“Yeah, Ye Lang’s always so clueless, he never cared about these things. He used to play with beggars, I remember he even learned how to beg for money from a beggar…” interjected Princess Longji, recalling a childhood incident.
“…”
“I’ll be going to greet the Ai La princess now, she’ll be here anytime soon. You all go ahead!” After reading for a while, she closed her book and left the three other people in silence.
It’ll be better to run! She was very uncomfortable here. She wished Ye Lang was here, he would never leave them awkward like that!
Now that she thought of it, it was no wonder her grandmother wanted Ye Lang to be here. He could help fix the relationship between her grandmother and aunt.
No matter what, she did not want this situation to continue. Princess Longji greeted the people at the east city gate, where the Ai La entourage would arrive.
Dragon City was on the East of Ai La Empire, though the road wasn’t completely straight. The east gate was still the best entrance to use.
Based on the reports she received, they would be here!
These weren’t regular tourists, hence every move they made would be reported to avoid unnecessary trouble.
“Cousin, where are you going?”
Along the way, Princess Longji heard a voice that made her stop.
“Lanyu?”
Princess Longji saw Ye Lanyu and the seventh princess at a stall, seemingly haggling for something. These two brats were demanding- they were rich, why did they have to haggle at such a small stall?
However, Princess Longji knew the answer. She had once asked them this question- “You won’t be able to spend all your money in your lifetime, why do you have to dwell on such a small amount of money?”
Ye Lanyu answered, “What has having a lot of money got to do with haggling? We want to buy goods at the best price possible! This is what we do, being a true woman!”
Princess Longji disagreed greatly, demanding to know who told her that. She must teach this person a lesson!
Ye Lanyu said her younger brother was the one who taught her this…
…
“Are you both shopping here? I’ll be meeting the princess of Ai La later, are you interested in coming along?” asked Longji.
“Not at all!” refused Ye Lanyu directly. She had no interest in meeting a princess. She’d probably consider if it were a prince.
“I knew you’d say that. Just come and keep me company, it’s still early,” said Princess Longji with a smile.
“Absolutely not!” said Ye Lanyu.
“…”
Feelings were hurt.
“I really shouldn’t have accepted this job, next time I’ll ask for more information.” Princess Longji continued walking towards the east gate, regretting her decision to come.
However, that was just temporary. She quickly regained her composure.
Then again, after this incident, she felt like this ended up being a very good decision! The rest, especially Ye Lanyu, regretted not coming along!
That was because no one expected ‘him’ to be here too.
“Why are you all here too?”
When Princess Longji arrived, she realised there were several people watching from the shadows. If it wasn’t for the fact that she knew one of them, she wouldn’t have guessed their identities.
Using her private communication channels, she asked them what happened. If these people were here, that hinted at a major matter.
The Coldblood Group’s presence never meant good news!
Yep, these people were from the Coldblood Group. Princess Longji only recognised Coldblood Five!
However, perhaps she was overreacting. The Coldblood Group’s presence didn’t actually mean something bad was going to happen. They could also be stationed at places for preventive measures.
“Princess Longji, ignore us. We are only here for surveillance, in case any threats enter,” said Coldblood Five coldly.
“I see, then carry on. I’ll be waiting here…” PRincess Longji replied mildly, though before she finished, Coldblood Five cut her off.
“You’re waiting for Ai La, we know! We just thought it was odd so we came to check them out.”
“Hasn’t everyone conducted thorough checks along their journey already?” asked Princess Longji. Based on the Coldblood Group’s abilities, she was not surprised that they knew. She was just surprised that there was something they couldn’t figure out about the entourage.
“We checked, there weren’t any problems. However, we’ve been understaffed so investigations weren’t as strict as we hoped. We’re just here to check once again!” said Coldblood Five.
The Coldblood members conducted background checks on entourages that arrived. If they found that all was well, they’d carry on with other tasks. At the same time, they would send people for surveillance once more when the entourage arrived at Dragon City.
“That’s good, it’s always better to be vigilant. Although there hasn’t been any conflict between our empires, it’s still best we stay alert,” said the princess.
“Yes, Ma’am! According to our reports, there is a little princess among the entourage- that’s very normal. The problem is that there is also a young gentleman inside, no one knows who he is and everyone calls him ‘Master’. And that princess seems to like sticking to him too. Probably one of the aristocrats of Ai La,” said Coldblood Five.
“You all weren’t able to find out about him?”
“We haven’t had the time since there aren’t enough of us. But I don’t think there’ll be a big problem. We’ve checked. Although this entourage is extravagant, there aren’t any expert warriors. They seem to just be visiting, like the other kingdoms,” said Coldblood Five.
“No warriors? Then even if they were suspicious, we can defeat them easily. That’s odd, what are they even here for? Their intentions might not be that simple.” Princess Longji was puzzled.
An entourage without expert warriors was not a problem for them. It did not matter if these ‘ants’ had any ill intentions, for they could be squashed easily.
Princess Longji did not know that the Ai La Empire’s intentions were simple — they just wanted to pull a prank on Vermilion Bird so the Vermilion Bird people would be scared.
They’ll understand when the entourage arrives…
