Chapter 139: Black Bellied Highness
Translator: Misty Cloud Editor: Misty Cloud
"What?" Helian Wei Wei didn't understand why Third Prince would suddenly use this kind of gaze to look at her.
However, she intuitively still sensed danger as she subconsciously was going to withdraw her hand.
Yet Baili Jia Jue was a step faster than she was as he pressed down on that piece of fine writing paper using his finger smeared with red ink. His fingerprint was clearly visible.
As she saw that everything had been settled, Wei Wei also immediately relaxed and got up to move about and loosen her neck muscles as she said, "I'm going to go pack up."
It could be seen that Wei Wei was in a good mood.
Basically, her biggest problems could be considered to have been resolved.
The reason why Wei Wei thought of the marriage contract was because firstly, Third Prince was difficult to handle. If he became an ally, then matters would become much simpler. Secondly, it was because she hadn't forgotten that this was ancient times. If by chance, Retired Emperor was displeased with her for Third Prince's sake, and just had her married off to someone else as he pleased, she wouldn't be able to voice a single word of protest, as that would be considered the same as disobeying an imperial edict. That's why she had to think of a move ahead of time as a countermeasure.
Now that she's got the contract, in the future, everything would be done according to their agreement.
Both she and Third Prince happily agreed to this contract.
Therefore, now that they had this written agreement, in the future, no matter what happened, she could still escape from the palace unscathed.
However, was it truly this way?
Wei Wei didn't know at all that just when she entered her bedroom to pack up her things.
The man sitting on the wood chair extended his hand and brought the fine writing paper over. Within his profound eyes brewed an acute chill that seemed like it could freeze everything over and also seemed as if it could stab and skewer a person's chest.
There wasn't a single word among all of the words on this piece of paper that didn't clearly say that she wanted to maintain her distance from him.
Heh.
Baili Jia Jue curved his thin lips down as his slender fingers grasped the writing brush firmly and added the two words 'can end' under the section regarding the married couple's obligations. After adding 'can end' after the words 'not a thing', the phrase became 'not a thing can end', which meant that their husband and wife relationship could never end.
Baili Jia Jue put down the writing brush and leisurely folded that piece of fine writing paper. His posture completely seemed like none of this had ever happened...
The mist outside the window already cleared up. The only thing that remained was a muddled yellow color, and that was an omen that the sun was setting.
Within the main hall at the imperial palace.
Prince Murong stood beside the window as he grabbed the black scarf covering his face and pulled down on it. His expression was gloomy as he threw it to the side. "We failed. He didn't die. Not only that, not a single one of the secret guards that we sent out was able to return."
"Then what should we do?" The other woman standing within the main hall suddenly looked up. The dangling pearl hair pin on her head also quivered as her head moved. "Father, we're already running out of time. The king's health is getting worse and worse. He'd had too much fun. Sooner or later, there'll be a day when he'll die on some woman's body. Yan Er is still too young and simply doesn't know anything. If the king passes away, based on how Retired Emperor, that old fart who refuses to die, pampers that vile spawn, this throne will be given to Baili Jia Jue for sure! I really can't wait for that to happen!"
It turned out that this woman was none other than the current leader of the imperial harem 'Empress Murong'. She gripped the handkerchief in her hand tightly. The crimson red tips of her fingers emitted unprecedented malicious thoughts. "He must die!"
"Please be assured, Empress." Prince Murong lowered his voice as his eyes revealed an ominous glint. "We failed to kill him in Armament City, but that doesn't mean that we can't kill him after he returns to the capitol."
Empress Murong tightened her grip on her handkerchief as her long shapely eyebrows creased. "Didn't they say that the vile spawn didn't bring a single person with him? How is it that not a single secret guard was able to return?"
"Our people encountered Young Master Han." Prince Murong clenched his left hand. "He won't have such good luck next time!"
The light in Empress Murong's eyes submerged deeper. "Actually, what good plan does Father have?"
"Do you still remember the servant girl who poisoned him that year?" Prince Murong slowly curved his thin lips up. "Third Prince treated her very differently than how he treats other people."
Empress Murong's long, shapely eyebrows jumped. "Didn't Retired Emperor dispose of her on the spot that year? How is she still alive?"
"Of course it's because father saved her." The corners of Prince Murong's mouth slowly raised upwards, the shadow of a smile contained within. "Such a good chess piece of course needs to be used to the greatest extent."
Empress Murong also smiled along. "Since it's like that, then I am relieved. I heard that servant girl has been a beauty since birth. Beauties are like poison, this saying is not the least bit wrong. That vile spawn has not chosen a consort for so many years most likely because of her, the seed of infatuation that had been planted, heh."
