"Your Highness may stay in our guest courtyard. I've just ordered the disciples to clean it for you," Xiao remarked as he pushed the gate to the courtyard open and gestured for Prince Zhanying to go inside.
Prince Zhanying shot a murderous glance at Xiao and Jingrui, making them both freeze. "You can stay wherever you wish, little maid. You may stay with your beloved General if it pleases you." With that, he walked into the courtyard, taking with him the thick tension.
"What's up with him?" Jingrui scratched her head and shrugged her shoulders at Xiao before running to catch up to him.
Prince Zhanying sat down at a floor table within his large quarters and began brewing tea. Before he could pour himself a cup, Jingrui bustled over to his side and snatched the teapot from his hands, almost spilling the content.
"I said I've come here to serve you. As your maid, how can I stay elsewhere?" She poured him tea and handed him the steaming cup, hoping to lighten up his mood.
Prince Zhanying did not look amused—he seldom was amused. He rested his head on his hand as he stared off into the distance. "Do you know why I've come to this mountain?" he asked.
Jingrui nodded as she put her elbows on the table and clasped her hands together. "To cure your eyesight?"
"That's right. My sole intention in coming here is to cure my eyesight." He lifted his blank gaze her way. "But Bao Bao, do you think me stupid?"
Jingrui's heart thumped as his cool gaze ran shivers down her spine. She shook her head rapidly. "I wouldn't dare think the God of War is stupid even if this world were to end right now."
He chuckled softly. "Then why would you lie?" A penetrating chill flashed in his eyes. "Did you think I would believe you when you said you've come to the mountain to serve me? You are rather good at cajoling, Bao Bao, but such flattery does not divert my suspicions. So, tell me, what is your purpose in coming to the mountain?"
Her intertwined fingers tightened on each other, and her breathing hitched in her throat. Is there anything the blind Prince can't see through? Jingrui cleared her throat. "Why would there be any hidden—"
"If you want to reach the stars without a ladder, how long would your legs have to be?" Prince Zhanying cut her off, his expression remained unchanged, but his voice held evident hard edges.
"I don't understand," Jingrui murmured.
Prince Zhanying twirled the teacup in his hand. "Can you reach your ambition alone, Bao Bao? If you intend to rely only on yourself forever?"
At his words, she lowered her gaze. "Nothing can escape Your Highness, can it?"
"Tell me," he demanded.
Jingrui sighed and slouched against the table. She had never thought she would tell anyone of her ambition and let them interfere. She was meant to enter the Palace and make no attachment or bond. Yet, there was the Prince, an enigmatic and vicious high deity who happened to save her countless times. He held the eyes of one who knew loss, and she knew she could trust him.
No one in this world could be trusted.
She cleared her throat and shook off her thoughts. From the Prince's dark gaze, there was no way he would let her off without telling him. With a deep sigh, she gave in.
"I entered the Heavenly Palace because my sister and master were murdered." Jingrui took a deep breath, her heart suddenly wrenching. "Fifty years ago, my sister entered the Heavenly Palace upon my master's order, and I've yearned for the day she would return. But . . . who could have thought she would return to me as a ruined corpse." Her voice split in half at the end of her words, and she swallowed down a lump in her throat.
"So, you think her death is tied to the Palace?" Prince Zhanying didn't look at her as he continued to fiddle with the cool teacup.
"Yes. But everything within the Palace seems to lead me to the mountain. You see, my master used to be a disciple here, and I think this place holds the answer to what I seek."
"I didn't know the innocent Bao Bao sought revenge."
"I don't wish to avenge their death. I just want to know why they died in such a horrid manner. What had they ever done to deserve it? I want to bring them justice."
"That's no different from a path of revenge," the Prince said as he placed the teacup down and stared up at her. Bitterness scorched within his dark irises. "Revenge isn't necessarily a bad thing if it fuels you to keep living." Unyielding pain and fury cracked his frozen voice, and Jingrui knew instantly that he said those words for himself and not for her.
She bit her lip as she refused to meet his gaze. "Your Highness has lived your whole life in the Heavenly Palace. Do you perhaps know of my sister? If not, then, do you perhaps know of my master, Li Yu?"
Zhanying tapped his fingers against the tabletop. "Now that I think about it . . ." He paused and drew his brows together. "The day you saved me might not be the first time we've met."
Jingrui blinked and arched her brows up, unable to understand his answer nor how it was related to her question. "What do you mean?"
"Let me make a wild guess. You came from the Red Valley, is that correct?"
Jingrui nodded slowly. "H-How did you know?" she stuttered, her face morphed into bafflement as she began to think Prince Zhanying might hold some kind of psychic power. The Red Valley was an unknown faction that had never had its territory marked on maps. For him to acknowledge it, she doubted that it was simply a 'wild guess'.
"A few disrespectful immortals disturbed me when I was going into seclusion. I've never been one with a good temperament, so I summoned my sword and pursued them. And guess where they've landed"—a subtle smile graced his lips—"Yes, yes, the Red Valley. I was that 'Mister Thief' you had the audacity to call."
Jingrui's eyes almost popped out of their sockets. "Y-Your Highness was that Mister Theif? That jerk?"
Prince Zhanying rubbed his temples. "Mind your language."
"No wonder you've always reminded me of him. . ." She trailed off and looked up at him. Her eyes brimmed with hope as she clasped her hands together. "Then, if you had been there that time, chasing onto those people you've mentioned. Have you captured them? Or if not, do you know whom they are?"
"I couldn't capture them," he said simply. "And I don't dare make wild guesses of who they are. That's one of the disadvantages of being blind." He jabbed his finger into the cool tea, playing with it. "But there's one thing I do know. . ."
Jingrui, whose hope almost wilted, lit up once more. "And what would that be?"
"Is your sister's name Li Jingyi?" Prince Zhanying asked and placed his finger on the table as he began to traced out the exact characters in Sister Jingyi's name, letting the tea that wet his finger soaked into to the wood.
Jingrui immediately nodded. "Your Highness knows her?"
A weary sigh parted his lips. "She was a maid at my Floating Abyss Palace."
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