225: Rankled

Rankled

The three with Lei Xing shuffled behind her as she addressed Prince Yi with cold indifference. Bi Lo and Bi Lu both bowed their head in greeting with frowns on their faces along with Ah Jin, who was the only person in the group who managed to maintain a neutral expression. In conclusion, the atmosphere of the group was very cold.

Prince Yi was apparently not fazed by the cold reception. He smiled at Lei Xing somewhat nervously and then awkwardly asked, "How are you feeling? I...I, ah, I heard you were unwell..."

{...And how does that concern you? I don't recall us being friends -_-)...}

But Lei Xing kept her thoughts to herself and did the polite thing and responded in the same flat voice, "I am perfectly healthy. There is no need for you to be concerned." She dismissively finished, nodded her head in farewell then turned to leave but then Prince Yi immediately grabbed her arm as he went, "Wait -"

"Don't touch me!" Lei Xing instinctively barked as she panicked and reflexively slapped his hand off. Prince Yi blinked in surprise and then frowned as Bi Lu and Bi Lo jumped in front of her with their hands on their swords.

Lei Xing took a deep breath to calm her racing heart as she quickly waved Bi Lo and Bi Lu away from her front to de-escalate the situation. It was obvious that she overreacted, all he did was touch her arm, it was not like he assaulted her.

But still, she did not recall giving him permission to touch her.

Lei Xing glared at Prince Yi, adjusted her tone and then calmly but coldly said, "Prince Yi, please keep your distance."

Thankfully the only other people in the area were a few servants of the Lei family passing through and a few guards stationed about. But this was exactly the kind of situation Lei Xing was trying to avoid. Before Lei Xing could storm off again, Prince Yi immediately cupped his hands and bowed, "I apologize." This got Lei Xing to stop in surprise, she did not expect an apology.

Prince Yi quickly continued, "I just got agitated because I wan-..." He glanced and saw Lei Xing's frown and quickly lowered his head again and swallowed the words he truly wanted to say. Instead, he said, "I just wanted to apologize...for my rash behavior and any trouble it brought." Prince Yi finished with a deep frown concealed from view.

He ended up saying what he thought she would have wanted to hear...but he was not sorry about what happened between them. He liked it...a lot. But just now she behaved as if his hand burned her and it annoyed him.

{...Is my touch really so unpleasant?...}

Lei Xing looked at the top of his head confused.

{...Trouble? It didn't really bring any trou - Well not for me anyway...For Chen You...and maybe you but...}

Lei Xing inwardly sighed. She did not understand why she was reacting so strongly to this issue either. It was really not like her to get so worked up over anything. But then again, nothing like this had ever happened to her before.

But still, it was as if Prince Yi just seemed to get under her skin and always rubbed her the wrong way. Being around him had always made her feel uncomfortable and this whole kiss incident amplified her discomfort level.

But regardless of her reservations about his character, she acknowledged that it was not his fault. While she believes that he should have been able to restrain his urges, she technically seduced him. Therefore, he was also technically a victim in all this. Moreover, he just apologized and so she could not dismiss him rudely.

Prince Yi raised his head and looked up at her and Lei Xing promptly looked away and awkwardly said, "Please stand. I-it's fine...It's - it's better- best, for one to forget past transgressions. It's all in the past and forgotten." She awkwardly finished as her ears went red with embarrassment.

{...Forgotten?...}

Prince Yi frowned, but said, "That's good then." He plastered a smile on his face as he stood up but that smile quickly brightened when he saw her red ears and lightly flushed cheeks. She was nervous and blushing and he considered this a good sign, she had not forgotten.

Lei Xing nodded, flashed a polite smile and swiftly turned to leave but then she immediately froze and sharply inhaled a breath. The Emperor was standing right in the entranceway, looking in their direction with an obscure expression with his hands behind his back.

{...What the hell is wrong with today?!

_<)...}

Lei Xing quickly regained herself and speedily went over to the Emperor's side and awkwardly smiled at him, "You came."

The Emperor drew his eyes from Prince Yi, who was now staring at him or was it perhaps Lei Xing he was staring at, the Emperor could not tell. He raised an irritated eyebrow at Lei Xing and asked, "Should I not have come?"

"Of course not, I was just about to come home." Lei Xing quickly supplied.

"Home?" The Emperor asked blinking at her with raised eyebrows, seemingly surprised.

"En, but if you want to meet my father or brother...or something - I can wait." Lei Xing awkwardly added as she lowered her head with knit eyebrows, still feeling on edge. Even if she did not do anything wrong here, his timing was just too unnerving and her heart was pounding erratically.

{...*Hehehe You've finally seen the light~ Definitely the right decision here. Finally! You have grown up~ *sniff*...}

Lei Xing frowned as she glanced down at her wrist to see the bracelet with the rainbow hue as Tung Mei had promised.

{...Please just leave me alone right now, this is not the time for you -_-)...}

Lei Xing heard the bracelet, Doctor Lou chuckle but then that was cut out when the Emperor pat her head and stroked her hair. She looked up at him to find him with a smile on his face as he looked at her. She blinked at him in confusion, not understanding this reaction. She had thought he was angry, he definitely looked angry when she came up to him, but now he was smiling? It was definitely confusing. 

"Let's go home." The Emperor said taking her hand with a smile and left as he sent a passing glance at Prince Yi. The Emperor could not be bothered with him, or anything else at the moment.

