The three men stood outside the wall surrounding Prince Rui’s Pavilion like stalkers looking to see something they shouldn’t. The exact name that better describes them would be peeping Toms, peeping Toms that had just killed a man in cold blood.

But based on their attitude they were the least bit fazed. In fact, Big Hei was messing around with the weird glass bottle he had trapped Huang She’s soul in. It seemed this Nocru trafficker’s torment had just begun.

“Do you think young master Ji would be okay alone in there? I mean, shouldn’t we have sent someone with him you know… as backup,” said the skinny man who had now earn the right to have his name publicised to the world.

Xunsi Zhe aka seeker of death was his name but most people just called him Xu-ge mainly because he was the oldest among them even older than Ji Wen but he never seemed to age which was incredibly weird. The one time someone asked for his secret he held up his battle axe and sluggishly placed it on his shoulder which in some way answered the million-dollar question.

Back to Ji Wen, he didn’t respond to the question with his mind wondering the same thing. He was like a dad letting his son ride his bike down the street alone for the first time. One could go as far as saying he was a nervous wreck with his gaze fixed on that wall.

It was Big Hei who responded, “Who would you have us send with him?” while flicking the bottle absentmindedly.

Xunsi Zhe turned his head and brazenly answered, “You….. I am certain you will look good in a dress,” before he deliberately tuned his voice to a high pitched one mocking Big Hei, “you will be like ‘ah, your highness, I am Big Hei… I am big in size and big in bed as well…. hehe’.”

Everyone, “….”

“You!…,” said a dumbstruck Big Hei before taking off his brocade boot and throwing it at Xunsi Zhe which hurt like a son of bitch.

“Ouch,” whispered Xunsi Zhe before throwing his ultimate card, “I am older than you…. you should respect your elders.”

“Xu-ge, ass-whooping has no age limit,” said Big Hei taking off his other boot before running after Xunsi Zhe.

Two grown men were about to play an embarrassing game of tag when a flash of lightning struck right in front of Xunshi Zhe bringing this moment of silliness to an abrupt end. That was enough to make them behave for a moment.

Ji Yao who was sitting in the cage in the courtyard felt a familiar seraphic energy coming from the north of the property when his father fired a warning shot at Xunsi Zhe and couldn’t help but feel reassured.

In fact, he wasn’t the only one who felt it because, in the deepest part of the Pavillion, a set of red eyes peered through the inky darkness as a smug smile reflected under the distant flame torch hung on the wall.

A soul-stirring menacing chuckle escaped his throat recalling what his half-sister said to him before she died. “A lady dressed in white…. white,” she said before her aether was sucked dry. For the past few days, the words white and lady echoed in his mind and now that he felt foreign seraphic energy outside the wall he knew it was about time he left this place.

He clenched his fist causing the chains to clank. He fully concentrated on his aether trying to circulate some of his seraphic energy that was being suppressed by the lotrian. The excruciating pain amplified as he forced his seraphic energy through his atherial veins.

But because he had endured much greater pain than this he barely made a sound as he forced his seraphic energy through. His actions caused irreparable damage but he had no choice otherwise he won’t have the opportunity to exact revenge.

Ji Yao who had no idea that he had become a target waited till the men left. They had locked his cage in a small room above ground. It seemed the prince’s new goods wouldn’t be locked up in the dungeon as it would dirty them. Since no one had successfully broken out of this room before, they left Ji Yao unguarded which meant he was out of there thirty minutes later.

Under the cover of darkness, Ji Yao snuck into the prince’s study a few doors over. The creaking sound of the study door being closed attracted one of the Nocru guards so he crouched down behind the folding screen waiting for the man to leave.

While waiting he noticed how exposed his thighs were when he squatted. The dress had two slits that went all the way up to his thighs giving off a seductive air to it.

He attempted to cover up vowing to slaughter Huang She as soon as he was done here. That vile man actually wanted that little girl to wear such a revealing dress.

As soon as the light outside faded into the distance, Ji Yao followed his father’s instructions. He sat where Prince Rui would normally sit in the study and viewed the entire room.

His father said that based on the man’s personality he would keep this thing somewhere he could constantly see. That is to say, if he raised his head he would feel a sense of ease knowing that thing was there.

And based on what he could see it either had to be in the vase at the corner of the room or in the bachelor’s chest on the other side of the room. Deciding that it had to be in the bachelor’s chest he walked over and opened the tiny drawers one by one while looking for hidden compartments.

By his third drawer, he found a button on the roof and when he pressed it down there was a clicking sound at the left side of the bachelor’s chest.

He hurriedly opened it and searched inside but to his surprise, there were only a bunch of title deeds and other miscellaneous documents that didn’t seem as interesting. “Shit!” he swore under his breath feeling frustrated.

He felt around the hidden compartment but there was nothing. Just as he decided to search elsewhere the door of the study was suddenly opened but the person didn’t bring light or better yet he didn’t light up the candles.

Taken by surprise Ji Yao hid in the corner and watched the dark shadow walk over to the Kang table where Prince Rui naturally sat. He heard the guard curse the prince using every vulgar word he could possibly come up with.

While listening to this swearing session, Ji Yao noticed a neatly folded scroll mixed in with the title deeds.. It was protected by a leather pouch with an insignia of a chimaera which attracted his attention.