Reborn To Be The Imperial Consort [BL]

It was a strange, but pleasant feeling, to tell a patient that they were now free of the disease that plagued them for so long.

Moments like these were what made Li Xinyuan's career feel the most worthwhile. As fates would have it, the Heavenly Demon abducting him and his little entourage had given a child a new, healthy life.

Li Xinyuan smiled to himself—it was a wry, warm little thing dancing on his lips—while he spoke to Cheon Yerin in a hushed voice.

"It seems there is no reason for us to prolong our visit anymore." The look on the child's face spoke volumes of her delight, and the surgeon truly could not be more pleased. "Congratulations, Young Miss Cheon, you're rid of that disease."

He sat straighter, made sure to maintain some distance as the flow of warmth in his chest ebbing.

"Still, I must advise you to follow a proper routine and a healthy diet." Pointedly, he cast a sidelong glance towards the Heavenly Demon looming in the corner of that room. "Although that is something a child would not be able to do alone."

The surgeon stood up, a sigh falling off his lips as he rolled his shoulders to loosen the soreness in them. Eyes narrowed, and lips pursed thin, he turned to Cheon WuHui.

Wearing a smile on his lips, Li Xinyuan glided towards him, arms behind his back as he leaned in and asked softly. "Could I steal the Cult Leader for a moment?" As he spoke, the surgeon watched from the corner of his eyes as Cheon Yerin drifted to slumber.

Cheon WuHui raised an eyebrow, scarlet eyes looked down at him with curiosity. Slightly, his lips parted as he spoke. "By all means."

From the looks of it alone, one would think he was doing Li Xinyuan a favour, not otherwise.

Once they were out of the slumbering little girl's room, Li Xinyuan began, voice low but firm. "Could I expect you to see to it that she recovers soundly?" With a tilt of his head, he inquired.

There was something so imperceptibly stoic in his voice that Cheon WuHui was compelled to raise both of his eyebrows.

"Certainly." He canted his own head a little to the side. "Is it not within Our duties as her father?"

Li Xinyuan merely raised an eyebrow in response. "Why, yes, certainly it is. Unfortunately, however" —he offered the crimson-haired man a wry, withering smile— "I cannot say with certainty that you've been performing them very well."

Cheon WuHui's face darkened down, the curiosity and concern vanishing so swiftly as if they were a ghost. "What," he began, jaw clenched, "makes Doctor Li say so with such conviction?"

The surgeon did not back down. Nor did he bat an eye as he held the man's darkened gaze. Cheon WuHui's glare may be withering, but so was Li Xinyuan's.

Oh, I don't know? Maybe seeing you keep your daughter company only during evening strolls?

—That was what he wished to answer with. But he also quite preferred having his head attached to his neck and shoulders.

So, instead, he replied, "I have only ever seen you accompany her for what little evening strolls I have allowed. Beyond that, you're not too involved."

Those words struck, like an arrow they pierced into something deep in Cheon WuHui's chest. It did not quite cause pain, but it did sting. And he had no answer to that. So, he chose silence to deliberate over his response.

Yes, it was true that as a father, he may be quite negligent—he was not blind to this—but really, he tried his best.

Between the matters of the Cult, the brewing tension that simmered between them and the entirety of Murim, and now the XijinYao Clan's transgressions at the borders; Cheon WuHui had little time for much of anything else.

And even then, he tried his hardest to give it to his daughter. If it was not enough, then it was as much the fault of the current circumstances as it was his own.

Obviously, it did not free him from the accountability of it.

With a deep breath, he clenched his hands into tight fists and willed himself to calm down.

"We have been trying Our best."

Li Xinyuan's lips parted, for a second, he almost spoke. But the moment he caught the sight of the conflict in the Heavenly Demon's body language, he stopped himself.

Instead, pinching the bridge of his nose, the surgeon sighed. "I understand." Then, with a pause he added, glancing up at the Heavenly Demon's face once more. "I can only urge you to try harder" —he cast a sidelong glance towards the closed door of Cheon Yerin's room— "because there is only so much the support of a stranger or a servant can do."

With a long pause, he added, trying to make it seem like an after thought, or a careless remark. "A child her age needs her father."

If Li Xinyuan saw the way Cheon WuHui's body seized for the fraction of a second, he did not deign to comment on it.

"Regardless," the surgeon flicked his hair back. "I will entrust Young Miss Cheon's care to the Demonic Physician—or whoever medical aid it is that you completely trust." He paused again, pursing his lips. "But, I surmise it would be more prudent to leave her diet and tonic plans in your care. Surely, you can do that much before the rush truly begins?

Cheon WuHui did not reply for a few moments before nodding in assent. "Yes. We can take care of it until then."

"Wonderful." Li Xinyuan smiled widely, relief coursing through his veins like a flood of delight. Despite whatever kind of a person Cheon WuHui was, as a father, he truly tried his best.

Li Xinyuan could trust him to continue doing so for as long as he could.

"Now if Cult Leader would excuse me. I have to write down everything for the Demonic Physician as well as you to follow. And afterwards, I shall begin to prepare for our departure."

"Allow Us to express Our gratitude, Doctor Li."

As Li Xinyuan walked past him, he waved without a single glance back. "There is hardly any real need to. I am merely doing what my duty mandates. And the Cult Leader is generous in remuneration."

However, before the surgeon could leave his line of sight or range of sound, he heard the Heavenly Demon's deep voice pour right next to his ears, starting a jolt out of him.

"Could We trouble you with a question?"

Swiftly, he spun on his heels, eyes wide as he saw that Cheon WuHui had not moved an inch since the moment he walked past the latter.

Ah, if it was not the whisper technique.

Clearing his throat, Li Xinyuan raised an eyebrow, pressing a fist on his lips. Pretending to be largely unaffected even after the start.

"Yes, of course, the Cult Leader can."

"When shall you leave the cult?"

"Ah, that will be within the next two days."

"... Very well."

That spelled the end of their conversation. And the surgeon returned to his room with the weight of heavy confusion pressing down on him.

Why was the Heavenly Demon asking him that?