380: Pool of Judgement

Pool of Judgement

"Okay...Let me get this straight. So you told your prince that your grandfather, the same one who has been ignoring you, is planning to break him out of prison. That's it, right?" Lei Xing asked with knit eyebrows.  1

"Not exactly." Princess Nalan said with a frown, "I just said that if your Emperor continued to be unreasonable, then that was on the table."

"Unreasonable being that he continued to refuse to release your Prince as your grandfather has been requesting in the letters that he has NOT been sending to the Emperor, correct?" Lei Xing asked again.

Princess Nalan narrowed her eyes and irritatedly said, "This is already embarrassing enough without you rubbing it in."

Lei Xing raised her eyebrows and innocently said, "I'm just trying to make sure that I have all the facts correct."

Princess was irritated with Lei Xing being so problematic about this, but she needed her help so she had to endure, "Alright. Now that you have all the facts, can we go?"

Lei Xing held her chin in thought for a bit, and then she said, "I still don't understand why you want to involve me in your shady AND illegal activity - Also, you really shouldn't be telling me these kinds of things..." Lei Xing advised.

Princess Nalan rolled her eyes, "How is it illegal when we didn't actually do anything? I just explained the situation, and you should know better than I do that my grandfather hasn't been writing to your Emperor - or has he?" She asked, narrowing her eyes with suspicion.

"No, not that I'm aware of," Lei Xing responded with a shrug, "But that's not the point here. You were discussing escape plans with our prisoner, intent is usually enough with these things."

Princess Nalan blinked a few times and then frowned, "If you tell your Emperor, then I'm going to -!" She stopped when she realized she could not actually do anything to Lei Xing without it backfiring tenfold given the circumstances. But she could not just back down like that, "I'll…" She started again as her already stressed mind became even more scrambled. She had not visited Prince Yi all week because of this issue, she was really stressed right now, and Lei Xing still wanted to make her life difficult.

This trouble all began three weeks ago when Princess Nalan visited Prince Yi and found him in a profound state of calm reflection. It seemed like he was suddenly experiencing all the feelings of being locked up all at once.

He was quiet for a long time and then started to talk weirdly. First, he spoke of how the flow of days no longer mattered. Then he leisurely told her of his new pastime, which was deciphering ways one could accomplish death in these limited circumstances. He had once heard of prisoners killing themselves and had recently become curious. He also mentioned that sleep was the only good thing in his life now because he could maybe visit the outside world through his dreams. 

If she did not know better, Princess Nalan would have thought he was drunk. He then asked her again if she had heard from her grandfather. Seeing him this way, she could not disappoint him again with no news, so… she lied.

She told him her grandfather had finally written back to her, that he explained he had not written all this time because of his illness, that he was not angry, and that he was coming to ensure that no one would bully them. She also went the extra mile and said that her grandfather had been writing to the Emperor to negotiate Prince Yi's release. And lastly, she said that he was ready and willing to break Prince Yi out of prison if the Long Emperor continued to prove stubborn.

After she told him all that, Prince Yi quietly stared at her for so long that beads of cold sweat began sliding down her back as she wondered if he had seen through the lie. But in the end, he nodded and simply said, "That's good" and went on to quietly eat.

After this, Prince Yi seemed more like himself in her subsequent visits, so Princess Nalan was happy. All was good until last week when Prince Yi suddenly mentioned writing to her grandfather himself, you know, to show gratitude and offer some advice, being part of his own rescue, something like that. 

Princess Nalan had told him she had a secure channel through Molin, so he had no worries about passing on a letter through her. Unable to come up with a convincing argument to dissuade him, Princess Nalan brought paper and ink, watched him write his letter, took it back with her, and has been sitting on it for the last week.

Seeing Princess Nalan looking about ready to implode, Lei Xing took pity on her and said, "Relax, I won't tell him, but I think you're overthinking all this. So he wrote a letter, burn it or even send it if you want. After all, it's not like your grandfather was actually going to respond anyway-"

"No!" Princess Nalan interjected, "If my grandfather ignores him again, then Shan will hate him."

"Good thing he's marrying you and not your grandfather. Trust me, the whole in-laws' bit is highly overrated." Lei Xing offhandedly said, picking up her teacup to sip.

"You don't understand. Shan needs to make a good impression on my grandfather." Princess Nalan said with a complicated expression. When Lei Xing did not look convinced, she sighed and added, "If he doesn't have my grandfather's support then... my brother's going to kill him, probably… Either way, it won't be good!" She said, not quite sure of anything these days.

"Prince Rui?" Lei Xing asked with a raised eyebrow. When they were together, it looked like Princess Nalan had him twisted around her little finger. So she was having a hard time envisioning that guy being the rage-fueled brother out to "redeem" his sister's honor.

"No, he's fine. He was initially unhappy but I managed to talk him down. He's the easy one, as long as I like Shan, he won't touch him. It's my first brother, Prince Houyi that's the problem." She irritatedly said, "I don't know why, but he seems to have gotten it into his head that Shan is trying to use me for - I don't even know. I have tried to explain things and even mentioned the whole banishment bit, but he really doesn't listen to anyone, not even our father! This is why I don't talk to him! The only person that can keep him in check is our grandfather. So you see why this is important? Look, you don't even have to say anything. I'll do all the talking, you can just stand there and nod."

