Zhan's pov:~

The festival of Bastina arrived once again.

The weather was pleasant, the streets were decorated, people bought new clothes, they went shopping with their families. There were carnivals everywhere.

"Teacher, look there!" the crown prince Vincent called my name and pointed towards another shop, he rushed there and I went after him.

The crown prince was my student, he was a talented man like his father, righteous, disciplined, brave and strong, I was proud of him.

I have always considered him, George and Inara as my own children and have spoiled them.

Currently, I was out with the crown prince, because he wanted to roam the streets during the festival of Bastina.

He went to another food shop and asked to eat another delicacy, and I got him that, however suddenly someone bumped into him and he stumbled back.

I quickly steadied him and looked at the person who bumped into him, it was another kid, however my eyes widened when I looked at her.

"Vera!" I heard a man's voice and soon a man came running towards the girl named Vera, it was Adam.

And the kid was his daughter, Yibo's niece. I looked at Adam and he looked at me. After Yibo had died, I didn't maintain much contact with the Wang family, it was hard to see them, and it was especially hard to see what they went through.

I attended Mr. and Mrs. Wang's funerals and offered my help to Adam whenever he needed it but other than that I always maintained my distance, I never stepped foot into the Wang residence again.

Adam gave me a nod and I nodded back, he was older now and more mature, Yibo would have looked like this if he got the chance as well.

We could have had adopted a child as well and we could have enjoyed the festival of Bastina too, I stopped myself from spiralling again and grabbed Vincent's hand and walked away, after giving Vera one more look.

~~

"Crown prince, should we go, it looks like it is going to rain." I said as I looked at the dark clouds.

"Can't we stay for some time more?"

I sighed and nodded, however that was a bad idea, because soon it started to rain and it rained heavily, I quickly covered up the crown prince and got an umbrella for him.

"Teacher, you are getting soaked," he said with worry.

"Don't worry about me, keep moving. We need to get home in time, tomorrow you have to get ready for the hunt."

However we found shelter at an inn, I made the crown prince sit down and ordered something hot for him, and while he was eating, I stared out of the window, people were running in the rain, protecting themselves from getting wet, the streets slowly became empty.

And amidst all of this chaos, I saw a man standing on the far end of the street, at first his face was blurry but then I looked carefully, and it seemed that my eyes were playing tricks on me, because I thought I saw Yibo.

Same build, same height, I couldn't make out his face clearly, my subconscious screamed, I stared at the man for a long time before he turned and started to walk away. Something came over me and I immediately got up and ran after the man.

The heavy cold rain hit my body as I chased after what seemed to be my illusion, I reached the place where the man was standing and looked around but there was no one, I ran on the streets under the rain, not caring that I was getting completely soaked.

However after a good amount of time, when I found no one, I just stood in the rain, feeling like a fool, the burn on my hand ached, but not more than my heart.

Years of longing and pain were finally driving me mad I guess.

"Teacher!" the crown prince called out my name as he held my hand, I looked at him, he looked worried.

I left the crown prince all alone. Guilt filled my heart and I sat before him, "I am sorry, let's go back."

"But teacher what happened?"

"Nothing, let's go."

~~

The next day, I woke up with a fever.

I stood before the mirror and stared at my dead hollow eyes, my body was burning with fever. It had been ages since I had been sick.

I had never been sick, I had never been gravely injured, and this was one of the reasons, I had never taken a day off, I had always shown up to my duties, without a single day off, with a wounded soul that would never heal.

Ever since I got the goddess's blessing, I had never been sick, my wounds had always healed in minutes, but something had changed, I was not healing fast anymore, and I was getting sick.

"Lord." Haoxuan called out my name, I looked at him and he looked worried, "Lord, you do not look well... you should not go."

I smiled at him, "I can't back off, the emperor and my brother must be waiting for me, besides the kid would be sad if I do not go."

"But Lord, you are sick."

I laughed but it was a hollow laugh, "I have been sick since a long time, Haoxuan, but this is the first time it's physical. I will be alright, like always, now let's leave."

I walked out of the room with Haoxuan following after me, my whole body ached and I felt like shit, but I managed to keep a smile on my face.

"Zhan!" My brother said as he came towards me, "You came!" he hugged me tightly.

Duke Ashvald spoke next, "I am glad to see you here son. It's been a while since I last saw you." he was so much older now, and his daughter was now in charge of the duchy.

"Zhan!!!" Ziyi hugged me as well and I hugged her back, it had been such a long time since I last saw her, she had grown up so much, matured so much, it was like I was seeing my own child.

"General." The emperor spoke next, he seemed genuinely happy to see me there, he raised his hand and I shook his hand, however soon his face fell when he touched my hand, "you have a fever, General."

