Emperor And I ✔️

Clean My Mess

After the stunt she had pulled where she chose to be a servant over a concubine, her father's trust for her had waned by the day. This was what she wanted least of all for her mission. She had recently been trying to salvage some of that trust by doing her utmost to to make some progress toward becoming something to the emperor.

"General Feng―"

"Why did you do it?" He accused rawly, now using the Huticah tongue to address her

"Do what?" she asked with disconcert.

"Why did you poison Prince Kuan Hui?" He turned around to her and again impaled her against the tree.

She was getting irritant with the phases of mystery he seemed to be dancing on, on this particular day. "General Feng, what do you mean by this?"

"A palace maid admitted that she saw you in Prince Kuan Hui's kitchen. What were you doing there?" His hand encircled her neck, but shook a little and did not dare to tighten. Obviously he would not kill her.

She lifted her chin. "I did it because no one messes with me and gets away with it," she said, feeling foolish at having to explain this to him.

The look he gave her was one of sadness, perplexation and deep hurt. "What did he even do to you?" He shook his head as if he could loosen the emotion off of him. "He is such an earnest and kind person, so why do such a terrible thing?" Feng's voice was delicate, soft and raspy.

She rolled her eyes in annoyance. "General Feng, you must know me to be better than that by now. The person I poisoned was the emperor." She did not poison Prince Kuan Hui. Why would she waste time on the Princess Man when the emperor owed her sevenfold?

Le-anne hated the distrust that lay in the brown orbs staring down at her and felt inclined to explain.

"Did you not at any time wonder how the emperor got sick with an upset stomach out of the blue?" She searched his eyes, hoping that he would believe her. General Feng was the subject who mattered most when it came to her mission, and if she were to lose his respect, her success would be next to impossible.

"You were recently spotted in Prince Kuan Hui's kitchen and not at the dragon's kitchens, your highness!"

"I was there to steal the herbs that I was to put in the emperor's food. The herbs were not in the emperor's kitchens because he is allergic to them."

"But why did you go to Prince Kuan Hui's kitchens? Why not the imperial pharmacy?" He raised his voice in frustration.

"Because I have free access there," she shot back, "Prince Kuan Hui does not mind having Grand Consort Shu's maids around his quarters." They were now brawling wildly at each other.

General Feng looked at her critically, then sighed deeply. Exasperated with her, he turned around while holding his head.

"Your highness just does what she wants and I always have to cover for her. I had to kill the place maid that saw you to protect you. Then there's my clan, which has to slave away in Nevoria in order to protect Huticah too. Everything for others but not ourselves." He made a loud throaty sound of agitation. "My clan unfortunately serves your sorry father. It's not that we do not know better but that we have our own pride. We are too proud to become Nevorians."

Le-anne stared at him. It troubled her that she did not know whether this was the true General Feng speaking or if it was confusion, alcohol and emotion overwhelming his senses.

"We did not have to kill the previous emperor of Nevoria, you know that? I know your royal grandfather was angry about Nevoria refusing to be an ally, but couldn't he have had patience and sent more envoys to negotiate a little further?"

His pain was something she was familiar with. Le-anne wanted to step forward and tell him she understood. She understood what it meant to have your life as a tool for someone's own means and ambitions. Her and him were the same people and going through the same injustice at the end of the day.

Just as she was about to voice these thoughts, she sniffed the air, and picking up on something, suddenly tensed.

Her ears perked up, and quickly, she pounced into the nearby bushes. She could feel General Feng behind her, probably shocked. It took some shaking and a little bit of scuffling before she pulled out two surprised looking eunuchs.

She glared at them each. "Mutts!" she spat venomously before reaching back toward General Feng and pulling out his sharp sword from the case.

"Ah... ah..." The two terrified eunuchs shook on the ground helplessly, shrinking away from her. Le-anne felt a shred of pity for them, but it couldn't be helped. Just how much had they heard? And how much did they know now?

She knew what she had to do.

'They must die,' she declared in her mind. But when she cast her eye towards General Feng, he silently begged her to let them go.

'It is his job, anyway,' she realized this with a pang of lamentation. It was his job to walk after her and clean her mess. 

S.V