112 The Young Prince (2/2)

”What is the meaning of this, who dares to come here and cause a scene?” Zhi Ruo's voice rang out with authority.

The fat man standing behind his guards ran his eyes up and down over Zhi Ruo's body before answering.

”These common plebs are supposed to be working on my estate, they all shirked their duties to House Zang. I demand they be returned to uphold their duties and proper compensation be paid to us by House Hartley.”

Zhi Ruo turned and looked at the former bandits then asked

”Do any of you know this man?” They all shook their heads indicating they didn't.

Zhi Ruo turned back to the fat man with a wave of her slender jade-like hand saying,

”Leave now if you have no further business here and do not come back causing a disturbance.” She snorted with her nose pointed at the sky and hands akimbo in a sign of dismissal

The fat noble's jaw almost fell to the floor.

”You whore!” he blurted out, his face red and swollen with anger. ”Get Sir Hartley out here this instant, I have no time for a bed warmer.”

Zhi Ruo's face immediately scrunched with seriousness and her eyes squinted to needle points, through gritted teeth she barely managed to ask, ”what did you just say?”.....

On a snow covered road, sat beside Commander Genk in a comfortable carriage Hartley arrived at the grand castle in the center of the capital. The castle walls looked dated but in a good way, it portrayed a certain classical history and mystique.

This was one of the oldest standing castles in the capital that had stood through the test of time andmany conflicts. It used to belong to King Yulan but was handed to Prince Jian when the King went into closed door practice over a decade ago.

Snows clung to the roof of the carriage as it was led towards the gatehouse in front of the massive walls, the gatehouse itself resembled a mini-castle in its own right, manned by fully armored guards armed to the teeth.

This was the stronghold of the young prince and had two battalions of the first imperial legion army posted in barracks located on the south-side of the premises. The shouts of masculine voices rang out from the south, it seemed like the soldiers were going through their training routine, but it was hard to tell exactly what they were doing in the snow.

After passing through the gatehouse with a few strict checks the carriage was escorted down the long white frozen road leading to castle by the guard captain and four of his subordinates. The soldiers rode their horses which made long strides across the frozen road while the guard captain joined Hartley and Commander Genk on board the carriage.

Only three pairs of footsteps were audible as both men were led in silence to the receiving hall and out of the swirling snow flakes.

Hartley immediately picked up the fluctuations of several hidden experts. Not one of them was weaker than the 9th layer of the xiantian realm.

”Your majesty will be with you in a minute, refreshments are available in the mean time.” said the guard captain in a flat tone devoid of any emotion.

He then signaled one of the beautiful girls at the far end of the room who came scurrying over with a jug of wine and a couple tall glasses made of clear crystal.

”Please make yourselves comfortable,” he said as he bowed low and backed out of the hall without turning to face the door and disappeared from sight.

Inside the receiving hall was modernized, it was obvious that the young prince had done some renovations to make it a little more comfortable. Hartley passed the most disciplined guards he had ever seen, they stood like statues dressed in full armor not making any movement or sound.

”At least the refreshments are always good here,” said Commander Genk as he poured himself a glass of the fragrant wine.

Hartley sat down in a cushioned seat watching the lights and reflections dance across the tiled floor as commander Genk passed him a glass full of wine.

Foot steps were heard soon after and the princewith two experts trailing behind him entered the receiving hall.

The prince looked to be about 50 and had white running through his hair.

Hartley had heard a lot about the prince and now meeting him was nothing like he had expected.

The scholarly looking man looked more like someone who calculated the wage bill in a government building, nothing like the cut-throat politician Hartley had heard so much about.