No. 011 Sucker

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Chapter 11

Maybe it was just her personality. Even after so many years in this world, and so many years of cultivation, Wen Que still didn't really feel like a cultivator. Every day at the sect, she saw cultivators and spirit beasts flying overhead, spiritual light filling the sky and wisps of spirit cloud drifting past. At first, she would let out a few "wows." Now she was numb to it all. Honestly, none of it felt very real anymore.

After His Highness the Crown Prince led Wen Que out of Xuanyang Hall, they followed the passage beyond the courtyard, rounded several high walls, and arrived at a garden. Along the way, he dutifully followed His Majesty's instructions, giving her a detailed account of their surroundings and how everything was laid out. Wen Que listened with obvious interest.

"Miss Wen must be the first friend Mingxi has brought home in all these years."

From the way Luo Mingxi treated Wen Que, there was an easy indulgence to her manner, an affection she probably hadn't noticed herself. She wasn't even that close to her parents. Over the years, she had behaved that way only with him and his imperial father.

It showed how Luo Mingxi felt about Wen Que, and that she was doing fairly well at the Heavenly Sun Sect.

Wen Que rubbed her nose awkwardly. Friends? That was a stretch, wasn't it? Before this, she and Luo Mingxi had barely known each other. Compared with hardworking, stubborn Luo Mingxi, she was far too content to laze around. She could tell Luo Mingxi didn't think much of her.

Of course, Wen Que was usually busy loafing around in her courtyard, while Luo Mingxi was either cultivating or off in search of some handsome young man. If not for what had happened with Wen Yan, the two of them would hardly have crossed paths.

"Forgive me for asking, but has something happened to Mingxi lately? She seems to have a lot on her mind this time. Do you know why, Miss Wen?"

"Well..." She did know. But was it something she could say?

"Please, speak freely, Miss Wen. I certainly won't tell Mingxi it came from you."

Wen Que stared at His Highness the Crown Prince in disbelief. Do you take me for an idiot?

For some reason, the Crown Prince understood that look at once. His smile froze for a moment.

Should I say this or not? She was the only person who had come home with Luo Mingxi. If the Crown Prince learned what Luo Mingxi had gone through at the sect—

"Your Highness, if my junior sister finds out you know what happened to her at the sect, would you care to guess who she'll think told you?"

His Highness the Crown Prince smoothed his sleeve, his smile perfectly natural. "Ming Xi would probably think of you first, Miss Wen."

But Wen Que had also let slip that something had happened to Luo Mingxi at the sect. The Crown Prince looked momentarily lost.

Though he was the Crown Prince of the Amber Dynasty, beneath only one person and above ten thousand, he had no advantage when it came to cultivators. Even if Wen Que told him every grievance Luo Mingxi had suffered at the sect, what could he do?

Sensing His Highness the Crown Prince's sudden gloom, Wen Que rubbed her hands together. "Your Highness, you really don't need to worry. Something did happen at the sect, but it was nothing serious. My junior sister handled it well. She might feel upset for a while, but I think she'll be fine before long."

Because before long, something much bigger and more shocking would happen and take Luo Mingxi's mind off it!

Even though Wen Que had expected it, she hadn't thought the Eldest Princess would come so quickly.

She was still strolling through the imperial garden with the Crown Prince. He had just suggested they sit in a pavilion for tea and pastries, giving Luo Mingxi and His Majesty more time to talk—and himself more time to coax information out of Wen Que—when someone arrived to report that the Eldest Princess had sent in her request to enter the palace.

At that speed, word must have reached the princess's residence the moment Luo Mingxi landed, and the Eldest Princess must have immediately sent someone with the request.

Was she so impatient she couldn't wait at all?

Wen Que wasn't the only one who thought so. Luo Mingxi did too. She glanced at His Majesty, looking as though she wanted to speak but held back.

Seeing her like that, His Majesty felt a little amused, but far more heartsick. What on earth had happened to make this child act this way?

"What is it? Have you been away from home so long that you've grown distant from your uncle? You used to argue with me about anything. You were one step from climbing onto my head, and now you're suddenly afraid to speak?"

It was true that Luo Mingxi had once feared nothing, but His Majesty himself had spoiled her into being that way. Hearing him say it outright made her suddenly feel embarrassed.

She had never felt embarrassed about it before. She had always thought she was entirely in the right.

But after being teased by Wen Que for so long, she had begun to wonder if her head had been stuffed with paste back then. She had thought she saw everything clearly, when she hadn't at all.

For now, an attendant had only come to make the report. The Eldest Princess still needed the emperor's permission to enter the palace.

"Is it about your mother? If you don't want to see her, I won't allow her in."

His Majesty knew his younger sister had grown up pampered as the Eldest Princess and had never suffered much. But compared with Luo Mingxi, she was more delicate, less decisive, and far too ready to believe whatever she was told.

He had no idea who had put it in her head that Luo Mingxi was not her own child, nor of royal blood.

Luo Mingxi's face truly did not