SGT CH146: The Escape Route I Prepared for the Shadow Guard

Being favored by the Master on the open-air attic.

“It really was a dream…”

In Shadow One’s understanding, he was no longer the Master’s shadow guard and could no longer call him “Master.”

The only one who would respond to his call of “Master” was the fantasy within his heart.

Perhaps he had fallen asleep on the footstool before the dragon bed long ago.

That was why he dreamed of being pulled onto the dragon bed by the Master.

Shadow One felt uneasy.

He wanted to wake up as soon as possible, yet he was reluctant to part with the warmth in the dream.

“Dream?”

Hearing the words he spoke, Mousse propped himself up, half confused and half curious, looking at him and asking:

“What dream did Shadow One have?”

Even in a dream, Shadow One would seriously answer every question from his Master.

He stated calmly: “I dreamed that Master pulled me onto the dragon bed, held me, tasted me, and even looked at me while asking me questions.”

Mousse chuckled low.

The way Shadow One talked nonsense with such a serious face was truly interesting.

“So I am your dream.”

Shadow One nodded with certainty.

“Yes.”

Mousse: “?”

At first, Mousse thought Shadow One was just expressing emotion and talking nonsense.

Now it seemed Shadow One truly regarded him as a dream.

This puzzled Mousse greatly.

How could he be a dream?

Was there such a realistic dream?

“Come, touch this.”

Mousse took Shadow One’s hand, pressed it to his own face, tilted his head to nuzzle it, and said:

“Warm, right? Not a dream.”

Shadow One restrainedly moved his hand on that smooth and delicate skin, reluctant to pull away.

But this did not change his mind.

“The Master in the dream has warmth.”

Sometimes even very hot.

“Huh?”

Mousse truly didn’t know.

He hadn’t dreamed for a long time.

In his childhood, he was constantly plagued by nightmares.

None of those dreams had the warmth of living things; they were cold and terrifying, making one afraid and panicked, and no matter what, he couldn’t wake up, only struggle endlessly in the nightmare.

Later, Shadow One came to his side and accompanied him to sleep.

Whenever he was trapped in a nightmare, Shadow One would wake him up in time and hold him to soothe him patiently.

After that, he rarely had nightmares and slept peacefully every night.

“Sounds like you have a lot of experience with this. Do you dream of me often?”

Mousse asked.

Not often. Master rarely entered his dreams before.

But recently… indeed, he enters the dream every night.

“Ever since staying in the side hall, I dream of Master every night.”

Shadow One’s voice was very soft when he said this. He lowered his eyes to avoid the Emperor’s gaze, not looking into His Majesty’s eyes, his lowered eyelashes trembling uneasily.

He desecrated the Master with his filthy thoughts every night, including now.

Mousse: “…You think all those were dreams?”

“Of course they are dreams,” Shadow One said.

Mousse really didn’t expect this. In order to stop Shadow One from overthinking at night, especially about the Second Prince, he tormented Shadow One every night.

Shadow One’s corners of the mouth were almost torn, yet Shadow One actually thought those were dreams?

Mousse felt both helpless and amused, with a bit of inexplicable slight anger.

It seemed that the marks he left on Shadow One were too light, causing Shadow One to treat them all as dreams.

He had held back because he planned to take Shadow One out of the palace tomorrow and didn’t want to overdo it, but now it seemed… he shouldn’t let Shadow One feel too comfortable.

“Come here.”

Mousse pulled Shadow One over, touched the faintly red corner of his mouth, and pressed his head down.

This time, he didn’t pity Shadow One and made him swallow everything.

Waking up the next day and seeing the small tear at the corner of Shadow One’s mouth, Mousse immediately regretted it.

He hurriedly ordered the palace servants to bring medicine.

Shadow One, wearing only his inner garment, sat by the bed, watching the Emperor lean over to apply medicine to the corner of his mouth, while a group of palace servants bowed their heads in attendance.

“Am I still dreaming?” Shadow One asked blankly.

Mousse simply couldn’t do anything with his brain.

Perhaps after being raised as a dog by him for a year, he had become silly.

Thinking of this, Mousse felt heartache again and couldn’t bear to say any harsh words.

In the end, he just applied the medicine and leaned over to blow on the corner of his mouth.

This was a soothing action Shadow One often did when applying medicine to him.

In his childhood, the palace servants responsible for taking care of him didn’t care about him at all, and he had countless bumps and bruises on his body.

Until Shadow One came to his side and meticulously applied medicine to all his wounds.

The powder falling on the wound brought a slight stinging pain.

He was afraid of pain and easily got teary-eyed, making Shadow One flustered.

