XH 77
The Third Prince knew his little maid was currently scolding him in her mind. Her adorable face was too easy to read.
He was actually really happy that Xiao Hua had opened up to him to this large degree. She revealed that she was not a weak-minded and feeble as he thought. Even if her mind was a bit slow, she was fast in trading insults with the Heise.
Long Zhu also found out there was an interesting mind inside her harmless appearance. Once in awhile she would disagree with his opinion but quickly explained her reasoning to avoid angering him.
Her cute actions reminded him of a small little puppy that had followed him around during his three-year journey. That puppy often bites him to ask for food when it was hungry and then quickly licked the bite wound to appease his anger.
Smiling fondly at the passing memory, he poked Xiao Hua's nose with a finger and chuckled in amusement when her reaction was the same as that little puppy. Both of them would try to look at the offending finger that poked their nose before wrinkling it.
"Drink it. I will erase the taste from your mouth after that."
Xiao Hua stared at him doubtfully for a moment before slowly taking the bowl of medicine from his hand. With a grimace, she holds her breath and drank the medicine as fast as she could with large mouthfuls.
When she finally finished drinking every drop of the bitter medicine, she quickly placed the bowl aside and turned to look at the Third Prince, demanding candy with her large, pleading eyes.
What kind of candy will he give her?
"Good girl."
When something soft, warm and slightly moist touched her lips, Xiao Hua was shocked and her brain stopped moving. That warm, soft thing keeps pressing and rubbing over her frozen lips. It feels weird as there was no sensual intention behind it.
When Xiao Hua continued to stay frozen like a doll, the Third Prince pulled back and commanded, "Open your mouth."
Xiao Hua's mouth parted in disbelief at his command. The Third Prince used that chance to press his lips onto hers and blows air into her mouth.
Her body jumped at the unexpected action before the taste of mint overpowered the bitterness in her mouth. Nearly choking from the suddenly strong cooling taste flowing into her mouth, she struggled to push him away, but his arms around her waist were like an unbreakable shackle.
He held her gaze as his eyes demanded her to stay still as the mint taste continues filling every inch of her mouth.
Xiao Hua's first kiss in this world was... rather disappointing!
Kissing her with the intention of helping her to get rid of the bitterness in her mouth was just unacceptable! Does he not know the meaning of kissing between a male and a female!
Viewing this as an opportunity to eat the Third Prince's tofu, she snaked her tongue out of her mouth and entered his parted mouth to search for his tongue. But just as she lightly brushed her tongue against his, he quickly broke the contact with a shocked expression.
Xiao Hua stared at him innocently but her eyes were full of expectation for him to give her what she wanted.
Sadly, he did not understand what does her stare meant.
"The taste is gone?" the Third Prince asked indifferently as if what they had done was not sensual at all.
Xiao Hua nodded, pushing away her disappointment. It was rather embarrassing that she was the only one that wanted that kiss to be more than just helping her to get rid of the bitter taste in her mouth with a rather weird skill of his.
His behavior towards her that made her heart race yet it was totally innocent on his part was just the same as how her boss treated her.
"What's that mint taste?" Xiao Hua licked her lips. "Are you eating candy?"
"No, it's a plant."
Xiao Hua: '...' Plant? Did he mean there's a plant inside his mouth?
The Third Prince shifted her until her back was leaning on his chest again, no longer continue on with the topic. With a gentle yet captivating tone, he begins telling her the history of South Guilin Village.
"South Guilin Village, to the public's knowledge, was built for the purpose of protecting the border between the Guilin Kingdom and Tang Guan Country. Tang Guan often tried to attack the Guilin Kingdom and we learn to be wary of them."
The long and slender fingers played with Xiao Hua's hair and she noticed that someone had cleaned her up, donning her in a clean outfit. The length of her hair was shorter than before and she guessed that her hair must have caught onto the fire.
"I built the South Guilin Village for the purpose of training elite soldiers to protect Guilin and to let refugees from other countries to stay and work for our kingdom."