Everyone's face fell as they looked at me and I took my hand back, "I am perfectly fine, people. Really it's nothing. After all no ailment can harm me, remember."

However they did not look convinced.

My brother spoke, "I think you should rest, Zhan."

Duke Ashvald added, "son, the hunt is not more important than your health."

I smiled, "I am fine really, come on, you all called me here and now you all are not happy that I am here? Let's not spoil our day gentlemen and lady, let's focus on the hunt."

They all did not look convinced, however the silence was broken when Roland came, "look who decided to grace us with his presence, the great Zhan Xiao."

I looked at him and shook hands with him, he noticed my temperature too but did not comment, Roland and I had surprisingly got along well.

He became one of our strongest men and one of the pillars of the kingdom, and surprisingly he was a great support to me. When people around me became too overbearing, it was him who asked them all to shut up and leave me alone.

He never told me to move on, never told me to marry, never looked at me with pity, over the years, I slowly started to trust him more and more, we fought battles together, we argued with each other but in the end we always had each other's back.

Roland smirked and said, "let's go."

I nodded.

~~

The hunt began, after the emperor gave his speech.

Vincent, George and Inara all went to the forest with their horses, while I just went to the forest to take a stroll.

I was not into this hunt anymore, I just roamed around in between the trees, remembering my time with Yibo.

My first hunt, my first hunt with Yibo, our stolen moments in this same forest. Our mischiefs, those stolen moments, those competitions.

We had so many memories here. I smiled as I walked around remembering my past. My youth.

I didn't realise how long I walked, all I knew was that I was at peace while drowning in the memories of my past, it was like an entire lifetime, and it was beautiful.

However my peace did not last long as it started to rain suddenly, I looked at the sky and saw the dark clouds, it felt like a huge storm was coming.

"General Xiao!" suddenly a few royal guards came to us and spoke, "General, we lost the crown prince, his horse just took off and we cannot find him, it is going to rain hard and we are worried about him."

I immediately spoke, "I will look for him, Haoxuan you go the other way and I will go this way, hurry up and find the crown prince!"

The guards added, "General, your nephew George is also with the crown prince!"

I quickly ran in the other direction, my heart was pounding fast, my fever was rising, and it had started to rain hard.

But I could not stop, I needed to find the crown prince, and George.

"Crown prince!"

"George!" I called out their names as I looked for them frantically. It was getting darker and darker and the air was too cold.

After searching frantically for hours, I stopped and looked around, I kept my hand over my forehead, as I felt dizzy, my body ached so much and it was hard for me to move forward, but I still took a step ahead.

However in that dizzy and muddleheaded state with blurry vision, I misstepped and fell down hard, I rolled and collided with a tree, my head collided with a rock and I could feel branches piercing my back.

Something was not right, I had realised that I was losing my powers long back, I knew that I was growing old and my body was slowly giving up.

But right now I could not give up, I had to find the crown prince, I had to find my nephew. I slowly got up, the movement was extremely hard for me, but I still managed to stand up with my trembling body.

However once I got up, I once again saw a figure standing in front of me, it was Yibo, he was looking at me with calm and gentle eyes and gave me a smile.

It was an illusion, I was hallucinating again but seeing him felt so good, even if he was just an illusion.

Yibo suddenly turned around and started to walk, "Yibo! Wait!" I called out to him with my weak voice and followed him, Yibo kept on walking ahead of me and I followed him, trying to keep up my pace.

"Yibo!"

I called out to him again but he wouldn't stop, after walking for a while, Yibo finally stopped and turned to look at me, however before anyone could say anything, I heard two voices.

"UNCLE!"

"TEACHER!"

My head snapped to those voices and I saw my nephew and the crown prince under a rock, shivering.

"George! Crown prince!" I ran to them and hugged them tightly, my arms wrapped around them in a secure embrace.

The two hugged me back and cried.

"Thank god you both are fine." I cried and broke the hug, I checked them for injuries and found that they were fine, I got up and stumbled a little still feeling dizzy, "let's go."

However before we could even move, I heard some rustling around me, I grabbed the children's hands and stood before them protectively, and looked around.

"Uncle." George spoke, feeling scared, the rustling slowly increased and my fears came true, I saw wolves coming out of the bushes.

I closed my eyes and sighed, holding on to the kids tighter, this is bad, so bad.

"Teacher?" Vincent spoke, his voice coming out weak.

I opened my eyes and smiled at them, "don't be scared, as long as I am here nothing can harm you."

The two looked at me, relief flashing over their faces, "now close your eyes, and do not open them unless I tell you to."

The kids did just that and I took out my dagger as I looked at the wolves, I took a deep breath before a wolf jumped at me and I raised my dagger.