“Oh, where has my dearest younger imperial brother been to this time?”
The eldest prince, Ming Yan, emerged from the line of crowd and approached Ming Jue with a smile, conveniently blocking the path of the entourage.
There was no reply from Ming Jue. He stared down at his eldest brother from atop his mount with a pair of icy cold eyes.
Suppressing his anger from being ignored, the eldest prince maintained the smile as the muscles on his cheeks twitched. After all, this defective brother of his no longer posed a threat to him for the line of succession of the throne.
A prince who was incapable of producing an heir could never compete for the crown.
Reassuring himself the outcome was set in stone, he gradually calmed down. While still forcing a smile on his face, he continued to strike a conversation.
“Well, big brother shall not impose too much of your time… By the way, that’s a rather fanciful carriage you have back there.”
Changing the topic, he glanced at the carriage at the rear, revealing his true motive behind this farce display of affection between siblings.
At one glance, anyone could infer that the carriage was designed for ladies. Ming Yan could not help but become suspicious, yet no traces of any family crest could be found even after he had discretely examined the carriage.
It was a societal norm for aristocratic families to imprint their own family crest onto carriages belonging to them for various reasons, and the lack of it could only mean one thing.
(Did the sixth prince resort to finding a partner of lowly status outside of the aristocratic families?)
Arriving at that conjecture, the grin on the eldest prince’s face widened.
The rumours were true after all. The daughters of major aristocratic families in the capital had avoided Prince Li like a plague. All of them abandoned any thoughts of becoming his consort since that incident.
Even if there were a few proposals, those prospective partners mainly come from small-time noble families that lacked real authority and influence. These ladies were treated as all-or-nothing sacrificial pawns, in exchange for whatever miniscule wealth and power the family could scavenge out of the deal.
(Was his current behaviour an outcome of self-abandonment?)
“Move aside.”
Noticing that his eldest brother was intensely scrutinizing the carriage behind him, Ming Jue could no longer tolerate his actions and uttered in a cold tone.
The eldest prince begrudgingly shook his head, masking his feelings of obscurity as he retreated, acting as though he had failed to persuade his insensible younger brother back to the right path.
As the distance between the procession and him widened, the eldest prince’s expression gradually worsened. With his fists tightly clenched, he could feel his resentment growing like wildfire.
Despite having the same genes, Ming Yan was jealous of his younger brother’s abilities and talent.
(Why did he deserve to be blessed with superior talent since birth? When the time is ripe, I will make sure…)
……
Prince Li’s manor was located at the heart of the capital, within close proximity to the Imperial Palace.
Currently, the main gate of the manor was widely opened. The butler of mansion had received news in advance of his master’s return today, and had prepared a grand welcome to receive Prince Li. All of the guards and servants in the manor had assembled into two orderly columns as they waited on standby.
As soon as they caught sight of Prince Li’s entourage, they lowered their heads in synchronized motion.
Butler Hua, on the other hand, kept a close eye on the conspicuous carriage tailing the entourage. His heart was filled with great anticipation.
Ten days ago, he had received a message from his master, instructing for the entire manor to be refitted and decorated.
Initially, he had speculated that it was in preparation to accommodate the Prince’s partner, or rather, their new mistress.
But he soon realized that it was different from what he had expected. The mansion started receiving waves of deliveries of pink, frilly dresses for children. After enquiring the guards, he finally uncovered the shocking development.
Having served Prince Li ever since he was a child, old Butler Hua could not resist bursting into tears of joy when he heard that his master had mysteriously produced a secret child outside, before becoming infertile.
With tears glistening in his eyes, he expectantly observed the carriage.
Ming Jue dismounted from his horse, slightly adjusted his attire before walking towards the carriage. He gently lifted the veil, revealing a chubby little girl lying on a soft cushion, soundly asleep in a sprawled position.
Her abdomen rose and fell with each breath. Her lips were curled upwards, suggesting that she was experiencing some sort of beautiful dream.
An uncharacteristically tender look appeared on his face as Ming Jue gently shook his head.
Extending his hand to pick up the little girl into his embrace, he noticed that her hair bun had slightly sagged down. He clumsily attempted to fix her hairdo… but ended up making it worse instead.
Ming Jue stopped his hands for a moment, silently lowered them and looked away to pretend as though nothing had happened.
Guaibao, who dreamt of caressing some young boy’s tender hands, was interrupted by the tugging feeling on her scalp. She opened her eyes and saw her daddy while still in a daze.
Rubbing her eyes with her chubby little hands, she glanced around her surroundings with a puzzled expression, her round eyes was still glistening with moisture.
“Daddy, where are we?”
The servants around were flustered by the clear, sweet voice, and almost failed to maintain their orderly line-up. Quickly regaining their composure, they resisted the temptation to peek and kept their heads lowered.
Butler Hua slightly lowered his head, wiping the tears off the corner of his eyes with his sleeves, before glancing back at Guaibao with a tender expression.
Ming Jue embraced her tightly, taking big strides into the manor, as he answered solemnly:
“This is daddy’s residence, and it will also be Guaibao’s home from now on.”
Despite being of royalty, Ming Jue did not demand Guaibao to fix her manner of speech or to address him formally. He could never forget that indescribable emotion that surged from within his heart when the little girl called him daddy for the first time.
“Quickly let me down, Daddy. Guaibao wants to walk on my own!”
Upon hearing that it was her daddy’s home, Guaibao’s eyes sparkled.
The moment Ming Jue set her feet on the ground, the little girl agilely hopped and roamed around, exploring the place like a free spirit.
(Whoa~~ This place is so hugeee~!)
(Eh? Why is this old man crying?)
