eunoia | bl | tgcf

Chapter 2 : Part Three

Chapter 2
beloved by all

Part Three
•future•

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Hong-er held the bronze mirror tightly before putting it away. He simply felt that his previous thought sounded crazy.

How could his eye be as beautiful as Yun-ge's?

It was an insult to Yun-ge, who was so kind and warm and gentle.

Mine is so ugly, I never want to see it.

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Xie Lian sighs as he walks out into the balcony connected to his room, the late night sky greeting him.

It was so boring!

Though, he did have to join the procession again for the next two days.

The crown prince leans against the balustrade, wondering when he could have a tea party with Hua Yunlan. He still wants to talk about many things with him, such as solutions to the problems he's been facing lately.

Reports about missing children have reached his desk. It wasn't obvious at first, but the missing case turned bigger when the daughter of a noble disappeared. When Xie Lian started the investigation, he discovered that that wasn't the first missing case.

Commoner children had started disappearing as early as last year's autumn season. And while slum children disappearing was a common occurrence, the number of slum children vanishing into thin air tripled than previous years.

Obviously, there were hidden hands manipulating the strings in those incidents.

This became another headache for him.

I have no leads either, the crown prince thought and slouched over the balustrade, looking lifeless and exhausted.

"Have I arrived at a bad time—"

Xie Lian straightened his posture, preparing himself for a fight by the sudden intrusion of the person who spoke. He relaxed when the voice registered in his mind and he could not help but sigh in relief.

"—Your Highness?"

Turning around, he was met with a pair of sunset eyes. "Yunlan-shifu?" His appearance at this late hour surprised the Crown Prince. "Did something happen on your end?" Perhaps something happened to the child his brother brought back?

"Your Highness, I am here to ask permission."

"Ask permission? For what?"

In any case, there were not many strict laws in Xianle Kingdom. As long as it didn't involve human trafficking, forced prostitution, murder, etc., then Hua Yunlan had no need to ask—

"To kill."

—hold on.

Xie Lian stared at the other with big eyes. "Who would you be killing?"

"Scums under the heavens, of course."

The crown prince becomes the personification of confusion as he stares at Hua Yunlan with furrowed eyebrows. Not a hint of change in expression can be seen on Yunlan-shifu's face. It remains calm and soft, a gentle expression that melts a heart encased in ice.