𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐲'𝐬 𝐇𝐮𝐬𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝 || 敵の旦那様 (𝐁𝐋) ✔ [COMPLETE]

69. Uncaring

When the court was adjourned, the crowd dispersed and Haoran was dragged back to the dungeon cellar he came from upon the Emperor's decree and restrained. As the hours passed, he found himself unable to find the will to eat or drink, and even when he tried downing the food, it was tasteless as ever. Hence, he barfed whatever passed his throat and began rattling with the chains that bound him.

The wounds from the earlier uprooting of the stake had opened a cavern of fresh slits on his feet. There were dried flakes of blood and skin coming off of his own body and he poured water on the wound, trying to clean it before he realised something.

He felt no pain.

When night befell, he found himself falling in and out of sleep—mostly woken by ghastly nightmares. As his body lay on the ground limply, his hand cushioning the head that otherwise would scab against the stone cold floor, slowly his breathing evened out. He felt sleep overtake him.

But not when a figure moved outside.

Haoran woke up with bloodshot eyes, his eyes picking up at the slight movement of shadows to the side. The movement stopped, which meant whoever it was outside had intentions of concealing their presence. And that ruled out the possibility of it being prison guards who absolutely had no need to sneak about their territory.

"Who is it?" Haoran asked, his question coming out as a roughened groan.

When the movements appeared once again, his eyes narrowed minutely. Then the rattle of chains rang out, along with the sound of keys turning and the lock of the cell opening. Haoran stood in position; alert towards any sign of danger.

When he saw who it was, his face visibly relaxed. "Prison guard, I've told you several times that I do not require midnight snacks—"

His words died in his mouth when he saw who it was that stood by the Prison guard. Fu Lin was bound by chains of iron and handcuffs as he stood behind the Guard's figure, his eyes looking down.

"This is..."

The General's sentence stopped short when Fu Lin suddenly raised his eyes. Their eyes met for a split second. But the General could hardly read the emotion behind them before he had looked away, his eyes trained on the ground.

"About this..." The prison guard scratched his head awkwardly. "The Emperor had originally intended to place him in a separate cell until the execution, but ultimately decided against it and ordered him in the same cell. He said it was in courtesy of err... mercy towards the both of you."

"Ha, how merciful of him indeed."

It was Fu Lin who spoke, laughing mockingly. Then he threw himself on the floor, turning his back towards either of them as he sat down. General Haoran nodded his head at the guard in understanding and watched him depart.

When Haoran came back to sit down at his place, he realised Fu Lin had fallen asleep, huddled into himself. It was dark in the cellar and hardly anything about his face could be made out; it was simply the rise and fall of his chest and lightly fluttering lashes. General Haoran's senses that had dulled and frozen ever since his return from the war raved back into life with searing rage.

"Do you not think it's enough pretending to be asleep?" Haoran's voice pierced the cell.

As soon as his words sunk in, Fu Lin's eyes opened. He gazed at the General's face once again with thunderous speed and turned his head again. All Haoran could see now was his poking fringe and dark hair scattered haphazardly across his shoulder.

"It seems even my presence would suffice to deter the Seventh Prince these days," He said, looking towards the bars of iron and ignoring Fu Lin's countenance.