Love Sword

26

Everyone turned to look at the crown prince. He is standing with his usual strong stance. His face still mysteriously hidden under the mask.

Of course, if anyone could pull such a powerful martial arts trick. It would be the crown prince! Who has the ability to throw a dagger so fast that no one knows where it even came from?

The emperor looked in shock.

'What did you say?' He gritted.

'Why not kill him?' Asked the crown prince.

'So it was you?' Seethed the emperor as he stood up.

'This son did not admit that it is me or anyone else. What this son is trying to imply is he deserved this death.'

The whole court is silent again.

'Daring to insult a royal so bashfully like this is worth his head. His whole family should be executed. This is a light punishment. The laws in all kingdoms are the same. Even if prince Xiang is from Chang'An, this kind of thing is still a death sentence for anyone who dares to say such insulting words no matter where or when. Is father trying to say that Da Dong does not give dignity to Chang'An?'

His words makes sense and is resolute. Even the emperor could not refute. Right now, if he objects, that means he places no value in Chang'An's royalty which means there will be war and his third son's reputation of being betrothed to the princess of Chang'An will be greatly tarnished.

Furthermore, even if Da Dong is a great empire. Going to war will mean losing soldiers, resources, and many other things. It is not beneficial at all.

The emperor sat back down and sighed.

'Court dismissed for the day, and bring minister Luo's body back to the Luo residence along with my condolences.'

The other ministers quickly ran out of the court, especially the ones who had laughed at Xiang Ning a moment ago. The crown prince, Xiang Ning, and He Chang also began to leave the court as well.

Some guards moved towards the body of the minister to pick it up and send it back but they realized that the dagger in the minister's throat has gone missing.

———

'Are you nuts?' Shouted the Tang's young master as he banged the doors shut behind him.

The crown prince took off his mask and sat down on his seat.

'What?' He asked while cleaning his hands in a bowl of water provided by the maids.

'Why are you playing dumb? Why did you kill minister Luo? In front of everyone at court!' Shouted young master Tang.

'I did not kill him.'

Young master Tang paused, his eyebrows furrowing.

'What are you talking about?'

'It wasn't me.'

'But how? Who else is on pars with you in terms of martial arts to even pull off a dagger throw like that?'

The crown prince did not answer.

———

The night is cold and windy, you can hear the howling of the wind clearly even if you try to cover your ears.

On the roof of Xiang Ning's pavilion, you could hear small voices of princess Ruo An shouting and cursing at minister Luo, babbling about how she ought to go thank the crown prince for killing that bastard for her.

However, our focus is not on the shouts of the princess but our focus is on the person sitting on the roof.

His face is straight and neutral, while he nonchalantly swipe the dried red blood stain on his dagger.

The dagger is the dagger which pierced the throat of the pitiful minister Luo just a few hours ago.

A small body sat down beside him, a youthful sigh also sounded.

'Brother Shan, why did you let that rotten prince steal your limelight?'

[ Author: From this moment onwards, in third person point of view, the author will refer to He Chang with his real name, 'Jin Shan'. ]

Jin Shan turned towards his little brother who is looking at him with a curious look in his eyes. He turned away and continued to wipe the dagger.

'What are you talking about?'

Jin Xuan scoffed, he unfolded his legs and let them stretch out in a straight line on the roof tiles.

'You know, you are very smart and all. But when it comes to these things, you're actually so dumb!' Laughed Jin Xuan, his head shaking back and forth in disbelief.

Jin Shan frowned as he put his cleaned dagger back into his waist band. Seriously, what is this kid on about?

Jin Xuan smiled

'When you play as hero save the beauty, you must make sure the beauty knows it is you who is the hero! If the beauty mistakenly thinks that it is someone else who had saved him, surely, he would fall for that other person and not you. Your pursuit will fail for sure!'

Jin Shan rolled his eyes.

'What pursuit are you talking about?' Asked Jin Shan, flicking his little brother's forehead playfully.

'So brother is playing dumb again? You think you can hide me from the fact that you fell in love with that cute prince?' Asked Jin Xuan with a smug face.

'I am not in love.' Said Jin Shan, his eyes growing displeased.

'Not in love you say? Then why would you go through tough times to save that prince?'

'It is my duty as his bodyguard.' Said Jin Shan.

Jin Xuan laughed

'You are so funny.' Said the thirteen years old teenager.

He knows his brother very well. Why would Jin Shan ever do anything for someone if it doesn't benefit him in any way? Unless, of course, he is in love. He went to fight with the crown prince because of Xiang Ning. He dared to even kill a minister in broad daylight for Xiang Ning. He brought Xiang Ning to go float lanterns, even though he hates lanterns so much.

That guy is in love and he doesn't even know it himself. Jin Xuan smiled even wider at the thought.

'Why are you even here?' Asked Jin Shan with a cold voice.

'I thought I told you to go inform mother about my message?'

Jin Xuan puckered his lips with a wronged expression.

'Sending messages are works for birds and messengers. I'm the young master of the Jin clan! How come I get ordered around by my older brother and mother like a bird?' He sighed.

Jin Shan turned away with an annoyed expression. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a gold tael and placed it in Jin Xuan's palm.

The complaints stopped immediately. A gold tael is so valuable in this day and age. The person who has the most gold taels has to be the martial arts clans with the Jin clan coming first. Then the emperors of the normal world. Of course, Da Dong's emperor has the most gold taels out of all the other rulers.

Even the nobles and aristocrats would find it hard to earn up to a gold tael. They all have limited access to it.

Because gold taels have such fortune to it, that's why even if Jin Xuan is the second young master of the Jin clan which is the place with the most gold taels in the world, he still can only have a limited amount of these things.

Being handed a gold tael from Jin Shan made a smile bloom immediately.

'I WILL GO DILIGENTLY DELIVER THE MESSAGE RIGHT NOW!!' He shouted

To Be Continued...