The White Vulture
LUO FAN
"Hurry up, I'll wait for you in the carriage," Ruan Yanjun told me before he walked out of the room.
Alone at last, I quickly changed my clothes and fixed my hair. Ruan Yanjun almost did not want to give me some space I had to beg before he finally gave in to my request for privacy.
Had he not been acting strangely, especially with the scheme he had pulled in the restaurant the day before, I would not have minded getting naked in his presence since we were both men, to begin with.
I had all the reasons to doubt Ruan Yanjun's sexuality.
Who knows what kind of filth would fill his mind if I undressed in his presence, especially since I am almost blind and cannot see where his eyes would stray.
When I was done, I put all my things inside my bag and grabbed my stick. The moment I walked out of the door, a hand grabbed my wrist and pulled me away.
Before I could utter a word, that same hand covered my mouth from behind.
"A-Fan, it's me," he said.
I stopped struggling and he dropped his hand off my mouth. I quickly turned around to face him. "Yuan, why are you still here? I told you to leave last night."
"A-Fan, I will not leave unless you come with me."
"Sect Leader Ruan is waiting for me downstairs. If I don't go down this instant, he'll come check on me."
"That's why we need to take this opportunity to escape. There's a way out from the backcourt. He won't be able to catch up with us."
"Yuan, I have made myself clear last night. I will not come with you. I made a deal with Sect Leader Ruan and I need to honor that."
"Is it really about that deal or you just don't want to leave him?"
I was perplexed.
He smirked. "Tell me the truth, A-Fan. Do you have a relationship with Ruan Yanjun?"
"I have no relationship with him."
"Then why don't you want to leave him? I'm giving you this opportunity to escape from him, but you refuse."
"I already told you the reason why."
"A-Fan, where did you put your brain? Do you actually believe that the devil will honor whatever deal you have made with him? What did he promise you? That he'll be true to you forever? I'm telling you, soon he'll tire of you and throw you away like garbage, or he'll even kill you so you won't speak out about your illicit affair with him."
I clenched my knuckles. My anger was about to explode but I used the last ounce of my self-control to hold myself back from hitting his mouth.
"Liang Yuan," I said calmly even if my blood was roiling. "Leave now before I lose my temper."
"Did I just blurt out the truth, Your Highness?" he taunted. "To think that even until now, despite the crime that you were accused of, despite the fact that you've lost your cultivation, the disciples of Frost Moutain still regard you so highly. If they see what you've become, how you've disgraced yourself when you succumbed to the devil, can you imagine the disappointment they'll feel? When I heard about your involvement with Ruan Yanjun, I was also disappointed, but I still recognized our brotherhood. I thought that you were probably pushed to the edge and had no option but to cling to the devil. I thought you needed rescuing, and that's why I'm here, to rescue you. But since you refuse to be rescued, it means you've involved yourself with the devil willingly. Have you been blinded by his charm, Your Highness?"
I clenched my teeth hard until it felt like they would break. No one had ever insulted me this way before. I never thought that even my senior sect brother saw me in such a way. "I'm giving you one last chance, Yuan. Leave now before I forget that you were my senior."
"You heard what A-Fan said," Ruan Yanjun's voice came from behind me, but I did not fear for Liang Yuan's life anymore. I was probably too angry I did not mind anymore if Ruan Yanjun decided to teach him a lesson.
Liang Yuan did not move. The corridor was narrow and the only way out was right where Ruan Yanjun was coming from. Liang Yuan had nowhere to escape.
"General Liang," Ruan Yanjun said and stood beside me. "Hasn't Wei Jiayi ordered you to kill Luo Fan? You had plenty of opportunity to do so. Why didn't you?"
I stiffened. When Liang Yuan was unable to make a defense, I realized that Ruan Yanjun must have spoken the truth. "Is that true?" I asked.
"A-Fan, if I had any intention of killing you, I would have done so already."
I was stunned when I heard a slap. It happened so fast that all I saw was Liang Yuan taking a step back.
Did Ruan Yanjun just slap Liang Yuan?
"You have no right to call him A-Fan again," Ruan Yanjun said. "You're not worthy."
I did not try to intervene. I thought he only deserved that slap. He was lucky Ruan Yanjun did not pull his tongue out instead.
"How dare you!" Liang Yuan grunted and unsheathed his sword.
Before I could take a step back, Ruan Yanjun pulled me behind him. "General Liang, be glad that A-Fan still recognizes you as his senior sect brother, otherwise, I would have scattered your small brain all over the floor right now. Do not push me, or even A-Fan will not be able to save you."
"Yuan, leave," I said. Hearing Ruan Yanjun's warning made me suddenly fear for my sect brother's life.
Liang Yuan did not move.
"Ah, it seems you're tired of living and want to die instead," Ruan Yanjun said and raised his hand.
I quickly reached for Liang Yuan's hand and pulled him towards me. "Leave now." I pushed him away in the direction of the stairs.
"We will meet again," Liang Yuan said and fled.
When he was gone, Ruan Yanjun smirked. "He has insulted you, and you let him go just like that? You should have at least hit his contemptuous mouth."
"As much as possible, I don't resort to violence," I replied. "Soon, he'll find out he was mistaken and he'll take back everything that he's said."
"Mistaken?" he returned. "Is he?"
"Lord Ruan, you know very well that he is."
He laughed. "But you're right. Why resort to violence when he's already so bitter? A-Fan, let's continue showing our affection in public until he gets poisoned by his own bitterness. That's a lot better than knocking his teeth out, don't you think so?"
"Lord Ruan, what exactly was your intention for misleading people?"
"Haven't you figured it out yet?" he returned. "That's to let them know that you belong to Ruan Yanjun, and anyone who dares to touch what Ruan Yanjun owns will pay dearly."
His explanation was thorough enough, but I did not think it was necessary. In my opinion, he was trying to provoke some people, particularly the Ethereal Frost Sect or even the royal court of Kan Empire. He wanted to send them a message that if they wanted me, they'd have to get through him first.
His intention was probably to ward them off, but it would actually draw more danger to me. Crown Prince Jiayi hated losing. Instead of ordinary guards and low-level disciples coming after me, the crown prince might be sending elite disciples and soldiers instead.
"Lord Ruan, I don't want to play your game anymore."
He sighed. "A-Fan, why do you have to be so boring all the time? Don't you even indulge yourself with some fun?"
"That's not my idea of fun," I replied and turned away.
He sighed again and followed me downstairs. "Do you know that those two months we've spent traveling together is the most boring moment of my life?"
I ignored him. As far as I recall, within those two months, he had constantly spent every day amusing himself at my expense, until I had decided not to give him any reaction hoping that would make him stop.
It did not. He continued teasing and playing mind games with me that made me look stupid, and then he'd laugh at my face.
I was not brainless. Back in Frost Mountain, I also had excelled in academics. But Ruan Yanjun's wisdom was beyond me he could easily make a witless laughing stock out of me. If only he'd use that wisdom for something good and not waste it on bullying someone not of his level.