章 3: The unlucky king
"Your highness, here is the document you asked for" Tired eyes watched as the document was placed right in between the already scattered ones.
The young child of thirteen looked up at the servant who had brought him his things. Truly, he was stuck in this young body because of that dark magic and Fu Hua and now it presented so many problems to him.
For someone who had done this job for years, Xiao Lan was not as fast as he should be. The hands that reached for the document followed a snail pace.
"Your majesty, if you would be kind enough to hurry up" This servant did not dare to use this tone with his master usually. But there were times his master got this look in his eyes, his ears not hearing anything at all.
The servant dared to look down from the side window, his gaze falling on the couple walking around in the garden. All of a sudden his heart sank and he looked at his superior with a sad look.
"Don't worry your majesty. We all know you'll get your heart's desire one day" But even as he said so, the servant knew it would be next to impossible for Xiao Lan to do so. The said couple consisted of Xiao Fai, the emperor and Lu Lian, the newest addition to the ruling household.
The emperor had married her a few days after the birth of his first son. It had almost been a week since this had happened and the atmosphere of the Royal Palace had shifted completely.
The poor child had been in love with Lu Lian and how it must be breaking his little heart to see her with his elder. Not to mention his current conditions which were not public.
When the guard had been posted here, it had been under a contract. It was likely that he would not remember it once he was relieved of his post.
After all, who did not know how much the emperor's younger brother had liked her. He had often met her in diplomatic meetings, even going as far as to give her rare jewels. Everyone knew Xiao Lan was off the market because of Lu Lian.
Even with such a heavy curse on his person, the younger king was willing to support the other. Inside the knowing circle, everyone agreed that the Xiao Lan was either waiting for his curse to be lifted or for his body to grow up to be 16.
That would have been an appropriate time for the younger prince to propose his every burning love for the female.
But the emperor had announced her as his newest concubine in front of the court. No one had been able to say otherwise. Not even Xiao Lan who had clenched his fists the whole time.
When the empress had gotten wind of this, she had thrown a fit. She had been ready to give birth and this news got her tense.
And then there was the imperial mother who had objected to this match. But the emperor had ignored his birth mother and taken the female in any way.
That should have been it but this open display of affection had continued since, the torment on Xiao Lan's heart continuous.
"What stupid are you sprouting out of your mouth? And what document have you brought me? I did not remember asking for one" The biting tone did nothing to the servant who had already come to a conclusion in his heart.
Now the servant hurt even more because their master was trying to hide their hurt that bad. With a last look to the couple down there, he vowed to try his best to distract Xiao Lan.
"These documents of accounts need to be submitted today. Noble Lee asked for these yesterday and you instructed me to deliver them to you to review" Xiao Lan looked thoughtful, now finally remembering that he had asked for these.
Noble Lee was someone his brother had chosen to be in charge of the demon sightings. Recently, the attack and use of demonic powers were on a rise, even more so now that Fu Hua had died.
People had started to rebel and then killed as a result which agitated even more people. Even in death, that person was being a problem for their nation all alone.
When the famed 'loyal guardian of Hua' died, a demon rose in his place. Every person who had ever practised dark arts gathered under his umbrella and there had been darkness all over.
And Xiao Lan had made a decision that haunted him to this day. He had put that flame out, ordered the other's death for the betterment.
And yet things had not been solved.
"I understand. Have you gone through with these reports yet?" Xiao Lan asked the other who panicked at the question. The tall body went stiff before he bowed in front of his higher up in an apologetic manner.
"Does your majesty suspect me? This servant asks your majesty to show mercy" the servant looked up at the king, just to make sure everything was alright. Nobles loved to have grovelling servants since it boosted their ego but he was not sure about Xiao Lan.
This person was an enigma, never allowing anyone to serve him for long before the position was changed. It was like he was afraid to trust anyone or to let them close.
That impassive face looked at everyone like they did not exist.
"I don't care if you have or have not. Just leave me alone with this paperwork and ask noble Lee to pick these up when he had time to" the servant left with a confused look on his face. He had not been punished but he had not been acknowledged either.
For every servant, the most obvious work to do was to gain the trust of their master. After all, their lives were in their master's hands and they would decide how well they would live in the future.
However, the younger brother of the current emperor Xiao Lan was different. He did not care about his servants but he did not make their life any more difficult than before either. The rumours said that his servant had betrayed him.
Many people also said that it had not been a servant but a slave promoted as a servant but no one alive knew the truth. If they did then they were smart enough to not open their mouth and thus this matter was suppressed.
Inside, Xiao Lan went through the papers presented to him once again. Noble Lee was a household name, not for his deeds but for his misdeeds. He was someone who would praise you in one breath and then stab you in the other.
If not for his silver tongue, he would have been long killed for his deeds. Too bad the present emperor was swayed by those honeyed words every single time. His brother had even given that person a position in the court in the end.
Every protest Xiao Lan made was ignored by the others in favour of hearing more honeyed praises.
It was because of that such situations arose. Since Noble Lee was not generally well-liked and had a bad reputation, he needed permits to go anywhere he pleased. The permit needed to follow official procedure and every few days a new one stationed near Xiao Lan's desk.
Once this one opened, it was the same old story. The document asked for an imperial verdict to allow the other non-restricted entry in the noble tombs.
Apparently, a very important artefact laid there which could act as a clue for their investigation. The present monarch thought on this topic for a few seconds before rejecting the proposal.
Important object or not, no one was allowed such unrestricted entry to that place. It contained many family secrets for people, some not even their own family members were aware of.
Only the high priest could go in without any permission. As the one responsible for leading the dead to their peace, he was an integral part of their society.
Once this thing was taken care of, Xiao Lan felt his gaze move outside the window toward the tree the lovers had occupied. Instantly he felt his heart sour at the disrespect the other two were showing him.
Did they have to do this under that very tree? They had a whole palace to do things where Xiao Lan would not see them but they still chose this very place.
From down below the begging eyes of Lu Lian met his own. Those eyes begged for help, to save her from his tyrant of a brother but all Xiao Lan could do was look away.
She had been the one to choose this path even when he gave her a way out. Now it was her own fault and not his in any way.
However, his eyes once again moved outside, not to the couple but to that tree they were under. This tree had a history, one he wanted desperately rid of.
It was a reminder of 'that's person, the one who left him. He had wanted to chop it off so many times, gave an order once too but then Lu Lian had to come along and take a liking to this tree.
To their tree.
And his brother had given an order to not let harm come to this tree. There had been Trump in his eyes when he had done so but Xiao Lan did not know why that was so.
And so the reminder has survived his earth to haunt him day and night. Xiao Lan could not take it any longer.
"Get a guard for me. I decided I'll go and deliver these papers to noble Lee myself" He needed air and some time away from his office. His thoughts were getting gloomy and scary which was bad for him.
The guard position in front of the door gave him a poorly concealed look of sympathy for some reason but left to call for a guard. After all, it was not easy for the younger prince to be able to go out in this form and meet other people.
He had effectively lost his identity the day he had been cursed. For the past few weeks, he had been a shadow only mentioned in rumours. He was hardly seen outside and even when he was, no one could recognise him at all. Even the guards were not informed about his identity.
The guard hurried to the office, his job to escort the important guest all around. And thus Xiao Lan left his office for the local market in the hope of clearing his head a little.
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