Li Imperial Palace
" Princess, you lied to me once and you're doing it again. What are you hiding from me this time?" I asked the princess angrily.
"... I'm not hiding anything from you!" Princess Li Mei replied reluctantly.
" I won't leave until you tell me what you're hiding from me!" I said to the princess while gazing at her.
"Ying Yue, please believe me! You have to trust me! Nothing's going on!" said the princess speechlessly.
"Trust you? Sure, why not?" I said questionably.
"Thank you, Ying Yue! Thank you so much for believing in me!" said the princess thankfully.
" Make eye contact with me!" I said to the princess.
My request shocked the princess and she lowered her gaze from me. That attitude of hers proved to me that I was right in doubting her. She was hiding something from me. I didn't know what, but the only thing I could tell for certain was that it wasn't something trivial.
" Huh!" the princess reacted shockingly.
"You're not hiding anything from me, right? If that's the case, you shouldn't have any problem looking at me in the eyes, right? Look straight into my eyes and tell me that you're not hiding anything from me. If you manage to do that, I promise to believe everything you say from now on" I said to the princess.
The princess was unable to look at me straight in the eyes which confirms my suspicions on the same occasion.
"You can't right! Your action only proves one thing: I was right from the very beginning. First, you lied to me about your stupid brother, the emperor, and at this very moment, you're telling another lie right to my face. Something might have happened to Wei, which explains you lying to me. Tell me what happened to Wei as I don't believe the lie you told me about him being on a vacation" I said to the princess.
???
" You won't talk, huh? Fine, keep silent if you so wish to! I'll find out the truth eventually and when that happens, I won't spare the culprit. I'm going to the bathroom!" I said to the princess and left for the bathroom.
"What am I going to do? I won't be able to hide the truth forever!" said the princess while falling on the ground.
Hua Pavillon
" What brings you here, my friend?" Concubine Chu Hua asked questionably.
" It was you, wasn't it?" Concubine Ah Lam asked angrily.
"What do you mean? What did I do?" asked Concubine Chu Hua questionably.
"Don't play innocent with me! You know exactly what I'm talking about!" said Concubine Ah Lam.
"I don't understand your codings at all! If you can't talk clearly, leave my Pavillon at once" Concubine Chu Hua replied.
"You want to play this game with me, huh? Fine! I'll speak your language, so you'll understand me. I know what you did! I know you're behind Prince Li Wei's disappearance" said Concubine Ah Lam.
" What did you say? Prince Li Wei disappeared? How is his majesty? Is he okay?" Concubine Chu Hua asked Concubine Ah Lam questionably.
" Stop that and tell me where you've to hide him?" Concubine Ah Lam ordered her.
" Why? Why do you always come to me first when something bad happens? I have nothing to do with Prince Wei's disappearance. I'm not as cold-hearted as you think I am. I would never do something so cruel like that to Prince Li Wei. He's his majesty son and I don't hate him, so why would I harm him?" Concubine Chu Hua asked Concubine Ah Lam questionably.
" Right! I almost believed your rubbish. You're a very good actress. Where did you learn to act this well?" Concubine Ah Lam asked Concubine Chu Hua angrily.
"We have nothing more to say to each other. I already said all I wanted to say to you. You may leave! I'm tired!" Concubine Chu Hua said in irritation.
"I'm leaving, but before I go, I have a piece of information you would be interested in knowing," said Concubine Ah Lam.
"What?" Concubine Chu Hua asked questionably.
" Ying Yue is here," said Concubine Ah Lam smiling.
" Ying Yue? What is she doing here?" Concubine Chu Hua asked in disbelief.
"She came to work obviously! See you soon, Concubine Chu Hua!" Concubine Ah Lam said by waving goodbye to Concubine Chu Hua.
"What is she doing back here? I need to get rid of her quickly! She could be a problem for me!" said Concubine Chu Hua to herself.
Li Imperial Bathroom
" They're hiding something from me for sure. What happened to Wei and who's responsible for it? I need to find out the truth on my own, but how? Where to start? Isn't that Wei's room right there in the corner?" I thought to myself.
Prince Li Wei's Pavillon
" I still remember the last time I was in this room. He was just here when I patted his head for him to go to sleep. I also remembered it was his first time showing his true feelings towards me. I'll never forget that day as it's still very flashy in my mind" I thought to myself as I sat on the bed.
Flashback
Li Imperial Kingdom
" Prince Wei, it's getting late. I have to go. See you tomorrow, Prince Wei!"
Prince Li Wei(Scribble): Wait! Don't go! Stay a bit longer!
" Sure, Prince Wei! If you want me to stay, I'll stay".
Present time
It was the first time Wei asked me something. It made me very happy, but after that, I had to leave him all alone. I better leave this room at once. As I was about to leave, I noticed something under the pillow. I advanced towards it and picked it up. It was a letter written by Wei and what was written inside shocked me to the bone.
Li Imperial Study
" What's bothering you, Mei? You look very pale like you've seen a ghost" asked Empress Dowager questionably.
" Don't worry about her, mom! She must be thinking of a way to contact the police!" said Emperor Li Jun.
"It's not the time nor the place to joke around. This is a serious matter, so take it seriously. Don't act the way you did the other day!" Princess Li Mei said angrily.
