Chapter 293 - Delayed Departure (2/2)

An Hao walked into Prince Rui's tent to find him standing on alert with his sword ready to fight and stopped in his tracks with a raised eyebrow at Prince Rui, the ”warrior.” He would have laughed if he was not so irritated with the whole situation they were in, ”If you're so on edge like this, why were you so eager to go over to properly be killed like a fool?” An Hao ill-humoredly said as he waltzed in and sat down, irritated.

This was supposed to be a simple mission, he was supposed to already be on his way back to the capital now. But now, here he was stuck here babysitting a Prince.

Prince Rui glared at An Hao and An Hao raised his eyebrows in challenge, ”I'm not the one who wants you dead here...Tch, you should be thanking me...” An Hao mumbled folding his arms and looking off to the side.

Prince Rui let out a breath and then sat back down as well, but retained his hold on the sword.

They had arrived at the camp two days ago and An Hao would have handed over Prince Rui as planned and been on his way back to the capital by now if not for a few questionable things occurring.

First of all, An Hao's group actually arrived three days earlier than scheduled, but then before he could even pass on the order for them to notify Zou kingdom's troops, a Zou messenger came to inform them that they will be ready to receive their prince the next morning.

It was odd but An Hao was thrilled until he got to the meeting point to find Prince Houyi leading the reception.

Apparently the search for the offending Chun siblings and the other fugitives had brought Prince Houyi down to the border. And when he heard his dear younger brother homecoming, he could not help coming to receive him himself so they could ”work” together on the case.

An Hao quickly picked up on the awkward atmosphere between the two Zou Princes so before Prince could go his brother. An Hao quickly jumped in and halted the process, claiming that there he still had some official matters left to discuss with Prince Rui and so they would need to keep him for a few more days. Prince Rui frowned in confusion but he quickly caught his drift and played along.

Prince Houyi did not seem to buy it as he flashed then a glare, before silently departing with a disgruntled frown. And so here they were.

”The Emperor should have received my message by now... It's only a matter of time until he decides what to do with you...If he says you can leave, then you can leave...That is if you still want to.” An Hao flatly informed.

Prince Rui did not respond and simply knit his brows. He had also sent a message to his father but with the way things stood, he was not even sure that his father would receive that message. It was no secret that his oldest brother was not fond of him and he even suspected that he wanted him dead. It was also no secret that his brother was not happy with the situation with Long country. He was angry with their father for not allowing him to lead the war back then and blamed Prince Rui for their loss.

But he could blame their father, he worried his ambitious son would turn his army against him.

What's more, with Princess Nalan not here to be a hindrance or to witness anything. Prince Rui could imagine that Princess Houyi saw this as a perfect opportunity to get rid of him.

Prince Houyi did not even bother to hide it by coming over with his own personal guards. He could already imagine his brother lamenting and claiming to have received his dead body from Long country and calling for a war to right this wrong. Prince Rui inwardly sighed, this was all so troublesome.

An Hao also inwardly sighed, massaging his temples. He could not trust anyone in the camp right now because obviously someone had fed information about their arrival to Zou without authorization.

With that said, An Hao was also worried that Prince Rui's life was in danger in camp, so he had men from his unit guarding the parameter of his tent 24/7. For extra protection, An Hao himself also slept in the same tent.

If Prince Rui was killed in Long country, it would definitely be a problem for the Emperor. There was no way An Hao was going to allow this Prince to die under his watch and ruin his Emperor's plans.

{...This is all so irritating...Who knows when I'm going to get back and I even made all those promises to Xiao Ting - will she be angry? Should I write her explanation maybe?...}

An Hao's face lit up as he thought of writing her, he immediately stood up to leave. But then he stopped in his tracks and sat back down with knit eyebrows.

{...It's best to wait for the Emperor...Who knows he might tell me to return tomorrow...Let's not rush, just wait...Can wait...wait...}