The Princess seemed to be surprised by my surprised reaction.
"Are you not willing to marry me, Brother Ming?"
'We're making unfounded counter charges on the victim now?!'
'This attitude of yours is so open-minded that you're sending chills down my spine! You think I can marry you with just a word? You think we're buying vegetables at the market here?!'
"Your Highness! Please make yourself clear!" I nearly leapt to my feet, "You just abruptly told me to marry you. Whatever do you mean?!'
"Oh, that's fair. Indeed, I should explain it to you. You and I have only just gotten acquainted, so asking you for this favour is, indeed, a little rude of me."
In the past, I heard that the Second Princess was obsessed with sabre arts. While she was usually witty and strong, by the sounds of it, she wasn't gifted with a silver tongue.
Struggling to put into words what she wanted to say, she fiddled with her soft, snow-white chin with one hand. The tip of her slender fingers gently sunk into her chin, but that made it clearer as to just how smooth and supple her skin was. It gave the viewer an urge to touch her skin.
After pondering to herself for a long time, she seemed to finally successfully pieced her thoughts together, "Brother Ming, can you marry me?"
"…" I remained silent. What she said after all that thinking nearly made me suffer an internal injury, "Your Highness, can you tell the whole story in one go?"
"Mm… What I mean is, are you willing to pretend to marry me?"
"Pretend?"
I suddenly had some vague understanding of where this was going.
"Yes, pretend."
The Princess looked at me with a solemn look. She blinked, "I want to ask you to do me a favour, and team up with me to defeat Jin Wangsun; then marry me in my father's presence. Rest assured, it is of course, a fake marriage. After a year or so, the two of us can find an excuse to amicably divorce."
'I get it now.'
'The Princess isn't happy with Jin Wangsun, but she didn't have a better way of avoiding him. Since his competition was me, nobody would think I'd have a chance at winning, would they? That explains why the Princess courageously came to offer to help me defeat Jin Wangsun.'
"As for your compensation, I will allow you to take everything you obtain during your time as my husband after our amicable divorce, whether that's a manor or fields. You can take what you please."
'I genuinely believe that she'll allow that.'
'Your grandpa is a venerable elder of the Dark Robe Sect. Your father is the Emperor. Is there any likelihood of your dowry being sparse?'
"However, that…" I folded my arms and did my best to analyse it, "This may sound rude, but I would like to ask why you trust me so much, Your Highness? Are you not afraid that I will tell His Majesty about this or refuse to divorce you, which would be disastrous for you?"
The Princess smiled. She maintained her usual heroic and suave demeanour.
"As you can see, I am a Princess, but I do not stay in the Imperial Palace for long. I spend most of my days fighting in the pugilistic world. There are many times where I'd rather be Blood Stained Glass, Li Hongzhuang. I hope this won't make me sound embarrassing, but I am incompetent at embroidery, cooking and cleaning. All I know is how to wield a sabre. All of my siblings call me a dull person. Would you want to marry such a wife?"
After listening to her self-deprecating speech, I had a totally different thought.
'It goes without saying that I want to marry a virtuous wife. In saying that, my view doesn't align with having one's wife do nothing but arduously wait for her husband's return every day. Perhaps it's because I witnessed my Shiniangs live with my Shifu as I grew up. When my Shifu was travelling, my Shiniangs also travelled. In fact, they helped the weak and protected the people more than my Shifu did. As a matter of fact, my Shiniangs may have been the ones who managed to protect Mount Daluo's reputation as a gallant and upright sect.'
'A heroic maiden as the Princess is a rare resource is the pugilistic world. Most importantly, Blood Stained Glass is a female hero that's often ranked on the Pink and Red Reflection! Previously, I didn't know that was the Princess.'
'Don't retire even if you get married! Bless our loyal readers with your angelic aura!'
And so, when she asked me if I wanted to marry her, one word popped into my mind, "Yes."
