《His Imperial Majesty, the Empress is a Venomous Fairy!》 Chapter 1: Eh? The breeze of autumn unfolded the bloody fragrance it carried from the battlefields all the way to the unnerved Royal Palace of a Kingdom which borders had recently heard the approaching echoing roars of war drums. Inside the panic-stricken Royal Court, the rueful and distressed cries of the Ministers rose louder and louder, making the rapid steps of an urged and young Royal Eunuch inaudible as he sprinted towards the golden dragon throne from behind, whispering to his King when he reached his side, ¡°His Majesty, the Princess¡­ Princess Wei Yue is¡­ is dead.¡± Because of the commotion, his whisper sounded lower, almost getting swallowed by the unsettling clamour; however, the King still had a clear hearing of the words ¡®Princess¡¯ and ¡®dead¡¯ so after a second, he came to realize what his Royal Eunuch had said, ¡°What? How?¡± he promptly asked with the discretion of the ruler he was. The Royal Eunuch half-bended in reverence, replying lowly and shaky, "This loyal servant asks for His Majesty''s pardon¡­ the Princess¡­ Her Highness took her life after finding of the marriage with the Emperor of Qing." Hearing no reply, the Royal Eunuch bowed his head more and added with fear, ¡°This loyal servant never thought tha¡­¡± ¡°Enough, We understand,¡± the King said as a light of contemplation passed through his aged dark eyes. Silence seemed to encompass the King that even the Royal Eunuch didn¡¯t hear the increasing noise in the hall as he waited for his King next words. Moments later, the King said at the yet to straighten up Royal Eunuch, ¡°Prepare Yu Lian as it was Lin Lian also¡­ deal discretely with Lin Lian¡¯s matter.¡± Yu Lian? But that is¡­ the Royal Eunuch thought with a shiver, blurting involuntary, ¡°H-his Majesty, but the Fifth Princess is the Crown Prince¡¯s fav¡­¡± ¡°Do We have to repeat Ourselves?¡± The Royal Eunuch came back to his senses with cold sweat all over his body, he had forgotten his place, ¡°The Fifth Princess will be ready as well as all the preparations with the utmost discretion,¡± he said the best he could before giving his respects and dashing back to carry out his King¡¯s commands. The King didn¡¯t pay heed to the Royal Eunuch changing the subject, what he hated the most was useless apologies when he was already running out of patience; that Royal Eunuch was young and had just recently joined to the King¡¯s personal Royal Eunuchs but he still clearly knew it, hence he was able to evade the worst possible scenario. Down in the main hall, a man in his late twenties clad in dark pink official robes, who was one of the little people who remained quiet at this situation as he knew about the plans of the King, overheard the conversation that took place at the throne as he was proficient in martial arts, and was now in deep contemplation. At long last, after having just shook his head full of dark brown hair, he pressed his thin lips and made a slight gesture with his hand before going back to stare at the noisy bickering. A shadow in the darkness saw its master¡¯s gesture and understanding the command, nimbly vanished, going out to execute the task. ***** Even though the atmosphere in the Royal Palace was wreck-nerving that reached even the most recondite of its places, there was a courtyard in the inner Royal Palace whose people were completely uncared about the bloody tragedies of war-related matters. The courtyard¡¯s layout was simple and wasn¡¯t very big as it only had five chambers; from above they looked like a four petals¡¯ flower. There was quietness in the air and no servants could be spotted in the yards. The four outer chambers were silent as well and only the main chamber in the middle had whispers of life. ¡°¡­139 taels of silver.¡± ¡°That much?! The amount of gold and silver had double despite the war?If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. "Are you sure you haven''t read wrong, big sister Su''er?" A pretty thirteen-year-old maid wearing pink and white robes asked with sheer incredulity as she leaned towards a beautiful maid in her twenties clad in the same set of robes to peek on the paper she was holding. ¡°Hua Si,¡± a charming but cold female voice called before the maid named Su could reply. Hua Si shifted her pair of dark eyes from the list to the languid young girl who was leaning her back against the bedhead while eating juicy grapes on the soft bed steps before them. She blinked, waiting for the young girl to finish the grape she had just bitten with her pearly teeth. At length, after licking the juice on the fingers of her right