The Dragon's Flower

XH 49

"Untie Xiao Hua," the Third Prince ordered.

"Hey, what about me?" The Eighth Prince felt wronged when Da Bei only freed Xiao Hua. Xiao Hua did not dare to move or rub the stinging pain on her upper arms thanks to the rope.

The Third Prince gave the Eighth Prince a vague smile with eyes that emitted a dangerous gaze. "You have not displayed good behavior to earn your freedom."

The Eighth Prince very much wishes to protest about it but the Third Prince's piercing eyes discouraged him. He was very aware the Third Prince was the one calling the shots now.

"Leave us," The Third Prince ordered. Da Bei closed the door, leaving the Third Prince, Xiao Hua and the Eighth Prince alone in the study room.

"Da Bei had told me everything." The Third Prince sat on a chair beside Xiao Hua, his Qi released from his usual restraint and directed the pressure onto the two transmigrated people.

Xiao Hua closed her eyes in despair, losing her last hope that the Third Prince might not know the truth. After a while, she opened her eyes and immediately slides down from the chair, shifted until she faced the Third Prince and kowtowed. "This servant would never betray the Third Prince! This lowly person's life belongs to the Third Prince!"

"Hey, you! Stop looking for death!" The Eighth Prince tried to stop Xiao Hua but she ignored him.

"What's your name?" the Third Prince suddenly asked.

Xiao Hua lifted her head to look at the Third Prince in confusion. Who was he talking to?

"Your real name, 'Xiao Hua'."

With a gulp, she answered, "Le XiaoTing."

"Le XiaoTing. Where is the real Xiao Hua?" Xiao Hua trembled in fear at how cold the Third Prince sounded. Even his usual smile was absent, and his eyes were not warm at all.

"I...I don't know. When I arrived in this world, I'm already inside this body, inside a carriage heading to MongLu manor in Munzhu Country."

The Third Prince turned to the Eighth Prince, who looked unnerved at the sudden attention. "You?"

"Hmph! What makes you think I will answer you?"

"Heise, if you continue to be uncooperative, the likelihood of you dying will be higher. Even your hero and heroine will not save you... to them you are just one of the Emperor's offspring, not at all related to them. You have no use-"

"Okay, enough! I get it, all right!" The Eighth Prince snapped in hysteria. "I know about my characters very well. I know they would kill me in the end just to tie up the loose end!"

The Eighth Prince glared at the Third Prince fiercely. "And he might kill us too because we know he's not the real Third Prince!"

Xiao Hua's heart missed a beat. Oh gosh, this stupid author! She had already suspected that the Third Prince was a fake but for Heise to tell it right at his face… Are you trying to force an appointment with Lord Death for us?!

The Third Prince stared at the Eighth Prince coldly but it was more to indifference than anger. "If I gather correctly, you believe this world is your creation, Heise?"

"I know this world is my creation because I write it! I created all the characters in my book and planned out their future. I know the important character's future and their secrets!"

"You say I'm a fake because I'm not acting like how you had written about me, am I right?" The Third Prince asked.

"Yeah. So who are you and what happened to the real Third Prince?" Suddenly the Eighth Prince gasped. "Are you transmigrator too?"

"Transmigrator is a soul from another world that possesses a dead person's body. According to that explanation, I'm not a transmigrator. But I can assure you, I am the real Third Prince."

Xiao Hua wondered why the Third Prince does not seem to react as badly as she had imagined after knowing their real identity. He also seems to know quite well about transmigration.

"Did someone tell you things that you are not supposed to know? Who is it?" The Eighth Prince demanded to know.

"You are not in the position to know." Suddenly, the Third Prince's pressure increased and focused right at the Eighth Prince. "When did you possess Long Ming's body?"

"T-The day before the event. You know... the family event about the Second Prince's engagement!"

The intimidating aura that oozed from the Third Prince stopped and the person himself looked depressed. Xiao Hua turned her head to the door when a sound of agonized cried could be heard from outside.

"Come in, Eunuch Heng." The Third Prince invited. The door only opened after a moment, and the sight of the crying Eunuch Heng broke Xiao Hua's heart.