"I wonder when the two of them meet each other, what kind of expression they will show." Prince Murong's fingers slowly ran over the wood table and crushed it. "Having her kill him again would be impossible. Afterall, even if Third Prince becomes momentarily dazzled after seeing her, he's still not that stupid."
The light in Empress Murong's eyes was like poison seeping. "Then let's have him fall out of Retired Emperor's favor for the sake of this person who claimed his heart, just like what happened to the current emperor because of me."
"Even though it's a bit of a problem, however, based on how much she understood Third Prince, it shouldn't be too difficult." Prince Murong set aside the china cup in his hand.
He believed that in everyone's heart, there's a person who'd left an indelible mark on it, and it's evident that for Third's Prince, this servant girl who had accompanied him countless nights and years in the palace, was such a person.
He hadn't forgotten how in those days, no one was able to approach Third Prince no matter who they were.
Yet this servant girl had always received special treatment.
Prince Murong curved his thin lips. What's more, it's this special treatment that after they grew up, would become even more destructive. In any case, Baili Jia Jue no longer possessed any martial qi. No matter how intelligent he was, he was but a naive teenager. Only Retired Emperor was a little difficult to contend with, that's all...
At a not too distant place, west of the imperial palace. "How's everything?" Retired Emperor could no longer hold back his distress as he stood up and hurriedly asked the shadow guard rushing back. "Nothing's happened to little Jue, right?"
The guard respectfully kneeled on the ground, and reported without leaving out a single word. "Please don't worry, Retired Emperor, His Highness has already set out to return to the capital. There'll be people accompanying him throughout the entire journey. That kind of thing won't happen again."
"That's good then. That's good then." Retired Emperor seemed as if he'd aged a dozen or more years all at once. He sat firmly on his seat and extended his hand to brush his forehead. "Have you made inquiries about the person who'd extended their hand to help little Jue?"
The shadow guard looked up. "Reporting to Retired Emperor, reportedly, at that time, Young Master Han was also there."
"It's really youngster Han?" Retired Emperor skeptically narrowed his eyes. Such a swift and fierce style doesn't resemble that child's methods, and instead seemed...
Retired Emperor's eyebrows jumped once. "You go make a trip to White Academy and look into everything that little Jue had recently participated in. After that, report to the results to me."
"Yes!" The shadow guard dropped his eyes.
"Wait a moment." The light within Retired Emperor's eyes submerged. "That girl from the Helian family, what's going on with her?"
The shadow guard stared blankly. Retired Emperor asked this of him, but he also didn't know what's going on. He hadn't waited upon Third Prince, and even if he was one of those brothers who did wait upon Third Prince, he's afraid he'd still be unable to guess Third Prince's thoughts...
Retired Emperor apparently also became aware that he'd asked the wrong person as he waved his sleeve. "It's fine. You can go." Maybe he'd thought too much.
Little Jue should only have been too bored recently, so he found himself a plaything...action
Chapter 140: More and More Intimate
Translator: Misty Cloud Editor: Misty Cloud
Early morning. Inside the snug horse carriage. action
The wood in the tea space heater seemed to be all burned out as it released a depressed sound.
An elegant mellow and rich fragrance slowly wafted through the air from the pure gold decoratively carved incense burner, enduring without scattering.
This was Dragon Boost Fragrance, able to help repair the internal organs and the gastrointestinal system, expel poisons, and destroy tumors. Breathing in this fragrance within a small room was best for the health.
If Wei Wei's memory wasn't wrong, then this Dragon Boost Fragrance was the incense that her mother was most fond of in those days...
But after Lady Su married into the family, she even seized Mother's incense saying that she couldn't stand this incense, because it's making her nauseated. Thereupon, everyone within the Defense Division residence was forbidden from burning this incense.
All of the attendants knew that this was the newly married Second Madam's way of displaying her strength in front of the First Madam.
Yet what did that 'good husband' of hers do? He protected Lady Su in all respects and even said something about Lady Su's health being weak, and couldn't compare to Mother.
Lady's Su health was weak, but was her Mother's health not weak?
At that time, Mother had already neared her end. Her stomach vomited gas. Her entire life was spent rushing headlong into the battlefield as a female general. She was righteously and truly the head of the Helian family, yet wasn't even left with the right to light a stick of incense...
No one knew how grievous that kind of situation was.
Little Wei Wei pinched at a corner of her dress and stared blankly as she watched her own mother's life fading in this inferior and pitiful way, yet couldn't do anything about it.