hand, the young girl turned around. She had a unique beauty that couldn''t be matched; her crimson lips were charming but her black bottomless eyes were cold like ice, and her silky knee-length black hair highlighted perfectly both qualities, giving off a surreal feeling. Though both maids had been serving her for years, they couldn¡¯t help but be dazed till they heard her said: ¡°It seems you haven¡¯t been studying the other lessons,¡± a reproaching tone was added to her charming and cold notes. Hua Si blushed instantly after hearing the sentence. It was the truth that she spent more time studying martial arts than the other fields; in fact, lately, she hadn''t been studying the other topics she was supposed to. ¡°Haa~ Si¡¯er, your skill in martial arts had truly earned you a place beside me but the other fields are equally important; you mustn¡¯t forget.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Hua Si answered with her head down; she didn¡¯t dare to look up at her master, she had let her down. Before silence descended into the chamber, the young girl of unique beauty said as she arranged some messy tufts of dark hair of her forelock with her left hand, ¡°Su¡¯er, is there anything you want to discuss?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Hua Su looked into her master¡¯s eyes; she was found out, ¡°Is it really all right to not have more people here to oversee the Royal Palace¡¯s movements?¡± ¡°Pfft. ¡°Su¡¯er, despite looking so cold and collected, you are the one who worries the most.¡± Her laughter reached her cold eyes, making another dazzling sight. ¡°You don¡¯t worry, if something big happens, we will eventually know.¡± She picked a grape from the bowl with grapes to her right, thinking, If something interesting really happens, it will be good¡­ I¡¯m dying from boredom. "¡­" Hua Su didn''t say anything else and just bowed before dragging a still-depressed Hua Si to a nearby wooden table to explain her some basic things about business. However, her little lesson didn''t take long to end as it was stopped when both maids heard hurried footsteps approaching the courtyard. The young girl also heard them but she didn''t stop her right-hand fingers from feeding her mouth with juicy grapes. When the steps entered her courtyard, the young girl suddenly said, ¡°Su¡¯er, you must be blessed. ¡°Your words can move the heavens,¡± her words were full of charm¡ªshe was pleased. Hua Su wasn¡¯t pleased and a light frown could be found on her cold face, why had she run her mouth out? Though Hua Si usually made light of things, this time she had an uncomfortable feeling when she heard the approaching steps, making her look back at her master; the urgency she heard from the steps didn¡¯t seem normal that she even could swear that there was fear within them. ¡°Si¡¯er, don¡¯t stay still. ¡°Hide anything that wasn¡¯t given by the Crown Prince to our master.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Hua Si heart shook when she heard Hua Su words. She drifted her sight to her and she saw her arranging the chamber, I do really need more training, and she hurried to do the same. The young girl had yet to stop eating grapes. She just lay completely on the soft bed to look lazier. She wasn''t worried about anyone seeing her like that; she was supposed to be a useless Princess that just happened to be well liked by the Crown Prince, after all. When the owners of the hurried footsteps entered the main chamber, they immediately spotted the person they were looking for as there wasn¡¯t a division screen and the veil of the bed was drawn. The young Royal Eunuch, who was leading a group of fourteen palace maids, couldn''t help but drop his eyes after catching a glimpse of the Fifth Princess, Yang Yu Lian, he was ordered to prepare. The rumours were true, she was a good-for-nothing Princess; moreover, she was clad in a dark robe made of thin fabric, and lay on the bed without a sense of decency despite knowing that people were seeing her¡ªhe couldn¡¯t believe it¡ªhow could the Crown Prince favour such a Princess? He grieved in his heart. After a long length of hearing no opening from the Fifth Princess, the young Royal Eunuch finally said with his head bowed, ¡°Her Highness, this loyal servant has come to carry out the will of His Majesty, the King. ¡°Her Highness must be prepared immediately to set out at night to marry the Emperor of Qing.