The Empress Is Dead

Inside the carriage, Lin Xulian watched Xing Tanxing in amus.e.m.e.nt . She is currently sprawled in her seat across Lin Xulian"s . "Ahhhh~ finally . They all thought being a princess is easy? Staying prim and proper all day is exhausting you know!" Xing Tanxing said while stretching her limbs .

Lin Xulian can understand her well . During her stay in the Palace as the empress, she needs to be elegant and formal especially in front of the officials and her subjects . She can only relax whenever she was in her own palace . "Your highness, are you really certain about helping us? You don"t even know our name and ident.i.ty . "

Xing Tanxing then realized that she didn"t get their names at all . "I totally forgot about it . But are you willing to tell me? You even hide the fact that you are a woman . Things must"ve been complicated . "

"Let"s just say I am hiding from my husband so I"d like to hide some details . But you can call me Lian and my brother is Rui . " Lin Xulian didn"t gave their full names . There are people with the same name after all . But she needs to hide the fact that they are from the Lin family since their name is well known throughout the whole continent .

"Tsk . Did your husband become a jerk after you got pregnant? Our emperor father was also like that . Changing women like clothes . " Xing Tanxing said disapprovingly .

Lin Xulian chose not to correct Xing Tanxing . She just changed the course of their conversation . "Is your highness fine with it? Us hiding our ident.i.ties . Maybe we are criminals too . "

"I"m not worried . Although my elder brother is blind, he is strong . You can go ahead and try . " Xing Tanxing said nonchalantly . "Anyway, my instinct tells me that you are good people . And I rarely miss . " She continued confidently .

Hearing this, Lin Xulian teased her . "Oh, is that so? I thought because you wanted to know my brother more . "

Xing Tanxing immediately shoot up and covered Lin Xulian"s mouth . "Sssshhh! W-w-what are you saying?! What if your brother heard it? He might misunderstand . I-it wasn"t because of that . " Xing Tanxing said fl.u.s.tered .

"Fine, fine . I believe you . " Lin Xulian said with mirth while taking her hand off her mouth . "Can I ask your highness a personal question? Seeing the way you act in front of my brother, it means you are still unmarried . Why aren"t you married yet?"

"You see, as a princess marriage is purely political . And my hateful emperor brother wanted to marry me off to an old and ugly official to keep him loyal . So before he could publicize my engagement, I went to a brothel, bought a lot of prost.i.tutes and announced to the entire capital that I prefer women!" Xing Tanxing said proudly .

Lin Xulian find her method funny, but she didn"t miss the way Xing Tanxing called her emperor brother, Xing Wenhe . "You don"t seem to like your emperor brother . "

"Have you seen him before?" Lin Xulian replied with a nod . "I see . So you were fooled too . In reality, he wasn"t what he seemed to be in front of the public . Our emperor father suddenly died without conferring a crowned prince . And as the eldest and most talented son, big brother Guang should inherit the throne . But those bandits "coincidentally" infiltrated the capital and he became blind . Don"t you think it"s shady?" Xing Tanxing said with full of disgust and anger .

Lin Xulian agrees that it was really shady and too coincidental . Although she cannot connect the gentle-looking and warm emperor as a power hungry and crafty person, it is still possible . She needs to keep her eyes and mind open for every possibility especially because they have no idea who is their enemy . "Is it them? But how did they do it?" Lin Xulian thought while looking down on her swelling belly .

******
Not long later, they finally arrived at the eldest prince"s manor . It wasn"t that big and extravagant . It is even smaller than the Lin manor in the Gonglu country"s capital . Just barely enough to house two masters, few visitors and some servants and guards .

Xing Tanxing guide Lin Xulian and Rui inside the manor . "I"ll introduce you two to my brother first . " But they didn"t get that far from the entrance when Xing Tanxing suddenly stopped walking . She looked behind towards them with an awkward look . "Umm…you see, my brother is playing the flute again . I hope you are not sensitive to grotesque things . "

Lin Xulian listened carefully and as Xing Tanxing said, there is really a sound of flute . But it doesn"t sound awful . In fact, it is really pleasing to the ears . She can"t understand why would Xing Tanxing mention about something grotesque . But nonetheless, Lin Xulian still answered . "Not at all . "

Hearing her response, Xing Tanxing continued and brought them towards the garden at the back of the manor . But instead of a pond, a pavilion stood in the center of a swamp . Inside the pavilion is a handsome, well-built and seductive looking man playing the flute . And Lin Xulian admits that he is comparable to her big brother Huang .

But what caught her attention more is the swamp . It is filled with worms and bugs . They looked like they were dancing with the sound of the flute . Seeing this, Lin Xulian"s heartbeat raced and a word unconsciously entered her mind . "Gu . " She muttered audibly .