"Aren't you afraid that the refugees would betray you?" Xiao Hua asked worriedly. There were reasons why they were refugees and not all had chosen that path for good reasons.
"They will undergo intensive questioning before they are allowed to stay."
Xiao Hua nodded, accepting the answer. "Why would you send the two maids that betrayed Long Lian to South Guilin Village? You want to interrogate them?"
The Third Prince's inquisitive fingers that were tangled around Xiao Hua's hair stilled for a moment before resuming its adventure.
"Xiao Ting seems to know quite a lot."
Xiao Hua's heart danced upon hearing her name. She shakes her head. "That's one of the possibilities that I could think of."
"They were sent to that village for my men to find out any important news from them...and dispose of them afterward."
Xiao Hua could not stop her body from shuddering in fear. "Is that why the cloth is red?"
"How do you find out about it?"
"I didn't. People in the TV drama usually used a white cloth to stuff people's mouth and red cloth seems like a wrong color."
"Te-ve?"
"It's a tool in my world, acting as a form of storytelling where we can watch people acting out a play or receive news."
"Your world is interesting."
"I suppose..."
The Third Prince removed his fingers from her hair and went back to its previous position, which was around Xiao Hua's waist. "Red is for getting information and to kill them afterward. White is for protection and hiding. Blue is to try bringing that person to our side."
When she heard such a detailed explanation from the Third Prince, she wondered if it was possible that she had known too much.
The Third Prince suddenly sighed tiredly and pressed his face on top of her head, triggering the fear in her. Does he feel regret that he had spilled this much to her?
"South Guilin Village's creation was nothing but my plan to counter Long Shan's army."
The hero, Long Shan, was famous for his great achievement in the military, winning numerous wars and conquering lands to broaden Guilin's control. His increasing reputation helped him in gathering numerous soldiers that willingly followed him for their brighter future.
"Long Shan was not allowed to be involved in South Guilin Village by my command. It was that command that leads him to send out many of his men to investigate but we make sure they can only see what the public was allowed to see. If his soldiers want to join in guarding the border, we will not stop them."
After all, the Third Prince would be stupid in refusing strong soldiers that Long Shan had personally trained. It was easy to join the ranks in South Guilin Village, but it was tough to leave it.
It took a while for Xiao Hua to think properly about what to reply. "You had built South Guilin Village to fight against the Second Prince's army, but you have also eased Guilin's worry about Tang Guan invading into our land."
She worried her lips as her hand hesitated above the Third Prince's hands around her waist. Closing her eyes, she forced her hand to continue and grabbed onto his hands, trying to support him.
"You are the greatest prince that Guilin could ask for."
Xiao Hua could only imagine how he felt, to be killed by whom he had believed as his brother for his whole life and to be given a second chance to re-start again with his life.
She would have totally understood and supported him if he chased after the Second Prince and kill him. The option of not killing the Second Prince was too risky.
The hero had since young occupied his mind with plans to eradicate the Long royalty members. His mother, Concubine He, always acted like a white lotus, giving off a depressing aura of a heartbroken woman. Her attempt on putting a pitiful strong front was too laughable because she faked it to put on a good show for everyone, including her own son, to pity her.
Being a good son, he would, of course, avenge for her injustice. His believe and love for his mother had blinded him of any understanding and consideration for another party. But of course, he also wanted to be an Emperor to protect his mother, but Le XiaoTing disagreed.
Protecting his mother was his excuse that he had given to everyone. When he became Guilin's Emperor in the novel, he planned to conquer other countries! If that was not greed, Le XiaoTing does not know what that was!
His hands returned her grip and her heart skipped a beat just as she could feel her face getting warmer.
Wanting to avoid the Third Prince aware of her current emotion, she quickly continues on talking. "But why don't you want to be the next Emperor?"
Xiao Hua was unable to understand why when the majority of his siblings wanted that throne so much that they would kill each other just to get it.
The Third Prince rubbed the top of her head with his cheek affectionately. "I have better things to do than being an Emperor."
If only this young lady has her mobile phone, she would record his words and use it to face slaps the hero and the Crown Prince!