XH 74

 

When An Wan just halfway finished with her emergency report, the Third Prince suddenly disappeared, leaving the carriage empty of the occupant. She turned to ask An Jing something, but the older woman was currently busy ordering everyone to hasten the speed to return to the Third Prince's residence.

 

"Sister An Wan, head straight to Autumn Courtyard with some trusted guards to help the cleanup."

 

"Leave it to me, Sister An Jing."

 

Luckily all the guards that had traveled with the Third Prince to the palace were trusted guards, allowing An Wan to easily pick a few of them, along with the unyielding Da Bei that insisted to follow her.

 

It was only supposed to be a brief discussion with Uncle Xiao Liu about tomorrow's escort plans, but he was pulled along to escort the Third Prince from the palace back to the manor. Da An said nothing will happen to Xiao Hua inside the Third Prince manor that was filled with their own people, and that convinced Da Bei.

 

"You are wasting time, Aunt An Wan," Da Bei said solemnly, his eyes looked as if chastising her.

 

An Wan gave in after that and with their high cultivation, they managed to return to the Third Prince's residence in a short time to reach the Autumn Courtyard.

 

The first thing their sharp nose could scent was smoke and the lingering scent of blood that only high cultivation guards such as them could detect. The fire was out, leaving the storage building with only a quarter safe from being blackened.

 

Seeing that there was no occupant around, An Wan ordered the guards to find any evidence of what happened and made sure no one approach the site.

 

An Wan could guess where both of her masters and the two injured individuals would be. Realizing that she had forgotten to summon a doctor for the patients, she turned to Da Bei.

 

"Da Bei, quickly summon a doctor!"

 

"No need, An Wan. The young prince had already done so."

 

Hearing the familiar voice inside her head, she was relieved. "No need, Da Bei..." An Wan give the boy a glare when she noticed he had not even moved an inch after she told him to fetch a doctor!

 

"An Wan, come over to my room."

 

"Yes, mistress!" An Wan hurried towards her Mistress' chamber with Da Bei sticking close.

 

"Master, this is An Wan and Da Bei." An Wan announced their arrival before a door.

 

"Enter."

 

An Wan gently pushed the door open and ushered Da Bei in before closing the door behind them. Da Bei immediately kneels down with torso lowered until his forehead touched the ground.

 

The room was filled with the smell of medicine, smoke, and blood. An Wan spotted Xiao Hua on the bed with the Third Prince holding up her upper body as he tried to push a pill into the unresponsive girl's mouth.

 

"Long Zhu, you will end up choking that girl. Wait for the doctor to come first," a beautiful lady in her mid-twenties with bright red lips and sharp eyes chastised. She was dressed in red with feathers sewed at the ends of her sleeves, the collar of her robe and at the ends of her attire. Her hair was dark red in color with half of them pinned into a bun with golden phoenix hairpin.

 

"An Wan, when I rescued her, she was with another person. He's in the other room," the lady in red informed.

 

"I will go and identify him." An Wan gave her master and mistress a deep bow before heading to the next room.

 

"I will decide your punishment later," the Third Prince said without looking at Da Bei. He gently placed Xiao Hua back down on the bed and his eyes never left her unresponsive form. "Stay guard outside."

 

"Yes, master." Da Bei could not bring himself to look at Xiao Hua and silently left the room to keep guard outside.

 

The room was silent until the Third Prince speaks up. "Thank you, Feng Jiu."

 

"It's noisy and disturbed my nap so I went to take a look."

 

"Did you see anyone?" The Third Prince asked evenly but his whole body emits dangerous vibe.

 

"I arrived right before she fainted. I did not spot anyone but then, I was in a hurry to rescue them and put out the fire, before informing you through An Wan."

 

Feng Jiu halted and her beautiful eyes blinked as she received a message in her mind. "An Wan manages to identify that boy. His name is Er Yen, one of the Munzhu's hostages."

 

The Third Prince's body grew tense as his killing intent filled the room.

 

"Calm down, Long Zhu," Feng Jiu admonished. "If that boy means her harm, do you think she would risk her life to rescue him? She was trying to push the shelf away from him."

 

"She is a kind person."

 

"You know her best, but until either of them wakes up, we cannot randomly guess." Feng Jiu stared at the door. "The doctor is here."

 

An Wan stepped out of the room next door to receive the doctor, but when she saw the person that led the doctor in, she felt the urge to snap that girl's neck and tie up the loose ends.

 

Si Si stepped forward and curtsied. "Elder Sister An Wan, everyone is busy and I was sent to bring the doctor here."