I shook my head to try to throw the thought out of my mind.
I laughed, "Haha, well, as opposed to saying that it is your problem, it would be more precise to say that I do not want to get married yet."
'That was a lie. I actually do want to settle down with a family quite soon. I'm not young anymore, after all. Once my life of retirement at Liu Shan Men is set, I'll buy a big house and then ask a matchmaker to find me a wife. That said, I will never become a relative of the Emperor! My identity is guaranteed to be exposed. When he exposes me, there goes my life of retirement!'
Once she heard my answer, she surprisingly nodded with confidence. With a smile, she responded, "I thought so. I am in the same boat."
'Why the hell is it the same thinking as yours?!!'
'While I did peep on you bathing and save you, Ming Feizhen and Li Hongzhuang only got acquainted with each other the day before and finally conversed yesterday. Moreover, the dipshit Jin Wangsun went and jumped in between. How do you know that I don't want to marry you?! A normal person would never refuse to marry a Princess!'
'Why does what she said sound so strange?'
'Wait! Could it be that aphrodisiac at work again?'
'Su Xiao fell victim to it for no rhyme or reason. Could the Princess have fallen prey to it, as well?! I have no choice then. I have to use my ultimate technique.'
And so, I imitated the retarded look of Tiantian, who sold the osmanthus cakes.
However, the Princess responded with a dumbstruck expression. She clearly enunciated, "Eh? Brother Ming, what's wrong?! Did you catch a cold?!"
Not only was her voice clear, but so was her thinking. She was completely different to Su Xiao.
'What the hell did I just embarrass myself for?!'
I rubbed my face, "Erm… M-My face was feeling a little uncomfortable."
'Could the drug have suddenly stopped working? Is the dosage only enough to catch one person?'
The Princess looked at me with an odd look, "Oh…"
"That is my request. I hope that you can agree to my request." The Princess seemed to be afraid that I wouldn't agree to her request, so she added, "The men that Jin Wangsun hired yesterday were after you. He has become audacious, since he thinks that he is invincible with Gold and Silver Sect backing him. If he dared to do it once, there will be a second time. If you do not join hands with me, you may lose your life at the contest."
I folded my arms. I stopped to contemplate her suggestion.
'Truthfully, her suggestion coincided with my plans, despite us not planning it. My original plan was to defeat Jin Wangsun at the contest, and get him occupied with me, thereby shifting his attention onto me, instead of Night Fortress. Once I won, I planned to find a way to aggravate the Princess for her to give me the boot. Either way, I'm of no value to the Emperor. He only needs to say one word to get rid of me.'
'The only troublesome part is that the pressure of becoming a Fuma is too much for me to bear… I don't want to keep entering the palace to see my father-in-law, not to mention having to worry about him seeing through something, and then calling upon all skilled fighters in the capital to hunt me down.'
'I can worry about coming up with a plan to get out of marriage agreement afterwards, though. I can use the first part of the Princess' plan, however. With a Princess in my corner, I'll have a better chance of dealing with Jin Wangsun.'s
I nodded, "What you have said is sound and reasonable. Your Subject shall agree to comply with it."
The Princess revealed a look of joy. It was her first genuine smile, since entering the room.
However, there was a tinge of unnaturalness in her gaze.
"What is the matter, Your Highness?"
The Princess whom was always straight forward hesitated all of a sudden, "The truth is, Brother Ming, I have an unreasonable request."
I nodded, "Please tell me, Your Highness."
"I… I left a letter telling my father I was leaving, so I cannot reveal myself for the next few days. And so…"
The Princess' voice got quieter and quieter, while her face started having hot flushes until her voice could no longer be heard.
I had to mould energy to hear what she was saying.
"Can you… let me stay in your room for a few days?"
I froze.
'No wonder why she sounded so shy! I never expected to hear such a bold request from her. This is the room of a stranger, not to mention that it belongs to a man.'
