Chapter 29: A Good Play for Entertainment
Food had been brought in and served, but before anyone could give it a taste an out of breath General Bai came storming in. Upon seeing who it was, Nastasia frowned and stiffened slightly. Even though it had been quite a number of days since she came to this place, she still vividly remembered this man that had fiercely given chase all throughout the town she first stumbled into.
The man behind her lightly playing with her hair caused her nerves to calm. Though she wasn't entirely clear on what was going on or exactly why they had come here or even who all these people were, she could hazard a guess.
Being that the man, who looked somewhat like a slightly older Li Yu Rong, sat at the head he had to be the host of this gathering. If he was the head then he would be the owner of this palace, marking him the king of this land.
Rather, since this place had an ancient Chinese backdrop, it would make him the Emporer. Those at his right were probably members of his family and the people below were the noble men and women of the court. Judging by how the riches adorning each person decreased the further back one looked it was easy to tell that they had been seated by rank.
Then, could it be interpreted that Li Yu Rong -who sat above the nobles of the court, but below the emperor- only had the emperor to answer to? Nastasia found herself relaxing even further, though that soldier cast her a sinister look soon after entering the room, as she was reassured by the presence of the one who held her. She had been with Li Yu Rong for nearly a month and though there had not been many words between them, she had grown to trust him quite a bit.
It made her feel that even though she didn't quite know what was going on, nothing bad would happen.
Emperor Liu Hui Huang looked up from his plate with a frown on his face. General Bai entered the room, his stride confident, as he made his way to kneel before the emperor as he cupped his fist. The emperor left him kneeling for a whole minute or more before he opened his mouth to speak.
"What has brought you barging in here so out of breath, general?"
"It was due to this one's negligence, but the townspeople of Mencheng are rioting in the streets."
"Rioting?" Liu Hui Huang sat up straighter in his seat, forcing out a look of concern. "Whatever would they be rioting for and how does this relate to you?"
Tightening his hand over his fist, General Bai answered with a voice full of regret. "Minister Li and I did not wish to bother your highness with, what we felt at the time, was something we could easily handle ourselves. We left out certain details when we reported that your highness' brother made a demon his pet."
"Oh? What things would those be and what does it have to do with the rioting."
General Bai discreetly cast his gaze in Li Yu Rong's direction only to feel like vomiting blood when he noticed the other man completely ignoring their well thought out play. Instead, Li Yu Rong was entirely focused upon the girl in his arms, feeding her from his plate. He watched closely as she tasted the morsels, taking note which ones she seemed to like most, before giving over everything she liked most and then took the rest for himself.
So much dog food was being shoved down his throat in the one glance that General Bai felt physically ill. It took a bit of effort to swallow back his rage in order to continue on with this play. He took comfort in knowing that he would be the one with the last laugh.
"The demon claimed as a pet was actually an escaped demon that reeked havoc throughout the streets. We took great pains in trying to capture it before it could deal more damage, but it ran back to the Palace of the Four Gates. It was there that his Highness Prince Ru Ling took the demon under his protection, claiming it to be his pet. However, the demon has no Slave Binding Contract around its neck."
There were stunned murmurs and gasps from the nobles below as they began to discuss this astonishing news in muted whispers. Ordinarily, they would have been silenced, but them being worked into a frenzy had been their desired result. Under the condemning eyes of so many, how could that little worm squirm his way out of giving the demon over to prevent the riots from continuing?
As if shocked by hearing such a tale, Liu Hui Huang widened his eyes and spoke with disbelief. "A'ling, what do you have to say in defense of yourself?"
Li Yu Rong did not answer right away. Instead, he finished spoon feeding the girl who sat rigidly in his lap, cheeks beet-red over his embarrassing actions. Once she had taken the last bite he wiped her mouth with a cloth and patted her head before turning his attention to the emperor's question.
"I honestly don't know what General Bai is meaning by his words," Li Yu Rong said as he drew Asya into his embrace. "With such a delicate and obedient girl, how could she cause the chaos he speaks of?"
"The demon wouldn't need to do much to cause chaos," General Bai said defensively, "considering what happened three decades ago, its presence alone is enough to cause irreversible distress. Coupled with it being an uncontracted demon, the crimes are already great."
"Oh?" Li Yu Rong gave a lazy smirk as he played with Asya's left hand. "I wonder if General Bai is unaware of the different contracts that can be made between the residents of the Spirit and Mortal Realms?" Not waiting for the answer, he said as he drew a finger down her palm. "The Slave Binding Contract is just the most common in use. Between her and I is a contract between master and pet."
General Bai snorted. "Convenient to say, but what proof do you have to say that such a contract existed at that time?" After the words were said, they could not be taken back. The emperor could only shoot the fool a discreet look that promised all sorts of pain should this ignorant sentence cost him the demon girl.
Holding up Asya's arm, Li Yu Rong pulled the sleeve down as far as he could bear, only halfway reviling the contract scrawled out there. Pointing toward a specific spot, he said. "Being that General Bai has none of the contracted within his residence, it's not surprising for you to be unaware. However, the date the contract had been forged is always added in to be assured that the Spirit Realm resident is held only for the term of its punishment."
As he pulled her sleeve all the way up and over her hand to bring it out of view, he then looked toward the general and then the emperor. "Being that it clearly states that she has been contracted as my pet a month before the incident, I wonder how you can stand there and claim that I allowed an uncontracted demon to run loose."
"Even so," General Bai hastened to amend, "it doesn't change the fact that-"
Before General Bai could finish his words, Commander Jiang stormed into the dining hall, flanked by two fully armored soldiers. He marched right passed General Bai to kneel before the emperor, the two at his side following almost immediately after.
Pulling the girl against him, who had been trying to follow what was going on with little success, Li Yu Rong began to play once again with the hand he hid away. Commander Jiang had come at a wonderful time. He couldn't help but wonder how Liu Hui Huang would try to back out of this corner to still try and take this girl from his arms.
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