THE group of girls from Yuexing Pavilion were travelling at a steady pace towards the direction of Prince Lin Rong"s manor. Inside the leading carriage, Luo Yan was sitting with Madam Ru.
"Try to be in your best behavior while we"re there. Being arrogant with all those n.o.bles around will not only bring you but also the other girls into trouble. Remember, at the end of the day, we"re still nothing but commodities to them," Madam Ru said in a calm voice.
[Hey, hey, madam do you really have to be so grim?] – Luo Yan thought but still remained cold on the outside.
If the one in here was actually a true minor, wouldn"t it be bad to expose them to the dark side of society? But oh well, this game didn"t seem to care about those things at all. Remembering that gory task he had to do when he applied for a cla.s.s, it was definitely something not for minors.
Could there be a parental guidance filter in this game that he just didn"t know about? If not, then wouldn"t this game just messed up a lot of children"s head? But surely, there must be one. After all, the government would surely not allow a game that could potentially harm the country"s children psychologically to thrive. Maybe he should ask Shen Ji Yun about that once this event was over.
"Especially tonight. I heard even the crown prince would be attending," Madam Ru continued.
Luo Yan glanced at the woman sitting beside him. "The crown prince?"
"That"s right. The Emperor"s only son. I heard he"s pretty close with his uncle – Prince Lin Rong. That"s why even if there"s a high possibility of danger, he left the capital to attend this banquet."
[Well, madam, you certainly heard a lot.] Maybe the information this woman would give her might be helpful to him later on. "You mean he might be a.s.sa.s.sinated?"
"There"s no doubt about that. For some reason, the current Emperor only ever had daughters. But finally, 17 years ago, a prince was born. The Emperor is already getting on in years. So having a prince is already like a miracle. That"s why he"d been held in the palm of the Emperor"s hand ever since. Coming here must be his little form of rebellion."
"But if he"s a.s.sa.s.sinated, wouldn"t the obvious suspect be Prince Lin Rong?" Luo Yan said.
The Emperor only had one son. If that son died, then the closest male relative of the Emperor would be his only living brother. Once the Emperor died, then the throne would pa.s.s on to his brother"s line.
"True. But the thing is, Prince Lin Rong has no interest in the throne."
Or maybe that"s just what he wanted people to know. Could there really be men in the royal family who wouldn"t want to sit on that throne?
Luo Yan no longer concerned himself with that. That"s probably the extent of the information he could get regarding that matter. If it became useful later on, then goo. If not, then that"s fine too.
He tried to open his Status Window to see if it"s working in this instance. And to his surprise, it did open. He glanced at Madam Ru to see if he noticed the appearance of his Status Window but he didn"t see any reaction from her. Which meant it was still invisible to others except for the player using it. That"s good then.
Luo Yan first look at the time. There were still five hours and 30 minutes before midnight. He wondered what kind of mystery or maybe mysteries could be rammed in such a short time. He then checked his other tabs. His Items Tab was deactivated so he couldn"t take out or put in any items. The same could be said for his Chat settings. He wasn"t allowed to send or receive any messages. Well, there went his plan of checking up on his team mates.
Next, he opened his Skills Tab. Just as he expected, all his skills were also deactivated. Then he noticed something. There was another column added under his Skills Tab. [Temporary Skills].
When he opened it, his eyes slightly widened and then he grinned. Well, just looked at that. It seemed that annoying King was not as unreasonable as he thought.
Now, this simply solved his major problem.
Soon, they reached the prince"s manor. Because they were courtesans, they weren"t allowed to enter through the main gate. Their carriage had to enter through the side gate. Ah, the obvious discrimination was just making Luo Yan"s teeth itch.
When all the courtesans from Yuexing Pavilion got off their carriages, two maidservants led them to a courtyard. Ancient courtyards like this usually took up huge acres of land. It"s made up of a number of courtyards, gardens, ponds, and sometimes even bamboo forest.
The courtyard the maidservants took them was near a bamboo forest. Looking around, Luo Yan could see that this was a very prosperous manor.
"Please stay here until you"re called for your performance," one of the maidservants said. Her words were respectful enough but tone of speech and the look in her eyes told the exact opposite.
Man, this game. They could even input such a small detail.
After saying that, the two maidservants left.
"Did you see that maid"s haughty look? Acting all high and mighty when she"s also under the mercy of those born higher," one of the girls said.
"Just ignore them. They"re just jealous because unlike them, we earn much more money," another said.
"Stop your dawdling and just get inside," Madam Ru said.
"Yes, Madam," replied the girls.
Luo Yan stared at them. If he"s not mistaken, among the 21 players who attended the event, seven were girls. That included Su Yuqi. It didn"t seem that one of those girls were in this group of courtesans.
But he might find other players who also chose this blue door during this banquet. Because it"s quite obvious that something major would happen tonight. And whatever that was, it would definitely be one of the mysteries in this door. Or maybe all the mysteries would revolve around this banquet.
He was about to follow the rest of the girls, when he noticed a small movement on the bamboo forest. What was that? He"s pretty sure he just saw the shadows of two people inside. He was about to walk over there but Madam Ru stopped her.
"s.h.i.+s.h.i.+, just where are you going?"
"Going for a walk around the courtyard," he said.
Madam Ru stared at him. "Don"t walk too far and tire yourself before you could even dance in front of the prince and his guests."
Oh, so he had to dance? Somehow, unlike earlier, it didn"t seem to be much of a problem anymore.
Luo Yan raised his chin and smiled arrogantly at the woman. "Madam doesn"t need to worry. Because I will definitely show the prince and his guests the most beautiful dance they would ever see in their lives."
And then he proceeded walking towards the bamboo forest.