Chapter 163: History Is Written By The Victors
“Hehe,” Lin Xin also laughed. The two little ones in her arms poked their heads out and said seriously to Big Brother Mo: “Big Brother Mo / Uncle, my sister / Auntie is already fine.”
“Good that you’re fine, good that you’re fine!” Mo Ziyuan nodded, carefully examined Lin Xin’s complexion again, and seeing that she indeed looked energetic, he felt much more relieved.
“What were you doing outside just now? I seemed to see some firelight?” Lin Xin asked knowingly.
“Earlier, a kind of vine that sucks human blood suddenly appeared in the forest. Those people who ambushed you, whether dead or alive, were all sucked dry by them. We thought they would continue attacking us, but for some reason, they withered away without warning,” at this point, Mo Ziyuan couldn’t help but click his tongue in wonder. “We don’t know what exactly they were. We were afraid they would suck the blood of animals on the mountain and come back to life, so we simply set a fire and burned them all.”
Lin Xin nodded, hiding her merit and name.
Those were mutant Devil Vines that only existed in the apocalypse. She had spawned them out of desperation to deal with the previous batch of assassins targeting them. Afterward, she hadn’t had time to clean up. Originally, Lin Xin’s plan was to return Lin Tao to the Crown Prince and then find an excuse to come back and tidy up the mess.
But they actually sensed the residual energy from her previous use of Wood Element Ability, tracked her all the way here, which saved her a lot of trouble and even provided her with a wave of energy for free.
“Ah? That magical?” Lin Xin pretended to be surprised and widened her eyes, but her flickering gaze betrayed her true thoughts. Mo Ziyuan immediately understood that the thing was probably created by her.
“Mm, they’ve all been burned up, no traces left.”
“That’s fine then. Should we continue on the road now or rest a bit?” Lin Xin understood his meaning and proactively changed the topic.
“Rest a bit! In case there’s another ambush ahead, we need energy to face it.” After answering, Mo Ziyuan patted her shoulder. “You rest a bit more. I’ll go check on them and hunt some game from the mountain for an extra meal.”
“Okay, go ahead!” Lin Xin smiled and agreed.
“Auntie, are we almost there?” Lin Tao propped his little chin with his hand and asked.
“Yes!” Lin Xin answered.
“Will there be more people trying to kill us ahead?”
Looking at the worry and fear he couldn’t hide on his little face, Lin Xin felt a pang in her heart, thinking what kind of mess is this!
She gently pulled him into her arms and stroked his back with her hand. “Probably not anymore! Is Tao Tao scared?”
“I’m not scared, but I don’t want to see Auntie get hurt again.” Lin Tao’s answer completely surprised Lin Xin. After thinking, she said to him: “Tao Tao is still little now, so naturally Auntie should protect Tao Tao. When Tao Tao grows up, he can protect Auntie instead.”
Lin Tao shook his head and looked seriously into Lin Xin’s eyes as he asked her: “I know those people came to kill me because my father is the Emperor, and his foundation isn’t stable yet, so if I die or get captured by them, it would strike a blow to my father, right?”
Lin Xin was truly surprised this time. “Who told you that?”
“Mister Meng mentioned some before, and I figured out some myself.” Lin Tao answered.
Lin Xin was stunned. Was this the greatness of genes? A three-year-old kid already understood these things?
“Alright,” Lin Xin felt she should explain everything clearly to him. Otherwise, he’d hear bits here and there, piece it together himself, so it was better to tell him the actual situation. Anyway, he was already heaven-defyingly smart, so she shouldn’t treat him with the previous attitude anymore.
“Your father has the Former Emperor’s imperial decree passing the throne to him, so his claim to the throne is legitimate. You should understand that first,” seeing Lin Tao nod, she continued: “There’s only one throne, but your imperial grandfather doesn’t have just your father as a son, so some contention is inevitable.”
“But isn’t my father legitimate?” Lin Tao couldn’t understand.
“Tao Tao, remember this: history is always written by the victors. If your father loses, even if he was ever so legitimate, he’ll become a traitorous minister.”
“Ah?” Lin Tao was stunned. Mister Meng didn’t seem to say it that way.
“Becoming Emperor brings great power, enough to easily decide the life or death of a person or even a family, so many people want to be Emperor. But they never think that while the Emperor has power, he also bears many obligations and cannot act recklessly.”
“What about my father? Will he be a good emperor?”
“Probably.” Lin Xin hadn’t had much contact with the Crown Prince, so she couldn’t comment rashly.
“Alright then! I’ll ask him myself when I see my father.”
“Tao Tao, do you want to be Emperor?” Looking at his precociously tender little face, Lin Xin couldn’t help asking.
“Mister Meng said I’m the next Emperor! Can I not be?” Lin Tao widened his eyes in surprise.
“Uh······” Lin Xin didn’t dare answer. Meng Yichen had clearly been teaching Lin Tao as the next monarch and current Crown Prince, and she hadn’t noticed at all. Was she too slow or was Lin Tao hiding it too well?
“Auntie?” Not getting her answer, Lin Tao shook her arm.
“Auntie doesn’t know about this either, but if Tao Tao becomes Emperor, he’ll definitely be a great one.” After thinking, Lin Xin gave an answer that wasn’t really an answer.
“What are you talking about?” Mo Ziyuan appeared in the horse carriage very timely, looking at Lin Xin’s wrinkled little face and Lin Tao’s furrowed little brows as he asked.
“Nothing, just chatting casually.” Lin Xin already knew Lin Tao’s position in Mo Ziyuan and the others’ eyes, so naturally she didn’t want him to know she had almost run off with their future sovereign.
“Alright, food is prepared outside. Go eat some!” Mo Ziyuan didn’t dwell on it and asked Lin Xin: “How’s your body? Can you get down by yourself?”
“Yes, no problem at all.” Having absorbed all the Wood Element energy from the Devil Vines, Lin Xin now fully had the ability to completely heal her body. But to avoid scaring everyone, she held back from healing those wounds that looked very serious. Her mobility was fine.
“Then let’s go!” Seeing her complexion better than before and considering she might have good things in her universe sleeve, Mo Ziyuan didn’t ask more. He dismounted the horse carriage, then carried Lin Nan and Lin Tao down one by one, before extending a hand to Lin Xin.
Lin Xin smiled, placed her hand in his palm, and jumped down from the horse carriage.
“Miss Lin, you’re okay now!” Gao Yong and the others had learned all her “heroic deeds” along the way from Chu Yu. Seeing her dismount, they all gathered to ask after her, including Fu Jing and Meng Yixuan.
“I’m already fine.” Lin Xin smiled and answered.
