The so-called deep caves weren’t as deep as in the name but the place was bizarre and isolated that no one had the balls to go up there apart from Ji Yao. Even he had only gone up there a handful of times.

Now, what would prompt him to go to such a creepy place? Well, the first time he went up there it was entirely by accident. He was barely eight years old and once he entered he found that he couldn’t get out easily.

It was like the moment he stepped foot inside, his mind was spinning and his judgement clouded. He was confused and disoriented. By the time he found out he could clear his mind by engaging his aether he had already been trapped in this place for a day.

With his mind clear he followed the direction at which his seraphic energy was leading him towards. His seraphic energy was drawn to a clear blue lake a few feet underground. This clear lake was surrounded by a tranquil aura that penetrated his atherial veins healing and calming his injured soul.

Though this was only temporary the effects would last for a very long time. When he asked his father after finding his way out of the caves, Ji Wen said this island was initially chosen by his mother because of these caves in particular.

Hearing this explanation it made sense why he saw an illusion of his mother when he went in. She was sitting crossed legged on a cushion as she drew something on a sheet of paper. But from what the eight-year-old Ji Yao could tell she couldn’t see him.

So he quietly sat beside her and watched what she was doing. She was drawing a beautiful portrait of his father and him. The illusion didn’t last long but the impact it had on Ji Yao was so powerful that he gained an entirely new hobby through that experience. He was upset with his mother but deep down he longed to have some type of connection and his passion for painting and drawing was that connection.

The only other times he went back up there again was when something major happened and when he was seeking comfort from those illusions. Like this, mother and son would sit next to each other in silence. This was the only communion he had with his mother.

After what he experienced the previous night it meant this was one of the moments that warranted a trip to the cave of solitude. He couldn’t understand why he was like this let alone why he reacted that way to Rui Fei’s touch.

Sure, he protested at first but his flustered body seemed to be tamed in a matter of minutes. This vexed him so much that he left as soon as they approached the island he calls home.

For the entire night, he hadn’t slept not because he was uncomfortable but because he was confused as heck. For four hours straight he had failed miserably to get out of Rui Fei’s grip which honestly made his doubts about that kid resurface.

This kid was absolutely not a weak chicken like his father foolishly assumed. Something was definitely up. This is what he was thinking about as he sat with his legs crossed together beside the pool. The only difference was that his thought process was much calmer than before as mist from the pool surrounded his body.

He could feel the mist enter his body and flow into his atherial veins as it circulated all the way to his aether. The moment it surrounded his aether he felt another presence. He didn’t need to open his eyes to know that he was having another one of those illusions again.

He slowly opened his eyes and as expected Qilin Hao was in front of him sitting in the same position as she did each time. The only difference was that she had grown even more beautiful with skin as smooth as porcelain.

In her pale hand, she held a sable paintbrush with her gaze tracing the movement of her hand. She wore a red dress made of silk material and her hair hung loose on her shoulders in a carefree manner.

As always she seemed unaware of his presence as she carried on doing her thing. What he didn’t know was that Qilin Hao was well aware of his presence. In fact, she could even speak to him but since the first time he came to this cave he had always been silently sitting there watching her.

This cave was the only place her father couldn’t temporarily reach her when she was pregnant with Ji Yao. It wasn’t a long time solution but it helped her deliver safely. Before she left she transformed into her true form and painfully broke one of her antlers and dropped it into the pool.

This ultimately created a haven for Ji Yao where he could not only heal his emotional turmoil but also see her. At first, she thought they could speak but the eight-year-old Ji Yao just silently sat beside her like he was afraid she would disappear.

This meant Ji Yao was unintentionally deceived. Today however things were different. Ji Yao didn’t want to silently sit there and watch her because he wanted to talk. He knew she wouldn’t respond but he just needed to spill his guts out so he started talking.

He was hesitant at first because it was unnatural and felt weird but as the words kept flowing he couldn’t stop. He went on spilling his little secrets. Since it was an illusion who would care, right? Wrong!

When he got to the part about being cuddled Qilin Hao couldn’t pretend anymore. She sold herself out when she choked on her saliva after hearing that.

Ji Yao, “…..”

“*cough *cough *cough fuck… *cough *cough…..,” she went on worrying the servants that were standing outside.

The door was pushed open and Ji Yao heard a voice say, “Your highness….. are….. ah!”

The ‘ah’ sound was because his highness over here had thrown her shoe towards the door sending the servant away.

Well, she might have gotten rid of the witness but the jig was definitely up. Even if she froze in place as though doing the mannequin challenge like it’s 2016 she couldn’t wipe herself clean.

“Seriously,” said Ji Yao who at this point felt so betrayed. No, this was beyond betrayal because it was looking more like entrapment. It’s like a kid using a Judas Iscariot (sell out) diary app on their cellphone only to realise that their journal entries are linked to their parent’s email address.

This means each crush and each illegal experiment they conducted and wrote down was being broadcasted to their parents.. This was the ultimate invasion of privacy with the only difference being that for Ji Yao it wasn’t an app but what he naively thought was an illusion.