The Emperor Chases His Wife

Chapter XVIII

CHAPTER XVIII: The Moonlight Tea Garden (1)

Lei was momentarily stunned but quickly reacted. "Wait Miss. You have to come. It's Prince Li's orders."

A glare and an unhappy look appeared on Nian's small face. "Why should I care? If I don't know where he wants me to go, why should I go with you?"

She did have a point. Lei snapped his mouth closed. His orders were to bring Nian to meet Liuyun. If he returned empty handed, who knew what thunder storm Liuyun might unleash in a rage But, the girl before him was stubborn but logical.

Clearly she didn't trust anyone easily. She wouldn't go with him unless she knew where she was going and he couldn't tell her that. Neither could her pick her up against her will and carry her to the location as Liuyun might slice off a limb or two if he did that.

Oh boy. What was he to do?

Nian noticed the worried look in Lei's eyes and realized she was making his job a little harder than necessary.

It seemed that even Prince Li's guards were afraid of defying his orders.

She let out a sigh. Fine then, she'll have to go.

"Fine." She huffed out reluctantly. "Wait a moment."

She closed the window and disappeared. Lei let out a breath of relief. Of all the women in the region who would be willing to worship the ground he walked on, why did Prince Li have to choose a difficult one?

Nian only made Lei wait about five minutes and when she appeared she was in a soft blue dress with a small grey coat over her shoulder. She stepped out into the chilly air and closed the door behind her softly.

"How are we going?" Nian could see any ride waiting for them in the courtyard.

Lei cracked a smile before putting his fingers to his lips and letting out a whistle. Nian couldn't hear the sound due to her low spiritual talent but a a minute later, a large snowy, white owl appeared in the sky.

"Could this be....a Blue Eyed Snow Owl?" Nian exclaimed in surprise.

For the past few years, Nian had occupied herself with many books found in the manor's library and recently, she'd taken an interest in the mythical Savage Beasts which could be found on the continent.

Snow Owl were rare and as their name suggested, they were commonly found in places where there was snow. But it was hard to catch them. A person had to travel through mountains prone to constant avalanches and extreme blizzards and even though a person survived that, capturing a Snow Owl wasn't guaranteed.

The Owls were almost the size of a small house and their talons were extremely sharp. One swipe of them could cut a level five martial artist into half. Their wings were extremely long and powerful and the gushes of wind created from them could stir up a tornado.

Because of this, very few people bothered to capture one of the Snow Owls. There were three types, one with blue eyes, another with green streaks in its feathers and one that can breathe fire. Out of the three, the Blue Eyed Snow Owl was the rarest and hardest to capture.

Yet it seemed like Lei had managed to subdue one and keep it as a pet.

No wonder he was one of Prince Li's bodyguards. Anyone who could survive the journey and still manage to capture such a rare Savage Beast must be remarkable in their martial arts.

"Yes it is." Lei smiled proudly as he looked up at the Blue Eyed Snow Owl which was hovering gently above them.

Currently, its feathers were a light brown and its eyes were a dull shade of blue since it was summer. In winter, the brown feathers would turn white and the blue hues of its eyes would brighten like the sky.

Even thought it was hovering above them, not a single gush of wind was emitted from its powerful wings, only a light breeze.

Nian figured that Lei must have trained it that way. Imagine such a powerful beast, with wings that could create a tornado, living in a crowded region. It would wreak havoc.

"Shall we go?" Lei asked her gently.

Nian nodded. Before she could reply, her body felt weightless and her head felt dizzy. When she opened her eyes, she was sitting on the back of the Blue Eyed Snow Owl while Lei sat up front, a respectable distance between the two.

Lei didn't look back at her as he flicked the reins and the Blue Eyed Snow Owl took off. At first, Nian expected to feel the harsh hit of the breeze as she flew but instead she felt a light rush of wind blowing past her ear.

The Blue Eyed Snow Owl's spiritual talent must be high for it to possess such skill.

Snow Owls were Savage Beasts who possessed a spiritual talent level of four. For Savage Beasts, their spiritual talents were twice as much as a martial artist, so a level four Savage Beasts was just as strong as a level eight martial artist.

That was also another reason why they were so valuable but hard to catch. Since Lei caught one, did it mean that he was at level eight?

Nian couldn't help but wonder. No one knew what level the Messengers of Li were at. They were as mysterious as Prince Li himself. Even though Prince Li was known to be at the sixth level, his strength said otherwise.

As they flew, Nian observed the night sky. The moon and stars were not out that night so it was dark and the city was covered in shadows. Without the light of the moon, the late night shops were closed up and packed away until dawn.

The Blue Eyed Snow Owl began to slowly descend and in a short while, it gently landed in a large open courtyard surrounded by tall stones walls and was located near a large lake.

Nian knew this lake to be Moonlight Lake and whenever there was a full moon, the people of the Eastern Region would bid enormous amounts of money to gain one of the few limited tokens needed to gain entry to this lake.

Usually, boats would be placed on the lake and the guests would be taken out to a platform in the middle of the lake where they could dine openly under the moonlight with silver colored water creating an enchanting scene around them.

The courtyard where they hand landed was part of Moonlight Tea Garden, a tea house which offered the most exotic teas from across the four continents and people from the other regions would sometimes travel to the Eastern Region just to sit in the tea garden and enjoy expensively exotic tea.

Usually, MoonlightTea Garden was always bustling with activity but it was even more crowdedduring full moon. Not only was the lake platform a big attraction, but therewere also floating private rooms available for the night.