Illumination

Lei Xing on the side was enjoying watching Lei Yong's misery and watching the scene with a smile, restraining the urge to laugh.

{...Hahaha, it's nice to see someone else miserable for a change...I'm a horrible person - yeah, I don't care hahaha...}

 Then the Emperor's eyes darted in her direction, and her smile immediately fell, and her eyes reflexively darted in another direction.

The Emperor narrowed his eyes, in the next moment, the servants came forward and presented them with their lanterns, holding fire sticks ready for them to set off the lantern release. They had already distributed the lanterns to the guests as well.

As per custom, the Imperial family releases the first set of lanterns starting with the Emperor and the empress, followed by the others...and those outside the city release theirs after seeing the lanterns from the palace.

The Emperor looked at the lantern being presented to him and then glanced up at the sky and then said, "Ahh, it's time, come along." and started walking off towards the entrance.

They were all perplexed but followed along behind him, with the noble consorts ahead and then the concubines, the ministers and their families following behind, with the servants trailing along.

 The Emperor was walking briskly, and of course, they were all trying to keep up with him.

After about fifteen minutes of this, Lei Xing's tired irritated mood resurfaced, she was exhausted and started to slow down, and Li Ru beside her also slowed down as well.

Lei Xing, at this point, was glaring ahead at the speed-walking emperor, along with Chen You and Zhao Lan who were steadily behind him almost at a jog.

{...Where the hell is this a***ole going now? Also, why is he walking so fast? Does he think this is a military drill or something...Pity the old people and the tired here!... Also, if we were going for a workout, a heads up on wardrobe would have been nice, do you know how heavy all this crap is?!...}

 Since Lei Xing and Li Ru slowed down, the others behind them naturally were also forced to slow down. There were some sighs of relief that could be heard from behind them.

Li Ru looked ahead, a little worried and said to Lei Xing, "Don't you think we should speed up a little?"

Lei Xing offhandedly said, "You can go ahead if you like."

"Yes, you can go on ahead." Tung Mei chimed in. Lei Xing and Li Ru were startled, turned to see her walking beside Lei Xing, they didn't notice her come up at all.

Tung Mei was not bothered by their startled expressions and continued to speak casually, "Xing jie, so how is life here? I know it's not ideal..."

Lei Xing raised an eyebrow, "Ideal?"

 Tung Mei knit her eyebrows, "Well, this place is a bit too stuffy, too many rules. I didn't think you would like this atmosphere..." She paused and then raised her eyebrows, "Or do you?"

Lei Xing frowned.

{...Well, I don't...but then I can't exactly say that here...also the "me" that you knew very much wanted to be here so -_-)'...}

 "Ah, I should add that I wasn't in support of this at all. It's just you know..." She smiled shyly and then glanced behind them.

Lei Xing turned to follow her line of sight to Lei Yong, who was looking off to the side with a deep frown.

Lei Xing wanted to laugh but held it in, she also noticed that Tung Mei was getting many questionable stares.

Amongst those stares was Xiao Ting who seemed to be glaring at her, she had also wanted to walk forward to join her sister, but her parents had told her it was against decorum, and so stopped her.

{...But then why does she get to do everything she wants -_-)...}

 Lei Xing looked at Tung Mei and asked, "Is it okay for you to be up here?"

Tung Mei raised her brows in confusion, and then Lei Xing motioned behind them, Tung Mei looked behind and then dismissively said, "Oh, they don't matter."

"I assumed you were trying to play the role of a perfect daughter-in-law, Xiao Ting said you visited a lot over the last two weeks, couldn't this cause a problem?"

Tung Mei smiled, "It's okay, they already love me."

 "I don't think Xiao Ting feels that way." Lei Xing said, snorting.

"She'll get over it soon. I admit it's my fault, but seeing her getting riled up so easily is fun to watch, I never got to have fun before and I'm sure we can get along, she's quite easy to please...eventually" Tung Mei finished with a sinister grin.

Lei Xing snorted.

{...Xiao Ting is in for some tough days ahead...}

 They finally rounded the corner, to see the Emperor, Chen You and Zhao Lan just standing there, it seemed they had realized they had lost the crowd and stopped in their tracks to wait.

Zhao Lan frowned at Lei Xing and Li Ru, "How dare you make the Emperor wait for you?"

Li Ru was flustered, while Lei Xing inwardly rolled her eyes.

{...If he walked like a normal human being, he wouldn't have to wait -_-)'...}

 Lei Xing bowed her head to "apologize", "It was not our intention, it's just that not everyone is built for such...exertion."

Tung Mei snorted and then cleared her throat when Zhao Lan glared in her direction. Zhao Lan turned back to Lei Xing, "You ob-"

"That's enough." The Emperor calmly said and then proceeded to continue walking, Zhao Lan scoffed at Lei Xing and then turned to follow.

This time the pacing was much slower, and so they all continued to walk along in silence.