Later, Shadow One learned a way to coax children from somewhere.

Every time he applied medicine, he would blow on the wound, as if this could blow away the pain.

Perhaps this method was really effective.

Every time Shadow One blew on him, the light breath brushed over his skin, bringing a slight itchiness, and the pain really faded.

“Huhu, pain fly away.”

Mousse gently blew on the corner of Shadow One’s mouth.

Shadow One was slightly stunned, then immediately dodged awkwardly, the tips of his ears burning red.

“Your… Your Majesty, no need for this. It doesn’t hurt.”

He wasn’t a child; how could he be afraid of the slight pain of applying medicine?

Even in his childhood, injuries from practicing martial arts were common. He was long used to it and didn’t care about slight pain on his body at all.

This small crack at the corner of his mouth now didn’t even count as an injury to him.

If His Majesty hadn’t specially applied medicine to him, he wouldn’t have noticed such a wound.

Moreover, this was left when the Master favored him…

As Shadow One was thinking, he suddenly froze.

The wound in the dream appeared in reality.

A mark like the one at the corner of his mouth was something he absolutely couldn’t make himself; it could only be left when orally serving the Master.

So… everything last night wasn’t a dream.

“Sigh, so dazed. Made silly by Zhen.” Truly pitiful.

Mousse cupped Shadow One’s face and kissed him on the lips.

Shadow One was dazed for a while, then hurriedly got up to ask for forgiveness.

“Your Majesty, I…”

“Alright, Zhen understands everything.”

Mousse pulled him over and said:

“Wash and change first. Follow Zhen out of the palace today.”

Shadow One had been made silly by being raised as a dog.

That year of humiliation not only destroyed Shadow One’s personality, turning him dog-like.

It also made it difficult for him to distinguish between illusion and reality, leaving him muddled.

The environment inside the palace was not suitable for Shadow One’s recovery.

He was the Emperor, the ruler of the world, the Master of everyone in this palace.

Even if they didn’t call him “Master” verbally, their actions served him as Master on the spot.

Such an atmosphere not only couldn’t cure Shadow One but would also make him sink deeper.

He needed to take Shadow One out of the palace to let him come into contact with more “human” interactions and life.

Mousse changed his clothes, didn’t let palace servants follow, only brought a few guards dressed in ordinary clothes, pulled Shadow One, and went out of the palace incognito.

It was sunrise; the streets were full of hawking sounds, with people coming and going.

Such an environment was also very novel to Mousse.

He rarely went out of the palace.

When he was a prince, he pestered Shadow One to sneak him out.

After ascending the throne, he never left the palace again.

Walking on the street, Mousse found everything novel.

Shadow One served by his side, spontaneously entering a state of alertness and protection.

His nerves were tense, wary of everyone passing by.

Seeing His Majesty going more and more towards the crowded places, Shadow One couldn’t help speaking: “Your Ma…”

“Hmm?” Mousse dragged out the ending sound and turned to look at him.

“What should you call me?”

Mousse had prepared corresponding identities before leaving the palace, following the way shadow guards went on missions.

They were a pair of brothers.

Parents died early; they supported each other.

The younger brother, Ace, managed the spice business left by the family.

The elder brother, Ike, founded a bodyguard agency, protecting his younger brother as they traveled north and south for business.

The professional habits of once being a shadow guard made Shadow One memorize these details by heart.

If communicating with others, he could disguise himself perfectly without error.

But the person in front of him was the Emperor.

He was the Master recognized in his heart.

Shadow One couldn’t utter that presumptuous address no matter what.

“What’s wrong? Brother.”

Mousse, on the contrary, got into character faster, pulling Shadow One’s arm and complaining:

“Haven’t seen you for just a few days, and Brother has become much more distant with me.”

A “Brother” made Shadow One freeze completely.

Reason told him this was just a necessary identity disguise for leaving the palace.

Emotion made him trance-like and hard to adapt.

Holding back for a long time, he only managed to say:

“No, never… distant.”

Mousse was amused by him.

It could be seen that Shadow One found it very difficult to say that address.

“Alright, if you refuse to call me ‘Little Brother,’ then call me… Sisi.”

Mousse looked at him expectantly.

Shadow One held back for another long while, his face turning red, before calling out “Sisi” in an almost inaudible voice.

“Hahahaha.”

Mousse laughed uncontrollably.

Shadow One’s face turned even redder, his ears turning red along with it, standing still on the spot at a loss.

“Alright, alright, won’t tease you anymore.”

Mousse coughed lightly a few times to stop laughing and said cherishingly: “Let’s go home, Brother.”

