191 Prince An

Outside the Fairy's Capital stood Chu Li, who gauged and sized the majestic and towering fortress.

It was an old town with a history of over thousands of years. The town had gone through many joys and sorrows, whether it be forming and tearing people apart, or the falling of family and country, but prosper and ruin marked the land.

The walls scaled hundreds of meters, much like a thirty-story building in modern times. The skies and the earth were enveloped by the massive beast, and the people that were enclosed within looked like ants from the top.

Moss filled the blocks that form the wall of the town, retaining the effects of the passage of time.

Chu Li stood under the town and looked around for a short while before bringing his horse through the town's gate, which looked like it could touch the clouds. The Head of Town Defence took one look at his waist tag and signaled to let Chu Li pass.

As he stepped into town, the hustle and bustle of the city flooded his senses. The shouts of vendors and noises of bargaining, the sounds of laughter, scolding, and many more rushed into his ears.

His horse slowly cantered through the crowd. After 2500 meters of travel, a tall and mighty town gate laid before his eyes — it was the inner town gate. It had such strict checking policies that ten and more guards stood there with sharp minds. All of them were veterans who had walked through the battlefields.

Chu Li had the waist tag of the Public House's Scribe so he was allowed entry without much issue through his journey. After three miles of travel, he finally arrived at the lofty Imperial Residence.

A plaque with the words 'King An's Imperial Residence' hung above the gate of the Imperial Residence. Each character that made up the plate glimmered brightly in its golden splendor.

The gatehouse was tiled with yellow glazed roof tiles, and red paint that coated the main gate scaled ten meters high. Moreover, there were rows of brass tacks that shined in brilliance. It was so bright it could even serve as a mirror.

Under the lofty gatehouse was four Protectors that were stationed there. Upon his arrival, Chu Li and his horse were met with glares filled with murderous intent.

Chu Li tied his horse to the hitching pillar right beside the gate and walked toward the stairs. He gave a fist salute and greeted the guards clearly. "I'm Chu Li, a rank 2 Scribe of the Yi Public House. I've been assigned to send King An a letter."

Although his voice was gentle, it slowly reverberated throughout the vicinity; almost the entirety of the Imperial Residence could hear his voice.

The four Protectors continued to glare at him as they were not too fond of how loud he was.

A small door to the side opened and a well-dressed middle-aged man walked out. He stood by the stairs and looked at Chu Li as he nonchalantly asked, "The Yi Public House?"

Chu Li nodded. "Yes."

"Pass the letter to me." The well-dressed man slowly stretched out his hand.

His face was clear as jade. He looked handsome with an elegant and refined temperament, like a middle-aged Confucian Scholar that was full of knowledge. It was completely unlike a person who tended to the door.

Chu Li sighed to himself as he thought, 'Even the concierge of the An's Imperial Residence was of such level.'

Chu Li took out the letter and walked up nine steps of stairs. As he stood in front of the man, he presented the letter.

After the well-dressed man received the letter, he lowered his head to look at it before he lazily continued, "Come in, since you're from the Yi Public House."

Chu Li fist saluted.

The man dragged himself through the small door as Chu Li followed his footsteps. However, Chu Li did not mention how disrespectful the man was as this was not the time to get agitated. If and when Chu Li joins King An's Imperial Residence in the future, he would give him a lesson then.

Entering the Imperial Residence, the well-dressed man signaled to call for a maid. "Arrange a guest room for this person from the Yi Public House."

"Understood, Chief Zhu," the delicate maid politely replied and greeted Chu Li after, "please follow me, Master."

Chu Li nodded and smiled as he activated the Omniscient Mirror to observe Chief Zhu. The moment he did that, he arched his eyebrows to himself.

The man was not the concierge. In fact, he was the Chief of the treasury to King An's Imperial Residence. Hearing Chu Li's introduction upon his arrival from the Yi Public House, he personally wanted to see how a Scribe of the Yi Public House looked like.

Hence, Chu Li followed the maid through an arch before they arrived at a courtyard on the other side.

Again, he activated the Omniscient Mirror to check on the well-dressed man. Chief Zhu went through the third entrance of the courtyard and arrived at a wide and empty courtyard, stopping below the white jade staircase. He reported politely, "King An, a Scribe from the Yi Public House sent a letter."

Chu Li saw it all in his mind — a middle-aged man, around his forties, sat in the study room of the central hall. The man's face was square and sickly yellow, along with a tall and straight nose. The man also had triangular eyes as well; an appearance that was quite common.