 

An Wan nodded at Da Bei and he allowed the doctor into the room.

 

"Elder Sister An Wan," Si Si called out before An Wan returned back to the other room.

 

"Is there anything else?"

 

"I...I found something that might relate to Elder Sister Hua's injury."

 

"What do you mean?" An Wan asked coldly.

 

Si Si hurriedly holds up a crumpled paper. "I picked this up when Elder Sister Hua dropped it yesterday!"

 

The door opened slowly with a loud creak and the Third Prince stepped out, his bright blue attire created a gentle and carefree image but his face was nothing tranquil on it at all.

 

Si Si unconsciously stepped back in fear.

 

"Let this prince see what's in that paper that harmed my little maid."

 

An Wan took the paper from Si Si and handed it to the Third Prince. He unfolded it and his eyes lazily read the content. His expression remained the same till the end of the letter and he handed it to An Wan with an air of dismissal.

 

"Burn it."

 

Seeing that the Third Prince had reacted differently than she had predicted, Si Si decided to speak up. "Your Highness, please don't be angry with Elder sister Hua! She's just a girl in love with Er Yen! That fire must be done by Er Yen!"

 

Si Si's heart was overjoyed when he patiently waited for her to finish talking. The Third Prince was listening to her!

 

Her confidence rising, she continued on, "Er Yen had never liked Guilin and his heart is always with Munzhu. I...I had tried to change Elder Sister Hua's mind to be with Er Yen but she does not heed my warnings-"

 

"Da Bei."

 

Da Bei stepped forward with a straight back, ready to do whatever his master says. "Yes, Master."

 

"Break every bone in her before sending her to South Guilin Village."

 

Si Si stared at the Third Prince in the same way one stared at a monster. "Your Highness, why...?"

 

"Tian Zi."

 

Tian Zi stepped out from her hiding place and bowed. "Master, I found traces of sloppy cleanup in Elder Sister Hua's room. The cleanup could not hide the signs of arrows shot into the room and along the way towards the Autumn Courtyard's storage room."

 

The attacker was smart to choose a longer route to Autumn Courtyard where no one would be around as everyone would use the shorter routes today.

 

"Have everyone questioned, including those people that are familiar with Er Yen."

 

"Yes, master!"

 

"Why...Why don't you believe me, Your Highness?!" Si Si exclaimed. "I've shown you the proof of her betraying you with Er Yen!"

 

The Third Prince chuckled with dark amusement. "Betray? My little flower would never betray me."

 

He was the only one in this world she can trust and depend on. There will never be another person in this world that would adore her as he does. His little flower was a sensible girl albeit a bit slow in her head, but that was what he liked about her.

 

And this insignificant maid dared to slander his little flower!

 

With a flick of his sleeve, he sent a small dark red seed that was surrounded with a thin layer of his Qi towards Si Si, easily piercing into her flesh. As soon as the seed soaked with her blood, it started to bloom and spread, seeking more blood to help it grow.

 

Si Si screamed and falls to the ground as the painful pressure keeps spreading inside her. It felt as if something was sucking her blood dry yet at the same time, something was growing inside her!

 

How is this possible?! Since when did the Third Prince this strong?

 

Si Si guessed that it was the 'Spider Lily' seed that was attacking inside her based on what she had read in a book. But it would need at least a Rank five Plant cultivator to use the seed! The strongest cultivator that was ever born in the Guilin Kingdom was Rank seven and the current Emperor was only Rank four!

 

"Da Bei, make sure she remains alive after you are done."

 

"Why?!" Si Si screamed like a mad person with messy clothes and hair as she had rolled on the ground to withstand the pain. "Why her? I'm better than her!"

 

Da Bei roughly pulled her off the ground and Si Si screamed from the pain.

 

"She should have died in the fire!"

 

"Remove her tongue."

 

With a small flash of silver, Si Si's tongue was cut in half and it dropped to the ground. Her whole body twisted in agony and her throat made a terrifying sound. The blood flows down like a river from her mouth, quickly forming a pool of blood around her.

 

"Make sure she's alive and conscious to feel the pain," the Third Prince kindly reminded. His 'Spider Lily' would not kill her as so long as he did not order it to kill its host. "And someone cleans this up before Xiao Hua notices anything."

 

"Yes, master." An Wan was glad that she was moving on from her love towards her master or else her heart would break as she witnesses the Third Prince's affection towards Xiao Hua.

 

It was only a matter of time before Xiao Hua married the Third Prince.