Chapter 51

Dao
Hougong

A hand snuck from the back and slammed onto her mouth while the other choked the back of her neck.

"Speak a word and I will silence you." He whispered, his breath fanning her naked back.

With her mistress at the banquet, Dao was going to sleep early. She was just changing into her sleeping wear.

She shook her head, her muffled mouth producing silent noises. She was still young, not married, no children, and not enough erotic books read. How could she die this early?

"You are going to put on your casual clothes." He gave further instructions. "And silently we will leave this place. You hear me?"

She nodded with more muffled sounds, her begging words restrained.

This time he did not whisper as he said, "I'm taking you away, Dao."

Luo Meng. It was Luo Meng's voice.

"You once said our love was worth running away for. Let's go now." He kissed her neck before letting her go, his hands dropping to her shoulders and massaging her gently.

She coughed, finding her voice. "Luo Meng, you are retarded. I will go nowhere with you."

"You will." He said matter of factly as if it was not something that could be argued against.

"If what we had meant so much to you, it wouldn't have taken you this much time to realise it. I am not going."

She felt the cold steel blade slide on her neck, caressing her with the notion of death. "You are going."

Her breath latched onto her throat. She was so angry at him, angry at herself too. Because part of her wanted to forgive and run away with him. "You are a psychopath."

"It is now or never." He pushed her forward, the steel blade disappearing. "Start dressing up, we don't have much time."

Her hands shook as she opened the bottom drawer of her and Ai's wardrobe, in the darkness of the room. That was where she had her only pair of casual clothing. "My Lady will know that I left when she comes back."

"She will be distracted by His Majesty."

"His Majesty hasn't come here for weeks."

"I hit her wine cup with a needle, now His Majesty will think someone wants to kill her."

"A needle? How? Didn't he see it?"

"I shot it from behind, so he didn't. I know the emperor. He has so much pride and didn't summon for Li Lian, though he desired to all this time. However, there is another weakness he possesses above his pride. Paranoia." Luo Meng spoke with conviction. He surely knew his master.

Yet she asked, "Are you sure. What if he changes his mind?"

"He won't. He is more predictable than he thinks."

Why was His Majesty paranoid? "Is it because of the fallen dragon that he fears?"

"Yes. He will definitely come sleep here tonight or summon her to have her safe."

Dao was on her sash, the last piece of her outfit, yet she couldn't go on. She hesitated when she was about to tie the last knot. "I can't, Luo Meng. I can't."

This was the biggest crime, this time even her mistress would kill her.

"You can."

"I can't. It will hurt my mistress." Her hands trembled as she panicked. "You don't love me. I can't go with you."

"Shh-shh-shh." He tied the last knot of her sash for her. "That is a lie, Dao. I have not loved anyone else as much. I love you and it is my greatest wish that we live together everyday, see the happy and sad days together. I want to have a big family with you, grow old together and see you become the writing artist you have always wished to be."

"But my mistress... my mother..."

"Someday we will send them word." He took her head into his palms. "I love you, Dao. And I have tried to live without you for honor, yet I couldn't. Even if the world comes for me, I'd rather die defending this love we have."

Dao smiled sadly. "I love you too, Luo Meng. So much more than I could express." They exchanged a quick peck on the lips. "For now I will just write to my mistress that I have heard urgent news from home, thus I left and will be back in a few days. This will not be suspicious for the time being as I have done this before."

She headed for the door. "I will meet you outside the gate of her quarters."

Hougong was deadly quiet as everyone was at the banquet while those left behind were very few. After writing a short letter for her mistress, Dao slid out of the quarters, making sure to not alert the other servants.

Luo Meng nodded to her when she pulled out of the gate. He marched before her while she followed, maintaining a measurable distance between them. Within the palace walls, they could not show any familiarity with one another.

The security at the gate of Hougong did not say anything when they saw Luo Meng pass as he was a palace guard senior they were familiar with. The palace exit was in the middle grounds where the banquet was also being held.

Chattering, laughter and the noise of cutlery could be heard from afar. These banquets were always so classy and fancy, but her mistress took caution to rarely bring Dao along. She preferred the company of Ai as she was reserved and calm in such places where there was always a thin line between death and life. Li Lian always said Dao was unruly and she was afraid to take the risk of having her at a place where she could lose her life.

"Dao, good that I have found you." A woman who was passing them stopped when she saw her. She had two other maids holding the lamps for her.

"Senior Court Lady, greetings and good evening." Dao curtseyed.

"Dispense the formalities. You have worked in the kitchen, right? I need you to come and help." Her senior took her arm and attempted to drag her along. "The harem has been eating a lot more food than we imagined. The kitchen is on its knees, I need many maids to help."