The memory deep in her heart made Wei Wei close her eyes tightly. When she reopened them, the inside of her pupils had already become clear and bright. No matter how it was previously, she who's been reborn will surely reclaim control of all the things that originally belonged to her!
Just as she was thinking of this, she suddenly felt that someone was watching her.
Wei Wei immediately restrained all of the killing aura within her body and faced forward as she raised her eyes.
His entire body was covered in a white sable fur robe. Baili Jia Jue's indolent expression as he sat and leaned on the chair. The classically styled sleeve of his robe opened just like a flower which bloomed, contrasting with the jade-like wrist. He turned the ancient scroll in his hand, graceful, elevated, and aloof from head to toe.
Wei Wei increasingly felt that each of Third Prince's casual movement was qualified to be captured on a magazine's cover. It's a pity that this kind of person couldn't become a modern day star.
Probably sensing Wei Wei's gaze, Baili Jia Jue's eyes glanced towards her. After that, he pulled opened a small wooden box within the horse carriage. His slender fingers rummaged inside the box then casually threw Wei Wei a few pieces of tungsten armament components. His intent was to have her play with them.
Wei Wei's eyebrows jumped as she fiddled with the tungsten metal in her hand. The rumors really weren't fake. Each and everything belonging to Third Prince couldn't merely be measured with money. Things he normally used or even ate were all of the best quality within War Dragon Empire.
Just looking at this horse carriage, one could already gleaned a thing or two. Jade table, candied fruit, tea pastries, chessboard, scrolls...and so on, every necessity was prepared without exception. All kinds of items of the highest quality, whose value was considerable, and wasn't merely sumptuous to a small extent.
Wei Wei also wasn't going to be timid. With a graceful bearing, she pinched a piece of osmanthus pastry and placed it into her mouth. As the pastry entered her mouth, it transformed at once into a concentrated mung bean fragrance joined by lots of bits of dried pear flesh. The unique taste melted into her mouth, making her close her eyes just like she was savoring it.
Due to their being in a carriage, in addition to the business the night before, today, Wei Wei didn't paint the black juice on her face that caused people to easily misunderstand her.
This made her look very beautiful, especially when she smiled. She was enduringly charming, like autumn light diffusing through water.
Ordinary girls depended on a gentle beauty to score a win, yet she was different, every part of her was embellished with charm and character. Whenever her black phoenix shaped eyes looked at someone, they always carried a hint of obstinateness.
So it turned out that a woman's body could also leave a deep impression on people in this way.
Most of all, those thin lips touched by water which appeared somewhat moist was thoroughly enticing.
Baili Jia Jue's pair of eyes submerged, slightly hidden in the depths...
Just as Wei Wei was eating the sweet desert, she saw the person sitting opposite her, the Third Prince who was reading, directly looking at her.
"Is it very delicious?" It was again that kind of pure and noble commanding voice which penetrated a person's bones.
Wei Wei assumed that Third Prince's question must be a bedcover (preparation for something else). After this, he'd certainly say that she was like a pig who felt that everything she ate tasted good. She's not going to get into his bed sheet (fall for his bait)!
That's why Wei Wei cleverly didn't reply!
Only, what she didn't anticipate was what Third Prince did next. To her surprise, with one hand, he was holding the scroll, while he extended his other hand over and gripped her wrist, so that he delivered the remaining half of the osmanthus pastry remaining in her hand into his apathetic thin lips and ate it!
Watching this scene, Wei Wei's body somewhat froze. Why did she feel that this action from Third Prince was more or less a bit intimate.
Moreover, the thing that she was eating, he then ate...felt a bit weird.
But clearly, Third Prince still had the appearance of an elevated and cold male god who wouldn't eat the food of mortals. This also made Wei Wei unable to to pull back her hand for a moment.
In the past, when she been on assignments, it wasn't as if she and her teammates hadn't sometimes shared a bite out of the same compressed biscuit.
Maybe she was just overthinking it.
As Wei Wei straightened out the matter in her heart, the carriage wheels seemed as if they rolled across some heavy object, as they abruptly rose and shook.
With one hand, she was holding a teacup, while the other hand was gripped by the man. During this short period of time, she lost her balance, yet couldn't extend her hand to the left side to steady herself, because Third Prince was sitting there.
She involuntarily thought of evading the man, but didn't foresee that he unexpectedly was quicker than she was by a step, as he pulled her entire body and pressed her against his chest.
A refined man's faint fragrance immediately filled her nostrils, like a snowy lotus, occasionally releasing its breath inside the horse carriage, possesing a chilliness within its isolation.
