"We need to leave, Rui."

Yi Junjie whispered when he saw that Li Rui didn't even respond to him.

Li Rui was just looking at the grave of her child..the child she had been protecting for four years was now dead.

Her clan also ..whom she was trying to protect all these years had vanished.

"She said she will not do anything if I left.."

Li Rui whispered breaking the deathly silence.

Xi Ying, by now was starting to understand somehow what he was witnessing and he also understood who was this 'she' in Li Rui's words.

He knew that the other 'him' also knew who was Li Rui talking about.

Yi Junjie closed his eyes in pain when he heard Li Rui's choked voice. Strengthening his heart, he said again.

"Rui, we need to leave."

He was afraid that she will be attacked again if her enemies saw her or came to know that she had come back to the Imperial City.

However, this time Li Rui didn't obey her Elder Brother. Still, looking at her son's grave she whispered with blank eyes.

"Elder Brother..why didn't you tell me if Xi Ling was in such a worse situation. I ..I could have saved him. I could have saved my child."

Yi Junjie's body stilled at this question.

A moment later, he said again with an emotionless face.

"We can talk about this later, Rui. For now, we need to leave from here."

As Yi Junjie said this, he had already forwarded his hand to grab Li Rui's arm to make her stand from the cold ground.

However, before he could touch Li Rui, the man who had been staring at Li Rui silently until now suddenly picked her up from the ground.

"She will not go anywhere with you, Lord Yi."

The cold Xi Ying who had been kneeling in front of Xi Ling's grave said as he hid Li Rui behind himself completely.

Two pairs of cold eyes silently stared at each other.

In the end, it was Yi Junjie who first looked away and tried to gaze at the figure standing behind Li Rui. However, Xi Ying didn't let Li Rui in his sight at all.

Yi Junjie's face didn't have any emotions but he still said very gently.

"Rui come to Elder Brother. We need to leave before anyone sees you here."

Forwarding his hand, he continued

"Elder Brother is scared, Rui. If they saw that anyone from Li Clan is still alive they will start searching for you. I know that you must be angry with me for hiding everything from you but I also came to know about everything very later. I will explain everything to you but for now, come out and let us leave from here."

At the end of his words, Yi Junjie's words almost came out plead.

But the cold prime minister immediately held an arm behind to hold the person standing behind him as he said coldly.

"Rui is my wife, Lord Yi. She will not go anywhere with you."

historical

Although Xi Ying said these words very confidently, even the Xi Ying whom no one could see knew that he didn't have any confidence inside his heart when he said this.

Showing his right on the woman whom he never tried to protect and keep happy ..it was something that he could never do but circumstances change everyone.

It changed the dignified him to kneel in front of a woman where he was ready to do anything to win her but he couldn't let her go.

Xi Ying who was watching all this silently closed his eyes in pain.

The current him could see what the two men standing in front of him couldn't.

From start to end, the two men were thinking about the one woman but they never thought about asking her what she wanted.

Everyone remained selfish in their own way.

What about his Rui?

Why did she have to suffer in all these people's selflessness..including him?

Xi Ying again felt his chest becoming very heavy suddenly.

However, this heaviness went away when he suddenly heard a very soft but indifferent voice.

"Elder Brother, Can you please leave for some time? I shall have a long talk with Lord Xi."

Yi Junjie didn't look convinced but he could only obey Li Rui.

In the end, he left from there not before saying that he will come back after a quarter of a shichen would pass and that time should be enough for Li Rui to talk with Xi Ying.

Xi Ying's cold eyes glared at Yi Junjie's back as he left from there.

When he was sure that Yi Junjie had left from there completely, he finally turned around to look at his wife.

His hand rose to grab her face between his hands but just before they could touch her, he hesitated.

Looking in those clean black eyes, he felt his heart stifling inside his chest.

"Xi Ling ..was asking for you when he .."

Xi Ying blinked his eyes as he said these words remembered his son's last wish to see his mother.

"He did?"

Xi Ying heard a choked whisper and instantly raised his head to look at that beautiful and pale face again.

When the red, swollen, and teary eyes fell in his sight, his heart clenched with pain and he suddenly stepped forward to catch the single tear that fell out from Li Rui's eye

"Rui..I looked for you everywhere. I went to Plum Courtyard also. I saw your courtyard's state. I never knew.."

Xi Ying was saying whatever came to his mind.

Since the moment, he had found out that Li Rui had never been at fault in anything, he had thought of many ways to apologize to her.

However, now he suddenly couldn't find anything to say because he was now realizing that his apology would not be able to do any change.

His apology would not bring their dead son back.

Still, he didn't have anything to say other than this.

"Rui, I was wrong. I..I apologize to you, Rui"

Xi Ying whispered with his eyes red as he remembered how he had behaved with his wife on her first night in Xi Manor.

How did he do all that? Why did he become like that?

The confusion spread over his mind like a spider web making him more and more confused. For a moment, he couldn't even recognize his past self..as if he was never that person.

But Xi Ying couldn't pay attention to this strange confusion for much time. His face changed suddenly and he shouted

"Rui"

But it was already very late.