Without Hatred

Shangguan Ru turned around, a smile playing on her lips as she looked at the Dragon King in the shadows. "Is this what it feels like to be your enemy?"

Gu Shenwei stepped out of the shadows and stopped five paces away. He shook his head. "No. I never considered you my enemy."

Shangguan Ru narrowed her eyes and studied him for a moment. "Has the wound on your lip healed?"

When they had parted ways at Dragon Court, Shangguan Ru had bitten his lip hard. Gu Shenwei had received plenty of curious looks because of it, but even Old Man Mu hadn't dared ask about it.

He raised a hand to touch it. "Just a flesh wound."

"Haha." Shangguan Ru couldn't say exactly how she felt. When they weren't together, the only person in her mind was the grim Dragon King, a man steeped in schemes from head to toe. But as soon as they stood face-to-face, the memory of Huan Nu eclipsed everything else. She didn't dare say those two words, afraid the Dragon King would take them as an insult.

"You want to know what my father said to me?"

"Yes, if you don't mind."

Shangguan Ru lifted her head and thought for a moment. "He said he missed me terribly and regretted deciding to kill me. He said that hadn't been his true intention. He also said he hoped I'd return to Golden Peng Fortress. My room was just as I'd left it, and we could start over. I was still the Tenth Young Master."

Gu Shenwei frowned. "You're lying."

Shangguan Ru sighed. "Those are the words I wish he'd said. In reality, he didn't say a single word of regret. It was as if he'd never plotted to kill my brother and me. He actually...