¡± Eh? The Fifth Princess'' hand that was in her way to place the last grape of the bowl on her crimson lips to bite it stopped a little before resuming its way. Chapter 2: All Right The young Royal Eunuch waited for an answer without raising his head; the Fifth Princess, Yang Yu Lian, was still a Princess despite all the rumours, after all. But minutes passed and he heard no reply. Hence, as he repressed all the ill sentiment he might have, he opened his mouth again to repeat his words as though the Fifth Princess had just not heard him, ¡°Her Highness, the Fifth Princess, this loyal servant has come to¡­¡± CRASH! His sentence was cut by the heavy sound of something breaking into pieces. He slowly looked up to the front as he maintained his bow and saw the pieces of broken jade on the floor right before the bed. He was a bit shocked and his response to the event was slow. He only reacted when a small white foot and a falling thin black robe entered his field of sight¡ªhe got goose-bumps. The small white foot kept going down and before its toes touched the floor a step beside the broken jade, he quickly retrieved his eyes, looking down. Yang Yu Lian was getting up to sit at the edge of the bed after having broken the jade bowl; she had planned to take her sweet time to reply as she didn''t want to spoil her mood because she had been indulging herself while eating grapes but it got spoiled anyway, she had found there were no more grapes and the same words she had heard before had begun to be repeated again. When she sat completely, her left leg crossed over her right leg and she supported herself back with both of her arms. She swept her dark eyes through the people and saw a bowing young Royal Eunuch and fourteen palace maids behind him; the former was clad in light blue silk robes mean for the personal eunuchs of the King and the latter were clad in pink and white robes mean for the first-rank palace maids of the Princesses. Quite the entourage, she thought before focusing her gaze in the young Imperial Eunuch and said, ¡°All right.¡± Her voice was colder than usual. In fact, there were no charming tones. It wasn¡¯t something to be surprised about, it was well known within some high-ranking servants of the Royal Palace that the Fifth Princess was cold and sometimes even cynic; though, the ones who had ever come to see her interacting with the Crown Prince said she was bright, warm and a bit spoiled. But nothing of that mattered to the young Royal Eunuch, he was beyond the line of happiness as her reply had sounded sweet in his ears¡ªthere weren¡¯t going to be difficulties this time. ¡°But¡­¡± However, before everything were pure honey, Yang Yu Lian opened her crimson lips again, ¡°Why this Princess? ¡°Aren¡¯t there more adequate Princesses than this Princess?¡± Her tone was so cold that the young Royal Eunuch felt a chill run down his spine, This¡­ how?If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Nonetheless, he didn''t dare to look up to try and find out some reasoning behind his shiver, answering with a shaky voice he didn''t know where it came from, "R-replying back to Her Highn-ness¡­ it''s not that¡­" he was going to say some sugar-coated words but he stopped after feeling his feet going cold, saying instead, "Her Highness, Princess Wei Yue, was meant to carry His Majesty wishes¡­¡± As I thought, which means¡­ Yang Yu Lian¡¯s dark eyes radiated a gelid light as she thought while listening. ¡°¡­ However, when the command was passed down to Her Highness, Her Highness took her life.¡± ¡°¡­¡± That is unexpected. Then¡­ No¡­ Although she didn¡¯t feel he was lying to her, she still drifted her cutting sight from the bowing young Royal Eunuch to Hua Su, I first need to be sure. Hua Su, who was caught in her thoughts, felt a gaze on her. She turned around to the origin and met with her master''s eyes. Understanding her meaning, she acknowledged the order and left without the King¡¯s entourage noticing it. As Yang Yu Lian took her eyes back, she saw Hua Si looking at the young Royal Eunuch with furrowed brows; her angry thoughts were evident and she seemed to be struggling to not say anything. Yang Yu Lian found her reaction funny that the coldness in her dark eyes reduced to the usual amount of coldness and her crimson lips slightly curved upwards. Her stare on Hua Si didn¡¯t last long enough for her to take notice or perhaps Hua Si was too caught in her suppressed wrath as to not notice anything else. Although it had passed just a couple of seconds since he had given his reply, the young Royal Eunuch could feel drops of sweat falling down his face; he didn¡¯t know why he felt so in danger but he could sense his life hanging from a thin thread. So when he heard in the following second the positive words of the Fifth Princess again, with the boundless relief he felt, he thought of falling to his knees and gave his thanks¡ªit didn¡¯t happen, of course. ¡°All right, you may proceed.