Chapter 15

Having nagged Nangong for quite a while, the empress dowager finally took her leave, and at this point, Zixiu had already fainted. Nangong Du ordered that no one should be allowed to approach the princess’s bedroom or disturb. Moreover, he also sent Xingyi, the chief maidservant, who had served him for years, to serve the princess. Hearing the news, his other consorts and male concubines all turned green with envy. “Wow! People of noble birth are treated totally differently from us!” As they were either prostitutes or actresses before they married into the mansion, they didn’t dare set themselves against the princess for the prince’s favor. They also heard from the servants that the princess turned her back on prince Mu at the wedding night, but the latter even helped her to dress up the next morning! As they had been serving Nangong Du for a long time, they knew well how bossy and ruthless he was, so they could tell the princess must have been a scheming woman! At the thought that they would have to live under the same roof with such a tough woman, they couldn’t help feeling worried. However, they never expected that this extremely tough ‘woman’ was suffering from inhuman torture at the moment, which almost made him wish his own death.

The chief maidservant, Xingyi, came to the Prince Mu’s Mansion when she was a little girl. As she was quick-witted and good at combat skills, Nangong Du was especially fond of her. Though she wasn’t Prince Mu’s concubine, everyone in the mansion thought highly of her and even those consorts and concubines had to buy what she said. So actually, Xingyi wasn’t an ordinary maidservant, but like Yueying, she was Nangong Du’s trusted follower. Nangong Du sent her to the princess’s bedroom in the name of serving the princess, but in reality he wanted her to prevent Liu Zixiu from contacting other people and exposing his real gender.

Only at a glance at Zixiu, Xingyi could tell he must have reaped the consequences of his disobedience to Prince Mu. Having served her master for years, she had been used to this. However, it was the first time she had ever known that her master even forced on a man out of rage. In the past, all those who offended Nangong Du were either badly injured or died on the spot. Xingyi wondered if it was because Liu Zixu was lucky enough, or her master deliberately spared his life.

At the thought of this, Xingyi stopped abruptly in the act of pulling open the curtain and cast a cold glare at the delicate, fair face of Zixiu, who was half-unconscious under the quilt embroidered with mandarin ducks. His black hair hung down and scattered on the red sheet and his bangs, wet with sweat, was pressed against his forehead, covering his eyebrows. His feather-like eyelashes trembled slightly as if he was still in fright. His roman nose sat nicely on his face and the residual rouge made his lips indescribable tempting. Maybe it was because he was lightly made up, his profile looked soft without the slightest touch of men’s toughness.

“Even if Prince Mu weren’t drunk last night, he might still mistake him for a lady. Besides, Prince Mu is into both men and women, so though he said he didn’t kill this guy because he planned to play along by changing his appearance into Princess Liuxu’s, the truth might be he’s obsessed by him! Why had he never thought of disguising his henchman as Princess Liuxu? Wouldn’t that be safer?” Xingyi thought with a frown and reached out slowly for Zixiu’s neck.

As if he sensed someone close, Zixiu suddenly shuddered before he shook his head and muttered something. However, he didn’t open his eyes.

Xingyi moved her hand to Zixiu’s forehead and found in surprise that he was running a high fever!

After hesitating for a short moment, she drew her hand back and took out a black ceramic bottle from her pocket. Uncorking the bottle, she poured out a red pill and forced it into Zixiu’s throat, grabbing his chin.

About ten minutes later, Zixiu gradually woke up.

Xingyi walked to the bed again and before Zixiu could say anything, she suddenly flung the quilt off him. “Get out of the bed! Go take a bath and get changed on your own!”

“Huh?!” Zixiu was caught dumbfounded and after a while, he suddenly came back to his senses. Covering his private part with his hands in a hurry, he felt his face burning. He… he was naked in front of a woman!

“Who… Who are you?” he asked while staring at the strange girl in front of him, horrified, his fear rising above his shyness.

“I’m Xingyi. Your Highness, from now on, I’ll be your personal maidservant!” With that, Xingyi turned with an uneasy look. After all, she was still a maiden. Though she had served Nangong Du for years, she had never seen another man naked.

“Xingyi? Your Highness? Maidservant?” Zixiu was confused, but as he had a headache, he couldn’t think that much.

Seeing him in a daze, Xingyi suddenly yelled, “Do you really think you’re a princess? Get out of bed right now!”

Zixiui shivered at her angry roar, feeling as if that violent pervert was yelling at him. Though he was dizzy and aching all over, he crawled out of bed in horror, wrapped in the quilt. However, as soon as he stepped on the stool before the bed, his legs began to tremble, which made him lose his balance and fall to the floor heavily.

Thankfully, as he was wrapped in the quilt and the floor was covered with a thick woolen carpet, he didn’t black out again. After struggling for a while, Zixiu managed to rise to his feet. However, when he looked up, he immediately met Xingyi’s indifferent eyes, which made his heart leap a beat and feel breathless with repression.

“Don’t act like you’re wronged! People who offended Prince Mu are unworthy of sympathy! What’s more, I strongly suspect that you deliberately seduced him!” Xingyi said with a sneer.