Chapter 257 - Acting Out

Prince Rui arrived back at his manor and made a beeline for his room but then he suddenly heard Princess Nalan shout. Worried that they were under attack, he promptly changed directions, racing over. But then Prince Rui arrived at the garden to a scene that confused him.

"Nalan, how could you be so careless?!" Molin scolded as he moved Prince Yi's robes aside to see how deep the wound on his shoulder was. 

"He's the one who didn't move!" Princess Nalan defended as relief washed over her when she saw the wound was not deep.

"What is going on here?" Prince Rui asked with knit eyebrows as he walked towards the trio kneeling on the ground. Princess Nalan and Molin both froze and did not turn around as cold sweat formed on their foreheads. They knew they were in trouble now.

Prince Yi glanced up and then pulling his sleeves back up over his bleeding shoulder as he moved to stand up. Princess Nalan and Molin quickly held onto his arms to help stand up. Prince Yi smiled at Princess Nalan and then looked at Prince Rui and explained, "I asked for a sparring session...and became distracted so I hurt myself." 

Princess Nalan and Molin promptly nodded their heads in agreement. But Prince Rui narrowed his eyes at them, obviously not convinced and the two promptly looked off to the side.

Prince Rui let out an irritated breath, it seemed to be one problem after another today. "Molin, send for a physician and ask the servants to get some water to clean the wound..." 

Prince Rui saw that the wound was not deep but he would rather they not take any chances with Prince Yi. Therefore, the physician was necessary, even if it was only for appearances. He already had enough problems to worry about at the moment with the Emperor. 

He was expecting that Prince Yi would refuse and just leave. But instead, Prince Yi simply walked over to the pavilion with Princess Nalan following next to him holding his arm as if she were dealing with a crippled patient.

Prince Rui frowned at their backs and Molin glanced at him and went, "Rui, is everything alright?"

"It's fine...go get the physician." Prince Rui calmly said and then walked towards the pavilion himself, where Prince Rui and Princess Nalan were now sitting. 

As Prince Rui walked up to the pavilion, he heard Prince Yi say, "It's nothing...It was my fault for not being attentive." 

"Still...I should have been more careful." Princess Nalan responded with knit eyebrows. If she knew this would happen, she would not have sparred with Prince Yi. She could already sense the death glare her brother was giving her, she was definitely in for a scolding later on. 

It was just that Prince Yi brought an interesting master craftsman sword and she could not help ogling it when she saw it. He was nice enough to let her appraise it and even gave her permission to try it out.

So she told Molin to spar with her, but Molin was being difficult saying that his condition was not too good today. Prince Yi then kindly offered to be her sparring partner instead of Molin and she happily agreed, eager to try her hand with a new partner.

As they sparred, she realized that he was highly skilled and so she got excited and more aggressive in her attacks. He held up against her attacks very well and they were having fun. How could she have known that he would suddenly lose focus?

Prince Rui came up to Prince Yi, cupped his hands and bowed, "Prince Yi, I apologize for my sister's mistake...Please do not hold it against her." 

"It's nothing...It was my fault for being distracted." Prince Yi kindly said, sending a reassuring smile at Princess Nalan, who sent a half-smile back, hoping those words would persuade her brother to let it go as well. 

Prince Rui nodded and then sat down as well, waiting for the physician to arrive. He had urgent matters to attend to and truly did not have the time to indulge a stray Prince today. But his sister had carelessly injured him, therefore he could not just wave him away. So Prince Rui had no choice but to sit down and attend to this guest to avoid any other issue cropping up.

Princess Nalan glanced at Prince Rui and could tell he was highly irritated and in a foul mood, so she remained silent and kept her head down with a disgruntled pout. Prince Yi was also irritated with Prince Rui's arrival as it ruined the atmosphere and messed with his plans. 

This was not how this scenario was supposed to play out.

Prince Yi had spent the last day thinking about how to proceed with this new plan. As Chun Hua had hinted that night, the only option was for him to get Princess Nalan pregnant. 

That was why he brought himself down to visit Doctor Lou, despite the doctor's past rude behavior. And it was why he was here today to begin the process.

When Prince Yi arrived at the Zou representatives' manor and discovered that Prince Rui was out, he was thrilled. He had not expected to be able to get Princess Nalan alone so soon, so this was perfect. Prince Rui always seemed to be restricting Princess Nalan's behavior and so with him gone, the visit would be more personal and they could get closer. 