"What happened?" His voice was very indifferent, one couldn't hear any emotion within.
The person outside the window extremely reverently answered. "Reporting to Your Highness, we don't know who placed a big rock on this mountain road, but it's not a big deal."
"Mm." Baili Jia Jue lowered his eyes and dropped his head to look at her. His romantic pretty eyes slid from her eyes and fell on her disheveled neck collar, as his deeply hidden pupils profoundly sank lower...
His hand then covered her waist, where she couldn't help but feel his warmth penetrate her clothes, raising her body temperature by a notch.
She also couldn't tell if it was unintentional or intentional that a finger of his actually rubbed against her most sensitive spot.
Wei Wei felt her entire body tremble as the limp and numb feeling seemed as if it resided at her tailbone and pervaded to her four limbs.
Baili Jia Jue naturally felt her reaction, as reflections of light moved in his eyes. He suddenly exposed a faint, arrogant demonic smile. His magnetically deep voice carried a metal like texture, just like the tone of a highest quality cello. "So sensitive, hm?"
Wei Wei lifted her eyes, only seeing the sunshine faintly spilling onto that body, sometimes deeply, sometimes shallowly outlining his perfect body, both righteous and demonic, shaped like a blade.
When he leaned over by the side of her ear to speak, the faint smell of sandalwood carried a kind of seemingly shocking ice-coldness.
This guy was born for the sole purpose of challenging a woman's self control!
Wei Wei had already heard about it. Reportedly, that person living within Ghost Palace, as long as he wanted it, he could cause any young lady to become frozen and melt...
It's a pity that she wasn't the same as 'any young lady'.
Wei Wei's figure turned. Her movement beautifully straightened her body into a sitting position as she spoke in an indifferent tone. "Your Highness thought too much into it. My waist was merely a bit itchy and this short section of road was actually too bumpy. Your Highness should just separate a bit farther from me, otherwise in a moment, you finger might develop some condition."
Chapter 141: Maintaining Distance
Translator: Misty Cloud Editor: Misty Cloud
"How thoughtful of you." Baili Jia Jue didn't stop Helian Wei Wei from moving away at all, and seemed as if whatever she did was unrelated to him. He merely gracefully raised his leg and folded it over the other, while one finger slowly, segmented as if it was playing a tune, tapped on his knee. There was a gracefulness to his countenance mixed with a cold detachment that's unique to his character. He looked at Wei Wei indolently. There was an indescribable kind of expression reflected in his eyes.
Within the arrogance, a gracefulness penetrated which seemed amiable, yet also was not easy to get close to.
This made a person couldn't help but associate him with a Persian cat. The noble aura, the indifference, the spellbinding charm.
Looking at this expression of his, Wei Wei's suspicions dissipated. Sure enough, she was just overthinking it just now.
Third Prince was still that distanced man. Merely, the two of them were just a bit more familiar with each other than they were at the beginning, and that's also why he'd target her once in awhile with his venomous tongue, looking for a bit of amusement.
Who told her to be the only other person with him in this carriage.
Anyways, she could forget about counting on him to be gentle.
That's how Third Prince treated her, his cooperative partner. When he ought to be aloof, he'd be as aloof as before.
"Your Highness." The sound of Shadow's voice transmitted again from the outside, mixed with the sound of the wind. "We're entering the city. Should we directly return to the palace, or go to White Academy?"
Baili Jia Jue raised a hand and unhurriedly arranged and straightened out his messy sleeves. His silver mask was the same as the noble moonlight contrasting with the side of his perfectly shaped ice-cold face, imposing, noble, and poised. "Go to White Academy."
"I won't be returning with Your Highness, then." Wei Wei's pretty head turned around. "In a moment, Your Highness can directly drop me off at the foot of the mountain. That'll be fine." Before she won the martial qi competition, before the choice of consort had been decided, it's still better if they maintained their distance.
Even though she and Third Prince already signed a contract, however, during the time the conditions hadn't been carried out, if the people at the academy saw her and Third Prince returning together, it's possible that they'd again come up with some wicked idea that's really troublesome.
Having heard what she said, Baili Jia Jue's hidden eyes sank deeper in thought, but his appearance was still indifferent. Merely, his thin lips pursed slightly, and the chill increased by a notch. "Are you maintaining your distance from me?"
Wei Wei paused, and also didn't hide it from him. "Your Highness is too popular. I'm afraid I'll be considered as a thorn in the side of those admiring fans of yours at the academy."
"It can't be as extreme as you've made it out to be." Baili Jia Jue took a glance at her as not a small amount of chilliness dissipated.
