What type of person would not go to bed and plays music in the middle of the night? Either they are insane like myself or they are a main character, and if it neither of those then it would be a deeply unpredictable character!
The music didn't stop. Xiao Yu'an looked up at the stars, deeply in thought as he walked towards the source of the sound.
The male lead, Yan HeQing can't play music, so maybe it's the female lead — Princess YongNing?
Maybe due to Yan HeQing's injuries, he couldn't sleep, felt lonely, and decided to take a walk and coincidentally bumped in to Princess YongNing, then fell in love at first sight?
Wait, no. In the original novel, the two didn't meet like that.
Xiao Yu'an was curious, the parlor was within sight, but he stepped on a twig, making a noise.
The music stopped abruptly, Xiao Yu'an thought "oh no" in his head, and took a few steps forward. But someone rushed over as well, and they collided head on.
That person yelled for him to identify himself at first, but when he saw Xiao YuAn's face, he knelt immediately, "Your majesty! W-why are you here?"
Xiao Yu'an looked at him, his suspicions deepening.
It wasn't Yan HeQing, or Princess YongNing, but Xiao Yu'an knew him.
He was the guard that stood by him earlier today, the one who laid the hay down for him.
"Were you playing music just now?" Xiao Yu'an asked.
"It wasn't me," the guard nervously answered, "I came when I heard the sound as well, but I didn't see anyone suspicious."
His voice wavered, balling up his fists tightly, his eyes looking around aimlessly.
Xiao Yu'an knew that the guard was lying, but he was too lazy to bother searching for answers. Compared to the music, Xiao Yu'an was more curious on which character this guard was, "What's your name?"
Determining a character's nature with their name, because Xiao Yu'an knows the plot!
"My name? Doesn't your majesty already kno-…" The guard expressed his suspicions, but held back his question, cleared his throat, and answered, "Your Majesty, My surname is Yang, my name is Liu An."
Xiao Yu'an repeated it back to himself, "Yang LiuAn…"
It was as if a huge pearl rolled through Xiao Yu'an throat, then sank heavily in his chest.
Xiao Yu'an couldn't really remember a lot of the male side characters in the novel, but Yang LiuAn made an impression on him.
The original Emperor was gay, so naturally this made a lot of the female readers go crazy, thus, a bunch of terrifying texts flew around in the fanfictions section. Of course Xiao Yu'an didn't go through it, or get involved, but later, an incident associated with Yang Liu An blazed in the comment section below.
He died.
This guard was upright and just, it was one of the few people on the Emperor's side that just didn't fit as an antagonist. Later, the Emperor's tyranny incited anger within the common people and they encountered an assassination attempt while on a leisure trip. Yang LiuAn fought with his life, but ultimately died under the blade, his corpse cut into pieces.
But Xiao Yu'an didn't know if the plot would change due to himself, but he knew that Yang LiuAn's dedication towards him was unquestioned.
Conflicted, he took a look at Yang LiuAn, and reached out to him, "Stop kneeling already."
Yang LiuAn thanked him, and stood up, "Your Majesty, where are you going? I can accompany you."
"Nowhere, it's too cold, I'm heading back," Xiao YuAn replied.
Without a word, Yang LiuAn started to take off his coat.
Xiao Yu'an stopped him in his tracks "It's a not too far, the walk will warm me up."
Yang Liu An expressed his concerns on his face, but didn't insist. Not long after, as the two walked to the back of his chambers, Xiao Yu'an suddenly remembered something, slapping himself on the forehead and turning around to Yang LiuAn, "Oh right, go check out how the Southern Yan Prince is doing with his injury tomorrow for me."
"Understood." Yang LiuAn made a bow with hands clasped in front of him.
Xiao Yu'an nodded, then walked around the back of his chambers to the window. The two guards from before still stood there in shock, but upon seeing Xiao Yu'an come back, they both heaved a sigh of relief.
"Good work guys, go take a break." Xiao Yu'an waved his sleeves, and in the face of the three guards' stupefied silence, he once again climbed through the window back into his chambers.