Chapter 17

After a few buckets of chilly water had been poured over him, Nangong Du’s body finally stopped steaming.

For fear that his scalded skin might cling to his clothes and be ripped off, Xingyi helped Nangong Du to remove his silk underwear little by little cautiously. Fortunately, though the water was hot, it wasn’t freshly boiled, so Nangong Du’s injury wasn’t that serious. In addition to the redness on his skin, neither blisters nor peeling occurred. Even so, the consequence was so serious that her master had every right to punish her for impiety or even attempted murder!

“Xingyi, seems like you’re bold enough to set my orders at naught!” Nangong Du yelled with a grim look, veins bulging on his forehead. He had never been so discomfited in his life. Instead of having fun with that beauty, he ended up in his henchman’s trap!

Seeing that her master was in a fit of anger, though she didn’t think she had done anything wrong, Xingyi didn’t dare defend herself. “I should be blamed. Your Highness, I’m ready for your punishment!”

“Humph! I’m glad you have the guts to admit it!” Though he was clear that Xingyi didn’t mean to harm him, Nangong Du still put on a sullen look. At least, he had never allowed her to abuse the ‘princess’! This girl had gone too far that she even intended to scald Liu Zixiu with hot water! “It seems I’ve been too kind to you, or you wouldn’t have been daring enough to disobey my order and torture the princess secretly!”

“I dare not!”

“Really? So you deliberately prepared a pool of hot water for me?” Nangong Du grew even angrier and he nearly jumped up.

Grievously wronged by her master, Xingyi couldn’t help retorting. She straightened her neck and answered with a serious look, “Your Highness, the one who deserves my wholehearted service is your distinguished consort, not some random man from nowhere, like Liu Zixiu!”

Being chocked by her words, Nangong Du widened his eyes in which there were flames of fury.

However, Xingyi was burning with anger and she had lost her wits at the moment, so instead of stopping talking, she continued with her attempts to persuade Nangong Du to kill Liu Zixiu in case of contingencies in the future. “Your Highness, though I’m just a maidservant, I swear I’m only loyal to you, and none of this was directed at you. But I’m really confused about why you’re trying to pass off a humble person, who intended to seduce you, as the princess! Your Highness, I’m worried that you’ll be fooled by his good looks and fall into the trap of someone with ulterior motives!”

“How dare you!” Nangong Du pounded the table in rage. “You mean girl, how dare you accuse me of lust for beauty! Guards!”

“Your Highness, why are you so angry if that wasn’t the case?” Instead of flinching, Xingyi added, “You’ve never lost your temper like this no matter how wrong I was before. Besides, Your Highness, it was Liu Zixiu who pushed you into the water! Why didn’t you punish him rather than scolding me?”

“Shut up! Wasn’t it you who deliberately prepared the hot water in the bath pool?”

“Yes, it was! What’s more, I’ve fed Liu Zixiu with the Skin-Irritating Pill, so even though he didn’t get scalded, his face and body intended for seducing and deceiving you will be scarred and disfigured!”

“Skin-Irritating Pill?” Nangong Du was stunned. “Who do you think you are? You vicious beast, how dare you deal with the princess at will?”

“Did he just call me a vicious beast?” Xingyi froze on the spot as if struck by lightning. She couldn’t believe that her master would have described her as ‘vicious’! Since she began working for Prince Mu at the age of 8, she had maimed and even killed countless people, so she couldn’t understand why her master would have hit the ceiling only because of a pill that would cause Zixiu’s skin to fester!

“Your Highness, are you feeling sorry for Liu Zixiu?” Xingyi asked resentfully.

“What?” Nangong Du’s heart skipped a beat, but a few seconds later, he was overwhelmed by anger again. He had never felt sorry for anyone, let alone the unappreciative little brat, Liu Zixiu, who had been bold enough to have pushed him into the pool! “Guards! Get this girl full of nonsense out of here and slap her in the face! Slap her hard!”

It was far out of Yueying’s expectation that Prince Mu would have been so furious. Although he shared Xingyi’s concern that his master might have been caught in a honey trap, unlike Xingyi, he only stood aside without saying a word just now. But at this critical moment, he had to rise to the occasion. Moreover, all the other guards and maidservants had been driven out of the hall.

“Your Highness!” He walked over calmly and bowed to Nangong Du. “Your Highness, please calm down! It must have been Xingyi’s impulse talking…”

“Get her out!” In rage, Nangong Du didn’t want to listen to any form of explanation at all.

Obviously, Yueying appeared to be much more rational than Xingyi. As he failed to change Nangong Du’s mind, he shifted the topic. “Your Highness, relax! Violent mood fluctuation is not conducive to your recovery. I suggest you decide how to punish Xingyi after the ointment application.”

With that, he blinked at Xingyi, who was kneeling on the floor.

Xingyi finally calmed herself down and began to beg for mercy. “Your Highness, it’s all my fault! No matter how much you want to punish me, please let me apply some ointment for you first.”

Nangong Du knew it well that his scalds were not that serious, and now his patience had worn out, so he wasn’t in the mood to say anything else to them. “Get out! Both of you!” he roared, waving his hand.

Hearing that, the two of them immediately bowed to him and left in panic, not daring to take a look at Liu Zixiu, who had been unconscious for quite a while under the window.