My Days with the Villainous Crown Prince - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Qi Lin told me there was an ornament in the crown prince’s study. Turn it clockwise three times, then counterclockwise twice to release the mechanism; finally, press it down to open it.

At that point, a wall would make a noise.

The bookcase in front of it would split in two and slide apart, exposing the wall. The wall would then move downward to form steps leading into the darkness underground.

My eyes went round. (⊙o⊙)

“The crown prince had this tunnel dug in secret,” Qi Lin said. “It leads outside the palace.”

I couldn’t help asking, “Ah Lin, how do you know the crown prince dug a tunnel?”

“I’m the crown prince… ‘s trusted man. Naturally, I know his secrets.”

I couldn’t believe it. “All this time, I thought you were an ordinary guard in the Eastern Palace. You’re actually the crown prince’s personal guard! You were so thin before, yet you beat all those big, strong men to become his trusted man.”

I’d never seen Qi Lin fight anyone. I only knew he could use lightness skills and wield a sword.

I’d always assumed he was an ordinary guard of average ability. Who could have guessed he was the crown prince’s confidant!

“This isn’t the time for that. Don’t you want to leave the Eastern Palace? We can sneak into the crown prince’s study right now and take the tunnel out. I own several properties in the capital. Pick whichever you like, and I’ll hide you there. I’ll work my shift in the Eastern Palace during the day, then leave to see you afterward.”

Qi Lin looked eager to try it. Watching me, he added, “Ah Yue, I really, really want to hide you away and have you cook for me forever.”

When I’d first learned about the tunnel and realized I wouldn’t have to labor away digging one, I had been all smiles.

When Qi Lin said he wanted me to cook for him forever, the smiles vanished.

I wanted to seize his shoulders, shake him hard, and demand at the top of my voice: What do you mean by that? Do you think I’m your cook?

Fine. In view of his sharing such a secret as the crown prince’s tunnel today, I’d let it go for now. We could settle accounts later.

I flatly refused his plan to keep me as a hidden mistress.

“I can’t leave the Eastern Palace yet. Of all the concubines the crown prince took before, I’m the only one left alive. If the only concubine in his household disappears, he’ll definitely notice. He’ll dig three feet into the ground to find me, then chop me to pieces, slice me to death, and have five horses tear me apart!”

Qi Lin hurriedly shook his head. “I… my master wouldn’t do that.”

“He would. How long have you even been in the Eastern Palace? You don’t know what happened here before.”

Qi Lin tilted his head at me. I could almost see a question mark appearing above it. “Did something happen in the Eastern Palace before?”

I gave him a look that said: You don’t even know that?

“What else? Murder, of course. Do you know who dies most often in the Eastern Palace?”

Qi Lin shook his head.

“Concubines! You have no idea. I’ve been here three years. I’ve watched the crown prince take three batches of concubines, dozens each time. Then he’d kill one every so often, then another. I’m the only one who kept lying low, batch after batch, and survived.”

Qi Lin looked at me as though he wanted to say something but couldn’t.

After a long while, he finally said, “You know perfectly well why the crown prince kills his concubines, don’t you?”

Now it was my turn to have a question mark over my head.

I had absolutely no idea what he meant.

I just stared at him in utter bewilderment.

He met my eyes. After a long silence, he said, “You don’t know? Your mission when you entered the Eastern Palace was to assassinate the crown prince.”

I was horrified. Σ(°Д°;)

When I transmigrated, the body’s original owner had heard about the crown prince’s atrocities—beheading concubines, skinning them to make lanterns, and all sorts of other horrors. With her own father forcing her into the Eastern Palace, she had been so frightened that she hanged herself.

The moment I arrived, I found myself swinging in the room. The shock nearly sent my freshly returned soul right back out again.

If I hadn’t struggled hard enough to snap the white silk around my neck, I’d have ended up in the underworld drinking Meng Po’s soup with the original owner before being reincarnated.

I hadn’t inherited any of her memories after arriving. All I knew was that I’d entered a novel.

No wonder her father had said to me before I entered the Eastern Palace, “You know what you’re supposed to do once you’re in the palace, don’t you?”

I’d thought the old geezer wanted me to compete for favor, so I’d nodded solemnly. “I understand. I won’t disappoint you, Father.”

In reality, the moment I’d climbed into the carriage, I’d tossed the idea of competing for favor out of my mind. My plan was to lie low once I entered the palace and escape before the crown prince fell from power.

So the old geezer had been telling me to assassinate the crown prince. Thank goodness I had no memories and hadn’t tried.

Otherwise, I’d be another member of the headless brigade by now.

But I was still curious about something. “Does the crown prince know I entered the Eastern Palace to assassinate him?”

Under my gaze, Qi Lin smiled and slowly nodded.

My face went slack. (꒪ཀ꒪)

I felt a little dead.

Seeing that I seemed slightly deceased, Qi Lin asked, “What’s wrong? You don’t look very well.”

I forced the words out. “I’m alive. If I weren’t, I wouldn’t still be standing here in one piece.”

I took a deep breath and asked again, “Since he knows I entered the palace with a mission to assassinate him, why hasn’t he killed me?”

“I… investigated it for the crown prince. The other officials hired professional female assassins or killers, disguised them as concubines, and sent them into the Eastern Palace. Only your father didn’t want to pay the high price for an assassin, so he brought back his daughter born in a brothel and sent her instead. The crown prince isn’t as cruel as you imagine. He’s always left people alone unless they attack him first.”

Oh. So I’d kept my life because I was so good at lying low.