There was no way Jiang could stay in such a room, which was worse than a pigsty. Just being in there for a mere second made him feel sick and wanting to throw up.
The walls and the floor were splattered with blood, even the wooden sleeping bed was not spared. The whole room stunk of something rotten, fowl, and fishy. Jiang soon discovered the reason for that nauseating smell when he saw little lumps of excrement on the floor and smeared on the walls. There was also some food that was spoilt and rotten already, he was sure they were deliberately put inside the room, and splattered around, whether that was to be serve as some kind of weird decoration in this room, Jiang was the least bothered.
Jiang began to wonder whether he was actually at the Palace, or just dreaming that he was there. How could the great Tang Qin Shang Empire’s Imperial Palace have such a room? He was certain that even the Palace's maids and eunuchs would have been allotted better rooms than the one he was given.
Jiang might have grown up in the forest with no one for company but he wasn't so stupid and naive not to know when he was being purposely targeted and messed with. Besides, he had been the target of scorn for almost all his life so it wasn’t too difficult for him to ascertain that something was amiss.
He began to question what he had been told about the title of Empress elect. According to his father, Lei Yue as the Empress elect was to eventually become the Emperor’s true Empress. However, considering the kind of reception he was getting upon arrival, even the country bumpkin Jiang knew that someone with a supposedly prestigious title shouldn't be treated in such an abominable manner.
What Jiang didn't understand was why the Emperor would insult his Empress elect and eventual true Empress by making her stay in such a place. If he was going to treat her this badly then why choose her in the first place? Even after thinking about it for a long time, he still found it incomprehensible.
Jiang was certain that everything was arranged so meticulously according to the Emperor’s orders. None of the Palace's servants would dare act this way without being ordered to do so. Unfortunately, it was Jiang, rather than the intended target the Young Mistress Lei Yue, who was on the receiving end of such welcome! "It's obvious father knew something like this would happen to sister if she was to come here, and that's why he wasn't angry when she eloped with her lover. The Emperor is actually making an innocent person pay the price of whatever offense might have been committed against him by the Lei family. And father simply made me become the family’s scapegoat." Jiang inwardly berated himself.
"It might be that I was just being too paranoid. I don’t even know exactly what this was all about. However, as someone with the title of Empress elect, I shouldn’t have it too bad here, right?" Jiang tried to console himself. He was glad for one thing though. It appeared he didn't have to worry about not gaining the Emperor’s attention or favour.
Jiang knew there had to be more to the story of how the legitimate daughter of General Lei became the Empress elect. He sighed heavily. His days in the Palace might not be as easy as he had hoped for. But then he felt a little relieved when he thought he could just use the excuse of cultivation and hide indoors most of the time. Although, Jiang would soon come to realize how presumptuous his thoughts were.
Jiang believed he now understood why it took him so long to gain admittance into the Palace when he arrived earlier. The Palace's servants were probably setting up the place for him as a special welcome gift. Also he might not be changing the room anytime soon irrespective of what the guard had said about it being a temporary arrangement, it wasn't up to him to decide.
To be honest, the room wasn’t that bad compared to his previous dwelling place all those years in the forest. Jiang decided that it would be better to get to work and made the room habitable. Once it was cleaned up, it could even be considered a good room. With this positive attitude, Jiang became full of energy.
He went out and retrieved a wooden bowl he had seen outside the room and then went down to the beautiful lake he had passed by just moments ago on his way to this room.
Jiang scooped water with the bowl and then walked back to his room, completely unaware that he was being watched. He was like a tiny prey observed with keen eyes by a cruel big, bad wolf, eyes that were very cold and savage with fiery red irises and golden pupils that burnt like fire. Such eyes were really unique, intriguing, captivating, but at the same time, fearsome. They gave off the feeling of immense danger. If a person was to look into those eyes closely, they would notice that the pupils resembled the sun. Generally, when his emotions were unstable, this person’s eyes gave off the feeling of toxic volcanic lava. At other times, they were like sparks of fire with colours of red and gold. Right now, they were about to be ignited and danced in fury upon seeing the person who he believed was the Young Mistress Lei Yue, the beloved and pampered daughter of General Lei.
