Yibo's POV:

Bodies.

So many dead bodies were lying around me, I stood in the middle of them. I looked at my hands and saw them covered with blood, my sword was dripping with blood.

I saw the dead bodies of my mother, father, and brother, all of them lying dead in front of me. Suddenly somebody appeared before me.

It was Zhan, I looked at him. Suddenly my body moved on its own, my hand moved on its own as I lifted my sword, no words came out as I charged at Zhan, who stood in front of me smiling.

No.

No.

No.

No.

Stop!

However my body refused to listen as I swung my sword at Zhan.

"ZHAN!" I screamed as I came out of my nightmare. I was in my room, lying on my bed, drenched in sweat.

I sat straight and took deep breaths. I kept my hand over my chest as I tried to erase that scene from my mind.

Me attacking Zhan? I would rather kill myself than do that.

I got out of my bed and started to get ready for the day, however I could not forget that dream, it felt so real. I was getting more and more anxious. I wanted to see Zhan so badly, I wanted to hug him, I wanted to be embraced by him, reassured by him.

But I couldn't reach him, all the letters I wrote to him and sent through Azure came back to me unopened. Finally, I had to visit his house on my own, only to learn that Zhan was not in the capital, he had left his house and told his parents nothing much.

I was sad when I heard that, Zhan always used to tell me what was going on with him, if he ever had to leave the capital he would always inform me, he would always spend the night with me, make love with me, whisper promises of coming back soon and bringing me presents.

Then why did he not inform me this time?

A cold pit formed in my stomach when I realized that I knew nothing about where he was, with whom he was and he didn't even reply to my letters.

He has been distant lately, he might try to distract me but I was not a fool, there is nothing about him that I do not notice, even a slight change in his breathing is noticed by me. Zhan was the center of my universe, my heart, my soul.

And recently I am feeling that he is drifting away from me. He surely made love with me passionately but even in those moments I would feel that there was something else on his mind.

What could be so big that he couldn't even tell me? Did he not trust me? What happened? What changed?

"Yibo." I was brought out of my trance when I heard my name being called, I looked at the person who had called my name and it was Prince Gideon. Currently I was in the grounds watching over my knights train, and the crown prince stood beside me.

"Something on your mind?" he asked.

I shook my head, "Nothing, Crown Prince."

"You were in such a deep trance, and after seeing the frown on your face I can tell that it was not nothing. Come on, Yibo, you know you can share anything with me."

"It's nothing, Crown Prince, really."

The crown prince gave me a look, he stared at my face for something, but I didn't care. My mind was occupied by someone else and that someone else had something else on his mind.

"How is General Xiao Zhan?" the crown prince suddenly asked and I looked at him, before replying, "He is okay."

"Really? Recently I heard that he has grown close with my elder brother Simon, I mean just yesterday I saw the two of them returning together from somewhere."

I looked at the crown prince, "Returning?"

"Yeah, it seemed like the general was dropping off my brother to the palace, they talked for some time before he left. I had no idea that they had grown close enough to travel together."

My heart clenched when I heard that, he was already back and I had no idea. Zhan has never done this before, the first person he always came to was me. Every time Zhan returned from his trips or from the borders, he would come to me and shower me with hugs and kisses and bring gifts for me.

"You look tense." the crown prince said and then added, "I wonder what my brother and the general talked about. And I am saying this as a friend, Yibo." the crown prince suddenly placed his hand on my shoulder and made me look at him, "you know closeness to the fallen crown prince is not a good sign, since I am going to be the one who is going to sit on that throne.

No monarch will trust a knight who is very friendly with his rival. Especially when there are several rebel forces and enemies out there." The crown prince then came a little closer and said, "you should also tell him to choose his friends very wisely, Yibo, because his actions will also affect his family."

I stepped back, my heart sank and I broke out in a cold sweat. I was suddenly really worried about Zhan and I wanted to see him.

"But since you are his dear friend, I won't worry much. After all I am pretty sure that you can bring him back to the right path when he strays."

The implication was clear, the crown prince did not like Zhan's closeness with Prince Simon. Zhan came from a powerful family, his brother a revered general, whose bravery was also praised by our enemy nations, his father was a wonderful leader and he himself had extraordinary skills. Obviously the crown prince wanted him by his side as his ardent supporter, or else...

I took a deep breath, "You are thinking too much, Crown Prince, please don't worry. Zhan is a loyal person. I trust his loyalty to the crown. He will never betray us."

The crown prince nodded, "I shall trust your judgement then. By the way, I hope you are attending the banquet held by my maternal uncle, right?"

The crown prince's maternal uncle, Count Alistair Evercrest, a cunning and power-hungry man. The current empress's elder brother was turning fifty and was holding a celebration for it. Everyone in the empire was invited to attend.

"Of course I will."

"I'll see you there then." he said and walked away, but not before giving my shoulder a squeeze.