The Emperor left the Lei manor in a better mood than he arrived in with the awkward Lei Xing in tow.  As soon as they entered the carriage, the Emperor hugged Lei Xing and buried his face in the crook of her neck, closed his eyes and stayed like that. 

{...This cannot be a mistake...It's impossible for it to be...}

Lei Xing awkwardly hugged him back and when he did not move or say anything as the carriage rolled on, she went back to thinking he was angry. So she clarified the situation, "Um...he was just apologizing."

"En." The Emperor lightly responded.

After the Empress dowager had left the royal study, the Emperor tried to put the irritating encounter out of his mind. But he was finding it difficult to concentrate on anything and the palace was becoming increasingly suffocating. Eventually, he gave up and decided to go find Lei Xing. Only for him to come upon another irritating scene. 

He did not expect to find Prince Yi here and was definitely not in the mood to deal with him at the moment. And seeing Prince Yi talking to Lei Xing only made his mood worse. So rather than walking up to Lei Xing, he found himself simply watching them with a frown.

Ideally, Prince Yi should have been able to see him, but then it seemed that he was so engrossed with Lei Xing that he saw nothing else besides her. When the Emperor saw Prince Yi smiling at her, he felt his blood begin to boil. But then Lei Xing turned around and came up to him with crimson ears and reddened face. And the thought of her blushing because of another man echoed in his mind and further worsened his mood.

But just as he was on the verge of being consumed with rage, Lei Xing said she wanted to go home...to the palace, his palace, she called it home. And it was like she had flipped a switch in his mind.

Just those simple words from her were enough to put out the fire raging in him and relieve him of all the irritation and anger that had been building up in him. It was so easy for her to make him happy and he honestly did not understand it, but he reveled in it.

It was definitely the right choice to come find her. 

But Prince Yi was now quickly becoming another eyesore that he needed to get settled, and quickly too. But this one was complicated by the fact that the Emperor felt some guilt towards him. 

The Emperor frowned, Prince Yi was now becoming too stupid and reckless. Although the Emperor did not want to have to punish him...If Prince Yi continued to overstep his boundaries, then the Emperor will have no choice but to retaliate.

It was fine if he wanted to go down, but the Emperor would not permit him to drag Lei Xing down with him.

Lei Xing could feel that the Emperor was in a bad mood. There was the incident with Prince Yi, but she just explained it and he did not seem to care about it. So she felt like there was more to his mood. He had also agreed to stay back, but yet he turned up here. It was concerning, and so after a while longer of hugging silently, she finally asked, "Is everything alright?"

The Emperor sighed and then sat up and asked, "Where did he touch you?" He had actually not seen Prince Yi reach for her, but he had heard Lei Xing's words from outside as he was approaching the entrance. 

He instinctively recognized Lei Xing's voice and quickened his steps and was stunned to find Lei Xing and Prince Yi together. Then he saw Prince Yi bow and stopped in his tracks and just watched them with a frown. 

Lei Xing blinked and shook her head, "Oh, it was nothing. I just overreacted..." When the Emperor narrowed his eyes at her and she immediately answered the question, "On the arm, very lightly...I didn't even feel it...and he apologized...It's nothing."

The Emperor did not understand Prince Yi's apparent infatuation with his wife. He agreed Lei Xing was smart, attractive and adorable in every aspect, but she was his wife and they had spent a lot of time together. So it made sense for him to feel this way about her, but Prince Yi had only encountered her a handful of times. He could not possibly be in love with her...and even if he were, he should be smart enough to conceal and forget it.

{...I must have been going mad to have considered giving you to him for even a single moment...It's definitely impossible...}

"It was really nothing..." Lei Xing repeated as she studied the Emperor's face, he had just been staring at her arms with a frown. The Emperor looked at her face and then sighed and hugged her again, resting his head on the side of her head as he kept stroking her hair as if to soothe her.

Lei Xing hugged him back but was very confused. The Emperor's mood was very weird and it was obvious that something was bothering him. Lei Xing knit her brows and was just about to inquire again, when the Emperor quietly said, "The Empress dowager has returned..."

Lei Xing immediately went rigid.

{...Already? That quack said by nightfall!...*sigh* That doesn't even matter now. I completely understand now, that woman is definitely a cause for depression...Now I'm depressed -_-)'...}

Lei Xing let out a breath and rather than ask, she said, "She does not approve." She did not need to be told that the woman did not like her and would obviously disapprove of her.

The Emperor frowned and hugged her closer, "Her approval is irrelevant."

Lei Xing did not say anything in response as she felt her own mood take a dive. It was fine that he thought her approval was irrelevant. But Lei Xing doubted that the Empress dowager actually accept herself as irrelevant. 

Lei Xing was becoming increasingly uneasy with everything. But even if she wanted to, she doubted that the Emperor will let her withdraw. She glanced at the back of his head and inwardly sighed. Honestly, she was not sure she could even bring herself to make the request of him. He had literally pleaded with her for this and had been so happy when she agreed. She could not back out now.

What's more, she was feeling like a magnificent coward and it was highly irritating. First, it was Prince Yi and now the Empress dowager. It was not that she was cowering in fear, it was just that she usually just avoided all unnecessary things that were bothersome. Prince Yi, Empress dowager and the position of Empress all qualified as unnecessary and bothersome to her.

But...to the Emperor, it seemed all three were a necessary part of his life. And since he was now a part of her life, she had no choice but to deal with his bothersome attachments, however annoying they were.2

Lei Xing inwardly sighed again as her head began to ache. 

{...Prince Yi might be irrelevant...but this woman is definitely going to be a problem -_-)'...}

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