The Birth of a Villainess

After everything was done, Ji Mo rounded up his men and made them clean up the place where the fallen bodies of the bandits were lying on. Of course, he especially told them not to take the bodies off there since it was an important piece of evidence.

"Are you all done?" Ji Mo asked his men to which they rigorously nodded their heads and said yes. "What about that thing? Did you make sure that the item was attached securely?"

One of his men who represent the other lower men in his group stepped out and said, "Yes, Leader Ji. The medallion carrying the crown prince's symbol has been put into their possession. Once the imperial guards and the citizens of the Zheng Empire see their bodies, they will immediately know whose men these bandits were."

The original plan was to accuse Yu Fangzhu of kidnapping and human trafficking, a heinous crime frowned upon by everyone in the empire. Not only that, once the citizens of the Zheng Empire heard of this event, they would soon change their thoughts about Yu Fangzhu being a good prince who helped and rescued poor people from the slums. And the other empires would soon realize that choosing Yu Fangzhu among his brothers to become the next emperor was a mistake, and they would definitely look for other candidates.

That was what Qu Xing Xu has been planning for the past few months.

Looking at the report that had just arrived at his study, Qu Xing Xu had a mysterious smile on his lips. He already expected his men to succeed in their mission and report to him as soon as possible.

Putting the parchment down to the table in front of him, he turned around to face the wide window behind that let him see the starless night.

Yu Fangzhu…

That man was certainly a formidable opponent. In terms of strength and status and wealth, Yu Fangzhu could not compare against Qu Xing Xu, however, the crown prince was the empire's favorite as he had gathered confidants around him and even the people of the empire thinks of him as an untainted saint, incapable of any sins.

Qu Xing Xu got his excellent reputation through the endless wars he won and his brute force that made the empire's enemies think before they move. The empire's people surely feel at ease and safe around him, but the underlying fear still lingers around like a mist in a mountain. Wherever he went, people would praise him but still feared him like a plague or a bomb about to explode.

On the other hand, Yu Fangzhu created a clean image for himself whilst doing some malicious actions behind the surface. Hence, only a few people could see through that kind and smiling face that Yu Fangzhu would always wear in front of everyone.

And that was why Qu Xing Xu thought that the prince was a formidable opponent. None has ever succeeded in maintaining their clean and kind image in public for years, but the prince was able to do that.

And even if Yu Fangzhu feared him, Qu Xing Xu cannot quickly and easily touch the prince as he had the people in the empire on his side and that would only make him, the Duke of Xin, appear like a villain and a tyrant.

Qu Xing Xu initially planned to strike against the prince after a few more years when the prince has taken a lot more power and influence to the empire, however, after meeting Lin Xiaofei and finding out about what she had been through in her past life, he simply couldn't blind himself and ignore this fact.

Thus, he no longer cared about having a villainous image in front of everyone under the heavens. He would gladly become a tyrant and a villain if it means plucking everyone who hurts the woman who held his heart from the roots and burn them alive.

"Master… her ladyship is on her way here." A guard appeared out of nowhere and told the Duke, who was still looking up at the night sky.

"Not even a day passed, and she's already here to see me." Qu Xing Xu said, making the guard frown. "She must have been missing me already… Alright, tell everyone in the study to leave for now."

"But…" The guard didn't even get to finish what he wanted to say as Qu Xing Xu cut him off with a hand.

"Tsk… now, now… don't get in between a couple's way. Shoo, now go and drag everyone out of here." Qu Xing Xu made a gesture with his hand.

The guard swallowed the words he wanted to say and reluctantly left the room. He just wanted to tell the duke that the young madam was on her way there with a dark look on her face, but he didn't need to tell his master about this.

Passing through a few doors ahead, the guard stopped walking when he saw his other fellow guards standing at attention. These guards were also highly trained in combat and had gone to war with their master, their postures were deadly at first sight and even their techniques to kill their opponents with one strike was deadlier.

"Did you report to his grace already?" the other guard asked him as soon as he returned to his post.

The guard who had just left the duke nodded and said, "Yes… he told me to tell everyone to leave."

The other guards: "..."

"Did you tell him that her ladyship looked like she's about to eat his head for breakfast?" The other guard asked again.

"No…"

"I see…" The other guard gave up questioning him and stared at the other guards beside him. "Alright folks… we will leave our post and pray that we won't be cleaning our master's corpse tomorrow."

With that, the guards at the study soon left the location and went to sleep with the mindset of cleaning the study once morning comes.