Huh?
I didn't know what to think.
"Father told the head eunuch to kill himself?"
"Yes, I did,"
I felt strong fingers grip my shoulders. Looking behind me, I saw that he had exited the cultivation room.
"Why?" I asked him.
"I have my reasons." He replied. Looking towards the kneeling Ao-ye, he said, "already knowing who sent him, I didn't see why he should suffer further. Unfortunately, he eventually did,"
Ao-ye raised his head.
"I was following Her Highness' orders,"
"Yes, I know it can be difficult to serve two masters," Father chuckled as he kneaded my shoulders.
Two masters? What two masters?
"But," Father went on, "I don't think Her Highness included that you could crush his imprint if you felt like it,"
Ao-ye said nothing.
"There can be a nice balance between Her Highness' orders and my orders, you know," his left hand caressed my cheek from behind, "in case you're wondering, Neiman, Ao-ye is my personal guard who I bestowed to you."
Oho?
"But that doesn't mean you can disregard my orders either," Father resumed berating Ao-ye, "the head eunuch begged me to spare his life imprint, at the very least, if I could not spare his life,"
"But Father," I asked, "who sent him?"
"That," Father dismissed Ao-ye with a wave of the hand, and came to sit on the bench facing mine, "you don't need to know,"
"But--"
He smiled.
"This emperor will deal with them. You already have a lot of things on your mind. The others are not important enough for you to worry about,"
"Was it--"
"What?" He frowned.
I bit my lip. The couldn't wildly accuse someone. I needed proof.
"Nothing," I said.
"It wasn't Elvin Kushad, if that was what you wanted to say,"
How did he know?!!
He laughed.
"Ever since that scuffle at Court the other day, Ao-ye told me you asked him to tail Elvin Kushad," he laughed again.
This was not good! What kind of a spy leaked your secrets to someone else? I would never use Ao-ye again!!
"I agree that Elvin Kushad is a nasty person, but he doesn't have the guts to poison me,"
But he didn't know about the Lion-Ant King. How had Elvin Kushad placed an imprint on it if he wasn't colluding with Uncle Arhost?
"Neiman," he held my hands in his, "what are you thinking about?"
"Nothing," I said quickly.
He looked intently at me for a while.
"Are we expelling the poison or not?" He said finally.
I grasped his hand and inserted a strand of my conscious into it.
"Consume the pill now," I said.
He tipped his head back and swallowed the pill. I followed the strand of my conscious to see the situation within his body.
Bliss!
Where's the poison??!
A round red dot caught my attention. The strand of my conscious wrapped around the medicinal strength from the pill and raced to the dot. The strand uncoiled from the medicinal strength and the latter assaulted the poison itself.
"*Cough*, *cough*," I heard Father cough. I gathered some medicinal strength and passed them to his lungs. The coughing stopped. I withdrew my conscious.
He blinked.
"Are you done?"
I nodded. I had really underestimated him! He had condensed the poison into a blotch already, instead of it scattered all over his system. The time to expel it had reduced by half, but I didn't tell him this.
He looked at me with a complicated expression.
"You are a real alchemist grandmaster," he smiled.
And a poison expert, I added in my heart.
***
He took me round Phoenix Palace himself, and while we strolled, my hand in his, I told him about Foster Prince He Shu.
He said nothing.
We continued walking, on a bridge over a lake. We had left the Phoenix Palace behind. I looked into the clear water at my reflection.
"Neiman," he said suddenly, startling me.
"Yes?"
"What was his name, your adoptive father?"
I wondered why he asked.
"Thzarmir Hakorhi," I replied.
"And your mother?"
"Shathelia Hakorhi," I answered, "why?"
He shook his head. A faraway look came into his eyes.
"Neiman, do you promise to come back home after the war?"
I couldn't.
"I-- I might not come immediately--" I murmured.
He gripped my shoulders and turned me to face him.
"Neiman, the saddest day of my life was not when we lost you, but the day we held a memorial after five years," he looked into my eyes, "believe me, the ground had never tasted a drop of this Emperor's tears," he said, "but, it did that day,"
What had that got to do with coming home after the war?
"Neiman, I will never let anything bad happen to you again. I promise,"
I nodded to show I heard him. He pulled me into his arms and embraced me, almost smothering me.
"I love you, Neiman," I heard his muffled voice.
I love you, Neiman. I love you, Neiman. Another person who'd said that floated into my mind's eye. His eyes twinkled as he laughed, throwing me into the air and catching me. I love you, Neiman!
I rubbed my eyes. Uf Iria was here, she'd be shrieking:
"What's making you cry now??"
Father pulled back and looked at me. Thankfully, my face was dry. I didn't want to look like a weak person and have him tell me to sit at home, no going to the Rashar Plains because "I couldn't handle it,". I could handle it. I'd handled worse things. For twelve years I carried the horrifying memories of that fateful day ....
"Are you alright, Neiman?"
"Yes," I nodded vigorously, "I'm fine."
He took my hand and we started to walk back to the Phoenix Palace.
"Stay at my palace today," he said.