Of course, he did not think that he could get the actual deed done today. After all, getting her alone was a huge problem considering Prince Rui was always hovering around her. And even with her brother's absence today, she herself would probably try to kill him if he tried as things stood. 

During their past encounters, Prince Yi had been ignoring the Zou people completely and only ever actually came because Lei Xing was there.

Prince Rui and Molin mostly ignored him as well, but Princess Nalan was nice to him and often tried to talk to him, but he had been quite rude and dismissive with his response. Sometimes he did not even respond at all. So today he came to smooth out the playing field. 

With no Lei Xing here, there was nothing to distract him. 

Thankfully, Princess Nalan talked a lot about herself, she honestly did most of the talking in the group. Therefore even though he never paid attention to her, he had no choice but to listen. 

He knew she liked swords, arrows, any form of fighting, horses, riding, fishing. In conclusion, she was an easy person to please, a simple person...unlike Lei Xing. He had spent more time with Lei Xing and even talked more with her than he did with Princess Nalan, yet he did not even know one thing that Lei Xing liked. 

Prince Yi frowned in annoyance as his thoughts veered to Lei Xing again. It was something that had been happening a lot recently and he could not help making the comparison.

It was infuriating.

Molin eventually returned with the servants and they went about cleaning Prince Yi's wound. The group then continued to sit in silence until the physician arrived.

Once the wound was dressed and the physician had gone, Prince Rui finally broke the silence, "Prince Yi, why are you here?" They had not seen him since Lei Xing's younger sister's coming of age ceremony, and even before then, they had not seen him since that time with the Empress dowager.

"Ahh, it has been a while so I came here to see how you all were faring. Especially given the current state of chaos in the city..." Prince Yi said with a polite smile.

Prince Rui skeptically looked at him, not at all convinced by that explanation. He nodded and put on a polite smile of his own and responded, "We are doing well enough...Nothing for you to concern yourself with. You should be more worried about yourself..." 

Prince Rui's obviously dismissive tone did not escape Prince Yi. So he decided to just leave before he became more irritated. After all, nothing more could be done with the iceblock present. 

"You are right..." Prince Yi said with a smile, mimicking him Prince Rui's flat tone, "I shall take my leave then..." He said, standing up.

Princess Nalan also promptly stood up as she said, "I'll esco -"

"Molin, you escort him back." Prince Rui promptly cut in.

Molin nodded, cleared his throat, and then said, "Your highness, please go ahead..." 

Prince Yi held back his irritation and simply smiled and made his way out. This Prince Rui was truly a problem. But today was not a waste, he had spent some useful "bonding" time with Princess Nalan and he was sure she now at least considered him a friend.

She was really too simple...unlike a certain someone. Prince Yi frowned again in annoyance, angry with his mind for always wandering over to the irritating subject that Lei Xing had become. 

{...This is infuriating...Why does she keep coming up?...}

Once Prince Yi was out of view, Princess Nalan promptly turned to her brother and said, "It was an accident..."

Prince Rui frowned, "Nalan, don't you understand that we're in enemy territory? Why were you sparring with him? How could you be so careless? This is why I didn't want to bring you along. You don't think before you act!" 

Princess Nalan knit her brows and defended, "It was ju-"

"No, just! Just restrain yourself!" Prince Rui irritatedly said. One sibling was already giving him a headache from across the border while this one here could not be left be left alone for a few minutes without causing trouble.

"Fine!" Princess Nalan barked and then stormed off in annoyance. It was only a simple accident and he was treating her like she committed a grand offense. Even the person with the wound did not complain. This was one thing she hated about Prince Rui, he worried too much about everything, like a second father and it was highly irritating. 

Prince Rui sighed as he watched her storm off. He realized he may have been too harsh just now, but if one was not harsh with Princess Nalan then she would not see the wrongs in her actions. Everyone spoiled her too much and it left her completely unrestrained to a point of daring stupidity sometimes. 

Prince Rui sighed again and then went over to his room to write his father. The negotiations were over and as for Princess Nalan's marriage to the Emperor....that was clearly not happening. At the very least not the way their father wanted, which was for her to be Empress. 

The Long Emperor has already chosen his Empress. Moreover, it was no secret that the Emperor only had a fondness for Lei Xing, they had even witnessed his doting ways first hand. And even if she entered his harem, he honestly did not see his sister winning over the Emperor's heart.

Although Prince Rui liked Lei Xing, he was not comfortable with his sister entering a dead-end marriage, only to be forgotten in the shadow of another. He would explain to their father and make him forget that ambition.

It was best for them to return home before something more troublesome happened.