Villain Lady

"What is it?" Yang Xian asked when he saw Wei Liuying's strange expression.

Wei Liuying looked at Yang Xian and forced a smile out. "I'm afraid that will be impossible, Strategist Yang. I don't have anyone I can do that to."

Everyone here have higher status compared to her. Even commoners were higher than a runaway and criminal, so obviously she couldn't possibly act spoiled to anyone. Besides, having to act childish would be very difficult for the mature Wei Liuying.

"You can act spoiled to me."

"…I refuse."

Yang Xian laughed when he saw the grimace on Wei Liuying's face. Thinking about some things inside his mind, he felt that it was not that bad for Wei Liuying to be acting mature too. 

"Alright, let's go to the main gate. His Highness should be ready."

"Yes."

Following Yang Xian, the two of them went to the main gate. Just like what Yang Xian said, Ji Sheng was already ready there. He was wearing fine long dark purple robe and currently waiting with a eunuch not far from him.

"Your Highness," Yang Xian and Wei Liuying greeted.

"Rise. Both of you will accompany me during Princess Ji Xiaoli's birthday this time," Prince Ji Sheng gave his order.

"Yes, Your Highness."

The eunuch looked in Wei Liuying's direction with a frown. Did Prince Ji Sheng's old habit of picking people up rise again? He was sure that he had never seen this young boy before. However, he didn't dare to speak anything because they have already entered the carriage and headed to the palace.

As the carriage moved with the two of them guiding the horse at the front, Wei Liuying realized that the people were paving way. They would never want to block the carriage of the imperial family in case they would incur his wrath.

Whenever they were at intersection, the other party would give way first.

It was either out of respect or out of fear.

"Don't speak," Yang Xian warned from the side when they were already close to Princess Ji Xiaoli's Residence. Just like the princes, she had a palace on her own where she would be free to do whatever she wanted. The location was located at the center of the city and also close to each other.

Wei Liuying nodded. She hadn't mastered the greetings and custom for the imperial family. Rather than making fun of herself, it would be better for her to stay silent and didn't say anything.

Besides, as a servant, there was no need for her to speak at all. All she needed to do was following the greetings by bowing and then stayed silent near Prince Ji Sheng's side.

"Your Highness, we have arrived," Yang Xian said after they had entered the inner region. Carriages were not allowed to pass by this point, so they have to walk by foot if they wanted to proceed.

Ji Sheng walked out of the carriage. He nodded at Yang Xian and led the two of them. Following from behind, Wei Liuying was making sure that she was keeping safe distance and kept her head lowered most of the time. She didn't want to attract trouble just by walking here.

The distance was quite far and would usually take a quarter incense stick of time by walking. 

(A/N: 15 minutes)

Even though a woman had low position, Princess Ji Xiaoli was still given a large residence for her to stay. Even if it was nothing more than to show face of the Imperial Family, it was still very extravagant.

'There are a lot of servants and guards.'

Looking around her discreetly, Wei Liuying could guess that the Imperial Family was adding more guards to make sure that Princess Ji Xiaoli couldn't escape. They had to make sure that she was staying in her place for the marriage agreement with the Xiong Tribe.

The three of them were walking in leisure pace with Yang Xian and Wei Liuying kept their distance from Prince Ji Sheng. However, one would be able to see that the two of them were carefully protecting the prince in the middle by their formation. Even though they were staying behind the prince, their movements would be clear to those who were familiar with it.

Princess Ji Xiaoli held her birthday party in the garden. By this time, most of the guests have already arrived and sit on their respective places. Princess Ji Xiaoli herself was standing at the front, talking with some of the young ladies.

"Imperial Sister," Prince Ji Sheng greeted when Princess Ji Xiaoli finally turned around.

"Imperial Third Brother," Princess Ji Xiaoli greeted back. She looked to the back and noticed that there were two young men following Prince Ji Sheng. "Did you pick up new subordinates or this is the first time I see him?"

