Chapter 301 - To the Future and Beyond~

After a long time of quietly clutching the Emperor, Lei Xing announced, "I don't like clinging..." all the while still hugging his waist.

Even if he could not see her expression, the Emperor could hear the pout in her voice. It seemed he was truly worrying for nothing, she was definitely herself right now. So he smiled and caressed her cheek and said, "I love when you cling..."

"Of course, you do..." Lei Xing mumbled with a snort and then she released him and tried to sit up but the Emperor tightened his hold around her and held her to him. Lei Xing knit her brows and looked up at him and he looked down at her face with a smirk, "I'm not complaining~..." He said leaning down and giving her a light kiss on her lips. 

Lei Xing narrowed her eyes at him, "I also don't like clingy people..."

The Emperor narrowed his eyes back down at her, "Same...but you're the obvious exception~"He said patting her cheek.

Lei Xing absentmindedly blinked up at him for a bit and then smiled, "...Well...not that I want to complain but this position is a bit uncomfortable, my back's starting to hurt -" 

As soon as she said that, the Emperor released her and Lei Xing sat up. She then stretched her arms before dragging herself back to lean on the headboard and stretching out her hand to the Emperor with a smile. The Emperor took her hand and shifted closer, he lightly ran a hand through her hair and asked, "Does sending them away really make you so uneasy?" 

Lei Xing briefly knit her brows in confusion before remembering the sendoff ceremony, she smiled and offhandedly said, "They don't matter..." Before squeezing his hand and seriously saying, "What you've done makes me very happy. You not only thought to give us peace of mind but also thought to give those girls their lives back. It was very thoughtful and honestly amazing that you would consider their future in the bid for your own happiness, our own happiness...so thank you."

The Emperor smiled, "I'm glad you see it that way... I was worried you were still worrying."

"Not at all...It's not like you made them maids." Lei Xing mumbled the last bit with a snort. The Emperor raised an eyebrow at her and she shook her head and said, "Nothing."

The Emperor then asked, "What were you dreaming about? I've never seen you so shaken before..." 

Lei Xing immediately pursed her lips and said, "Nothing important..."

"I like hearing you talk so it's importance is irrelevant...tell me." He countered with a gentle smile.

Lei Xing knit her brows and looked at him for a bit before lowering her head with a sigh, "It's nothing scary or anything and I'm not even sure why I was so bothered by it. Honestly, it's highly embarrassing that something like actually made me panic even just a bit, so..." She sheepishly glanced up at the Emperor waiting for him to tell her not to bother but he just quietly narrowed his eyes at her, waiting.

Lei Xing frowned, "Tch, fine...It was just a psychologically bothersome dream, I wasn't scared, I was just -... Okay, I was a child out with what I assume were parents at some festival of sorts, they disappeared, I panicked and then I woke up still panicked, nothing to it. Just blurred lines between dream and reality..." She flatly said.

"Was it a memory of yours?" The Emperor asked with concern.

"Nope..." Lei Xing dismissively responded, obviously not interested in the topic.

But the Emperor continued to question, "Have you had the dream before? Is it perhaps a recurring dream?" He was certain she had not had a dream like this in the time he has been sleeping with her. But he then he was thinking that perhaps like him, she too had troublesome memories from her past that haunted her. 

It would be nice if she too derived peace of mind from his mere presence. 

But then he quickly remembered that unlike him who only slept with her around, Lei Xing peacefully sleeps without him all the time.

The Emperor looked down at her hand in his and frowned. A part of him honestly yearned for her to need him as much as he seemed to need her. 

Lei Xing scrutinized the Emperor and thinking that he was unhappy because of her unenthusiastic responses, she put in a bit more effort and told the truth, "Well, no...but you see, I sent the bracelet back today so I guess I was feeling a bit lonely...a tad bit left behind I guess." 

"Oh?" The Emperor exclaimed looking up at her in surprise. He had actually not noticed even though he had just been staring down at the wrist the bracelet normally graced.

Lei Xing lowered her head and sighed, "He asked me to when I woke up today... Regardless of how annoying he has been, he has been a confidante, a good friend - for the most part anyway, for quite a long while now...Moreover, the bracelet has been connected to my body, mind and perhaps even soul for so long, so naturally, it being gone would mandate some hormonal and mental readjustments for me... I just needed a good sleep so I'm perfectly fine now, really." She finished with a reassuring smile.

The Emperor smiled and nodded, he looked down at her empty wrist and then smiled back up to her and said, "...I'll get you an even more beautiful bracelet for your wrist and you can come to me whenever you're lonely, with anything at any time..." He said, caressing her wrist.

