Chapter 370 - The Mantis and the Oriole (2/2)

”He was calm?” The Emperor asked, slightly narrowing his eyes. The eunuch had just reported to the meeting of the ill-fated couple and its aftermath. Since Lei Xing asked him not to be ”too hard” on Princess Nalan, he decided to grant her request to meet Prince Yi. He did not want Princess Nalan complaining to Lei Xing about it later. He knew Lei Xing was quite a compassionate person, he did not want her bothered by petty issues if he can help it.

Although he could not truly say his motives were entirely pure. He wanted to gauge Prince Yi's reaction on certain matters before making certain irreversible decisions - to make himself feel a bit better about the whole affair.

The eunuch respectfully nodded, ”He seemed calm but he dismissed the Princess and even ignored her farewell... The news must have affected him greatly.”

”As it should.” Commander An responded with a light scoff. As someone who followed the Emperor all these years, it was very fulfilling to see him finally taking steps against this disrespectful and ungrateful brother of his. He had no idea what Prince Yi did for the Emperor that made him so lenient with him, but Prince Yi had been getting on everyone's else nerves for the longest time.

”And after that?” The Emperor thoughtfully asked.

”As per the guards, he sat for a long time and then stood for a long time. It seems he is still standing in place.” The eunuch politely responded.

The Emperor knit his brows in thought for a bit and then sighed, ”You may leave.” The eunuch bowed and quietly withdrew. Once the doors closed behind him, Commander An turned to the Emperor and said, ”Your majesty, he is obviously still scheming something.”

The Emperor scoffed, ”Scheming? He is already in the palm of my hand, what can he do?” He lazily responded, picking up his brush and resuming his writing.

Commander An frowned, ”Your majesty, it is best to kill him now that we have the chance.”

”He still has his uses...” The Emperor offhandedly responded, silent and simply concentrated on his writing. After a few minutes, he put down the brush and held out the sheet to Commander An, ”Pass this on to the storytellers, I want this spread around the country within a week. They are free to embellish it as they will, so long as it riles up anger in the people, I do not care.”

Commander An's face lit up when he read the contents of the sheet, ”You mean to destroy his reputation?”

”I didn't write anything that is not true.” The Emperor matter-of-factly stated, ”Since he has chosen this path for himself and is unrepentant, we might as well make good use of it.” The Emperor said, picking a memorial and opening it, signaling that he was done talking.

Commander An nodded, bowed, and then turned to leave but then  the Emperor spoke up again, ”Also, inform An Hao to take extra special care with transporting our guest from Zou. I wouldn't want him to get hurt in his haste.”

”How long?” Commander An asked, correctly concluding that the Emperor wanted An Hao to delay the Zou Lord's arrival.

”About three months should be enough.” The Emperor calmly responded. The journey from the Zou border to the capital city took about a month on a horseback, three weeks if one were to rush it. He was asking for that time to be doubled, if not tripled, but he was confident An Hao was resourceful enough to sort through it.

”I will pass along the instructions.” Commander An responded, bowed, and then left. With An Hao's resourcefulness and talent for irritating people into submission, it would most certainly be taken care of, even if he has to break the old man's legs to delay him. Commander An knit his brows as he made a mental note to remind An Hao not to cause too much harm to the old man.

As Commander An left, the Emperor dropped the memorial and sighed, from the report he received the old man was greatly displeased. He was aware that the old man already did not like the idea of Princess Nalan marrying him, the Emperor. So it naturally went without saying that the old man probably wanted Prince Yi's head on a platter given the recent developments. This visit was definitely not to congratulate them, most likely, he was coming to drag his granddaughter home.

The old man was also known for being unscrupulous, forcing Princess Nalan into aborting the baby or even using nefarious means to force it was a possibility. As it stood now, that baby was the only true tether between Princess Nalan and his brother. If that baby was gone, it would be troublesome. Therefore, the Emperor had to take some steps to protect it, for the sake of his brother's future happiness.

It would be hard to abort a four-month-old pregnancy without gravely endangering the mother's life.  Of course, if the old man cared nothing for Princess Nalan's life, then that would be irrelevant. At worst, the Emperor could step in but he preferred not to directly involved get in the middle of this dispute. It will be too troublesome.

But more important than his brother's happiness were his own plans. Prince Yi was integral for him right now and important matters could not be rushed.

The Zou prime minister rushing here himself complicates things, the Emperor had not anticipated this. Of course, he expected emissaries to be sent immediately - people he could have brushed off until he was ready to attend to the matter. But this stubborn headstrong old man would be a headache. Therefore, he needs to buy time.

The Emperor sighed, Prince Yi's tenacity was definitely something. Even when confronted with such a hard future, he still relented and began calculating again. He could guess what was now brewing Prince Yi's mind right now and he would not allow it.

While the Emperor cannot, or rather will not kill Prince Yi's because of his benefactor, the elusive voice's instructions. This did not mean that Prince Yi could not be punished, he had simply let him roam free all this time because of the personal debt he felt he owed him from their childhood - which, as Lei Xing said, he has rightfully paid many times over. If he left Prince Yi alone any longer, Prince Yi would grow to be a thorn in his side too deep to ignore.

He will let him go, but not before ensuring that Prince Yi's wings have not only been clipped but have been ripped right out of their joints and destroyed - for both their sakes.

The Emperor picked up his teacup, closed his eyes, smelled the fragrant tea, and smiled to himself, looking quite pleased. He truly did wish Prince Yi and Princess Nalan all the best in their future lives together.