Guaibao tilted her head and patted the elderly man with her chubby hand, pretending to be mature as she comforted him.
“Don’t cry, if someone bullies you, you can come to Guaibao for help and I’ll beat them up!”
She clenched her tiny fist and flaunted her non-existent muscles proudly in front of the old man.
Since the elderly was a member of her father’s residence, it was only natural for Guaibao to take responsibility for his wellbeing too. She swore to protect him from any bullying!
Butler Hua quickly wiped away his tears and nodded repeated. “Ah! I’m not crying because of sadness. These are tears of joy. I’m so touched that I could not control my tears! Our pretty little princess has a big heart.”
(Pretty little pig, me??)1TL Note: This was a pun in Chinese that could not be directly translated. The Butler addressed Guaibao as “小郡主” pinyin: Xiǎo Jùn Zhǔ, which means little princess. But perhaps because he was crying or something, Guaibao misheard it as “小俊猪” pinyin: Xiǎo Jùn Zhū, which means little handsome pig.
Guaibao touched her puffy cheeks while displaying a look of disbelief. She squirmed her body and puffed her cheeks in anger.
(Even if he praised that I am pretty, he still called me a pig!)
*Hmph*
She had even volunteered to help deal with the people bullying him, why did the old man still label her with nasty names?
She toddled to Ming Jue’s side with her short little legs, proficiently clinging onto his leg as she made a face at Butler Hua.
It was a sight to behold, and he felt as though his heart was melting. His adoration for the new little princess grew with every passing second. In his eyes, she seemed to be particularly clever and lively. Even her droopy and messy little hair bun looked pleasant to him.
(Even if the entire capital was flipped upside down, there is no other child as excellent as our little princess!)
While Butler Hua was immersed in his own thoughts, no one realized that Guaibao was staring at the old Butler.
“How is the progress on the refitting of Qilan Orchard?”
Butler Hua immediately withdrew his gaze, bowing respectfully as he answered, “Reporting back to Your Highness, the entire Orchard has been reworked and tidied up accordingly to your requests.”
“Mmhm…”
The Qilan Orchard was adjacent to the main residence of the Prince’s manor, comprising of several pavilions, artificial hills, rockeries and miniature forests. Visitors could enjoy the breath-taking view of the peach blossom garden from any of the pavilions.
It was without a doubt, the prized attraction in the entire estate.
As soon as Guaibao stepped into the orchard, she immediately fell in love with the place.
She ran all over the garden like a butterfly flitting from flower to flower, feeling delighted and extremely satisfied.
(Finally… a place that could complement my beauty!)
With such conceited thoughts, she twirled for a few rounds while occasionally making a few winks at Ming Jue who was observing her, intentionally flaunting off her baby-like charms as she imagined herself as a little elf dancing in the woods.
To the observers from a distance, she looked like a pink chubby dumpling spinning in place.
Unaware of that fact, Guaibao entertained herself with her own delusion.
(Hehe, Daddy must be enchanted by me, right?)
Ming Jue: “…”
Guaibao chuckled internally, holding the hems of her skirt with her plump little hand as she continued to spin. All of a sudden, she tripped and lost her balance, falling towards a nearby peach blossom tree.
Butler Hua exclaimed and reacted quickly to catch her fall, but he was not as agile as Ming Jue, who had already dashed over to her side.
“Are you alright, little princess? Thank god, you managed to lean and cling onto the tree trunk, avoiding the fall. Do you feel pain in any place?”
Butler Hua patted his chest and breathed a sigh of relief.
Ming Jue still had a frown on his face. Noticing that Guaibao was still holding onto the trunk of the tree without moving, he asked worriedly, “Did you get hurt?”
Guaibao’s cheeks twitched a little as she cautiously looked around. Before she could reply, a “crack” sound was heard and a tree branch broke off, falling in front of her.
Ming Jue became on high alert as he immediately grabbed Guaibao and dodged to the side, increasing their distance from the tree.
Soon after, the muffled sound of a tree collapsing could be heard.
While everyone was distracted by the accident, Guaibao quietly lowered her head as she restlessly fiddled with her fingers. Her eyes were flickering with guilt… 2TL Note: She has superhuman strength in case anyone forgot about it.
Confirming that the little girl was not injured, Ming Jue turned to the butler beside him with a chilly expression and asked, “Who is the one in charge of looking after this peach blossom garden?”
“It has always been personally attended to by this old servant, Your Highness.”
Especially after finding out that the little princess would be residing here, Butler Hua had taken upon himself the responsibility of tending to this peach blossom garden without relying on external help.
Ming Jue briefly at the old butler and nodded without pursuing any further.
The old butler had always been by his side, looking after him for more than a decade. He was a trusted aide.
During his previous lives, in order to buy time for the Prince to escape, the old butler had stood in the path to block the imperial guards by himself, eventually ended up getting shot and killed by arrows.
No remains of his corpse could be recovered for a proper burial.
Ming Jue supressed the sudden surge of emotions, softening his expression as glanced at Butler Hua, “Leave such physically demanding chores to the able-bodied servants in the future. ”
In the next moment, he lifted Guaibao, who was still in daze, and vacated the place.
Butler Hua was stunned for a moment, but when he understood the intention behind his lord’s orders, a smile broke out of his wrinkly, old face. He hurried to catch up with them.
This was the nature of his master. Despite his cold, insensitive appearance, he possessed a heart that was kinder than most people.
“Reporting to Your Highness, a messenger from the palace has arrived. The emperor is requesting for your presence in the Imperial Palace immediately.”
“Mmhm…”
TL Corner: I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Do let me know in the comments or discord if there are any errors or mistakes.
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