The Eighth Prince's face paled. "Y-You heard everything?"

Eunuch Heng shakily stepped into the room, and Da Bei closed the door, guarding the room again. He stopped in the middle of the room and faced the Third Prince before kowtowed. "This servant would not forget this gratitude!"

Eunuch Heng was allowed to know the truth from Da Bei and the Third Prince let him listen in to their conversation. The Third Prince could have disposed Eunuch Heng to keep the Eighth Prince's secret and planted his own man at the Eighth Prince side. For the Third Prince to allow Eunuch Heng to remain by the Eighth Prince's side showed that he was not as cruel as Eunuch Heng had originally thought.

"Remain beside the Eighth Prince. Stop him if he seeks trouble."

"Yes, Your Highness! This servant will make sure the Eighth Prince will not meet the Second Prince or Liu Chu Chu!"

"What?" The Eighth Prince's mouth hung wide open. "You can't do that!"

The Third Prince stood up from his chair and approached the Eighth Prince; each step he takes seems to shake Team Transmigration's heart. He stopped in front of the Eighth Prince, silently examining the younger boy.

The Third Prince opened his mouth and revealed something shocking. "You two are not the first outsiders that traveled to this world."

It was Xiao Hua's turn to have her mouth hung wide open. "Y-You are a transmigrator too?"

"I'm not talking about myself. Eunuch Heng, explain to them."

"As you order! Eighth...Eighth Prince and Sister Xiao Hua, in the records of the history, there were records of people claiming to be from a different world. However, there were never cases of having a transmigrator possessing our people's bodies."

These records were kept and guarded by the royalty to ensure that the information was not known to people that would not hesitate to use it for their selfish purpose. Eunuch Heng accidentally found out about it and only because he had sworn an oath not to misuse or spread the information, his small life was spared. 

Xiao Hua unconsciously gulped. Those that had transmigrated into other people's bodies would most likely keep their mouth shut in fear of getting killed. To think that she and the author were the first soul transmigrators that exposed themselves to danger!

"Are there records on how they return to their own world?" The Eighth Prince asked hopefully.

Eunuch Heng shakes his head in negative. "We have no knowledge of how they appear here, but once they arrived here, they are not able to leave."

Xiao Hua's legs went soft and she falls to the ground. She knew that she might not able to return to her original world but to hear it out loud; it was as if she was forced to finally accept the reality. Silent tears started to leak from her mournful eyes, shaking the Third Prince's stone heart.

Her tears moved the Third Prince to pick her up from the ground and wrapping his arms around her tiny body. He tried to console her with gentle patting on her back. When he was younger he would console Long Lian with hugs and pats, but his body was much smaller than now and was unable to lift her up like how he did to Xiao Hua.

Both ignored the Eighth Prince grilling Eunuch Heng for more information, unable to accept that they could not return.

When Long Zhu had assigned the 'punishment' to his little maid, he had already expected his Eighth brother was no longer the original and assumed he was someone that tried to take over the Eighth Prince's identity. What he never expected was Da Bei to inform him that Xiao Hua was the same as the Eighth Prince, a transmigrator.

Long Zhu felt deceived that the Xiao Hua he had treated well all these time was not the original Xiao Hua that had sacrificed her life to save him. It was only after that little maid’s death did Long Lian revealed to him about that maid’s feelings for him. It was because she loved him that she would sacrifice her life for him.

Once he opened his eyes in his second life, he started to examine things deeper and found that in his past life, Long Lian must have wanted him and Xiao Hua to develop feelings for each other. She had encouraged them by constantly sending Xiao Hua to deliver gifts or snacks to him. But Long Zhu was oblivious to the bait that was purposely dangled in front of him, treating her like other ordinary maids.

After knowing the truth, Long Zhu's heart cooled and he decided to keep his distance from this soul transmigrator. But the sight of her little figure oozing with anguish crumbled his resolve.

His body had already moved to comfort her before he could stop it and his feeling of betrayal was pushed aside.