¡± Yang Yu Lian voice was back to her balanced cold but charming tones and her dark eyes were also the usual cold and nonchalant ones when she replied. Too perceptive¡­ she thought as she saw the almost collapsing young Royal Eunuch who had yet to utter a word back in reply. It was taking a while for the young Royal Eunuch to regain himself because of the unexpected ups and striking downs he had had in a short amount of time. Only the breathing of the people inside and the chirp of birds in the outside could be heard. Yang Yu Lian wasn''t in a hurry; his reaction and this situation had become some kind of amusement for her, though her facial expression didn''t show anything of it. Hua Si was the opposite, she was gnashing her teeth as she swallowed the words that were in the tip of her tongue; it seemed that this joke of a eunuch not only came to say nonsense, he was also audacious enough as to make her master wait. Five complete minutes passed, and he was finally able to collect his emotions, saying without raising his head, ¡°Blessings and fortune to Her Highness.¡± He found those words to thank her before turning back to face the fourteen pink-robed maids, ¡°Remember to have all ready in time.¡± ¡°Aye,¡± the palace maids answered him with a deep bow before he turned back again to the Fifth Princess to give her a reverence to dismiss himself; he never raised his eyes to look at her. Chapter 3: Beginning of the Journey to the North In fact, because of the marriage¡¯s nature, the first-rank palace maids didn¡¯t have much to do. Eight of them packaged the little valuables she had to make things quicker while the rest prepared all the things for bathing. When Yang Yu Lian was being led to the bathing side-room, Hua Si, who seemed to have something to say to her master since the young Royal Eunuch had left, was about to open her mouth her mouth when a palace maid approached her and extended her both hands, displaying two of the commonly seen light brown maid robes, ¡°Eunuch Tao Tao said that Her Highness¡¯ maids must change to this attires.¡± ¡°Heh¡­¡± Hua Si smirked but before she could lash out at the palace maid, she heard: ¡°Si¡¯er, pass the words to Su¡¯er when she is back. ¡°This is turning interesting, don¡¯t you think?¡± Yang Yu Lian turned and told her with a charming smile and glittering eyes before entering to the bathing side-room. Interesting? Not only Hua Si was surprised and confused by her words and smile but also the other palace maids. However, both parts had different thoughts. To Hua Si the Qing Emperor wasn''t worthy of her master and there was also the plus of the situation being of bad taste while the palace maids wondered if she really understood her situation, Princess Wei Yue had been scared witless that she had committed suicide, was the Fifth Princess not only useless but also a fool? She had to be one; only a fool would smile like that, after all. Hua Si grabbed both robes and followed her master to the bathing side-room. Though her master was strong, she was not going to let them be alone with her; she will change and wait for Hua Su there. Twenty minutes passed and Hua Su was steadily approaching to her master who was relaxing in a one-metre cubic bathtub attached to the floor; she had her back facing the door entrance. The other palace maids had been dismissed from helping her and were lined horizontally by the door''s side so only Hua Si was by her side, carefully washing her silky black hair. Hua Su whispered her findings with a voice that only her master and Hua Si could hear. After listening to her silent whisper with absent-minded cold eyes, Yang Yu Lian''s crimson lips moved, "Hoh, is that so? ¡°She felt that desperate, it seems. "So, it is because we both are of the same age and our looks are similar that I was chosen to be her replacement, then¡­ ¡°Anyway, that old eunuch Xiao Xiao is quite resolute and¡­ smart? If he had decided not to let you both come with me, he would have had a handful to deal with.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, big sister Su, on that wooden table there is a new maid robe. You have to change clothes,¡± Hua Si suddenly remembered and told to Hua Su.