Wei Wei packed up her things and didn't forget to reply with a light smile. "Of course Your Highness wouldn't understand a woman's jealous heart."
Just like last time, she only had a chance encounter with Third Prince for a bit inside Spirit Forest, yet after they returned, rumors sprung up everywhere. Within White Academy, every new student wished that they could choke her to death themselves.
Helian Jiao Er's schemes were even more unceasing, only wishing she could make her thoroughly disappear within White Academy.
However, sometimes, Wei Wei really wanted to know who all of the people behind Helian Jiao Er were, that allowed her to be so absolutely unrestrained.
If it was only the protection of the Su family, it's unlikely that she'd go so far as that.
The Su family. Wei Wei's pair of eyes narrowed, producing an atmosphere of hostility. Sooner or later, there'd be a day that she'd end it!
However, right now, the issue that she needed to resolve was to visit the principal and properly end her leave of absence.
Master had already helped her ask for three days off but her struggle against Third Prince used up one and a half day's time. Right now, it's already the fifth day, and Master was also no longer at White Academy. She wondered how the principal was going to punish her.
That's why after she separated from Third Prince, Wei Wei didn't immediately return to the Inferior Compound at all, but rather, she headed off to Tusu Feng's study.
What she didn't expect was that when she entered his study, her desk-mate was also there.
He calmly stood at the most distant section of the room. He was wearing a full body pure white robe layered with a slim-fitting black outer robe. His handsome figure stood bolt upright like a sword, his appearance was not clearly seen from the distance.
Somehow, Wei Wei felt that this appearance of his felt very familiar.
He seemed to have been saying something to the principal.
Wei Wei couldn't clearly make out what they were saying, merely that looking from this direction, that pair of long and narrow matchless dark eyes was peaceful and calm, appearing especially mysterious.
Her desk-mate, when did he change into this figure from a painting?
Wei Wei was just about to look more carefully when she saw him turn his body and extended a hand to place it inside of his jacket, just like a nobleman who walked out of a manga. That pair of eyes was also as graceful and wickedly misleading as they used to be while an arc forming a smile that was not a smile hung on the corners of his mouth, proud and aloof, bewitchingly gazing down at her. With demonic charm, he faced her and smiled. "My respected financial backer finally returned."
Wei Wei noiselessly rubbed her temples which started aching. How come the words that this guy spoke made people associate them with a fluttering dance. "What brings you here, too?"
"Something came up with my family that required returning for a few days." Baili Jia Jue's voice was natural, and seemed like this matter wasn't important at all.
On the contrary, Little Bald Head sitting by the side eating his stuffed meat bun, when he heard this excuse, his movements paused as the little cute face that was like a bun became stiff and twitched.
Even though he was already used to Third Brother's ability to pretend, however, when he saw it, it still affected his appetite.
The little Seventh Prince started to wonder, should he go into closed door training and wait until Third Brother resumed his own identity before coming back out!
Otherwise, this could really tire him out.
He had to pay attention to everything he said and couldn't walk too close to Third Brother, all because of those people at the Superior Compound. All day long, they wanted to bring trouble to Third Brother, and even planned something for the testing event within the academy this time, wanting to use the opportunity to bully Third Brother.
Thinking up to this point, Little Bald Head slightly raised his head, held a stuffed meat bun, and started to observe a moment of silence on behalf of those people.
Tusu Feng didn't stop his questioning from just now at all, even as Wei Wei entered. He kindly curved his thin lips as his fingers pushed up on the spectacles which had slid down. "The Inferior Compound needs to produce three people to take part in the test within the academy. Why don't the two of you recommend one more person to me."
Wei Wei creased her long, shapely eyebrows. If she didn't remember incorrectly, she was only here to take care of her leave of absence. What's this about a test within the academy?
"This is White Academy's tradition, which happens every year." Yuan Ming's pondering voice transmitted from the Celestial Boundary Space. "Each compound needs to send three people as their representative for the purpose of the testing. However, students from the Inferior Compound have never won before, and have tended to lose fairly miserably. Who can you guys blame for belonging to the Inferior Compound. If the students with the lowest aptitudes don't lose, now that would be unnatural."
Wei Wei's lips moved up and down as she said an 'oh', and was clearly not very interested.
Tusu Feng naturally also perceived her expression. His eyes swept across the handwriting on the fine writing paper, which was an introduction to the Helian family's most well-known good-for-nothing. His pair of hands were placed on the tabletop as he spoke neither urgently nor slowly. "The compound that tops the test will be awarded one hundred thousand taels of silver and ten days of vacation. How about it? Do the two of you still feel that it's uninteresting?"action