"Is it too much of a bother for you?"
"Not a bother, no; but…, are you sure that you do not need me to find you a room?"
'I don't want to mention this, but I remember that there are a few hiding places in the capital specifically reserved for skilled fighters of the unorthodox sects. If you hide there, I guarantee that you won't be found.'
Puzzled, the Princess replied, "There's no need for that. I can just stay here at your place, Brother Ming. If it inconveniences you, I can sleep on the ground."
The Princess seemingly didn't understand that it wasn't convenient to stay at my place. After all, I'm much older than her. Some things should be said by me, "Your Highness, I would be fine with sleeping on the beams, let alone giving you the bed. The thing is, you are a girl. For a single man and woman to stay together here would not be good, would it?"
Despite that being as explicit as it gets, the Princess responded with a smile, "What's the big deal about that? You won't do anything to me. You just need to give the nod."
'Whatever do you mean I won't do anything to you?! It's a given that I won't do anything to you, yes, but you being so certain hurts me!'
I suddenly felt that her trust in me is so great that it's on the border of insulting.
'I peeped on you taking a bath! Please keep your guard up against me when you're around me!'
I even asked, "Your Highness, you seem to totally have your defences down around me. Why is that?"
'I must appear as a very good person to her, as I helped her search for her romantic interest in Bright Lane, saved her from my junior brothers and brought Shuntian Prefecture's men there to rescue her grandpa and company yesterday!'
'But, seeing the way she was hesitant to speak suddenly made me have a realisation.'
'I'm dead certain that it's not because she thinks well of me. It must be due to my title as Liu Shan's Plague, isn't it?! It's because I'm a plague that I'm ready to spend the rest of my life in solitude, and thus have no interest in girls, am I right?!!'
'Sorry, I'm not just pissed. Look, I've got thirty six thousand porn books at home that teach you a new position on every new page!'
"Because you are not…"
"Are not what?"
'A plague?'
The Princess began to become even more fidgety. She lowered her head and finished off, "Because you are into guys, are you not?"
'Whoa, what the fuck?!'
I almost spat up a mouthful of blood.
'I never expected that one!! Who said that nonsense?!!'
'No wonder why you're so confident that I'd divorce you! No wonder why you felt getting married to me was the same as not being married. Turns out you thought I go for guys?! So you were utterly fearless, because you felt I was a safe card to play?!!'
"Hey, hey! Your Highness, please allow Your Subject to explain!"
I jumped to my feet. The sound of my chair sliding out beneath me was quite loud. The noise seemed to wake up the troublesome kid on my bed.
"Big Brother Miiiinnggg. Haha, that ticklessss."
Su Xiao had yet to wake. He was sleep talking."
"Who goes there?!"
In order to keep her whereabouts hidden, the Princess had to get to the bottom of this. She leapt over to the bed in one stride! She pulled off my garment to see the scene of a beautiful young g-(girl).
'The Princess recognises Su Xiao!'
She froze in place. She then looked at the garment before suddenly turning her head to look at me. She frowned.
Su Xiao hugged my garment similarly to the way a kitten would and snuggled up to it. He didn't forget to seal my fate by chanting the curse of death, either.
"Stop, don't touch me there… You can't touch me here. Aaaahh, Wh-What are you doing…?"
I looked in the direction of the always serious Princess. Her face was red. I swiftly exclaimed, "He's talking about his ears! Su Xiao's ears are sensitive, so he doesn't let people touch them! He's talking about his ears!"
After resisting her urges for a long time, her face turned bright red. She gently covered Su Xiao up with the blanket and then responded to me, "I… never asked anything."
Then, sounding as if she had suffered an internal injury that she held in, she added, "You two… look quite good together; but…, this is the office, right? You should be careful, so as to prevent tainting the office's name."
'Look good together my fucking foot!!!'
'Taint what?! You want to see me prove to you that I like women right here and noooowwwww?!!!'
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