Lei Xing smiled and then felt her eyes heating up again and she snorted, today was truly a rare emotional day for her. It was annoying but could she do, she was getting moved to tears. She put a hand on the Emperor's cheek and searched his face for a bit and smiled at him, "I still don't understand how I got so lucky..." 

The Emperor smiled at her and took her hand on his face and kissed it as he said, "I'm the one who is lucky..."

Lei Xing bit her inner lip and fought back her tears and then jumped forward and kissed him, wrapping her arms around his neck and dived into the kiss with wild abandon.

She truly did not understand how she got so lucky to find a man who was beyond good to her, it almost always seemed like an impossible dream.

Even the part of her that was still reluctant to believe that someone could care for so much her could not deny the reality that in this present time, at this moment, he truly loved her...and she loved him.

The future could become whatever it wanted to be, if he left her one day she would still survive it but for now, he deserved all her love and more. 

After a deep long kiss, Lei Xing sat back but still left her arms hanging around his neck, she smiled at him for a bit and then said, "I think...I'm a highly inconsiderate, selfish and self-centered individual so I think a little Xing er' will be more annoying than adorable..." She finished and then shyly lowered her eyes, anxiously waiting for his response. 

The Emperor chuckled and kissed her cheek, "You're always adorable, never annoying~..."

Lei Xing glanced up at him and blinked at him in confusion. 

{...That's it? O_O)...Don't tell me, he didn't get it?...Okay, understandable and I am plenty annoying by the way, I even annoy me...}

Lei Xing cleared her throat and tentatively said, "In my opinion...a little Kai would be most adorable..."

"Ahh..." The Emperor went, realizing she was giving her opinion to his words from the night before. He had actually thought she was asleep then but obviously she heard them and had her own opinions and oddly, chose now to share them. He chuckled and said, "I was a very boring child..."

Lei Xing blinked at him and then frowned, "You still don't get it?"

The Emperor raised an amused eyebrow at her with a smirk, "Get what?"

Lei Xing pouted in annoyance, the Emperor snorted but promptly corrected his expression when she narrowed her eyes at him. He never understood it, but he always found her anger to be amusing. She would be very upset with him if he ever told her that. It was one of the many things he found adorably amusing in her that he would find completely intolerable in anyone else. 

Lei Xing let out a breath and then ill-humoredly repeated with emphasis, "I said I think a little YOU would be most adorable!"

The Emperor blinked at her, now a bit confused as to why she wanted to argue about this, she was normally very open-minded to different opinions, "I heard that...and I simply disagree. While I was boring, you, on the other hand, I'm sure was the most entertaining and adorable child~" He said with a teasing smile and leaned in to kiss her but Lei Xing moved her head back.

She looked at him with a wry expression and then sighed, "You know, I usually think of you as an incredibly brilliant person who gets life and stuff but sometimes...like this, you truly surprise me."

{...Your cluelessness sometimes is just next level (≖_≖ )...}

The Emperor skeptically narrowed his eyes at her, "That doesn't exactly sound like a compliment...Is it?" Her tone was half-teasing, half-serious so he could not be sure.

Lei Xing smiled and pat his cheek, "Sure thing...But since you don't get it, I will be nice and spell it out for you~...I said, I think a little YOU would be most adorable...to have." She added for clarification and then stared at him, nervous and wide-eyed as her face heated up, waiting for his reaction.

The Emperor blinked at her and then knit his brows, then he blinked some more, opened his mouth to speak but just ended up staring at her wide-eyed with a raised eyebrow as if asking for confirmation on his unvoiced thought. 

Lei Xing blinked back at him, swallowed, and then lowered her eyes and shyly said, "I want a baby with you...I already didn't drink it today." She quietly added to show her conviction.

The Emperor's face immediately lit up and he laughed and grabbed Lei Xing's face and happily gave her a hard warm kiss on the lips, before planting kisses all over her face as Lei Xing laughed. 

He then stopped and just stared at her face as he gently caressed her cheeks, Lei Xing stared back at him with a smile and then brought a hand up to his face and caressed his cheeks and softly said, "I love you..." 

Before the Emperor could respond with his own words of love, she captured his lips again in a long deep kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling herself to her knees as she went about helping him to get rid of the "bothersome" hindrances known as clothes that separated them. 

Since they were discussing their babies, they unanimously came to the conclusion that they might as well begin on the path right now. And so the pair happily went about rolling in bed, working hard for a long time to ensure their bright future comes to life, doing their part to secure the empire's future.