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Hua Su followed Hua Si¡¯s sight, So that¡¯s how it is, she thought after seeing the light brown maid robe. She looked back over her shoulder and saw the sent palace maids clad in a set of white and light pink robes; her glance only lasted a split second and then, she stood up to change. An hour later, Yang Yu Lian was sitting in front of a huge silver mirror. She was already dressed up but contrary to the gaudy red wedding robe someone else might have been expecting, she was clad like a young lad. A loose green robe was what she wore, her chest had been tied and her hair was being styled like that of a man, nevertheless, it didn''t hide her exquisite features. Even so, not many would doubt the gender she was trying to portray as this world had plenty of beautiful frail-looking boys. All the preparations were carried out smoothly. Night descended and Yang Yu Lian along with her two maids were led by an old Royal Eunuch to the north gate of the Royal Palace which was used by capable but not-so-well-known merchants and servants to trade with the Royal Family. At three hundred paces from the gate, in the darkest of paths that led to it, there was medium-sized carriage parked with two horses. Yang Yu Lian and the others were still in their way there and before anything were in sight, she felt the presences of eleven people reunited ahead in the empty and barely lit pathway they had taken. Soon after, the parked carriage came in sight along with the eleven people she had felt; all of them were men. From their bearing she deduced ten of them were some elite palace guards, thought their clothes said otherwise; their robes and scare armours were those of a mercenary, even dust was randomly scattered on them and their faces. ¡°Seeing Her Highness, Princess Wei Yue,¡± said in reverence with a low tone the only one of the elven that was clad in grey servant clothes. Right after he ended his salute, the other ten men followed him with a reverence too. The annoying joke of a eunuch?! Is he coming with us? Hua Si frowned at the sight of the man with the grey servant robe; it was the young Royal Eunuch who had been blabbering nonsense earlier, Eunuch Tao Tao. ¡°Her Highness, it is a bit cramped inside the carriage, we beg for forgiveness.¡± Is the master riding that thing? Moreover, it is also cramped! This eunuch is really¡­ Hua Si frowned even more; though she knew they were under disguise, she was still very displeased. Hua Su maintained her cold semblance and only stole a glance to her master. The old Royal Eunuch, Xiao Xiao, was also looking at her through the corner of his wrinkled old eyes. As the oldest of the personal royal eunuchs of the King, he oversaw from time to time the princes and princesses when they were children; hence, he knew, the Fifth Princess was extremely capricious, cynic and cold. If she didn¡¯t like something, she would create havoc and twist words in a special manner to put faults to the point where lives could be lost. Though she wasn¡¯t favoured by the King, there was no way the royal blood could be offended. Those things were kept secret as she was just a child and with the passing of the years her outbursts become less frequent and noisy that now, there were only some incomplete rumours about it wandering here and there between some high-rank servants. However, he didn''t believe she had changed, to him her eyes were still the same so he was worried about her not accepting a new servant in her journey. His worry was uncalled for as Yang Yu Lian just passed the young Eunuch Tao Tao by, heading all the way inside the carriage. Hua Su and Hua Si followed her but they sat in the back of the carriage. Seeing that, Eunuch Xiao Xiao quickly dismissed Eunuch Tao Tao and the ten royal palace guards. The carriage went through the north gate unhindered, giving start to Yang Yu Lian¡¯s journey to the cold lands of the North. Chapter 4: Crown Prince, Yang Lin Yun The night sky was clear, filled with boundless stars. Yang Yu Lian had fallen asleep as soon as she had entered the carriage. Her sleep was sweet as the carriage was slowly moving forward along the lanes where the silvery light of the huge moon in the sky didn¡¯t reach and where almost no people were at that hour in the night. Nonetheless, as Yang Yu Lian was sleeping and her carriage had yet to leave the Royal City, there were people wide awake who despite the hour were concerned about this matter in one way or another. In the estate of a first-rank official, a handsome man in his late twenties was sitting before a wooden table and sipping wine at the light of the candles in an elegant study room. From time to time, he would tilt his head from one side to another, making his long threads of dark brown hair waft even more in the cool night breeze. At length, after having filled his cup with wine again, he supported his head on his right hand and said while picking up the cup with his other hand, ¡°The message must have already reached his hands, isn¡¯t it, Qiang Yi?