"My strategist finds an interesting student, so he picked him up," Prince Ji Sheng replied placidly.

Princess Ji Xiaoli nodded. She knew that her third brother often left Yang Xian do work on his own device. While it might not be favorably looked upon amongst the Imperial Family members because it meant that Prince Ji Sheng trusted Yang Xian a lot, Princess Ji Xiaoli always admired Prince Ji Sheng for his open minded mind.

Not everyone would willingly trust someone so greatly like that.

"Please come here, Imperial Third Brother."

As they were talking, Wei Liuying maintained her posture as nothing more but wall decoration. Yang Xian was also doing the same. The two of them stood there and watched everything in front of them without any intention to get involved. 

However, their posture was also that of a guard that was ready for battle. Should it be necessary, they were ready to protect Prince Ji Sheng. Even though Wei Liuying knew that these two had higher martial arts compared to her, Wei Liuying simply did her work and tried to be doing everything well. 

More and more people came. Wei Liuying's eyes were watching their movements carefully to make sure that they were not trying to harm Ji Sheng. Her and Yang Xian's task was to monitor everyone around Prince Ji Sheng to make sure that nothing would go wrong in the end.

"It's been a long time, Your Highness," an official walked to Prince Ji Sheng with a smile. He looked at the two servants behind Prince Ji Sheng. Yang Xian was already known since he had appeared in some places with Prince Ji Sheng, but Wei Liuying was new.

"It's been a while, Official Yun."

The official nodded. "I see that you have taken an interest to another youngster. Did you pick him amongst the commoners again?"

Without even turning his head around to look at Wei Liuying, Prince Ji Sheng shook his head. "My strategist is the one picking him up. Since he's quite useful, I don't have any reason to reject him staying with me."

"I see."

Wei Liuying felt a shiver when she saw the official sized her up. However, she kept her mouth shut and stayed silent. Her heart only felt at ease when the official began to talk about other things to Prince Ji Sheng.

Beside her, Yang Xian silently nudged her as if to remind her that it was fine. The real reason why they brought her along was so that the officials knew that Prince Ji Sheng had someone else.

As for her skill, that would only be revealed in the future.

"His Highness the Fourth Prince, Prince Ji Shu is here," the eunuch announced the arrival of the youngest prince.

Prince Ji Shu was wearing purple robe that was stitched with golden thread, which was the mark of Imperial Family. Just from standing there, he could easily capture the attention of everyone inside the main hall. They felt like they were sucked by his presence alone.

"Imperial Fourth Brother," Ji Xiaoli greeted, yet there was a hint of coldness from her tone.

Ji Shu nodded. He noticed that his three brothers have all arrived. "Imperial Father asked me to relay a message that he was unwell, so he only sent his present to you, Imperial Sister."

Ji Xiaoli's expression turned even colder. "In that case, I must thank you for relaying the message, Imperial Fourth Brother."

"It's my duty."

"Please have a seat. We'll be watching performance not long from now."

"Please excuse me, Imperial Sister."

Ji Xiaoli still had a smile on her face, yet her eyes were far cry from smiling. It looked so chilling as if she was ready to kill someone. Considering her status, it was indeed something really weird for her to look like she was about to go crazy.

Wei Liuying lowered her gaze as she could guess the reason.

Prince Ji Shu must be one of the few officials who agreed vehemently with the discussion of the marriage agreement between Han Shi Kingdom Princess Ji Xiaoli with the first prince of Xiong Tribe. Since the first prince would be the emperor later because he was also the crown prince, it meant that the position of the Empress would be in Ji Xiaoli's hand. However, who would want to get married outside Han Shi Kingdom like that?

It was clear that Princess Ji Xiaoli was unwilling to the point she tried to bet with her own life to escape.

"Let the play start."

As the melodious music was played, Wei Liuying could vaguely felt that there were hint of sadness from the tone. The play was a happy one, yet the song was borderline sad.

This was Princess Ji Xiaoli's message.

She's looking at a happy performance, yet her heart could not be happy.