"Moyu, I decided… I'll do my best to get back on my feet."

  Just remembering how he had almost put Xiao Bao's life in danger and how useless he was to protect Tang Moyu from Han Shaohui, were enough reasons for Feng Tianyi to not waste any more time than he'd already had.

  Tang Moyu reached up and ran her fingers on his dark hair, noticing how long it had grown since the first time he'd come here to Peach Blossom Garden.

  "Are you still blaming yourself? None of it was your fault. You didn't want any of it to happen and I wouldn't hold it against you, Tianyi. I ask for nothing but your honesty. It's enough for me that you care for us and that you are willing to work to improve your condition." She told him, knowing that he hadn't still fully accepted that she would be alright.

  "I've never hated myself being disabled until now." The devil said with a wry smile as he pulled away and looked down at her bare face with one of his arms propping him up.

  Her usual cold eyes now gleamed with warmth and understanding. Her eyes lingered on a certain part of his face and noticed the small mole right under his left eye over his cheekbones.

  Most of the time, she avoided looking at his handsome face, not because she found him unattractive, but the opposite of it. Rumors had said that the devil had a handsome face that was out of this world and he was considered a god amongst men.

  Tang Moyu finally understood why the devil had earned such a reputation, only that it wasn't enough to give justice to describe him meeting anyone face to face.

  Her hands came to rest on his shoulders as she looked up at him with a small smile. She had never allowed herself to be intimately close to any other man like this before, except for the slip she made with her children's father.

  "Does it matter? Didn't you say you would be able to walk soon? Feng Tianyi, being bound to a wheelchair for the past five years doesn't lessen your worth as a man nor a person. If you still insist on looking after me then…. You should do your best and complete your sessions. I'll wait for you no matter how long it would take for you to recover."

  Tang Moyu knew that she could ask him for anything at all, but she wouldn't. She didn't want him to think that she only wanted him by her side because of what she could get from him.

  "Still…" Feng Tianyi wanted to argue but Tang Moyu hushed him by pressing a finger on his lips.

  "You don't have to apologize for being who you are and what you are. I don't expect you to shoulder all my problems and protect me like a knight in shining armor against anyone. Do you really think I only want you for such reasons?"

  "I admit it was my fault for not giving you a heads up about Han Shaohui. I won't do it again. It's just that I had gotten used to dealing with everything on my own. I haven't considered what you would feel and think as my partner."

  While she understood that some men didn't like strong and independent women, Tang Moyu also knew that being a man in this generation was scary at the same time. Everyone expected some kind of stoicism and for them to act like a man. This meant that they were expected by society to repress their emotions.

  Unlike women and children who were expected to be treated right and given respect, men were expected to be tough and to fend for themselves. They would usually find it hard to express their feelings because it made it sound like they were weak. Whatever was bothering them, society expected them to push it down, get over it, and move on.

  This… Tang Moyu didn't want Feng Tianyi to feel like a lesser man just because he couldn't protect her when she had never expected him to.

  Feng Tianyi's free hand held her waist, wondering how she was able to calm the storm in his heart with a few words. Tang Moyu shifted beneath him and pressed his body a little closer to his.

  One of her hands moved from his shoulder to the side of his face, anticipating another kiss from him. She softly sighed when his lips brushed against hers softly before he pressed once more making full contact with hers.

  When his other hand came up and touched the back of her neck, pulling her closer, Tang Moyu shivered. At the time they parted, half-lidded eyes looked down at her with unconcealed desire for her.

  "Are you alright with this?" He asked, not wanting to make her uncomfortable.

  The empress pecked his lips, much to his shock.

  "I like it. I like being with you." She admitted with a smile.

  Dear lord, Tang Moyu probably didn't know that she and her little buns were the beauty he'd never expected to encounter in this cruel world. When he lost to his younger brother and lost his ability to walk, he resigned to his fate and never hoped for anything else.

  Tang Moyu tried so hard to do well. She worked hard, fought for every step; even if it wasn't always in the right direction. The phoenix wanted to fly, and now she was soaring.

  The devil was afraid, so afraid she would crash. That the only thing he could do was to watch it when it happens. He didn't want to think that there's no way for him to help if she did fail.