The man gently stroked his musketeer mustache. He looked like he was deep in thought as he stared at a scroll.

Chu Li smiled at the maid as he sat at the stone table beside the courtyard. He grabbed a cup of tea and gently took a sip. The man he saw was surely the Emperor's fourth son, King An.

The Omniscient Mirror also picked up traces from the wide and empty courtyard. Specifically, the traces of ten Grandmasters who were protecting King An in secret. Despite that, the level of these Grandmasters was not inferior to that of Zhao Qingshan and the rest. These Grandmasters hid in dark areas like statues, unmoving.

Apart from that, no other maid was present in the courtyard. It was only King An.

The prince put down the book and opened the window. "The Yi Public House?"

"Indeed," Chief Zhu lowered his voice, "it's a rank 2 Scribe, Chu Li. He's here to send the letter personally."

It did not matter whether it was the Residence, Public House, or Imperial Residence, most Scribes were rank 9 even though rank 2 was already an extraordinary rank. As the treasurer, Chief Zhu was only rank 4 but since the young fellow in his presence was rank two, he was a little jealous.

Nonetheless, rank 4 of the Imperial Residence was still far more honorable than that of the Public House's. So, he clearly had no need to bow to the fellow!

"Hmm, a rank 2 Scribe. It must be an important letter. Present it to me," King An calmly said.

Chief Zhu walked towards the window that was under the plum tree and presented the letter with both his hands.

King An tore off the wax seal. Slowly, he took out the letter and read it word by word. As he went on, his yellow face started to become gloomy and it scared Chief Zhu.

"Hah!" King An aggressively struck the window frame and laughed coldly.

Chief Zhu carefully raised his head.

King An scoffed, "Elder Zhu, your younger brother is dead!"

"What!?" Chief Zhu was shocked. He quickly asked, "Why!?"

"He was slain mid-journey!" King An continued as he coldly laughed. "Seems like I wasn't in their sights!"

Chief Zhu's expression turned gloomy as well. "King An, he was my only brother…"

"Enough. I thought that this was a pleasant task but it ended up as a one-way ticket. Who can we even blame?" King An impatiently waved his hand. "Wasn't it you who begged me to have your younger brother there?"

"King An, who did it?" Both of Chief Zhu's eyes burst with flames as he clenched his teeth.

"Young High Duke Xiao says that it was the work of Ren Public House!" King An coldly laughed. "We can only doubt his statement. Call the Scribe over!"

"Understood!" Chief Zhu replied with a deeper voice.

Chu Li activated Omniscient Mirror to its finest point in order to read King An's mind.

After Chief Zhu left, King An threw the letter on the table while coldly laughed and shook his head.

Chu Li was shocked as he furrowed his brows.

King An had put a few informants in the Envoys of his Imperial Residence so that they could send secret information to the Ren Public House. They had used the name of Ren Public House to kill the band of Envoys.

The one reason he did this was because he did not intend to marry Xiao Shi.

Having an allied marriage between the King An and a Public House was a big taboo, especially since she was already a princess. If she ascended to the throne, she would become an empress and the Yi Public House would have rendered the Imperial leadership ineffective due to the eventual lack of respect to authority. Then, controlling this would be very hard in the future.

More importantly, if he married the Lady of the Yi Public House, he would have no hope of inheriting anything; it would render his chances of becoming Emperor.

Yet he, as a King, was only one step away from a position of absolute power! The lives and properties of the people belonged to him! There was no reason for him to stop here!

The fact alone was enough for him to come up with many schemes to void the marriage. Killing the Envoys of the Imperial Residence was only the first step of many tricks up his sleeve. If none of it worked, he still had his ace in the hole. He knew that Xiao Shi had consistently poor health, if he said that she died because of illness, no one would find that weird and he would be able to cut off his relationship with the Yi Public House.

Chu Li sat beside the stone table with his eyebrows furrowed. He was filled with boiling anger.

It was no doubt that he was related to the Royal Household by blood for having such a cold-hearted nature.

The younger brother of the treasurer was simply a trick to divert suspicion away from him. He was willing to sacrifice the others without a second thought. With a temperament and heart like that, he would be a true disappointment to the people.

In comparison, Xiao Tieying, Xiao Shi, and Xiao Qi were like innocent children in the face of King An's schemes. They would not be qualified as his opponents even if they tried. Fortunately, Xiao Qi has the ability to read one's mind, so she could easily see through his intentions.

However, by the time Xiao Qi met King An, everything would have been a foregone conclusion. It would have been far too late.