XH 87

"Your - Your Highness?!" Eunuch Heng shrieked in an unmanly manner and clutched the front of his clothes like a maiden that was going to be taken advantage of. His face was as red as the Eighth Prince's, who was no longer able to meet his eunuch's wronged gaze.

It was actually embarrassing for the innocent party, Xiao Hua! She was pretty convinced that she was actually witnessing a lover's interaction!

"Let us see your private parts!" The Eighth Prince continues to stuff his feet deeper into his mouth since he had already gone this far.

Eunuch Heng's mouth was gaping at an impressive length, looking about to faint from shock.

Honestly, Xiao Hua had not wanted to speak a word to avoid making things even more awkward for the young eunuch, but at this rate, her pig teammate will lead them to death. It was rather fortunate that the Eighth Prince's embarrassment had diluted her mortification.

She had not seen a naked man's body, not even her ex-boyfriend's before except from BL manga. But she knew better than to believe those perfectly drawn abs in the BL manga was the same as those real-life men.

"Eunuch Heng," Xiao Hua began with a professional tone that Le XiaoTing usually donned when she was forced by her boss to handle client meetings for him when he refused to wake up before nine-thirty. Her boss always arrived at work after ten in the morning and to compensate for the late arrival, he would work till late at night.

"The Eighth Prince is curious about your anatomy. With regard to your current profession, you should have undergone some... delicate adjustment to your body in order to get employed for the position. The Eighth Prince, just like any other child, is curious about how it looks like."

Praise this young lady! She had just spat out advanced mandarin words! It does not matter if they understand what she just said because she certainly does not, but they just need to know she looks cool!

"Lies! You want to see it too!"

Xiao Hua: '...' Will it kill you to stop pulling aggro towards me? Look! Eunuch Heng had just directed his horrified gaze at me! (╬ Ò﹏Ó)

Fine, since her dignity was already halfway gone, just continue with it! Xiao Hua stared at Eunuch Heng earnestly and plagiarized the innocent look from 'Puss in the boots' as she speaks in a soft, pleading way.

"Please, Eunuch Heng. The Eighth Prince wants to see it. Please let us see it."

"But...I'm not-"

The Eighth Prince joined in. "Please, Heng!"

"Your Highness, I'm still-"

"Just once!" The Eighth Prince bargained. "You only need to let us see it for one time and we won't ask again! We won't even mention it again!"

Eunuch Heng's whole body was trembling in such a pitiful way that Xiao Hua has half a mind to call it off. Perhaps they will need to ask another Eunuch to show them instead.

But will Eunuch Lau Liu show them?

Eunuch Heng moved his hands to his belt and unties it, successfully rendering the Eighth Prince and Xiao Hua's mind into silence. Their eyes were glued onto the hands and then towards the unraveling robe. None of them were aware that they had leaned closer to look.

Team Transmigrator had fallen to this shameless state due to their sick sense of curiosity.

They were also unaware of a new presence that had joined them in the room. Eunuch Heng was too embarrassed to notice and it was too late to stop the incoming karate chop, which packed more strength than needed, on the back of his neck.

When Eunuch Heng collapsed onto the ground, unconscious, the Team Transmigrator finally noticed something was wrong.

"Woah! Why are you here?" The Eighth Prince exclaimed in shock.

Xiao Hua's face went deadly pale when she easily recognized who was the newcomer. "Third...Third Prince."

He was staring straight at her with fury blazing in his eyes, ignoring the Eighth Prince. She could not peel her eyes away from feeling like a trapped animal staring at her predator.

"Drag them out."

The low, dangerous tone of his made Da Bei move faster than usual, dragging the unconscious Eunuch Heng and the struggling Eighth Prince out of the room. The door was quickly closed as soon as they stepped out of the room.

NOOOO!!! Da Bei, you forgot to bring me out too! ＼(º □ º l|l)/

She squealed like a terrified little animal when the Third Prince suddenly appeared right in front of her, looming over her like a thunderous dark cloud that was going to zap out lightning anytime soon.

A large hand cupped the lower back of her head and forced her to look up to meet his stormy eyes. This action had her body forced to lean closer to him.

"I'm sorry!" Xiao Hua quickly said and shut her eyes in fear. Yes, she believes that as long as she's not looking, it will be less terrifying!

But unfortunately, it only works when she was watching horror movies...

"I left you with Heise to talk. How did it turn out to have both of you watching a man undressing?"

"We are just c-curious!"

"Curious?" The Third Prince's voice became deeper. "You can satisfy your curiosity with just any man?"

"What? Of course not! But it would be better to ask Eunuch Heng than Eunuch Lau Liu. He's pretty scary. Eunuch Heng might let us see if he's really chopped cause he's pretty easy to bend- I mean, pretty easy to persuade!"

