Help! I'm the Plot Device: Just Here to Save the Heroes

Kitty, Pour Me Another Cup

Prince Yichen's Chamber

Sunlight streamed through the carved wooden screens, turning the chamber golden. The air smelled faintly of sandalwood incense. Jerry groaned, burying his face deeper into the silken pillow

He groaned. System, what's the 'simple task' today?
"Simple!" the system said brightly. "A palace tour."
Jerry blinked. "Like a home tour? You throw me into life-and-death rooftop dramas, then into court punishments, and now you give me a home tour?"

"It will help you learn the layout."

"So basically reconnaissance disguised as tourism", Jerry sighed. "Another day of pain."

The door slid open. Maids and attendants filed in with their usual bow. Behind them, a neat, sharp-faced eunuch entered, bowing low.
"Wangye, it is time to rise."

Jerry cracked one bleary eye open. System, did I sleep into another punishment already?
"No," the system said smugly. "They're here to help you get ready."
"Get ready which is like dress me?! That's worse!"

Jerry sat up sluggishly, only to be pulled into the relentless ritual: washing with rosewater, hair combed and bound, layers of silk and jade draped over him. By the end, he looked every inch a prince again-though he felt like a battered dumpling inside.

Jerry sat there stiff as a board while they pinned in jade ornaments. Royalty is really a forbidden fruit, he thought bitterly. All golden shine outside, but suffocating inside.

When the eunuch finished adjusting his sash, Jerry lifted a brow. "So... what's usually on my schedule?"

The eunuch blinked, then replied crisply:
"In the mornings, Wangye visits the Moonlight Tavern. By noon, you typically overturn a table or two. In the afternoons, you take your horse through the marketplace-ah, you often whip the servants if they cannot keep up. By night, there is usually wine, women, or-on occasion-burning someone's poetry scrolls."

Jerry's face drained of color. "What the-system, did you hear that?"
"Yes," the system said blandly. "Quite the model prince."
Jerry clutched his head. "No wonder I got flogged! This guy was a walking execution notice!"

He waved the eunuch off with a shaky smile. "Forget it. I'll... take a walk."

🧶

Jerry walked through the wide palace courtyard, his silken robes swishing, the sun already glinting off the polished roof tiles that shimmered like gold scales. Behind him trailed two palace guards-stiff-backed, armed, and clearly more loyal to his past self than to the confused soul currently inhabiting this body.

System, you called this a task. What am I supposed to do?
"Host, it's reconnaissance. Explore the palace, memorize the terrain, build connections. Think of it as... a tutorial."
Jerry groaned. "Tutorials are supposed to keep you alive, not kill you."

After a few steps, Jerry paused, waved a hand with princely arrogance, and said,
"Go on, I'll take it from here. No need to... loom."

The guards glanced at each other, uncertain. One bowed and muttered, "As Your Highness wishes." They stayed put for a second too long, but Jerry's hard stare sent them retreating at last.

The corridors stretched endless-white jade floors polished like water, carved beams painted with dragons and phoenixes, incense smoke curling lazily in the air. Everywhere Jerry turned, eunuchs and guards bowed deeply, murmuring, "Second Prince."

He walked stiffly, as if one wrong step might set off hidden arrows.

They began at the Hall of Literary Elegance, where scholars in pale robes passed by carrying scrolls. Some bowed politely, though Jerry caught the sideways looks.
"Host," the system chimed, "that's Minister He's son. He'll one day draft tax reforms that shake the empire."
Jerry nodded absently, muttering, "Great. A nerd NPC. Noted."