Chapter 333 - Petty Urges

Lei Xing raised an eyebrow, "Between -?...Nevermind." Lei Xing said with a hand up before Princess Nalan could open her mouth.

Lei Xing then sighed and said, "There's only one person I that I have any "between" with and that is my Emperor. But you could not possibly be inquiring into my relationship with him and given recent developments, I assume you're referring to "your" Prince...correct?" Lei Xing asked and waited for clarification.

"Yes." Princess Nalan haughtily responded, sitting upright and folding her arms.

"Well then, absolutely nothing." Lei Xing flatly stated. As irritating as this line of questioning was, she just wanted to peacefully get this over with so she could soak in a warm bath and then get some rest in peace.

"I said no lying!" Princess Nalan said a bit too loudly and then immediately glanced at the servants who were watching from a distance. She frowned and then leaned forward and went back to speaking calmly, "...If it's nothing, then why did we did have to cover up for you that night?"

Lei Xing blinked at her in "confusion" and Princess Nalan let out an irritated breath and expanded, "We left you two alone, together. Yet we lied and said we left you with the Emperor. I also asked about it and you didn't return to the palace that night and that was what caused the uproar that morning. I even heard that the Empress dowager searched Prince Yi's house that morning. Why would she have searched there when you were said to be missing? I have also heard the rumors about your past with him... So don't lie to me. I want to hear it from you, what's really going on between you two?" She finished with a glare and a disgruntled pout. She asked it but she was honestly not sure she wanted to know the answer.

{...That stupid Chen You! Is it too late to end her?! I'm feeling petty right now -_-)'...}

Lei Xing inwardly g.r.o.a.n.e.d and brought a hand up to massage the side of her aching head, all this was such a nuisance. It may have really just have been better if he had left her to fall to the ground. At most, it would have been a bit of bruising, but she would not have to be dealing with 101 questions about something she knew nothing about.

Lei Xing sighed and wearily looked at Princess Nalan and let out an irritated breath, "I also heard that you were apparently some dainty little elegantly delicate princess -" 

"What's that got to do with anything?!" Princess Nalan interjected, frowning in confusion and annoyance.

"Are you?" Lei Xing calmly asked with raised eyebrows, ignoring her question.

"Of course not! Stop trying to change the topic." Princess Nalan irritatedly went.

"Obviously untrue, just like those rumors you supposedly heard..." Lei Xing simply said, "You grew up in a palace, so I am sure you aware that rumor mill is one of the simplest of weapons..."

Princess Nalan knit her brows and looked down at the table in silence. Lei Xing let out a sigh, believing this to be enough, she rose to her feet to leave. But Princess Nalan was up just as quickly, blocking her way, "Just rumors? Then why did he -" She stopped and scowled not quite sure of her question, "Why did he grab you then?"

"How should I know?" Lei Xing said with some exasperation, she was really tired of this now. She took a deep breath and said, "Nalan, I have tried to indulge you, understanding that this must all be very stressful for you... But I have nothing to tell you, I know nothing. If you need any explanation for his actions, then go find him for your inquisition." With that said, Lei Xing promptly side-stepped Princess Nalan, but Princess Nalan grabbed her arm again and began, "No, you ha-"

"Enough." Lei Xing sternly said with a frown, at her wit's end. She could endure the Emperor's ignorant questioning because of their relationship, but she generally had a short fuse for stupid inquiries like this and so she could only handle so much in one day.

"I am neither the person whose action is in question nor am I the one who signed a relationship contract with you. Therefore, I do not owe you anything, much less an explanation... If you truly want answers for whatever this is, go find him." Lei Xing irritatedly finished, angrily brushed Princess Nalan's hand off, and stormed off, throwing out an order to the servants in her wake, "Escort her to her palace, use force if necessary and keep her there."

Princess Nalan stood rooted to the spot, glaring at the spot Lei Xing just left, not quite thinking of anything but feeling uncertain about everything.

{...Is it truly nothing?... Why am I feeling so worked over nothing then?...}

***

It was very late at night when the Emperor finally returned to their palace. He had spent a long time thinking about how to best proceed with everything. He had a long meeting with the ministers about the revelation of the day, which yielded little. And after that, he had just hung around in the royal study thinking alone for a long time.

