Your Highness, Please Love Me Tender

85. Parting on a Sour Note

Translator: Flying Lines

Sincerely sorry for the missing chapter. As a compensation, I’ve set the SP to only 1, just so the chapter would be locked and will not be submitted to NU by the bot.

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“You are seeking death!” Xiao Luoxuan only felt blood rushing to his head. The anger towards Xiao ShengXian he had always repressed had exploded under such provocation. His hand moved, aiming to hit Xiao ShengXian.

Even though Xiao ShengXian talked arrogantly, his martial arts weren’t that good. At this moment, his bodyguards were not with him, so he could only watch as Xiao Luoxuan moved to hit him. His slanted eyes were wide open and then… a red silhouette appeared in his vision.

Su Jie had made a move.

As a man of sacrifice, Su Jie’s reaction and speed were far quicker than Xiao Luoxuan’s. But he didn’t do anything to block the hit, and simply stood in front of Xiao ShengXian.

Although Xiao ShengXian and Su Jie hadn’t gotten along well before, Su Jie couldn’t just watch Prince Qin hit the younger prince without doing anything. But Su Jie… wasn’t used to acting against Prince Qin.

Xiao Shengnian had originally assumed that Su Jie would block Prince Qin’s hit. After all, someone who knew martial arts wouldn’t be so stupid as to let themselves be harmed, but that was exactly what Su Jie did. In the end, he received a blow to the chest.

The scent of blood welled up in his throat, and Su Jie’s face turned ghastly white. Yet, he swallowed the blood that filled his mouth. During this, he didn’t even take a step back from the blow. Only his body shook for a bit.

“Are you stupid?!” Xiao Shengnian was furious now. His little slave was harmed right in front of him! The key point was that he clearly had the power to block the blow, but he didn’t and chose to bear with it. Did he like to suffer? Or was it because the person attacking was Prince Qin?

Xiao Shengnian no longer cared about etiquette. He struck two blows towards Xiao Luoxuan and then went to hold Su Jie. His expression was as grim as if he discovered his beloved had been unfaithful to him. He asked, “Why didn’t you hit back?”

Su Jie didn’t answer. His pale lips curled lightly and revealed a small smile. He thought, ‘Prince Qin, from now on, there will be nothing between us. When we next meet, I will treat you and the Guqin Master as my enemies…’

On the other hand, the expression of rage Xiao Luoxuan originally had was now mixed with a look of befuddlement. He just wanted to strike Xiao ShengXian, but to his surprise, Su Jie accepted the blow instead. It was too late when he wanted to stop and, he could only watch as he hit Su Jie. Just as Xiao Luoxuan was astounded, he was hit with Xiao Shengnian’s blows, and he took a few steps backward before regaining his footing.

Xiao Luoxuan didn’t bother to settle the score with Prince Rui. He wanted to approach Su Jie but was blocked by Xiao Shengnian. Xiao Shengnian’s usually gentle face revealed a cold glint. He said with a frigid voice, “Enough! Have you not hurt him enough?”

“I…” Xiao Luoxuan wanted to explain. He looked at the youth’s pale complexion and said listlessly, “I didn’t mean to hurt you… Why did you step in front of him?”

“Scram. People like you don’t have the right to love Nianxuan. From the start to the end, you haven’t even uttered a word of concern. You only care about yourself. Even if Nianxuan was the one injured, you still don’t think you’ve done anything wrong. Yet, you blame it on him for stepping in front of you. You are selfish to the very core. The person you love most is yourself, not Nianxuan. If I had been the one to strike just now, I would never let my blows land on Nianxuan even if it caused me internal injuries.” Xiao Shengnian’s expression was calm. Yet every word of his seemed like it was covered with frost carrying a bone-cutting edge that stung Xiao Luoxuan’s heart.

“I do truly love him…” Xiao Luoxuan’s mind was a mess. Was he already used to pushing all the blame onto the Sharp Sword and then, let the Sharp Sword protect and obey him like that was the natural course of things?

The surrounding princes were all somewhat dumbfounded. After all, despite what they thought of each other, they still appeared to get along harmoniously. And today was the first time they had seen such a big fight.

Not to mention… the reason for the quarrel between these three princes was a handsome youth who no one had seen before.