The Third Prince suddenly tensed and the grip on the back of her head tightens, forcing a pained whimper from her. The grip quickly eased and the Third Prince let out a sigh when he finally realized something.

"Eunuch Heng is not a real Eunuch."

"Eh?"

"He pretends to be a eunuch to stay close to Eighth brother."

Xiao Hua opened her eyes in surprise. "Oh!"

"However, no matter the reason, it was still an acceptable excuse for you to look at another man's body. You will need to be punished."

Before she could protest, he did something that gave her the feeling of déjà vu. The smell of trees entered her nose and a familiar warm and soft thing pressed onto her lips.

Long Zhu stared at Xiao Hua, who have flushed cheeks, dazed eyes, and ragged breath as she greedily inhales oxygen. This sight of her surprisingly gave him a sense of satisfaction. It was exactly how the book had stated.

When he started reading the book his eighth brother had given him, the content gave Long Zhu a great shock. It was a manual on how to court Xiao Hua. There were even detailed drawings beside the explanation, helping Long Zhu to understand the content easily.

For years, he had looked down on men that had succumbed to the pleasure of the flesh, thinking they were weak in mind and body. But today had widened his knowledge, as against his expectation, his first kiss was surprisingly nice and helps to warm up his body.

His eyes lingered on the red and swollen lips of Xiao Hua, his eyes darkened in desire without his knowledge. Leaning closer to his little flower, once again he kissed her, learning and practicing how to kiss on the poor, but happily receiving Xiao Hua.

Once again the tiny fist rained punches on his chest, which hardly hurt him but he obliged and pulled back, inwardly promising to kiss her again.

"What...what are you doing?!" Xiao Hua yelled angrily. Her hair was in a mess thanks to Long Zhu's hands that had unconsciously gripped onto them. Her hair was not tied up since she was supposed to rest, was spread over the bed, adding more sexual appeal to her.

It was unknown when he had pushed her down on the bed with him lying on top of her.

"I refuse to be your bed warmer!"

Long Zhu blinked down at the outraged Xiao Hua and he saw the pain from her expressive eyes. His heart seized and he unconsciously closes his eyes to avoid looking at the pair of accusing eyes. The voice of his teacher surfaced from his memory and rang loudly in his mind as if chastising him.

'You need to learn to avoid hurting anyone with your ignorance. This is a lesson that one could never master until their very last breath. This is a lesson everyone should never neglect or forgets.'

He knew he was the one that placed the pain in her eyes but he does not know how to fix it.

"You...You don't like it?" Long Zhu asked in a soft whisper.

"It does not matter whether I like it or not!" Xiao Hua snapped and tears clouded her eyes.

Panic squeezed his heart without his control upon seeing the bright, pure eyes that he loved to look so sad and wounded.

"What did I do? How did I hurt you?" Long Zhu asked, almost pleadingly. He would do almost everything to erase the pain from her, to return the light back to her lovely eyes.

The panic in his voice pierced passes the fog of anger and pain that had surrounded Xiao Hua's mind. She took in a deep, ragged breath to calm herself down. The strong desire to run far, far away nearly took over her body, and it was only because of the body on top of her that stopped her from doing so.

As that choice was no longer pick-able, she will need to explain until he understands her point. She took another deep breath again before opening her mouth to speak.

"I... I can't-" Her voice broke as the pain assaulted her heart, the feeling so familiar that it nearly crushed her spirit. She had never felt the same pain for years now, and ironically, her second heartbreak was caused by a man with the same face as the one that allowed her to experience her first heartbreak.

She gathered her composure as best as she can and try again. "I cannot... and will not, accept to be your bed warmer."

"You are not my bed warmer."

Xiao Hua laughed, but it was not a happy one or a sad one. It was a laugh of a person that was heartbroken and confused, at lost in what she should do.

"Then what am I? A maid that you can randomly kiss whenever you like?"

"No!" The Third Prince roared. "You are important to me!"

That fierce declaration rattled her heart. "How important am I to you?" She asked with a shaky voice, her eyes flashed with unwanted hope.

"Very, very important." The Third Prince leaned down and hugged her close as both of them trembling with violent emotions warring inside them.

"I was taught that I have right... right to have a husband that would be faithful to me. I will not accept my husband having more than one wife and a large number of concubines. So please...please don't force me."

The arms around her tighten as her tears fell freely and unrestrained. She cried harder when he pressed his face into her hair and whispered the words she wanted to hear the most, but she could not be happy with just words.

Her heart hurt because she will have to give up on him. She was not generous enough to share the man she loves because she knew she deserves better. The pain in her heart intensified because she knows he would not be faithful to her and she could not demand that from him.

Their love was fragile and new. It was uncertain if it could even last forever.

Then... would it not be better to kill the root before the flower has the chance to bloom?