The pressure was neither particularly strong nor particularly light.
It made Shen Yangge want to tilt his head back and retreat, but under the crown prince's terrifying gaze, he dared not make any sudden moves.
Once the crown prince withdrew his hand, several servants came trotting in from outside the hall. Some carried brooms, others cleaning cloths, and none seemed fazed by the mess strewn across the floor.
After bowing to the crown prince, they set about cleaning on their own.
"Your Highness, I shall take my leave."
"Mm."
Shen Yangge turned and walked away, carefully avoiding the larger shards of glass and porcelain. Along the way, he stepped on a famous landscape painting that had been torn into strips.
Walking all over money actually felt pretty good.
It wasn't his money, anyway. He felt no pain over it.
The moment he stepped out of the hall, two servants bowed respectfully to him. "Shen Zhuanxie, your palanquin is ready. Please come with us."
A palanquin? Surely they didn't mean the kind he was thinking of?
Wasn't that a mode of transport reserved for the imperial family and the most exalted members of the inner palace? Could a lowly official like him ride in one, too?
After considerable thought, Shen Yangge asked, "Eunuch, could you have misheard your orders?"
[-What if someone sees me leaving the palace in a palanquin? Will they report me, and then everyone will impeach me before the throne?] Just thinking about it was thrilling.
The servant at the front said respectfully, "Rest assured, Compiler Shen. His Highness the Crown Prince gave these orders himself. Besides, if you leave the palace without taking the palanquin, something may happen to you along the way."
Orders from the crown prince himself?
Had these people entered the inner hall?
No, that wasn't right.
If they served the crown prince personally, they wouldn't waste so many words. Besides, before entering, he had noticed the servants stationed outside the hall. Every one of them had kept his head lowered, looking nothing like someone who dared meet another person's eyes.
Yet the moment he had stepped outside, these servants seemed to have raised their heads to steal a look inside. The movement was subtle, but Shen Yangge had noticed it all the same.
These men probably weren't the crown prince's personal attendants.
[-System, if these people take me away and kill me, will that count as the original character's prescribed death?]
[No. The host's cause of death would be classified as assassination.]
Shen Yangge: ...
Then to hell with going anywhere.
"Shen Zhuanxie?"
The servant couldn't help urging him, "It's getting late. Please come with us."
Leave, his ass.
"I just remembered that I still have a few things to report to His Highness. Wait here for now."
The servant was a sly one. He exchanged a meaningful glance with the two beside him, and they surrounded Shen Yangge. He frowned, his pale face seeming to grow even whiter from the glass cuts scattered across his body. "What is the meaning of this, eunuchs?"
The servant bowed with his hands clasped. "Please come with us, Compiler Shen."
Shen Yangge said, "May I know who sent you?"
"..."
Ah, so they wouldn't tell him. They wanted him to die without even knowing why.
Not a chance.
Two servants stepped forward to restrain Shen Yangge. Their strength and practiced movements made it obvious they were no ordinary servants.
"Aren't you afraid His Highness will find out and have you put to death?!"
The servant sneered. "Let me be frank, Compiler Shen. We're the ones who normally call the shots in the Eastern Palace. His Highness never asks questions. Besides, you've been shouting so loudly. If His Highness really intended to intervene, he would have done so already. Would he have let you shout for this long?"
Shen Yangge had lost too much blood, leaving his slender body weak. Like a scholar too feeble to truss a chicken, he frowned and resisted, yet still couldn't escape the beast that wanted to swallow him in its bloodstained maw.
[-What happens if I fail the mission?]
[Complete death, both in your original world and in the world of the book.]
Shen Yangge clenched his back teeth. He would risk it all.
He shouted, "Your Highness, seeing how late it is, it would be inconvenient for me to leave the palace and return to the Shen residence. I therefore request permission to stay overnight in the Eastern Palace. Please grant your approval!"
"Your Highness, seeing how late it is, it would be inconvenient for me to leave the palace now and return to the Shen residence. I therefore request permission to stay overnight in the Eastern Palace. Please grant your approval!"
He shouted it twice in succession.
The two servants holding him looked grave, while the eunuch in front visibly paled. "Shen Zhuanxie, no matter how much you shout, there is absolutely-"
Before the eunuch could finish, a sinister voice rang out from the doorway. "What is going on here?"
Having changed his clothes, the crown prince stood in the center of the doorway with courteous elegance, his posture straight as a pine. He was only six or seven paces away, yet even at that distance, cold sweat broke out on the eunuchs' foreheads.
"Shen Zhuanxie, were you sincere in asking to stay overnight in the Eastern Palace?"
Shen Yangge replied, "Yes, Your Highness."
The crown prince's unruffled gaze swept over him before settling on his neck, half concealed beneath the handkerchief. "Permission granted."
What?
W-was the crown prince recovering from his bouts of madness this quickly now? Normally, even after regaining his senses, he would remain unable to move for some time. Seeing him change clothes and emerge from the hall like this was rarer still.
"Your Highness, do these eunuchs serve in your palace? They've gone to some trouble on my behalf. Since I'm no longer returning to the Shen residence, why not let them go back and rest?"
[-Isn't this just throwing your weight around with someone powerful backing you? As if I can't do that, too. Look, everyone, look! The crown prince has allowed me to stay overnight in the Eastern Palace. What newly appointed official in history has ever received treatment like this?]
Hearing his inner grumbling once again, the crown prince turned his gaze on the servants gripping Shen Yangge's shoulders. Under that chilling, stern stare, they gradually released him, retreated a few steps, and lowered their heads, not daring to make another move.
After shooting Shen Yangge a vicious glare, the head eunuch led his subordinates in a clasp-handed bow to the crown prince, then withdrew with great reluctance.
The crown prince said, "Attendants."
A servant stationed nearby approached. "What are your orders, Your Highness?"
The crown prince said, "Bring a reclining chair from the side hall into my bedchamber."
"Yes, Your Highness."
"Your Highness, any room I can stay in will do. There's no need to-"
The crown prince raised a hand to stop him. "Since you wish to stay overnight in the Eastern Palace, Compiler Shen, you must have some profound learning you wish to discuss with me at length. Why not have the reclining chair placed beside my bed? What do you think?"
[-I'd rather have let that servant drag me away! If I spend a night with your breed of lunatic, I'll probably wake up tomorrow as some fucking thing that's neither man nor beast.]
[-No, we can't stay together!]
[-Absolutely not!!]
Shen Yangge's almond-shaped eyes widened, making it impossible to tell whether they held delight or fear. He struck the balance perfectly, never once breaking the original character's persona, and refused in a deeply unsettled voice:
"Absolutely not, Your Highness! How could someone as lowly as me share a room with the crown prince? I would never dare!"
His words sounded so heartfelt, filled with such undisguised terror and shock.
Had he not heard the little bastard's thoughts, the crown prince might well have been fooled by this cunning young official.
The little bastard thought, [-Dream on. Go sleep with a ghost! Who wants a heart-to-heart with you? Do you take me for your pet*?!]
Before you continue