¡± From the shadows made by the absence of candlelight came out a man clad in assassin dark robes. He stood ten steps behind him, right before the wall and said, ¡°Yes, the Crown Prince must be already aware of the switch of plans, Master.¡± The handsome man with dark brown hair pressed his lips before taking a sip of wine, ¡°Hmm~ He must be hurrying to meet her midway, then. ¡°Tsk, this is maddening; though, I was the one who basically told him. However¡­ ughh¡­ if she weren¡¯t his sister¡­¡± he whispered the last words as he straightened his back to drink all the wine in his cup. ¡°¡­¡± ***** After the carriage left Yang Kingdom¡¯s Royal City, Yang Yu Lian and company followed a route where they avoided any big city, only passing through the small-sized ones because their troupe was small; it was less probably to encounter bandit groups there.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Five days went by. They were almost mid-way and a day from the next small city. Yang Yu Lian was glaring ahead from her seat; she had finally begun to get tired. The load of big and small wooden boxes tied with a rope and double secured with bamboo sticks four steps before her inside the carriage were becoming bothersome to her eyes and ears. She felt like throwing all away but she needed some assets that she could use freely in the light without arousing suspicions. She put her anger down and thankfully, before her suppressed annoyance broke out, evening came and a camp was set in the wilderness. The sky darkened before she knew it and now, she was grooming a bit with a big wooden basin of warm water inside her tent. As she was relaxing with a wet folded cotton fabric on her face, the sound of horseshoes was suddenly heard, making the people camping outside turn alert. She didn¡¯t care, though; by the sound of it, it was only one rider and no other presences aside from that rider or theirs were detected by her. The horseman rode right onto their campsite without changing directions and soon come into the guards¡¯ sight. With the help of bonfire¡¯s light, they saw the figure of a man coming out from the woods. He was wearing a long and dusty hood, and even though his face was covered, he seemed pretty worn out. His steed was excellent and despite the weariness they could feel from the man, his bearing was that of someone who stood high and aloof; hence, after their quick evaluation, someone yelled, ¡°Who are you?¡± The unknown man didn¡¯t answer and just raised his hand from the reins. By instinct the guards braced themselves and as some of them were about to yell again, the man¡¯s hand took the hood away, uncovering his face and letting his unbound and long black hair blow away with the briskly night. The people with words on the tip of their tongues swallowed them back and all of them stilled in place. The man was very handsome with facial features somewhat feminine; however, his dark eyes were sharp and haughty as if he was judging all, making impossible the mistake of confusing with a girl. ¡°Seeing His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince,¡± inexplicably, all the men came back to their senses at the same time; they kneeled in one knee and called out with bowed heads. Thank goodness we didn¡¯t do anything reckless, some men thought right after calling out. Though he hadn¡¯t said anything and wasn¡¯t wearing one of his distinctive head ornaments, as elite imperial guards they had recognized him. The lone and dusty man on horseback had resulted to be the Crown Prince of their Yang Kingdom, Yang Lin Yun. Chapter 5: Not Yang Yu Lian I The Crown Prince, Yang Lin Yun said anything before the greeting-¡ªhe was breathless; the long travel with almost no rest had left him truly weary even with him being gifted in martial arts. By now, Eunuch Tao Tao was bowing his head along the guards. He had already come out of his tent and had performed a silent greeting. However, contrary to the guards that maintained their eyes lowered even after such long silence, he raised his eyes after a while. Thanks to it, he saw his Crown Prince, make a motion with his hand for them to rise before he hopped down from his horse. "Where is she?" The Crown Prince asked as soon as he faced them after landing on the ground. The eunuch and guards'' answer was delayed as they first turned back to see the biggest tent in the middle of the campsite, "Her Highn..." They were replying but their Crown Prince didn''t wait to hear the end of it and left them with their words stuck in their throats; their Crown Prince