A/N: Last Chapter for 2018! Time flies so quickly >....< Happy 2019 to you all!
XH 114
Three people versus twenty people, perhaps more.
That side with a large amount of numbers would be a safe place to be in if they were your allies.
Unfortunately for Xiao Hua, she was in the three people group, with herself included in the headcount.
Their group of three was just heading to the Eighth Prince's compound inside the palace when suddenly a large group of fully armored soldiers with weapons in hand surrounded Xiao Hua, Duan XiYing, and Da Bei!
The Third Prince had parted ways with them to meet up with the Crown Prince, who also lived inside the palace instead of having his own residence outside the palace due to safety reasons as he was a Crown Prince.
"The Empress ordered that the maid, Xiao Hua, to have an audience with Her Highness!"
After that was said, Duan XiYing and Da Bei, without giving any face to the Empress, started to cut down the soldiers, making way for them to escape. Da Bei spilled blood with every slash of his thin blades and Duan XiYing snapped every limb her quick and flexible hands managed to grab onto.
Xiao Hua helped by throwing her knives at the guards' blind spot that was revealed when they were busy guarding against Duan XiYing and Da Bei's attacks, but she was still hesitating as they were the Empress' soldiers. The Empress was the Third Prince's mother after all!
She was just a maid and by defying the Empress' order, she will have her head chopped off her neck!
But seeing Duan XiYing and Da Bei just beat them down one by one without concern, Xiao Hua decided to trust them. After all, they were in the same boat and those soldiers could be lying about the Empress demanding Xiao Hua to meet her.
However, the trio had underestimated the number of soldiers that the Empress had sent to 'invite' her. They cut, snap, and slay continuously yet the soldiers keep coming, not giving them any break time.
Luckily Xiao Hua was a cultivator, despite being only at first rank, but she has more stamina and strength compared to when she was still a normal person. But very soon, she gets tired of constantly defending and attack continuously until her body was half auto piloting. Noticing Xiao Hua's tiredness, the other two had to cover her slack as well as protecting her.
In the beginning, she felt excited to fight just like how those heroes did when they have a solo fight against a large number of cannon fodders in anime shows. She was no longer excited about it when her energy depleted quickly and her overused muscles screaming with tiredness screaming. She only longed for the fight to end and when it still continues, her anger reared its head.
"Okay, this is bloody enough! Stop!" Thanks, Qiang Laohu, this young lady will worship you for teaching me the word 'bloody', allowing me to use it to express my anger!
Astonishingly, the fight ceased with everyone stopped to look at her, except for a soldier standing right in front of her. In the silent field, his screams were especially ear piercing to Xiao Hua's ears. His eyes were filled with tears as he stared at her in a beseeching manner.
"What's wrong with you?"
Duan XiYing giggled before helpfully pointing at the screaming soldier's hand but did not make a move to help the poor fellow. As it turns out, Xiao Hua had moved in reflex and blocked the incoming swing of a sword by stabbing at the owner's hand, letting the sword fell to the ground harmlessly. The soldier had not stopped in time when she yelled and fortunately for Xiao Hua's little life, her high tension and alertness saved her from being slain.
"Oh gosh! I'm so sorry!" She quickly ripped her knife away from his hand and he howled like a wolf in heat- cough- pain.
Honestly, Le XiaoTing had heard many wolves howling under the moon from movies, and it was always the same tune. The howling by the guard was similar but more... flirty.
A fellow guard hurried over to rescue his fallen comrade and pulls him to safety behind their group, but not before giving Xiao Hua a nasty glare.
I should feel sorry and guilty, but don't you remember you guys are the ones that attacked this young lady first? (＾＾＃)
Besides, she was actually surprised that the injured soldier did not retaliate against her. Perhaps the Empress had ordered them to not harm her? Could that be the reason? After all, they looked strong yet they had not inflicted any serious injuries on her...
Now that the fight stopped and her adrenaline slowing down, Xiao Hua winced as the small cuts she received started to let their presence known, unwilling to be ignored.
"May I know why did the Empress request to see me?" Xiao Hua asked as politely as possible. Being nice usually helps when asking for information.
"A servant like you has no right to question Her Highness!"
Xiao Hua had to bite down her lower lip from scolding them in return. Scolding irrational people might work in her original world where she has human rights with some freedom of speech, but here she needed to play with words and hide her true thoughts behind a polite facade, or else she would be killed for offending them.
