Book 1: Chapter 5: Sorry For Troubling You, I'll Be Leaving
“Don’t think that this King is truly muddled. While it is Li Yi’s first time seeing Lan Na, it is also your first time seeing this King. If Li Yi has no reason to like this King’s daughter, then what reason is there for you to help this King? You can’t bear to see this King’s daughter sink into a mud pit? Hehe, perhaps things aren’t so simple.”
The King sipped on some wine as he leisurely spoke.
It’s over, it’s over……
I couldn’t help but be surprised.
If you were to say that the King was foolish, that wouldn’t seem right with how wily and shrewd he is. But if you wanted to say that he was smart, well, what kind of smart king marries their 12 year old daughter to a 25 year old ‘weird uncle’??
If it was in my previous world, it would’ve been a three year sentence with the highest death penalty, alright?
The King unhurriedly said:
“Your attempt at sowing dissension would usually be considered a felony. However, this King shall give you an opportunity. If you can prove that your attempt at destroying the marriage wasn’t to weaken your older brother’s influence, but rather to truly help out this King’s daughter, then this King shall spare your life, how about it?
Crap.
This was an oversight of mine. Since he’s siding with my older brother, it seems that they’re in the same party as expected.
But unfortunately, I had already considered this point in my plan……
I unhurriedly got up and walked over to Lan Na, gazing at this little lass whose height barely reached my chest.
Her eyes were crystal clear, unstained, seeming like exceedingly dark blue lake water.
I deeply gazed at her, then slowly kneeled down, held one of her hands, and seriously spoke:
“I, have secretly been in love with Her Highness the princess for many years.”
A stone can create thousands of waves.
My dad sprayed out a mouthful of wine. My old brother Li Yi threw down his wine cup and scolded:
“**** you! This is also your first time seeing Her Highness the princess!!”
I snapped my fingers and loudly shouted:
“Aleya!”
Aleya, who had been laying in wait in the hallway, walked in with a thick stack of scrolls in hand.
I leisurely spoke:
“This is a collection of the poetry I’ve been writing down all these years whenever I thought of princess Lan Na. Also, when I saw princess Lan Na’s portrait that year, I couldn’t help but copy it every day. I will admit, when I first began loving the princess Lan Na within the picture scroll, it was because of your appearance. But I, Li De, swear that from now to years to come, I will certainly accompany you until the end of time.”
Now this is what I call a transcendental display!!
Luckily, princess Lan Na looks cute and loveable. If it was instead a coarse 5’3’’ masculine woman standing before me, I’m afraid my performance wouldn’t have such an effect.
Lan Na blinked her big eyes, then gently picked up one of the scrolls on the tray and unfurled it. On it was truly a portrait of her and the paper did seem to be several years old as it was just starting to yellow.
On the side was a verse that was just perfect:
‘Her robe is a cloud, her face is a flower Her balcony, glimmering with the bright spring dew, Is either the tip of earth’s Jade Mountain Or a moon-edged roof of paradise.’
Her eyes became a bit moist.
I knew then that through this scroll, she had definitely seen the shadow of infatuation, a trace of a person who had no thought for tea or rice when gazing at her portrait.
It’s a pity, but I actually drew it last night while I was scratching my foot. For the verse, I quoted the poem Mister Li Bai wrote for Lady Yang Yuhan. And as for the slight yellowing on the paper, that’s one of the oldest special techniques I have up my sleeve.
She fixed her gaze on me and asked:
“You really like me?”
I nodded my head against my conscience:
“I dare to vow that this is absolutely true.”
It’s absolutely true that I like you! You know, the same kind of like that I had for my small persian.
Lan Na took a deep breath and said to His Majesty:
“Royal Father, I don’t want to marry Li Yi.”
Awesome!
Now this is what I call the royal family’s female representative for the new age.
Daring to pursue free love and daring to oppose her parent’s orders! With the passing of time, she’s sure to become the flag bearer of women’s rights in this other world.
I couldn’t help but offer her a thunderous cheer in my mind. After that thought, I heard His Majesty’s thunderous roar:
“Impudent! For a major event like a wedding, when was it ever your turn to decide? And you, Li De. You, you’re flippant and insincere, and have a glib tongue, going as far as to swindle this King’s daughter. Overlord of Yunyang, it’s not that this King isn’t giving you face, but a son like this simply isn’t fit to inherit the position of Overlord. Otherwise, with that mouth of his, there’s no saying how many arguments and how much trouble he’ll create in the future! Normally this King shouldn’t be interfering with your family matters, but since this fellow has been so rude to this King’s daughter, this King can’t allow him to keep deceiving her. While this offense is too big or too small and isn’t enough to sentence him to death penalty, this King doesn’t want to see him inherit the position of Overlord.”
Alriiiiight, I was waiting for these words!
If so few words could fool me a princess, then I would have long since been living the life of a gigolo.
If the King couldn’t marry the princess to me, then he could only take control of my punishment.
It’s highly unlikely that I would receive the death penalty for taking some small liberties with the princess, so the best way for him to vent his anger would be to deprive me of my right to the succeed my father’s position.
But this is exactly what I was waiting for!
If left by my older brother’s side, then I would be reduced to nothing more than a struggling sacrificial victim without a road to survival.
I assumed a sorrowful appearance whilst clenching my teeth and uttered:
“Your Majesty……”
The King didn’t pay the slightest bit of attention to me, but rather stared at my dad and slowly said:
“Overlord of Yunyang, am I making things difficult for you?”
By this point, my dad’s trembling wine cup had sprinkled half of its content out. He stiffly squeezed out a smile and replied:
“No, no troubles. Since Your Majesty has spoken, I’ll give him a piece of land tomorrow and make him obediently leave these city walls.”
I nearly laughed out loud.
The only one that I was sorry to was little princess Lan Na. This lass gave His Majesty a resentful glance and ran out crying.
“Royal Father is a bad guy!! I don’t like Royal Father anymore~~”