Prince Yi was waiting near the entrance for the servants to bring up his carriage, he had unexpectedly turned up so they didn't have it ready in waiting.

He had left earlier after talking to some ministers, whose words had irritated him. Prince Yi's carriage finally arrived, and he was just about to get on, when he saw the procession coming this way and knit his brows and stopped in his tracks, and skeptically looked at the approaching crowd.

{...What is this nonsense now?...}

 At this point, they were all aware that they had walked all the way to the palace gates, which made the followers very confused.

The guests were wondering whether the lantern release part of the celebration was canceled this year and that the Emperor was unexpectedly walking them out of the palace.

Prince Yi approached the Emperor, who smiled at him and said, "Ah, so this is where you were. I noticed you had gone missing."

Prince Yi knit his brows and bowed in greeting as he explained, "I was not feeling well, so I quietly excused myself so as not to ruin the festivities." He then glanced at the host of people behind the emperor, "Your majesty, this is..."

"We're here to release the lanterns." The Emperor casually explained, while eyebrows behind him raised in confusion.

{...Here? but we won't be able to see anything...}

 Prince Yi frowned.

"I think this has the best view...since you're here, you should join us if you're upto it." The Emperor finished and then continued walking along, and Prince Yi begrudgingly followed behind him.

The Emperor's intention started to become clear to his confused followers when they started ascending the steps leading up to the top of the palace walls.

When they got to the top, they could see the streets filled with people and lit lanterns ready to be released, they could surmise that the people must have been wondering what was happening in the palace due to the delayed release of the lanterns.

When they all arrived at the top, they quickly filed around. The guards there were confused at this sudden intrusion but didn't say anything seeing the Emperor taking the lead.

The view was really good, one could see the whole spread of the city and the streets lined with festive lights. It was indeed a beautiful scene, even just as is.

Since they were already behind schedule, they quickly began the release starting with the royal family and then guests around them, and soon after the city landscape was covered with ascending lanterns, going up to join the others in the clear starry night sky. It was a breathtaking scene to see, and they all were captivated by it.

Prince Yi frowned as he watched the lanterns fly up into the air as a long-lost memory was drawn into his mind.

"My mother told me the view of the lanterns is best outside the palace...we can't leave so I thought this will be the closest thing, it should be starting soon...I heard you were poisoned, how did that happen?"

Jun Kai did not respond and just blankly looked ahead.

"You don't have to talk about it...it's good you're better now."

Still no response.

Jun Shan had not seen him since he returned from the cold palace. Jun Kai had been recovering in their father's palace, he could not go there, but he had heard that Jun Kai had not been speaking or reacting much to people since he came back.

Jun Shan finally got the opportunity to see him today when Jun Kai finally left the Emperor's palace, and returned to the palace he had lived in with his mother before her punishment. He didn't bother to attend the celebration, and their father had explained it away saying it was because he was still recovering.

So Jun Shan used the excuse of being unwell to leave the celebration banquet to go find him and drag him here.

 Jun Shan looked at him and then hesitantly asked, "Are you worried about your mother? It's good as long as she's alive...with time, father will forgive her and release her...if not, then you can always do it yourself in the future, it's good as long as she's alive." He awkwardly reassured again, not quite sure what else to say, especially to someone who was unresponsive.

Jun Kai quietly turned to look at Jun Shan with a blank expression.

 Prince Yi yanked his mind back to the present and turned his eyes to the Emperor's back with a deep frown on his face.

{...Then I had wondered what he was thinking, but now I know, he was probably thinking about how foolish I was...So what is this now? Is he trying to rub it in my face that he has succeeded now? So I can congratulate him and applaud him on it?...

...Is he really set on mocking me in every way?... To remind me that he was always the perfect, reasonable, brilliant one, and I was the childish fool...a blind fool who knew nothing of the ways of the world!...}

{...*You are doing it again, he is not responsible for everything that goes wrong in your life...}

{...What? Do you want me to be grateful to him too? To bow down and praise him for his "accomplishments"?... He is always the one who is in the right and I'm the one always wrong?...

...He is the one who is always the victim who needs to be pitied, the only one deserving pity, the only one with a hard life, isn't that right?.... You always seem to stick up for him, have you ever stopped to consider his role in everything? Has HE ever done that?!...}

 Prince Yi heard a lamenting sigh in his head as he glared at the Emperor who was looking up at the lanterns with a relaxed smile, unbothered. He took a deep breath, turned, and headed for the stairs leaving the festive scene behind with a scowl on his face.

{...I've told you, if you have nothing of value to say then don't say anything at all, I'm tired of your nagging, I don't need it, and I don't need you, leave me be!...}

 Prince Yi heard a long lamenting sigh again.

{...*This really isn't how it's supposed to be. It really has become much too complicated, is it really impossible for you two to get along?... I don't know anymore! Fine, hate him all you want...Let things unfold as they will, I will also leave you be as you want!...}

 Prince Yi's frown deepened.

{...Good! I don't need you!...}

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