who was sleeping soundly on the bed.
"You are really neglected me…" Qianru complained.
Xiao Tianyao lifted his head and gave his sister in law attention now. Qianru was sitting on the wooden chair near the bed. "She is sick, I can't leave her."
Qianru didn't know what happen between Xiao Jun and him, but it was quite obvious that something bad had happened between them. Xiao Jun had given her an ambiguous answered every time she asked about his brother.
"I am afraid you need to leave her for awhile." Qianru said in a very low voice. "There is Imperial decree knocking your door and the eunuch has been waiting for you outside the mansion."
There was no answer from Xiao Tianyao as he kept his eyes on Luna.
"You must have expected this to happen the moment you break into the prison to save her." Qianru glanced at Luna's bare back, the red color of the opened wounds were frightening and made her to furrow her brows. Couldn't imagine how she was able to endure that.
"Let him wait." Xiao Tianyao finally replied curtly.
"You can make him wait, but you still need to enter the palace eventually, or else the Emperor will give you hard time." Qianru added a little while later. "Both of you."
Xiao Tianyao heaved a heavy sighed, Qianru was always like a sister for him, since they had known each other since the three of them were very young.
Many years before, no matter how bad Xiao Jun and he fought with each other, she would always be the bridge who could talk with both of them.
Time didn't really change it.
"I will look after her." Qianru persuaded when she looked Xiao Tianyao almost gave in.
"Hmm." Finally he nodded and stood up, but not before he kissed Luna forehead. "I will leave her with you."
"Sure." Qianru reassured him with a bright smile. But, when Xiao Tianyao was about to walked toward the door, Qianru added. "Xiao Jun will be there too, he received the news and looked very worry about you. It had been a long time since I saw him like that." Her memories flew to the moment when Xiao Jun cried silently in her shoulder, looked so vulnerable and devastated, and it squeezed her heart painfully.
Xiao Tianyao didn't say anything and continued to walk out of the room, but Qianru knew that he listened to what she had said. If he wanted to avoid some topic, his reaction was always like that.
After Qianru heard Xiao Tianyao had closed the door and his footstep couldn't be heard. She looked at Luna with expression that devoid from any emotions.
"No one else here, you can stop pretending."