Crown Prince and Ghost King

Chapter 50

--Straight into the flashback!--

In all the years he spent with him, Mei NianQing never heard something as foul come out of his lips. For a moment he was stunned, unable to process what exactly the prince had just suggested they could do to stop the volcano from swallowing his kingdom.

A shadow, pure black and unrelenting, clawed at his heart as he looked at the crazed, desperate expression hiding behind his beloved's eyes.

The Crown Prince had always been a merciful person, filled with patience, able to endure even the roughest of insults if it meant the safety of his people, and yet... and yet, now he was giving up on that. He was willingly choosing a path with no return, one that needed to see the death of those same mortals he was trying so desperately to protect no matter the cost.

Mei NianQing couldn't accept that.

He stood in front of him, stripped of his divinity but still plagued by an immortal body and soul, and argued for many, many hours, until his throat begged to be spared of the abuse. There were tears prickling his eyes, as he spoke, disbelief vivid in his words: «You didn't even want to use a life to save a life, before», he said, voice hoarse and tired. «You refused to invade other kingdoms, even if it meant the salvation of WuYong!».

He just couldn't believe the change of heart he was witnessing. That prince... he wasn't the same one Mei NianQing knew and loved. He was someone devoured by grief and frustration, unable to keep himself up, willing to let himself fall to the deepest pits of human filth rather than trying to stand upright.

It was too painful to watch.

Mei NianQing shook his head, took his hand in his own as he kneeled in front of the prince: «How is sacrificing the living to the Kiln any different?», he asked, those unshed tears heavy in his voice as he spoke.

Hit where it hurt, the prince yanked away his hand and only felt the slightest pang of guilt at the pained expression flashing on Mei NianQing's pale face.

What was he supposed to do? Keep sitting down as he watched his kingdom be swallowed by the endless sea of fire coming from the damned mountain? His people didn't have faith in him anymore, they believed and praised those who refused to lift a single finger to help them if not when the disaster already struck. As much as he wanted to ignore it and keep going with his attempts at taking WuYong out of danger, knowing he was left with close to no believers was agonizing.

His power was draining more and more with the passing of days, already shattered by a banishment he never saw coming.

«What am I supposed to do?!», he almost yelled, slamming his fists on the armrests of his throne. «Tell me, NianQing, how should I stop this fucking volcano from killing my people?!».

His exasperation was too great. Killing a few bad apples for the sake of everyone else wasn't that bad!

«For starters, don't kill your own people to stop it!», Mei NianQing argued back, raising his voice.

Behind him, his three peers shuffled uncomfortably, clearly not wanting to be there to witness a quarrel between two lovers, and wanting to intervene with their own opinions at the same time. He couldn't blame them, what the prince suggested was unbelievably dreadful.

And totally unexpected, coming from him.

«Why do you believe we're willing to accept such a decision?», he asked, eyes wide in shock. «Don't take a path we can't follow you on».

«A path you can't follow me on?», the prince slowly repeated, the weight of those words sinking in with every syllable. «Can't follow me?!».

Enraged, he got up from his throne, so vehemently that Mei NianQing stumbled backward on his knees, and looked at both him and his other three generals with bloodshot eyes: «You dare defy my authority?!», he screamed, widening his arms in total bewilderment. «Who are you, if not my followers!? Not a single one of you should even think about going against me!».