Chapter 123 - Spoils Of War

Disfigurement was the best Rui Fei could offer his siblings for now. That's because he was considering Ji Yao's feelings but that didn't mean he was going to let them go forever.

Every day in that cage he vowed to slaughter each and everyone who had a hand in his predicament which included this grandfather and great grandmother of his.

Don't misunderstand him when you see him spend time with Ji Yao instead of revenging alongside his siblings. It's because he had a goal in mind. He wanted love as much as he wanted revenge but love came first. Capturing Ji Yao was a priority the rest will receive retribution soon enough.

The two siblings didn't have to lift a finger to achieve this. This torment was enough to pierce the brain and make them suffer till they lost their minds. As soon as the old lady's vision cleared up she saw Prince Rui right in front of her.

The overwhelming feeling of despair took hold of her as her mind took that dream she had convinced her it was reality. Unable to bear such hardship she abruptly stood up and rushed for the wall hitting her head against the hard surface.

A loud dull thud was heard as her lifeless body fell to the ground. The emperor who had just regain his sanity a little wailed as he crawled over to his mother with a grief-stricken face.

She lay there lifeless with blood flowing from the wound on her temple. Her dimming eyes were wide open as she breathed her last.

Rui Yewan walked over to the two of them and said, "Weak," staring at this old lady with an indifferent gaze. He jumped over her dying body and dragged his grandfather back by the collar.

"That didn't take long," said Rui Li as she got up from the table, "That's enough damage otherwise older brother will be angry with us."

Rui Yewan snorted coldly as he watch the man huddled on the ground shaking like a leaf. His face was stained with tears and his jade hairpin was almost falling from his messy head of hair. His appearance was nothing like nobility. He looked like a neglected patient from a psychiatric ward. Satisfied, the two of them left him like that and went on to do other things to uplift their mood.

The empress dowager was dead and that could satisfy their thirst for revenge for now. Meanwhile, across the continent, Prince Rui had been in a terrible mood after being treated like trash by that woman.

What made matters worse was the fact that he hadn't successfully found any of those keystones making it very unbearable for people around him. One wrong move and the person would be sent to drink Meng Po's soup at the bridge of forgetfulness in an instant.

Today he had just had one of his violent outbursts. The room was turned upside down like a tornado had swept by. The chairs and tables had been flipped over with shards of broken glass all over the floor. The torn curtains flattering with the wind were an attestement to what transpired earlier.

But the most horrifying thing in all of this was the lifeless corpse on the canopy bed. From body structure alone and the leg hanging at the edge of the bed, one could tell it was a woman. Her once beautiful skin was as pale as a sheet of paper clearly indicating that she was deceased.

Prince Rui was sitting by the window drinking something from a green porcelain bottle. His expression was dull and his eyes red. Ever since he left Qilin Hao he had been venting out his anger on everyone. It was only today that his subordinates brought another Nocru woman and after much persuasion he agreed.

He could make up for the lost children and have more. This was his line of thought. It was only that he had underestimated his wrath. While he was ploughing into her on the bed he suddenly imagined she was Qilin Hao and one could easily guess the end of the story from there.

He lost control of his emotions and sucked her aether dry of its seraphic energy resulting in her death. It wasn't as effective and good as when he robbed the seraphic energy from his children but it did improve his mood a little.

Just as he set the bottle down the door was suddenly knocked and a short man entered kowtowing before him. "Your highness we have received word from the..... AH!" That scream at the end was because the bottle had landed squarely on his face and lacerated his skin.

He had already made the mistake of screaming which could cost him his life. So he didn't dare make any sound though he couldn't do anything about the trembling.

Prince Rui glowered at him but he didn't speak any further. The servant knew he was granted permission to continue so he said, "Ji Wen's son took over the imperial city and found something precious underneath the empress dowager's palace."

The prince had been disinterested this entire time but this piece of news was a whole lot more interesting. It had grasped his full attention. He turned to look at him with a mindful expression on his face.

Seeing that nothing deadly was flying his way he continued, "It is rumoured they would be leaving the imperial palace soon."

Prince Rui had mixed feelings about this. He had wanted to take that throne all this while but without the backing and support, he might not have been able to keep himself on that throne for long. Now that someone had simply waltzed into the imperial palace and took over with little to no effort he found himself a little upset. To make matters worse it was a weak child he could easily kill with one hand.

If that kid didn't have the backing of powerful half breeds would he be running around taking over the imperial palace? If it were that easy then he would have done it a long time ago.

But on the plus side, Ji Yao's invasion had somehow given him an advantage. All he had to do was prove his father's incompetence to run the throne. He could argue that the continent needed an emperor who could prevent the Nocru from invading again and what candidate would be better than a half Nocru. He could supply the imperial city with enough latrion to bring down an army of half breeds.

Using this as an excuse he could run the continent. Satisfied with his decision he said, "Prepare the carriage... I have a kingdom to conquer." This was bound to succeed as his father's mental health was abnormal all thanks to the Rui sibling pair. They had helped their father seize the throne and they didn't even know it.

***

While Prince Rui was planning to take over from the spoils of war, Ji Yao had just boarded the ship when he noticed odd gazes towards him. Everyone seemed off like they had some sort of shared secret that he wasn't in on.

Normally he wouldn't care about their odd behaviour but when he woke up next to Rui Fei cuddling like kittens he had to wonder what was going on. He had drunk a little last night due to anxiety but he had little to no recollection of what happened last night.

As soon as he entered the Captain's cabin and sat down he heard voices coming from outside the door like someone was arguing. He thought they would immediately come in but none of them did.

They were quarrelling and arguing for a very long time until Ji Yao had had enough. He picked up one of his father's weird books and threw it at the door with a loud bang. The noises outside stopped abruptly and soon Lady Ching Sei, Big Hei, Xunshi Zhe and Old Du came in with weird expressions.

The four of them stood lined up like preschoolers preparing to make a presentation but none of them wanted to speak first. They suddenly started shoving and urging each other on.

Ji Yao had his head lowered opening up the maps and charts to get to the next keystone. He could hear the little performance happening in front of him but he decided to give them time to prepare themselves as long as they kept it down.

After a round of rock paper scissors which Ji Yao also heard, it was lady Ching Sei who got the short end of the stick. She was pushed forward against her will and cleared her throne nervously. Ji Yao finally raised his head and looked at her ready to hear her out.

"Ahem..... you uh, ahem..... sorry excuse me. You and Rui Fei... I mean isn't he a little too young? He is also a boy which is not necessarily a bad thing but.... he is Rui Fei.... I, I don't know how to explain it," stammered Lady Ching Sei looking like a vexed cockroach.

Ji Yao, "...."