Even Xiao ShengXian wasn’t sure about what to say for a second. From the moment Su Jie took the blow for him, Xiao ShengXian felt emotions more complicated than he could ever imagine.

He had never been fond of the smiling youth in the red robe, especially when the youth had hit his face before. But at the moment, Xiao ShengXian seemed to have matured quite a bit.

He suddenly understood that even if he held a more distinguished status than the one he had, there would still be someone to knock him down a peg. All his overbearing arrogance stemmed from his father doting on him. It wasn’t because of his own strength.

After that day, Xiao ShengXian went to talk with his mother, Consort Yun. It seemed like he suddenly realized what he should do at this moment. And because he sought out Consort Yun, Consort Yun had developed a good impression of Su Jie and didn’t reject Su Jie being together with her son, Prince Rui. After all, it seemed like Su Jie was someone sensible and wouldn’t become arrogant because he received Prince Rui’s love.

Of course, that was what happened later.

At that time, Xiao Shengnian couldn’t care less about hunting. He bent forwards slightly and said to Su Jie grumpily, “Get on!”

Su Jie was stunned. Prince Rui wanted to… give him a piggy-back? He wasn’t that weak!

“What? You want me to carry you instead?” Xiao Shengnian’s tone was cold.

Su Jie gave a hum and climbed onto Xiao Shegnnian’s broad and sturdy back.

If the princes from before had gathered to watch the spectacle, then right now, they were staring so much their eyes were about to pop out.

The only one who could make Prince Rui bend over, other than the Emperor, would be this person in front of them.

Prince Rui was really in love?

For a second, no one said anything. The silent atmosphere was a little… strange. Everyone’s gazes were fixed on Xiao Shengnian as he piggy-backed Su Jie. Because Su Jie was just over half a head shorter than Xiao Shengnian, Xiao Shengnian’s back had to be bent to carry him.

Xiao Shengnian didn’t care about what the people around them thought. He only wanted to do what he wanted to do. Right now, his father was full of ambition so he didn’t need to act wise and excellent. As long as he kept a low profile and continued being filial, he would continue being the most favored prince.

“Legs, hook your legs around me.” Xiao Shengnian was calm, his expression was serene, and he emitted an aura of elegance. If he didn’t have Su Jie on his back, then it would have been even more perfect.

Xiao Shengnian’s actions not only announced to everyone that he was serious towards Su Jie but also let them know now how important Su Jie was to him. He was important to the extent where Xiao Shengnian was willing to bend over in front of everyone and leave with the youth on his back.

“…” Su Jie felt as if cold dew was raining inside his heart and nurtured a state of softness and warmth. No one had ever treated him so well. In all these years, Xiao Shengnian was the first.

Was this what it felt like to be cared for?

He couldn’t deny it. This kind of feeling was… wonderful.

Without meaning to, Su Jie’s lips tugged upwards into a smile.

“Seventh brother…” Xiao ShengXian was so preoccupied with catching up that he no longer bothered with Xiao Luoxuan. If this were the Xiao ShengXian from before, he would be fighting viciously with Xiao Luoxuan right now. But, sometimes, growth was an extraordinary thing. Even an incident or an action could cause a once arrogant and despicable prince to suddenly mature.

Xiao Luoxuan stared at their retreating backs. His energy seemed to have been sucked out of his body. He opened his mouth to speak but couldn’t manage a word. The sounds of the surrounding princes’ discussion reached his ears, but he couldn’t make out anything at all.

He could only watch as the Sharp Sword was carried away by another man. This view was unrivaled in how much it infuriated him. It hurt his eyes just by seeing it.

Xiao Luoxuan’s lips trembled. His expression revealed loneliness and sorrow.

In the end, he didn’t call for them to stop. Instead, he just turned around silently, his robe billowing around his bleak-looking silhouette.

What Xiao Luoxuan didn’t know was that the master-servant relationship he thought would bind Su Jie to him forever was completely broken at this moment. He also didn’t know that Zhou Zaiyue had already left to collect the herbs to cure the Death Gu’s poison for almost a month.

Despite being short of three princes, May’s hunt proceeded as usual. However, everyone no longer paid attention to hunting. Their attention was focused on Su Jie. As he was someone who Prince Qin and Prince Rui fought over, they were curious about the youth’s origins.