Sharing a Pavilion With You
Chapter 177: She’s the Only Good Thing Left

Chapter 177: She’s the Only Good Thing Left

The two brothers faced one another, their swords drawn, their faces implacable masks, as they focused on the task at hand, their audience long forgotten.

Without another word, Haoran leapt forward, his sword a blur as he attacked his younger brother with a flurry of blows.

Yicai met each blow that came his way with an expertise borne of real world experience and years of highly dedicated training.

The Crown Prince’s superior swordsmanship was immediately evident. Haoran already knew that his brother was a more skilled fighter than him; he had hoped never to find himself in this situation...

The Crown Prince quickly turned the tables on his elder brother, fending off his initial attack and turning his defensive stance into an offensive attack. Slice after slice from Yicai came nearer and nearer to breaking through Prince Haoran’s defences.

Zhu Yicai pulled a manoeuvre he had learned at the Mei mansion under the tutelage of Lord Mei’s brother. He lightly tossed his sword from his right hand to his left, surprising Haoran with a strike from the opposite side which managed to wound him on his right bicep.

Prince Haoran let out a short grunt of pain, but didn’t noticeably slow his pace or favour the arm, though blood immediately started to pour.

Yicai pressed the advantage, hammering Haoran again and again on that right hand side, forcing him to parry blow after blow using his now injured arm.

In the background, Bai Li quietly ordered his men to take up positions across the room and to surround the soldiers who were still outside defending the entry doors, despite the fact there were ’new’ doors which were wide open on both sides of the throne room.

Yicai could see from the sweat dripping down his brother’s face and the white pallor that his skin had taken on, that his brother was nearing the end of his ability to hang on.

The Crown Price ran forward a few steps before sliding onto his back, using his momentum and both boots, to knock Haoran’s feet out from underneath him. The minute Haoran was down, Yicai rolled to his feet and placed his sword at his brother’s throat, pinning him where he lay.

Yicai allowed himself the smallest smile of satisfaction. It was a manoeuvre he had once seen Mei Renjun use on Mei Renbing. It had been showy but effective then, just as it had been now. He must give the move a name, he thought. ’Two-pawed bear’ perhaps?

"Yield, gege," Yicai said loudly, his audience coming strongly back into focus. "If you yield, I will let you live. Despite the fact you killed our Father, he wanted your life to be spared, do you hear me? He asked me to..."

Before Yicai could finish telling his brother their Father’s plan to save his life by demoting him and sending him into exile, Haoran grabbed the blade that hovered close to his throat, immobilising him, and yanked it forward, slicing his own throat open with his younger brother’s sword.

The Crown Prince’s eyes flew open wide with shock, and he quickly pulled his blade back, but it was too late... Haoran’s neck gaped, and his final breaths rasped and gurgled awfully, a sight and sound Zhu Yicai knew he would not forget until his dying day...

While seconds earlier, Yicai’s blood had been up and a cold rage urged him to beat his brother and even to kill him, now that his ge was dying, he suddenly felt the terrible finality of the moment and the few good memories he had of his big brother were the ones that came to mind now, unbidden.

His vision clouded and he fell to his knees beside Haoran.

"Ge," he said miserably, pulling out a small handkerchief and desperately trying to staunch the blow of blood from his brother’s neck.

The small square of fabric was immediately drenched in blood and the lethal flow from the neck wound didn’t slow.

He took his brother’s head and gently placed it on his lap, holding him around the shoulders and cradling his brother in his arms.

"Why did you have to do that? You could have lived. Father wanted you to live on. You could still have had a good life, gege. Why did you want to die? And using my sword?"

The man couldn’t answer him; his life’s blood was ebbing away, and Yicai could see that he didn’t have much longer. He started to convulse in his arms, and the Crown Prince held him as he took his last breath.

Bai Li ordered everyone to leave the throne room, marching the rebel soldiers out under the watchful eye of the Emperor’s army.

Yicai sat where he was, holding the blood-drenched body of his older brother, the fatally injured man’s eyes now glassy, his soul long gone.

The Crown Prince had lost his Father and his eldest brother in the course of this day, and he was gripped by a sudden feeling of emptiness that he hadn’t expected to feel.

His Father had long favoured Haoran and made it clear that he, as the nearest heir, would be expected to live out his days in Gu. His brother had only ever seen him as a rival for the dragon throne; and yet, they were the family he had left after losing his mother when he was a small boy.

With both of them now dead, he felt adrift and bereft, no longer sure of the burning need he had felt to secure the dragon throne for himself, both to protect those he loved, and to protect the People from his brother’s incompetency.

Was it really the necessary path? At such a high cost? Right at this moment it didn’t feel like it was worth it. He looked around the room for Bai Li, realising for the first time that he was all alone in the throne room with just him and his brother and fathers’ bodies.

The empty room with its broken walls, dust, blood and dead bodies was a pretty accurate reflection of how he felt right now.

His thoughts turned to Mei Meili, who perhaps was the only good thing left in his life...