"If I had warned him before, he could have stopped using it so much. Previously he was only an idiot that did what he willed, but now he is an impulsive idiot that doesn't think before acting! That's why he did all that after coming here! I was an idiot, truly!"
Xun kept talking to herself in disappointment, wondering if there was something she could do now. Or could it be that he was already too far gone?
"Long Chen! Listen to me! Send the Sword of Time back in the ancient ring right now!" She let out loudly, warning Long Chen.
Even though she knew that simply sending the sword back wasn't going to help much since he was already affected, at least it could decrease the chances of the situation getting worse.
"Hmm? Keep the sword back? Why?"
Turning back, Long Chen asked.
'I was right. His impulses are dominant. If it were old him, he would have used his thoughts to talk to me in the presence of Zhiqing,' Xun thought, frowning.
Zhiqing, on the other hand, was looking at Long Chen weirdly as he looked back and talked to thin air. She couldn't help but feel sad. Was Mingyu really dead? That could be the only reason Long Chen was so affected. Was he seeing Mingyu's vision behind him?
"You haven't eaten all day, right. Let's eat first. We'll talk later," Zhiqing told Long Chen to bring his attention to her and to change his attention from Mingyu. She wanted to calm him.
"You go and eat. I'm not hungry," Long Chen casually replied to Zhiqing before he again started at Xun, asking him, "Why do you want me to send my sword back?"
"That sword is bad for you. It's affecting your health and head; send it back!" Xun told Long Chen.
"Huh? This sword is affecting my health? I don't feel anything. I feel perfectly fine. Are you joking with me?" Long Chen asked with an amused smile on his face, not believing her.
"I'm not joking. I know you're not thinking straight now. Listen to me and send the sword back! After that, go back and bring Mingyu with you so that we could leave this world," Xun told Long Chen.
"Bring her back? Hahaha, I didn't think she would come. Don't you know she thinks I'm a rapist? She thinks I'm a criminal! She doesn't even know the real me!" Long Chen said, holding the sword of time firmly in his hand, not sending it back.
"You duffer! You're not thinking straight! If you were, you would have known that she was lying! The old you would have recognized that in an instant! But because of this sword, you can't even think clearly! Send it back. It's increasing your Law of Darkness. That's dangerous for you!" Xun told Long Chen.
Zhiqing couldn't hear Xun's words, but she heard Long Chen's words as if he was talking to himself. His words gave a clear picture to her.
'So she is alive? The reason he is sad is because she doesn't trust him? She blamed him for someone's ****? Just what is happening here?' she wondered, trying to understand the whole situation.
"What do you mean she was lying? Anyway, it doesn't matter. Also, you say that holding this sword increases my Law of Darkness? Isn't that good? I can increase my Law comprehension without any effort. All I need to do is hold the sword! Have you lost your mind? You say I'm not thinking straight, but it's obvious you're not thinking straight. I have such a great opportunity to increase my Law of Darkness."
"You idiot, I wouldn't have said anything if it wasn't hurting you, but it is. As for increasing your Law of Darkness, that's not a good thing!" Xun said, annoyed.
" The Law of Darkness or any other Law can only be increased by increasing your comprehension. But this sword increases its strength without increasing your comprehension. That's why it's affecting you adversely. You can't control it!" She further explained.
In explaining about the Sword, she forgot to explain about what lie she was talking about.
...
Back in Esteria, Mingyu was sitting with her mother.
The Emperor had departed to order the search for Long Chen throughout the Empire.
"I'm sorry, mother. Because of me, brother is in danger," Mingyu apologized to her mother.
"You idiot. I'm your mother. Do you think I don't know what you did?" her mother asked, shaking her head in concern.
"What I did?" Mingyu asked, confused.
"You blamed him for forcing a girl and for every crime when he was going to kill your brother. But I know you. You don't really believe that he did all that. You still believe he was innocent. All you did was to try to disappoint him."
"You knew he was here for some misunderstanding. He thought that he was saving you from future danger. I don't know why he thought that, but he must have his reasons. You should've thought that too. Since you couldn't stop him, all you could do was take away his reason."
"He was trying to kill your brother for your safety. So you tried to make him hate you so that he wouldn't care about you and not kill your brother to protect you. You wanted him to detest you and leave in anger, forever."
"To save your brother from your husband and to save your husband from your father, you willingly made your husband hate you. All so the future conflict could stop even if it meant losing the guy you loved the most in the world," the Queen said to her daughter, patting her.
Hearing her words, Mingyu couldn't stop her tears as she hugged her mother and started crying, letting out all her emotions.
"It didn't work. Brother is taken, and he'll be dead. Father will kill Long Chen after that. I did nothing but break his heart. I'm to be blamed. I caused everything!" Mingyu cried uncontrollably, letting out her tears that she had long held back, to act strong.
But the truth was that she was weak. She was the weakest here and not according to strength but in emotions. She felt like she had lost everything. Everything she held dead was lost.
In an effort to save everything she held dear, she lost everything. She lost all she had. Now she was all alone in this world.
"It's not your fault. I'm sure it's the scheme of someone that can't bear to see the happiness of our family. Also, it's not your fault that even after you made him hate you, he took your brother," Mingyu's mother said.
"Mother, he would kill brother. Father would kill him. Aren't you worried?" She asked her mother.