novelraw Chapter 196: A Dangerous Apolog
Chapter 196: A Dangerous Apolog
He hated that weak part of himself, he hated the reality that they were the last dragons left and feared the thought of losing even the only hope he had.
The destinied mate he hadn’t yet found.
"Please... just look at me."
The thing that had been in his hands just minutes ago was gone, leaving a cold wind in his heart.
Still... it was still okay.
"Where did you go? Where? Where are you?"
Frustrated at not finding him, Iseul slammed his fist against a nearby wall.
The sound of crumbling dust and small stones falling from above echoed around him.
"Get away from there!"
"Huh? —!"
He spun around at the sudden shout, but in the next moment, a massive rumbling shook the ground and a wall seemed to surge forward barreling straight at him.
...
Qiong Xing kept moving forward blindly even though he doesn’t know where to go.
Then he heard the sound of something collapsing nearby.
Thinking it might be the cracked wall from earlier, he cautiously peeked to check and froze.
The wall was crumbling and below it, he saw a familiar figure.
Forgetting everything else, he shouted.
"Get away from there!"
The person looked startled and didn’t move.
Qiong Xing sprinted toward him.
Realizing his hands wouldn’t reach in time to stop the collapse, he poured magic into his palms and praying it would work.
Suddenly, a large amount of water appeared from nowhere, enveloping the person and yanking him hard toward him.
"Are you okay?!"
The force slammed him into the opposite wall and Qiong Xing rushed over to check if he gets hurt.
Thankfully, there were no injuries.
"Cough, cough... gah, gahh!"
It seemed he had swallowed a lot of water in the chaos as he coughing violently.
Qiong Xing rubbed his back to help ease the struggle.
"Sorry... I couldn’t control it properly," he said.
He hadn’t used water magic much before and in his desperate attempt to save them, he misjudged the force.
He brushed the wet hair from their face and wiped the tears caused by the struggle.
Then, suddenly, the person threw himself into his arms.
Ah, he remembered they were supposed to be escaping.
"Let me go," Qiong Xingyu said.
"No," the guy replied firmly.
Even now, trying to escape was pointless since he wont let him go.
Realizing the situation was bad, Qiong Xing glanced around for anything that could serve as a weapon, but then...
"I’m sorry!"
"Huh...?"
"I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!"
The guy started apologizing frantically.
Qiong Xing’s heart skipped a beat when he heard his apologize.
Could it be... because of the water earlier, he was now panicking or shaken mentally?
He felt a chill run down his spine.
"What... what happened?"
He stammered feeling unsettled.
"I... I’m sorry. Please... don’t hate me," he said.
This... this was serious.
Qiong Xing realized he might have triggered a full-blown panic and he needed to handle it carefully before things got worse.
The image of that overworked older brother came to Qiong Xing’s mind and he realized there was nothing he could do but apologize profusely.
"I don’t know what you meant but... are you hurt anywhere?"
"No. I’m not hurt, so please don’t hate me."
No, no, no, no...
Qiong Xing had no idea what the right answer was.
If he carelessly said he liked him, he might lock him in a room again like before.
Yet, seeing them cling and cry like a lost child made it impossible to say he hated him.
Someone help me!
"Let’s get you changed for now. You’ll catch a cold like this."
"No. I want to stay with you."
Please, just let go.
Qiong Xing didn’t care if he caught a cold in his wet clothes, but having him clinging like this was causing problems too.
When a chill slowly seeped in and he sneezed, the guy panicked even more and clutching to him tightly.
"Wh-what are you doing?"
"You’ll catch a cold! I need to warm you up. Do you want to change your clothes? Or do you want a bath? I’ll get you something hot to drink and even prepare the bed..."
One sneeze and this is overprotective?
Besides, it wasn’t Qiong Xing who was wet, it was him.
"Don’t worry about me. You’ll catch a cold if you keep this up. Go home and change your clothes—"
"Y-yeah! I need to change quickly!"
Qiong Xing didn’t know what misunderstanding made them mutter about how serious it was, the guy just grab him with one hand and start running.
He couldn’t even say anything.
Still, why were men in this world all so muscular?
Not as much as Joa and the others, but tall enough and slim, yet he touches them they clearly showed their muscle was well-trained.
He wondered if there was any way to... transplant this muscle.
As he was being distracted, he lightly tapped they guy arm in mock frustration, and, like a horse cracking its whip, he sped up even more.
"Have you found your older brother yet?"
"Huh? Oh, no. He seems to have gone somewhere."
His tone seemed different.
It’s more serious than the usual carefree or coldly laughing attitude, but it was still better than before.
Still, Qiong Xing wasn’t completely certain the danger had passed, so he stayed alert, but remained calm and quiet.
"This is for you to change into. I’ll have the bath ready soon, so wait a bit. And I’ll prepare something warm to drink too—"
"You should go first. It’s not really my place to say since I caused this, but the sooner you get warm, the better."
Qiong Xing used the towel he handed over to gently wipe the guy soaking wet hair.
He flinched slightly, his shoulders twitching as if surprised.
"A towel alone isn’t enough. Go ahead and take a bath."
Being drenched all over, just wiping a little hardly helped.
Qiong Xing tried to guide him to the bath, but he clutched his arms and topping him from moving.