Xiaobao realized that it was only when these black mists appeared that Daddy became like this. Her entire little body clung tightly to Daddy’s thigh, glaring fiercely at the black mists in a childish way as she raised one tiny hand and kept shooing them away.
She wouldn’t let these things get near Daddy.
Evil thoughts churned endlessly in Nangong Shiyuan’s heart. His scarlet eyes fixed on the little thing clinging to him as he slowly raised his hand.
With the slightest exertion, he could crush this ignorant little thing to death as easily as an ant.
“No one’s allowed to get near Daddy!!!”
As her anger erupted, a faint, tender-green light emerged from the little ball of fluff. It was completely invisible to human eyes, yet it dealt a heavy blow to the black energy surrounding Nangong Shiyuan.
The grotesque, raucous voices beside Nangong Shiyuan’s ears instantly turned into piercing screams. He covered his head in agony, feeling a blank buzzing fill his mind.
But soon, those demonic whispers vanished, and his world… became quiet.
Nangong Shiyuan, who had originally been on the verge of losing his reason, gradually came to his senses.
This was a feeling he had never experienced before. Every time his illness struck, he became like a vicious beast. When it had first begun, he had slaughtered everyone serving him in the Imperial Palace while unconscious.
By the time he regained awareness, lightning and thunder had illuminated the corpses scattered everywhere through the heavy curtain of rain, while he stood there like a vengeful ghost crawling out of hell, a bloodstained sword in his hand.
That day, the entire Imperial Palace had run red with blood.
His already brutal reputation—earned because he had killed his father and murdered his brothers—had been firmly cemented. It was not only the people in the palace and the imperial city who feared him; the people throughout the realm feared him as well.
After that, he would fall ill at regular intervals, turning into a mad, beastlike lunatic who knew only how to rage and kill, recognizing neither kin nor anyone else.
That was also why he did not allow anyone to attend him in his sleeping quarters.
But today had been an accident. This little thing, who knew nothing at all, had no idea what a terrifying place she had barged into.
Nangong Shiyuan’s fingers trembled. His reddened eyes lowered as he looked at the little one clinging to him and fiercely shooing away something.
His heart was surging like a stormy sea, countless emotions tumbling within it.
He had come to his senses. He had actually come to his senses…
In the past, whenever his illness struck, he would lock himself in a secret chamber before the warning signs appeared and go mad for several hours, sometimes even the entire night.
But today, just as his reason had begun to slip, he had actually regained consciousness.
This had never happened before.
Nangong Shiyuan stared blankly at his pale, faintly trembling hands. There was not the slightest trace of color on his lips, and his entire face was frighteningly white. He had come so close—so close to using those hands to kill that little thing.
“Don’t get near Daddy! Bad thing.”
The child’s fierce little voice completely roused Nangong Shiyuan’s mind. His thin lips pressed into a straight line, his brows drew together into a ridge, and his long, narrow eyes glimmered with an unreadable expression. He reached out and lifted the little thing clinging to him.
“Do you know that just now—” he began. “You almost died.”
“Daddy, you’re all right now!”
Before Nangong Shiyuan could finish the rest of his sentence, the child opened her little arms and threw herself into his embrace, laughing especially happily.
Xiaobao wrapped her arms around Daddy’s neck and rubbed her chubby little face against his cheek.
“Don’t be scared, Daddy. Xiaobao chased all the bad things away. Blow on it and it won’t hurt anymore.”
As she spoke, her tiny hands cupped Daddy’s handsome face. Pursing her little lips, she seriously blew at Daddy’s forehead.
“It doesn’t hurt anymore, okay~”
Her soft, childish manner made it seem as though she were coaxing Nangong Shiyuan like a little child.
Nangong Shiyuan: “…………”
The expression on his face nearly cracked.
Xiaobao hugged Daddy’s neck again and let out a sleepy little yawn.
“Daddy, Xiaobao is so sleepy. I want to sleep with Daddy.”
She had used all the spiritual energy she had stored for such a long, long time on Daddy. Now she was so sleepy.
The little thing in his arms was soft and tiny, carrying a distinctive fragrance—a very fresh, milky fruit scent. Even her voice as she spoke beside his ear was soft and sweet.
At this moment, the emperor who was invincible on the battlefield and intimidating without anger in court had no idea where to put his hands.
Although he already had several sons, he had never held a child before.
Nangong Shiyuan could only raise one hand expressionlessly to support the soft, tiny daughter in his arms and keep her from falling. Hearing that she was sleepy, he was just about to tell the little one to return to her own palace to sleep when the sound of her small, even breathing had already reached his ears.
Su Xiaobao’s little arms circled Daddy’s neck. With her chubby cheek turned to the side and resting against the crook of Daddy’s neck, she slept soundly.
The cold expression on Nangong Shiyuan’s face completely cracked this time.
He tried to take the little thing down, but even asleep, she clung tightly to him without letting go. When he used just a little more force, the little girl’s brows furrowed and she began to whimper, her small expression so aggrieved that she looked as though she would burst into tears the next second.
“Gently,” Nangong Shiyuan said with a frown.
The hidden guard: “…………”
You have to let go first!
It wasn’t that Nangong Shiyuan didn’t want to let go. The main problem was that he had truly never held a child before, and he was afraid that the moment he released her, this little thing would fall straight onto the floor.
Besides…
Xiaobao was clinging to his clothes and refusing to let go, too.
And so the situation became completely stuck.
Nangong Shiyuan cast the hidden guard a glance, his tone icy. “Useless. You can’t even handle such a small matter. Get out.”
“Yes!”
The hidden guard hurriedly slipped away. He felt aggrieved as well—how was this his fault?!
The moment the hidden guard let go, Nangong Shiyuan clearly felt the little one burrow deeper into his embrace.
Her tiny body curled into a ball. Both little hands gripped his clothes, while her furry head rubbed against his chest with soft little whimpers, like a piglet.
Nangong Shiyuan stood there stiffly holding her for quite some time before finally speaking in a tone of distaste.
“What’s the difference between you and a pig?”
Even so, he still carried the tiny bundle in his arms toward his dragon bed.
When he lay down on his side, Nangong Shiyuan discovered that this little thing had become even more brazen. She burrowed farther into his arms, pulling the clothing over his chest open a little more.
With a dark expression, Nangong Shiyuan reached out and gave her chubby cheek a neither-light-nor-heavy pinch.
“Stay still!”
These soft, chubby baby cheeks were surprisingly tender.
There was just a little too little flesh on her, though. She looked rather thin, too.