Love Sword

12

The third prince sighed and sat down.

'Pour tea.' He ordered quietly as he grabs a book at his side.

The third prince furrowed his eyebrows and massaged his temples in frustration.

[ That slick fox Li Jun even dared to use me to kill an innocent in order to retrieve a treasure for him. ] thought the third prince to himself.

He shook his head in defeat.

Whatever, the life of a mere bodyguard of Chang'An prince would not really matter.

Sipping the warm tea, his mind wandered towards that little beauty he encountered.

Judging from his robes, surely he wouldn't be of low birth.

'Is there a son of a noble in this empire that looks like a woman?' Asked the third prince towards his personal eunuch.

Eunuch Tong raised an eyebrow in confusion before lowering his head respectfully.

'This one does not believe so, your highness.'

Receiving a negative response, the third prince did not continue pressing on the matter anymore.

———

'Your highness! You're back quite early, how was the trip?' Asked Lan cheerfully after seeing Xiang Ning arrive back to the little pavilion.

Xiang Ning nodded his head with a cute smile.

'Lan-jie, the capital is fun. You should come with me next time.' Said the prince as he took off his outer coat and handing it over to Lan.

'Yes yes, as long as the little highness is happy.' Said Lan.

'Lan-jie, I'm going to shower. Did you prepare the tub for me?' Asked Xiang Ning.

'Yes I did, be careful your highness.'

After Xiang Ning left to bathe, Lan turned towards the quiet He Chang. She has been working under the little prince for so long, no matter how good his acting is, he could never hide his real emotions from her.

Anyway, the prince was absolutely horrible at acting, although he was smiling and laughing, she could clearly see the shimmering tears threatening to fall.

Surely, something had happened.

'He Chang, did something happen?' Asked Lan.

He Chang did not say anything, his wandered towards the tightly shut door of the bathing quarters.

Looking away again, he walked towards the table.

'Nothing happened.' He replied curtly.

Lan rested her hands on her hips lazily.

'The little highness has it hard since birth. It wasn't his fault that her ladyship passed away while giving birth to him but the blame was dumped entirely onto him. As the only prince of a kingdom, surely you'd expect him to receive glory and pampering from the emperor. On the contrary, though, he was banished to the cold palace and forced into the care of a single nanny, one maid, and no guards.

His highness received great humiliations from the people by his side as well as those across the empire. He grew up with only a minor mentor to teach him some literary skills like reading and writing but he was most definitely not exposed to the vast scholarly knowledge like princes do. Without anyone to teach and guide him, he could've easily turned astray or become a complete idiot, ignorant to worldly affairs. He became the former.

I was not chosen by his majesty to serve his highness. I volunteered on my own accord. The boy could really do with someone actually caring for him. I don't know what is going on between you two, nor do I know what his highness had done to wrong you. I just hope for you to understand and forgive him.

I'm sure he never meant any harm to you nor the princess. He's a better person than you think.'

Saying so, Lan walked away from He Chang to prepare a new set of comfortable robes for the prince.

He Chang sat alone, his face showing slight discomfort and if one would look closely enough, his eyes showed a tiny hint of guilt.

———

'Are you crazy? How can you just order for someone to kill the personal guard of a prince?' Shouted young master Tang.

Surely, there ought to be smoke flying out of his ears by now judging by his anger level.

Li Jun paid no heeds to his friend's shout and continued to flick his sword left and right to battle the imperial guard he is dueling with. His martial arts skills could be considered advanced judging by his stance and powerful sword wielding skill.

'A'Jun, have you finally turned crazy?' Asked young master Tang.

Receiving no answer from the person in question, young master Tang stepped forward and pulled the sword out of the guard's hand, not wanting to grab Li Jun's sword as he knew his martial arts skills could not be considered equal with Li Jun's at all. No one can guess where his hand will fly off to if he were to block Li Jun's blow.

To the two's surprise, Li Jun did not stop his actions as the prince charged his sharp silver sword towards the pitiful guard.

The blade pierced through the guard's steel-plated armor and his layers of clothings. Fortunately, before the blade could cause even a scratch of injury on the guard's skin, it suddenly paused.

Li Jun retracted his sword and put it back in its sheath.

Young master Tang heaved a sigh of relief and patted the guard's back as a signal for him to go. The guard bowed and went away, trying his best to not show how scared he was.

Young master Tang walked forward and grabbed his friend's shoulder.

'You have to answer my question first.'

The prince shut his eyes and turned around.

'Jiang Yulang told you?' Asked Li Jun.

'Who told me doesn't matter, what matters is, WHY DID YOU DO IT?!?' Asked young master Tang.

Li Jun brushed the disturbing hand off his shoulder and walked forward.

'Hey!' Shouted young master Tang as he tried to catch up with Li Jun.

'Why do you care about my business?' Asked Li Jun neutrally while wiping his blade.

'I normally would not but this little bodyguard is a close friend of princess Ruo An!' Exclaimed the young master.

Li Jun lifted his head and put his sword down. Turning around, he stared at the young master with a dead face.

'Whose friend, I don't care, I just want the dagger and that's that.'

'Do you really think nobody would know it is you? You're the only one with enough power to order for such a thing in this empire!'

'Imperial father is also capable.'

'WHY WOULD HIS MAJESTY WANT TO KILL A RANDOM BODYGUARD???'

'And why would the crown prince wants to kill a random bodyguard?' Asked Li Jun.

Young master Tang found himself dumbfounded. When he finally recovered from his stupor, he had found that Li Jun is already nowhere to be seen.

The young master rolled his eyes. He really will go crazy because of this friend of his.

To Be Continued...