At times like this it was highly advisable not to look into this person's eyes because if someone were to look too closely for even a fraction of time, such a person’s eye sockets would ultimately get burnt. And if they dared to stare longer than a moment, then they could only blame themselves for their imminent demise.
"What is she trying to do with that bowl of water?" A sweet gentle voice asked. The speaker was naturally referring to Jiang.
"How should I know?" A husky and vibrant but rather grumpy voice full of disdain and malice replied. In the split second that he inadvertently let his power leaked out, the lady standing beside him was forced to her knees. She was a strong person and had outstanding talent. He felt that she might be the only female who rightfully deserved to be by his side because perhaps given time she could level up very fast. She had more talent than most people, and yet, she still couldn't bear even a little bit of his power. This further irritating him and made him wonder if his decision was right.
‘How disappointing!’ he thought. The situation with the Lei girl that had just left his sight and the one beside him made him feel even more vexed. He couldn't help feeling a little angry. After all, he had some affection for this lady. He wanted someone powerful and as of now, she was the only one to meet all his criteria. But he had to consider the possibility that even she might not be the last one standing when all this was over. The position of the true Empress wasn't something only he could just decide. If it was up to him he would have chosen her in a heartbeat.
He withdrew the power that had leaked out earlier, and after a while, she could finally stand up. If that had happened to someone weaker, like that Lei Yue person, he wondered what their fate would be. But then again, he didn’t need to think about it as he had almost immediately arrived at a conclusion. The Young Mistress Lei would have been crushed to death instantly, just the thought of that brought a cruel smirk to his lips. Nevertheless, he thought that he didn’t scheme for her to come all the way here just to let her die so easily.
"She is so weak, Your Majesty! I can't believe you made her your Empress elect." The sweet voice chuckled lightly. One could make out that there was a hint of embarrassment to her laughter.
"That General Lei shouldn't have gotten on your bad side, Your Majesty. Now his dear, lovely and precious weak daughter has to pay the price." She continued gloatingly. The man stood in front of her with his hands crossed behind his back, giving off an imposing air while glaring with hatred seeping from his unique fiery red eyes. After a while he signed deeply, closed his eyes for what seemed like a fraction of a second, using that time to control his emotions. That fiery and dangerous look was gone, replaced by a calm, emotionally detached look. Then he left silently, it was as if he was never there in the first place.
She had known him since they were small children, but she couldn't have said that she understood him. Sometimes, he acted so cold to her that she had doubts about her place in his heart, while at other times he would be so warm and loving making her believed that she must have accumulated great karma in her past life. He was very unpredictable and she had never been able to read him accurately.
She didn't care how badly she was treated because she was the one he chose, the one he wanted, the one he trusted to get rid of the present Empress elect and replace her. She would be the final victor, the only one that could stand by his side as his one and only true Empress!
"She actually introduces herself as the Empress elect! Is she that ignorant? Empress elect indeed! She is nothing more than a sick dog brought to the slaughter house to end its misery. There can be only one Empress elect, and eventually, true Empress in Tang Qin Shang and that position can only be held by me, Liang Na!" She huffed, staring with a vicious glimmer in her eyes in the direction taken by Jiang earlier before taking off in the opposite direction.
Jiang had been battling the stains on the walls and everywhere else for quite some time now. He first swept the rotten food and excrement out of the room before he began scrubbing the room, trying to remove the stains and the nauseating smell that was assaulting his nostrils. By the time he was finally done cleaning the room, it was already the early hours of the morning. He was so exhausted that he immediately collapsed on the hard wooden bed. In the time it took to blink an eye, he was out like a light.
As he slept unaware, a storm was brewing and his peaceful days were about to end. Of course, it was another matter that his days weren't very peaceful, to begin with anyway.
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