Chapter 319 - Meeting Bian

Chapter 319: Chapter 319 - Meeting Bian

By the time the healers finally released Grandpa Rue, the old man was thoroughly irritated.

"I told you there was nothing wrong with me."

"You were in a crash, Grandpa. It’s better to have everything checked out," Jian reminded him as they walked through the palace corridor. He had taken Grandpa Rue’s cane and was carrying it despite being told several times to give it back. His other hand remained wrapped around the old man’s arm, partly to help him and partly because Jian still wasn’t quite ready to let him out of reach.

"I’m fine."

"They found bruising on your shoulder and your side."

"People my age get bruises getting out of bed."

Jian gave him an unimpressed look. "They also told you to rest."

Grandpa Rue glanced at the hand still holding his arm. "You suddenly became very bossy."

"Get used to it."

Grandpa Rue grumbled something beneath his breath, but Jian caught the faint smile on his face.

Thankfully, none of the injuries from the crash were serious. The healers had treated his shoulder, cleaned the cut near his temple and assured Jian that the remaining bruising would heal normally. Quangya had also been examined and was now walking a short distance ahead of them. The little boy kept slowing whenever they passed one of the enormous windows overlooking the capital, staring at everything with such fascination that Grandpa Rue had to keep calling him back.

Jian watched him with a quiet smile. After everything that had happened, having both of them here inside the palace felt almost unreal.

They were approaching the residential wing when Grandpa Rue abruptly stopped.

Jian immediately looked at him. The old man’s body had gone rigid beneath his hand, and whatever relaxed expression he’d been wearing moments ago had disappeared.

"What is it?"

Grandpa Rue didn’t answer.

He was staring farther down the corridor.

Jian followed his gaze and saw Bian.

He was standing near one of the crystal pillars as though he had been waiting for them. The moment he saw Grandpa Rue, his expression changed. For a brief second, shock crossed his face before his features softened.

"Grandpa..."

Grandpa Rue’s fingers tightened around Jian’s arm.

Jian noticed immediately.

Bian hurried toward them, his eyes already filling with tears. "Grandpa! You’re really alive!"

He opened his arms as he approached, clearly intending to hug him, but Grandpa Rue stepped back before Bian could reach him.

Bian didn’t seem to understand the warning and continued forward.

Jian stepped between them.

He planted one hand against Bian’s chest and pushed him back before he could touch the old man.

"Don’t even think about it."

Bian stumbled a step and looked at him in surprise. "Jian?"

Jian barely paid attention to him. He glanced over his shoulder instead and saw Grandpa Rue move farther behind him.

That was when Jian understood.

His grandfather wasn’t simply angry with Bian.

He was afraid of him.

The realization immediately changed something in Jian’s expression.

Bian tried to look past him. "Grandpa, it’s me."

"I know who you are," Grandpa Rue replied quietly.

Bian’s face faltered. "I thought something had happened to you. I searched for you for so long. I didn’t know where you went."

Jian’s jaw tightened.

Those were almost the same words Bian had used when Jian first confronted him about Grandpa Rue’s disappearance. Back then, Bian had claimed he’d searched everywhere and had no idea what happened to the old man.

Yet Grandpa Rue wasn’t looking at him like someone reunited with a worried family member.

His hand was trembling against Jian’s sleeve.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Bian asked.

He took another cautious step forward, and Jian blocked him again.

"I said don’t come closer."

"I only want to talk to Grandpa."

"He doesn’t want you near him."

Bian’s eyes immediately filled with hurt. "You don’t know that. Jian, I know you’re angry with me, but please don’t turn Grandpa against me too. He raised both of us. I loved him too."

Grandpa Rue’s expression hardened.

"Loved me?"

Bian looked toward him. "Of course I did."

"If you loved me, why did you lock us away? Why did you try to kill us?"

The question wiped the expression from Bian’s face.

Jian slowly turned toward his grandfather.

"What?"

Bian recovered almost immediately. "I don’t know what you mean."

Grandpa Rue let out a humorless laugh. "Of course you don’t."

"Grandpa, I would never hurt you."

"You ordered us locked in a room. You told them not to give us food."

Jian went completely still.

A short distance behind them, Quangya had also stopped. The little boy instinctively moved closer to Grandpa Rue, his earlier fascination with the palace completely forgotten.

Bian shook his head quickly. "That’s not what happened. Things were dangerous back then. If I ordered you kept somewhere, there must have been a reason. Maybe I was trying to keep you safe."

"I was there, Bian. Don’t tell me what happened to me."

"There must have been some misunderstanding."

"There wasn’t."

Grandpa Rue stepped out slightly from behind Jian, although he made no attempt to move closer.

"I don’t know what happened to you after you came to this world. Maybe I never knew you as well as I thought I did. But don’t stand here pretending those years didn’t happen just because you don’t want Jian to know about them."

Bian’s eyes reddened further.

"I was alone too," he whispered. "I was brought to a world I knew nothing about. I had no one. I was scared, Grandpa. I know I made mistakes, but I was scared too."

A tear rolled down his cheek.

Jian watched him quietly.

Years ago, that expression might have made him hesitate. Bian had always been good at making himself look smaller when someone confronted him, turning anger into pity before anyone had time to question what had actually happened.

This time, nobody reacted.

Grandpa Rue only looked tired.

"I’m not interested in your excuses."

Bian’s lips parted, but no answer came.

Grandpa Rue held out his hand toward Jian. "Give me my cane."

Jian immediately handed it over.

"Let’s go."

Jian nodded and moved beside him. Quangya quickly followed, staying close to Grandpa Rue as they started past Bian.

"Grandpa." ℯ

The old man stopped.

Bian stood behind them with tears still on his face. "Do you really hate me that much?"

Grandpa Rue remained quiet for a moment before answering.

"I don’t hate you."

Bian’s expression changed almost immediately, a small trace of hope appearing in his eyes.

Grandpa Rue finally looked back at him.

"I’m... I’m afraid of what you’ve become."

The hope disappeared.

Jian looked at his grandfather, but Grandpa Rue had already turned away. He continued walking without another word, with Quangya staying close beside him.

Jian didn’t follow immediately.

He remained in front of Bian, studying him.

Bian wiped at his tears. "Jian, what Grandpa said isn’t—"

"What exactly did you do to them?"

"I told you, it wasn’t like that. You weren’t there. You don’t understand what was happening at the time."

"No. I wasn’t there."

Jian’s voice remained surprisingly calm.

"But Grandpa was."

Bian went silent.

"So I’ll ask him."

Something shifted in Bian’s face.

It lasted less than a second, but Jian saw it clearly. The sadness disappeared, replaced by naked fear before Bian managed to hide it again.

That reaction told Jian more than another argument ever could.

He didn’t bother questioning him further.

Jian turned and hurried after Grandpa Rue, catching up within a few steps and slipping his arm through the old man’s again.

Behind them, Bian remained standing alone in the corridor.

He watched the group disappear around the corner before slowly wiping the remaining tears from his face.

His expression hardened.

Grandpa Rue should never have made it out of the Veyr Forest.

Now the old man was inside the palace, under Jian’s protection, and every secret Bian had spent years burying had returned with him.