“Home?”

Shadow One was stunned.

In the identity data, they had a residence in Shengjing.

Shadow One thought it was just a background for decoration, but he didn’t expect His Majesty had really purchased such a residence.

Mousse took Shadow One onto the carriage.

A quarter of an hour later, the carriage stopped in front of a three-entry house.

On the gate of the large house hung a redwood plaque with the characters “Ai Residence” written on it.

The steward who received the news in advance had long been waiting outside.

Seeing the pattern on the carriage curtain, he hurriedly went up to welcome them.

“Master has returned. You haven’t been back to Shengjing for several years.”

The steward reached out, wanting to help Mousse off the carriage.

Shadow One jumped off the carriage first, turned sideways to block the steward’s hand, and bowed his head to help His Majesty off the carriage.

“This is…”

The steward’s gaze fell on the tall man in black tight-fitting clothes in front of him, and immediately revealed a look of realization.

“This must be the Eldest Master, right?”

“Yes.”

Mousse held Shadow One’s arm and answered for him:

“My brother travels outside all year round. It’s his first time here in Shengjing, so he’s not very familiar with home yet.”

“How can one be unfamiliar with one’s own home? Stay a few more days and you’ll be familiar. The courtyards for both Masters have been tidied up long ago. I’ll lead you two there.”

Mousse pulled Shadow One into the residence.

Sensing Shadow One’s stiffness and discomfort, after entering the main courtyard, he dismissed the steward and the following guards.

Once people left, Shadow One bowed and took half a step back, full of fear, “Your Majesty…”

“Wrong.”

Mousse interrupted him, saying:

“What is our relationship now? What should you call me outside?”

They were… brothers.

Shadow One really dared not address His Majesty as “Little Brother.”

So he could only follow what His Majesty taught before and called out in a low voice: “Sisi…”

“That’s right.”

Having finally left the palace and escaped that environment of strict hierarchy, he shouldn’t be thinking about “Master” and “Your Majesty” anymore.

Mousse stopped, looked at Shadow One, and asked:

“Do you like it? This house.”

Shadow One didn’t understand why His Majesty asked him this.

He looked around the layout and analyzed it from a shadow guard’s perspective.

“The courtyard walls are too low, hard to guard against assassins. The two-story attic in the courtyard has no protection, which is even more dangerous.”

Mousse: “…”

What kind of romance-killing blockhead is this?

“After all, this isn’t the palace. Building the walls too high isn’t appropriate.”

Mousse pulled him over and said:

“Look at this grape trellis. In summer, it will cover the bamboo frame, and we can enjoy the cool shade under it.”

“And this laurel tree. You like eating osmanthus cake. In autumn, we can pick osmanthus flowers to make it.”

“And this…”

Every part of this residence was designed and drawn by Mousse himself, prepared as early as when he was still a prince.

Apart from him, no one knew.

This was the escape route he prepared for Shadow One.

If he died in the struggle for the throne, Shadow One could drink his heart’s blood, completely break away from the prison of the palace, change his identity, and start a new life.

Whether it was the bodyguard agency, the spice shop, or this Ai Residence, they all truly existed.

The identity he prepared for Shadow One was enough to pass for real.

If he could also survive by luck and escape by feigning death, then they could live here together.

Run their bodyguard agency and spice business, travel all over the country together.

But the reality was, he became the final winner and sat on the throne.

This residence, prepared as a back road for Shadow One, was completely left vacant after Shadow One resigned to him and was forcibly kept in the palace by him.

Mousse introduced every grass and tree, every brick and tile here to Shadow One.

As if returning to the late nights when he drew the blueprints after Shadow One fell asleep.

Mousse spoke excitedly.

“And this two-story attic next to the laurel tree. It has a wide view. In the daytime, we can climb high and look far; at night, we can brew tea and admire the moon. I can also sleep with you up there…”

Realizing he had spoken out hidden thoughts he shouldn’t have, Mousse quickly stopped his voice.

Shadow One, however, couldn’t help but follow the Emperor’s words and look at that beautiful attic.

In His Majesty’s narration, every grass and tree in this residence carried warmth.

Originally, Shadow One only felt this courtyard was unremarkable, not as magnificent as His Majesty’s palace, and not safe enough.

Now he felt this courtyard was good everywhere.

He wanted to do every single thing described in the Master’s words with the Master.

Enjoy cool shade under the grape trellis in summer, pick osmanthus to make sugar cakes in autumn, climb high to look far in the day, brew tea and admire the moon at night, and… be favored by the Master on the open-air attic.

Support me on Ko-fi