Lei Xing blinked at her for a bit and then awkwardly, "Sounds very complicated...Ahh, I understand your dilemma... but I still can't lie against the Emperor for you. Me being his wife aside, lying with the Emperor's name is still a crime and ... Also, I don't think you've actually thought this through either. Even if I go with you now and corroborate this story that you were unable to deliver his letter because the Emperor caught you, this could still blow up in your face. Given the circumstances, odds are your grandfather's coming here to kill him or even you - I'm sure he's not actually coming here to kill you or him. No one really knows these things..." Lei Xing quickly amended before Princess Nalan could react. 

"What I'm trying to say is the best thing here is to tell him the truth. I'm sure he would understand, after all, the lie came from a good place. Explain everything about your murderous brother and grandfa - I mean, ambiguous grandfather. He may be upset initially, but he will get it eventually. Also, he really should be aware so he can present himself accordingly… If we deceive him now, it can cause bigger trouble down the road."

Princess Nalan frowned, obviously still not convinced as she said, "As an Empress, shouldn't you keep to your word. You lost, so you owe me. Besides, I've been doing everything you wanted all this time. Shouldn't you make some accommodations for me as well?"

"You've been doing all that for your own good, not mine." Lei Xing said. Tired of the conversation that was clearly going nowhere, Lei Xing rose to her feet, "This does not qualify as a reasonable request. Let me know when you think of something else."  With that said, she turned and left. 

There was no way she was going to go lie against the Emperor for someone else's benefit. If he ever found out - she would not be surprised if he already knew of this stupidity. Not that she was going to ask him, but he was sneaky like that.

Even if he did not know, Lei Xing stepping foot in that prison will alert him to the cause, and Lei Xing would have to explain herself and then come up with another lie to cover up for Nalan's. But there was no reasonable excuse Lei Xing could possibly give him for visiting Prince Yi. But of course, Princess Nalan did not consider that part.

It was unfortunate, but if Prince Yi's life was on the line, then Prince Yi should rightly work for it, or his partner in crime should do the work on his behalf, not her. Besides, the fact that Princess Nalan even asked her to go there in the first place really showed how clueless she was.

{...Some people just love digging holes ( ≖_≖)...}

Princess Nalan glared after Lei Xing's back until she disappeared down the steps. Then she grabbed the teapot, ignoring the pain of the heat as she hurled it at the top of the steps to show her frustration. 

Lei Xing heard the crash, sighed, and shook her head, "Escort the Princess back to her residence after she has calmed down." Lei Xing said to Princess Nalan's entourage and then left to see to her own business. 

Princess Nalan remained on the archery platform for a long time, shooting arrows to vent out her frustration. Although she was not sure whose face it was she was imagining on the target. Pretty much everyone in her life was behaving unreasonably right now, except for Prince Yi of course. Unfortunately, she had managed to complicate that all by herself. 

After letting out some steam, she started to realize that perhaps Lei Xing had the right idea - She unfortunately always seemed to. Yes, she lied to him, but it was for his sake. The man was contemplating death methods to pass the time, any reasonable person would be concerned hearing that. So it was natural for her to want to boost up his morale - even though now she was probably about to kill it. But of course, he still had nothing to worry about, he still had her... and she still had her family. 

No matter how angry they were, they would never abandon her - well, at least not all at the same time. If the situation in Zou turned out to be too cold, they could always go to her one of her sisters, they would gladly take them in. Actually, she was starting to think this was the best option for them to live in peace. Either way, as long as she did not abandon him, he still had hope, a lot of it. Therefore, there was nothing to worry about.

With this renewed confidence, Princess Nalan made her way to the prison to visit Prince Yi. It was best to get it out of the way now before she talked herself out of it. 

Initially, the guards tried to give her grief about her not being permitted to be there today, but she insisted that Lei Xing let her come, and thankfully, Lei Xing corroborated that story when a guard went to her. It seemed Lei Xing felt guilty about being difficult. With this, Princess Nalan decided that she would forgive Lei Xing for her selfishness this once. She really did not know how to stay angry for too long. 

As she got closer to Prince Yi's cell, she started to feel a bit nervous, but she steeled herself. She had to get this over with, she cannot continue to avoid him... she also missed him. 

Prince Yi's cell came into view and all her nerves instantly disappeared and were swiftly replaced with shock and fear. 

"Shan!" Princess Nalan shouted as she grabbed the bars, but Prince Yi remained unresponsive on the ground, "Hurry up and open the door!" Princess Nalan ordered, turning to the guards who had frozen in place in shock as well.

When the guard did not unlock the door fast enough, Princess Nalan kicked him out of the way and took over the task. She pushed the door open, rushed to his side, and turned him over to check what was wrong with him. Her breath hitched, and she froze when she saw fresh blood smeared on the side of his face where his face had laid in the pool beneath. 

"S-Shan...?"

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