"Excuse me, miss." Luo Meng stepped back to them. "She is with me."

The senior court lady bowed. "Grand Palace Guard Wu, my apologies. This servant wasn't aware she was at your disposal."

Luo Meng was raised by the Grand Dowager, thus he was identified as part of her clan, and titled Wu.

The woman gave Dao a questioning eye as she dispersed from them. The Senior Court Lady was probably wondering what she was doing with the shadow guard of the emperor, in casual clothing too. If Dao was wanted by the emperor, wouldn't Court Lady Nam have come for her instead?

Luo Meng went back to leading her, now walking faster than earlier.

Dao kept telling herself it was a good decision, although she was not sure herself. Happiness was not something that came easily in her life. It was something she always worked for.

Her and Luo Meng would be inseparable once they were past the palace gates. She would not be a servant anymore, she would rule her life and love the man she chose. Her destiny would be in her hands and not be in the hands of her seniors. Dao would actually live.

"Grand Palace Guard, another tag is needed for us to allow this lady to pass too. It is night, the security has to be strict." The leading guard at the gate wouldn't let them pass.

"His Majesty's order, I must secretly take this lady out of the palace." Luo Meng objected.

"But―"

"You dare impose His Majesty?"

"Never, but rules must be followed. You, yourself taught us this. I must not exclude a person just because of status."

"All right. I will go back to His Majesty and tell him that―"

"No, no. Please pass. I wouldn't dare."

And like that the double huge doors opened.

They were free.

A while later they laughed out of released adrenaline and excitement.

"We are free!" Dao screamed into the night sky.

Luo Meng laughed. "Indeed we are. We can be together freely and love each other."

Dao giggled. "I LOVE YOU, LUO MENG!"

The next day they would wake up at dawn to leave the capital. The capital gates were closed every day at sunset and opened at dawn. They would set off on foot to a far away place. Dao could not ride a horse, so the decision to be on foot was better and this would also have made them untraceable.

They were free.

~Author's Note~

Dear Readers.

This is my love letter to you. I want to start by saying thank you, not as by the way but from the bottom of my heart. You all know me. I love you all.

From that person who only votes to those that I know who like to spam me with cute emojis cause to them this story, they love it and they're always left speechless; to the big boomers, these ones talk a lot and they make me laugh, they propel the direction of the story than they know. They motivate me to write more than I intended.

So I have a weakness, I struggle with people pleasing, which isn't as good... Why? I wanted to separate some couples but the pain of my readers, I wouldn't be able to handle it.

Why do I post on wattpad? Because I don't get to write alone, I write with you guys. You ask questions that give me ideas. You criticize my characters which makes me want to have them at their best, ones you could relate to and connect with.

Some of you have given me ideas I would never have come up with in your absence. To be honest you have all made this journey all worth it. You are amazing.

When I'm going through life you make me smile and laugh. It makes writing so worth it.

Curious how I see you in my mind? No getting offended.

I have seven types of readers.

The wise gurus- these ones always give me long comments with sense that I seem to lack lol. They make this book a better one. And the longer they comment, the happier I am.

The spam gurus- if I don't update, they will message spam me till I do. "Please update." They don't care for my excuse, they will just say, "Okay. I understand but please update, I can't wait anymore."

The emoji gurus- ❤️❤️❤️ is all they will say. That's their love to me. Love you back.

The silent gurus- Hello, guys. Hope life is okay.

The smut gurus- They are only waiting for the naughty jokes, the mature content. You will only see them there, commenting. I have to say this as a side note, what's up with all my mature chapters having the highest reads? But anyway, now I know how to become famous.

The voting gurus- Okay, everyone should thank these. They don't say anything but they are doing something to help the book rank well. Most of you found the book because of them.

The dislike gurus- They hate the main characters but they still read the book anyway. I don't know how, but they do. Like wow, they flatter me a lot. What they are trying to say is that they just enjoy the story and my writing style.

Which one is you? Attach yourself.

Last thing I find fascinating is how everyone has their different favorite. Li Lian, Yu'er, Dao, Luo Meng, Grand Consort Shu... King Tobba... Ahahaha okay, okay, I'm joking. But you get the gist of it. I find it cute that some readers get irritated with the favorite of the other readers, making quibbles in the comment session as one reader attacks a character that offended them while the other reader steps in to defend passionately. This is fun to just watch.

Because what can I say? I have no favorites, myself. I like even King Tobba, remember?

Okay, all. This is my deepest thanks.

P.S. My exams are starting so I may not post again until next month end. I can't seem to write easily under the exam season. It is hard for the words to flow easily. If I write another chapter, then great, if not, sorry...

S.V