But then she was not exactly powerless in this world! She straightens her back and stared at them coolly. "I am the Third Prince's personal maid. Being rude to me indicates that you are disrespecting the Third Prince!"
Since she has power, she will wave it around like a life protection medallion!
One of the soldiers quickly said before the rude one could open his mouth. "We mean no disrespect to the Third Prince. We are here to invite Elder Sister Hua to meet the Empress. To decline the invitation, Her Highness would assume the Third Prince is unfilial towards his mother, which even his servant does not accept the Empress' personal invitation."
Xiao Hua: '...' Ai, this young lady's cheek hurts!
That would teach herself a lesson for underestimating other people's brains!
"Usually, the Empress would send an invitation card," Duan XiYing injected smoothly into the conversation, pulling aggro from the NPC – cough - from the soldier onto herself to protect Xiao Hua. "Did little brothers perhaps forget to hand the calling card?"
The 'nicer' soldier stiffens before smiling with an attempt to look innocent but ended up looking feral with his tanned face and rough skin.
"This sister is right that I've forgotten to hand the calling card to Elder Sister Hua." He took out a beautiful looking card with dry flowers pressed on it and handed over to Duan XiYing, who gave it to Xiao Hua.
Xiao Hua received it carefully and read the content grimly, with Duan XiYing peeking at the contents right beside her. Such beautiful calligraphy, but the content was only beautiful on the surface with hidden threats behind it.
The words practically demanded Xiao Hua accompany her for a chat and drinking some tea. If she was worried about permission, the Third Prince would never stop his own mother to meet her own son's servant. The Empress even 'kindly' sent out her guards to lead the way in case Xiao Hua got lost.
Most of the character was unknown to Xiao Hua, but her imaginative brain easily constructs and fills the empty holes.
So the excuse of not having the Third Prince's permission to visit the Empress was out.
Duan XiYing looked troubled, which means she could not think of any ideas to get out of meeting the Empress. Oh the other hand, Da Bei was readying himself to fight with how he gripped his blades in his battle-ready posture.
Xiao Hua sighed inwardly, knowing that meeting the Empress would be bad, but not going would give her the reason to label her rude and disrespecting royal family.
"Brother Guards, please accept my apology for our previous offense. The truth is, we are just intimidated by your strong figures and automatically defended ourselves in pressure. Xiao Hua humbly accepts the invitation from the Empress, so please look over our small offenses."
This young lady had to smash down her pride to apologize, explain the reason, boost your ego, and even agreed to meet the Empress. If they still want to pursue the matter, I can scream from the top of my lung that you guys are barbaric and difficult to please! I will also do my best tarnish your reputation and even the Empress' as well!
Fortunately, the soldier's representative nodded, willing to look past it. "It's no harm, Elder Sister Xiao Hua. This is also our fault for dressing in full armor to meet you. We just wish to protect you during the journey and to reassure you of our capabilities."
Dressing up and look cool automatically means you are capable?
Le XiaoTing wanted to laugh. She had met a lot of interns and they dressed up smartly and tried to look confident, but their supervisor gleefully smashed their ego to pieces during their two-month stay. The supervisor that oversees the interns was the 'shark guy', a nickname someone gave and it stuck. The shark guy loved the nickname and decided to live up to the name, much to the interns' despair.
Perhaps that was the reason why the number of interns kept on decreasing.
Xiao Hua smiled, ignoring the dude's bullshitting. "Thank you for the kind considerations. Please, lead the way. We must not make the Empress wait."
The soldier stiffens but holds back his retort. It was true that they should not make the Empress waiting, but her way of speaking twisted it to mean that Her Highness was waiting for a maid.
How preposterous!
The guards surrounded the three of them as they walk towards the Empress' quarters.
"XiYing, Da Bei, my life will count on you," Xiao Hua whispered. She truly hoped the meeting would not end bloody!
"XiYing will protect Xiao Hua even if XiYing had to cut down the Empress."
Xiao Hua flinched, her eyes darting around, and much to her relief, the guards remained indifference to XiYing's statement.
"XiYing, don't say that!" Xiao Hua hissed softly, afraid that the guards would hear her.
Just then, Da Bei decided to add in his opinion. "I will kill the Empress if she hurt you."
Xiao Hua felt her mouth curled upward without her permission. She felt happy even when she was not supposed to!