The head physician gave a dubious verdict on Princess Nalan's pregnancy. Apparently, according to Princess Nalan's own admission, the encounter only happened about two weeks ago. Therefore, he announced that it was too early to be certain, all he could say was that it was possible that she was pregnant. This news naturally made the Emperor angrier as it made it clearer that Prince Yi's sole intent by making that announcement was to manipulate the situation. 

Regardless of her pregnancy status, Princess Nalan's reputation was now ruined thanks to that announcement. To avoid her becoming an object of ridicule, the natural and most "reasonable" solution was for them to get married...as they wished. Still, doing this left a bad taste in everybody's mouth given Prince Yi's calculative manner.

Therefore, neither the Emperor nor his advisors were keen on the idea of simply obliging. But some other peaceful solution was fleeting. If the Emperor refused the marriage, then it would likely mean war with Zou kingdom which was not ideal, especially considering the fact that even the people of Long country were likely to condemn the Emperor's decision. After all, the average person may not understand why granting a marriage would ever be a problem. 

In the end, the meeting devolved into an argument sparked by Prime minister Zhao's callous remark about how if the Emperor ever listened to him this would not have happened as he had long advised the Emperor to get rid of Prince Yi as his father would have wanted him to. An ambitious Prince should not be left alive to grow wings. Even though he was right, Defense minister Lei and did not like his insulting tone and told him to mind himself. Prime minister Zhao then basically accused him of being the Emperor's bootlicker because his daughter was the Empress. From there, the two and their supporters began talking over each other. 

The Emperor had let them run on for a bit, too occupied with his own thoughts and irritation at the situation, his brother and himself to be bothered with their bickering. Eventually, he shut them up and sent them home so he could think peacefully on his own.

At this point, even if he wanted to, the Emperor could not "deal" with Prince Yi the way Prime minister Zhao had been advising, killing him now would only create more problems right now. The main problem being what would happen to the possibly pregnant Princess with a ruined reputation. For now, the two problems will remain locked up in their respective "homes" until he decided what to do with them. Of course, they had already sent out a message informing the Zou king of this new development as nicely as he could put it.

There was also Monk Du's request to consider and the Emperor has acknowledged that Eunuch Li was somewhat correct. But at the same time, he was concerned that the siblings who bore an obvious deep grudge might still come back to attack later if let free to roam. 

But...then again, the Emperor also had to admit that he was probably being a bit too petty here. Now that he knew where their mysterious disappearing power had come from, he now understood why they had not simply used it to attack them in the palace. It was simply because they could not. According to Eunuch Li, Monk Du had also assured that they no longer had access to it and would be absolutely no trouble anymore.

If Monk Du was to be believed, the siblings were absolutely no longer a threat... And the Emperor had to admit to himself that he did believe it, he had believed it the moment he heard Monk Du had asked to see him. 

The Emperor sighed as he lightly c.a.r.e.s.sed Lei Xing's cheek with the back of his fingers. He had come in to find her sleeping at her desk. It appeared she had been waiting up for him to return and had chosen to take a quick nap at her desk, a quick nap that had sent her into a deep sleep. 

She must have been really tired too because she did not stir when the Emperor carefully took her in his arms and carried her over to the bed. Not even when he laid next to her and wrapped his arms around her, a bit too tightly.

Although the Emperor preferred to think that it was because she was too comfortable with his touch to bother to wake up. He let out another long sigh and gave her a light kiss on the lips, before resting his forehead on hers and closed his eyes to drift off to sleep. 

Today he had discovered that he apparently had a stubborn petty side, one that he was not aware of. The Emperor frowned as the image of Lei Xing "comfortably" being in Prince Yi's arms cropped up in his mind again. He opened his eyes and knit his eyebrows at Lei Xing's sleeping face as he stifled the renewed urge to go cut off Prince Yi's arms along with that mouth and tongue of his that dared him. He had not even been this angry when he was informed of that stupid kiss back then. Obviously, hearing about it and witnessing it first-hand were two very different things.

But the Zou Princess and her people would definitely not appreciate a husband with no hands or tongue… It was quite unfortunate and still very tempting.