wasn''t in front of them anymore, he had swiftly passed by them and was now pretty close to Princess Wei Yue''s tent. When he was about to open the tent''s curtain, someone opened it first from the inside. "His Royal Highness, Master is grooming. May His Royal Highness wait for a bit in one of the side tents," Hua Su said with her usual cold gaze and an inviting gesture to follow her. The Crown Prince staggered his feet at her words, nevertheless, he regained composure, nodding in answer and then followed her. Inside the biggest tent, Yang Yu Lian had already gotten out of the bathtub and was drying herself while Hua Si was arranging the place to receive the Crown Prince. ... "Umh? Si''er, where is my necklace?" Yang Yu Lian asked when she was finishing dressing a new set of loose male robes. "Eh? ¡°Oh, here it is, Master." Hua Si came to her and extended her hand, showing a small green jade case, "Si''er put it here for it to not get wet with the vapour." "I see¡­ well thought." She took it but didn''t open the small jade case; the surroundings were still hazy. Hua Si blushed at the praise but noticing her master¡¯s action and looks, her emotion ended, going back to her good servant attitude. She got what her master was thinking; however, before heading to let the night breeze enter the tent to dispel the remnant vapour, she asked when she saw her dropping black hair, "May Si''er comb your hair, Master?"The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. "Umh? "Ah, there''s no need. It''s not the first time eldest royal brother has seen me like this," Yang Yu Lian said as she threw back her hair. Hua Si gave it a slight thought and nodded; it was indeed the truth, her question was unnecessary. ***** "His Royal Highness, this place is still quite unfit for a proper meeting, might we head to Master''s tent unless..." Hua Su said to the Crown Prince after Hua Si passed the word of their master being ready. Yet again, the Crown Prince didn''t wait for the subjects to finish their words; he threw away the warm piece of cotton fabric in his hand and walked out of the tent to head over to Yang Yu Lian''s. Hua Su saw his actions and just followed him from behind without completing her sentence. ... "My Xiao Zheng, is it really you? How can this be?" Yang Lin Yun asked right after opening the tent''s curtain. "Eldest royal brother..." she smiled at him from her seat inside, "you should stop yourself from calling me so, Yu Lian is not a kid anymore." Yang Lin Yun didn''t give her a reply, he had stopped at the entrance and was deeply staring at her, surveying her facial features and poise. At length, he pressed his thin lips and headed towards his little sister to take a seat. Yang Yu Lian saw him. He had cleaned himself a bit and was wearing clean robes too; though his black hair was still dusty and the weariness of his face was evident despite being clean now. Moreover, the anguish of his expression was uncovered now that his usual magnanimous air was lowered more than half; she felt it was quite cute and funny. Because there weren''t many formalities between them, she didn''t get up to greet him nor did she stood up when he came to be before her to take a seat. When he sat in front of her, Hua Si served both of them some tea and Hua Su light refreshments. "You both may leave," Yang Lin Yun said as he took his cup of tea. Hua Su and Hua Si acknowledged his order and left the tent; before they had been told by their master to follow his orders as long as they didn''t cross with hers or she countered with another. "It wasn''t supposed to be like this," at long last, Yang Lin Yun said after taking a sip of his warm tea. "...?" Yang Yu Lian who was watching a playful tea leaf on her cup, took a sip before raising her dark eyes, replying, "Indeed, it seems that Royal Father had intended to marry fourth royal sister but... it was much for her to bear." He looked into her dark eyes and said after seeing her calm expression, "You don''t seem to be bothered by this situation." "Umh? "Pfft. Bothered? Yu Lian is not. "Yu Lian is more like anticipating some fun..." "..." She drank some tea when she saw his silent answer and restless beautiful dark eyes. "Eldest royal brother, you know how capricious and unreasonable this little sister of yours can be. You have been the one spoil..." "I know, that''s why, even more, it wasn''t supposed to be like this..." ... Why do I feel his meaning is another? she looked into his eyes and she couldn''t tell anything else from his expression aside from him being overly worried; however, something told her that there was a more profound meaning.