Chapter 325 - Pit of Confusion (1/2)

Lei Xing's heart stopped when she saw the Emperor. Her mind quickly computed and she dreaded turning her head to see the person whose arm was around her. Prince Yi on the hand, had his gaze fixed on Lei Xing with a slight smile on his face. It was only when he noticed her stiffen that he turned his head to see what was causing her distress and locked gazes with the frowning Emperor.

Prince Yi immediately realized what he was doing, he blinked and promptly released Lei Xing, hastily stumbling back and landing on the floor himself. He blinked up at Lei Xing in confusion, he had even realized when he had grabbed her. He took a deep breath and then glared at Lei Xing.

Lei Xing blinked at Prince Yi, taken aback by the sudden hostility in his gaze before quickly looking away. Her eyes met the Emperor's own hostile gaze and she lowered her eyes with a frown as her face heated up with embarrassment.

{... I didn't do anything, okay?! It was Nalan who was being stupid! >_

Seeing Lei Xing look away, Prince Yi lowered his gaze with a disgruntled frown but then he met Princess Nalan's gaze and he immediately went stiff, realizing his biggest mistake. Princess Nalan was on her hands and knees on the floor, glancing back and forth between him and Lei Xing with knit eyebrows in confusion.

”This is why I can't trust you...” The Emperor's calm voice cut through the reeling thoughts of the other three. Lei Xing and Prince Yi's frown deepened and they did not look up, Princess Nalan was the only one of the three who looked at the Emperor. They exchanged a strange look before the Emperor side-stepped Princess Nalan, took Lei Xing's hand, and stormed out the door, leaving the other royal pair to pick up themselves.

Once they were out the door, Prince Yi let out an irritated breath, finally regaining himself. He got to his feet and then went to help Princess Nalan up.

Princess Nalan accepted his help and then frowned at him, ”You-you helped her...Why?” She was aware the question did not come out quite right, but it was all that she could manage right now. She was honestly not even sure what she was asking. But she had seen that look between the two, not to mention the Emperor's expression... There was definitely something.

Prince Yi frowned in irritation and let go of Princess Nalan's arm and matter of factly stated, ”She would have gotten hurt -”

”She would have gotten hurt?” Princess Nalan repeated in utter disbelief, her mouth hanging open with a frown.

{...What about me?! I could have gotten hurt!...}

Prince Yi blinked, realizing that was not exactly a good excuse considering all things. He put his hands behind his back and added, ”She's fragile...” Which got him a raised eyebrow in response, so he quickly followed up with, ”...If she got hurt, the Emperor would have been angry with you and then it would have been harder to get his approval for US...nullifying all my hard work.” He finished, disapprovingly narrowing his eyes at her.

Princess Nalan blinked, realizing that she almost caused another incident. But still, she had good reason and so she explained, ”I was just worried... And I don't like being excluded from my own matters.” She muttered, glancing off to the side with a disgruntled frown.

Prince Yi faced forward and inwardly sighed in relief, glad she accepted the explanation. That explanation was weak at best but thankfully Princess Nalan was easy to distract. In truth, he was not thinking about any of that when he did what he did. The point is he was not thinking at all because if he had been thinking, he would have grabbed Princess Nalan instead!

He was not stupid. Of course, he was aware that saving his brother's wife got him no merit here, especially not when his own wife-to-be faced the same peril. Most especially not when he was trying to persuade the world that he was in love with said wife-to-be. Thankfully, the whole thing was only seen by a select few.

Prince Yi frowned, this was why he hated being around that Lei Xing, she made him think and do stupid things. He let out a sigh and turned to storm down the hallway, he needed to distance himself from all this nonsense. But he had only taken a few steps when Princess Nalan grabbed his arm and asked, ”Where are you going?”

Prince Yi irritatedly looked at her, ”Home-”

”But we haven-” She paused, knit her brows, and let out a breath to calm herself. She knew they were both tense right now, so she simply went straight to the point, ”How did it go? Did he agr-”

”Princess Nalan, the Emperor has ordered for us to escort you back to your palace...” An eunuch suddenly interrupted from the open doorway. The pair followed the voice and saw three eunuchs standing there along with five guards.

”Wait, we're b-”

”The Emperor was very explicit. Please come with us...Now.” The eunuch added for emphasis.

Princess Nalan frowned, ”I sai-”

”It's alright.” Prince Yi cut in, putting his hand over Princess Nalan's and quietly said, ”There's no other choice for him, it's all fine...” He finished with a reassuring smile. Princess Nalan gave him a dubious expression but before she could argue, he urged, ”We shouldn't give him a reason to impede us... go with them.”