"What happened the other day? Answer me?" Empress Dowager asked her children questionably.
" I'll tell you everything, mom! I can't lie to you" Princess Li Mei spoke.
Princess Li Mei narrated the whole story to their mother. She tells her everything that happened that day.
" My foolish son, what have you done? If Wei heard you that day, that would explain his behavior these past few days" Empress Dowager said in disbelief.
"His behavior? What exactly do you mean?" Princess Li Mei asked questionably.
" The other day, about three days ago, Wei asked me questions about his father. He wanted to know why he never met him. By his interrogations, I could feel his pain," Empress Dowager replied.
"It's not that surprising! Just like you, mom, he also asked me questions about his dad. He asked me questions about the dad he never met for five long years. He wanted to know if he was loved or not and I couldn't answer him. I couldn't say anything. I was petrified. As if that wasn't enough, Ying Yue learned that terrible secret. I have no idea how she found out the truth, but she knows everything" Princess Li Mei said speechlessly.
"She found out everything? How can you be certain of that?" Empress Dowager asked her daughter questionably.
"The other day, she left a note for me. The note said that we needed to talk. Today when she was questioning me, I could feel the anger in her voice and her words" Princess Li Mei replied.
"She's here?" Empress Dowager asked her daughter shockingly.
"Yes, she's here, mom. She came to work. She asked me a bunch of questions that I was unable to answer. I tried my best to convince her but to no avail" Princess Li Mei replied.
"Where is she now?" asked Empress Dowager.
"She went to the bathroom! She should have been back by now" Princess Li Mei responded.
"Why do you all want to convince her? She's not part of the family. She shouldn't meddle with our family matters" Emperor Li Jun said suddenly.
Just at that moment...
" You're right about that, your majesty!" I said.
"Who are you?" Emperor Li Jun asked questionably.
" I'm your worst nightmare!" I replied.
"Ying Yue, this is not what it looks like!" Princess Li Mei spoke suddenly.
"What does it look like then, Princess Mei?" I asked the princess questionably.
"We were just about to call Wei and check on him," Princess Li Mei said reluctantly.
" Call him? Tell me where he is? I'll go and fetch him myself!" I replied.
"We don't need your help. We can do it ourselves. You're just a nanny here. Never forget that! Know your place!" the emperor yelled out.
Li Imperial Entrance
"This is the place. It's gigantic! To think that Yue is working here, she must be so happy working here" Ying Jie said in amazement.
" This was still the case a few minutes ago" Concubine Ah Lam appeared in front of Ying Jie.
" Have we met somewhere before?" Ying Jie asked the young lady questionably.
" I don't believe so! This is the first time we met!" Concubine Ah Lam replied.
" About what you were saying earlier, what do you mean?" Ying Jie asked questionably.
" It will be too long to explain. Come and see for yourself! It's this way!" Concubine Ah Lam replied.
Li Imperial Study
Inside the imperial study, things weren't looking that good.
My anger was at its maximum. In front of me was standing the so-called emperor of the Li empire, Wei's father, and the man responsible for all the mishaps he endured in his life. I made a promise to myself. I promised myself that when I found the culprit, I wouldn't have any kind of pity for that person. To think that person is the emperor himself is even more shocking. Whatever! He's the emperor, so What? That doesn't give him the right to treat a child this way. He deserves punishment and I'll give him that punishment. I'll do him that favor as no one took this responsibility. I didn't know if what I was about to do was the right thing to do or not, but at that particular moment, all I could think about was Wei and no one else. I didn't even realize at what moment I raised my right foot and kicked him. As he tried standing up, I slapped him thrice.
" What do you think you're doing to my son? Are you okay, Jun?" Empress Dowager said in anger.
She went to her son's aid. She was hurt as she saw her son in pain. The emperor tried reassuring his mother for her not to worry.
" I'm okay, mom! There's no need to worry! It doesn't hurt at all!" Emperor Li Jun said to his mom.
"I'm not done with you yet! You'll pay for what you've done to Wei!" I said angrily.
" Calm down, Ying Yue! You've got every reason to be angry. I can understand your anger!" said Princess Li Mei.
" No, you don't! If you did, you would have informed me sooner. If you had done so, the situation would have been different" I said angrily.
"You're right! I'm sorry!" Princess Li Mei said sadly.
I went over to the emperor still lying on the ground and grabbed him firmly.
"What do you think of yourself? Do you think you're a good emperor? Answer my question? Answer me?" I asked questionably.
" Let go of my son!" Empress Dowager shouted.
Just then…..
"Yue, let go of him! Let go of him!" Ying Jie shouted.
Hearing my brother's voice makes me come back to my senses and I let go of him.
"You're here Jie! What are you doing here?" I suddenly asked my brother.
" You forgot your lunchbox! What's going on here?" Ying Jie asked me questionably.
"Wei is missing and the one responsible for his disappearance is the emperor" I replied angrily.
" How can you blame my son?" suddenly said the empress.
"The son you're so proud of is a failure as an emperor, a son, a brother, and a father. He failed in all of them" I replied.
" How dare you?" the empress shouted.
" Calm down both of you! Yue, do you have proof of what you're implying? These are serious accusations!" Ying Jie said seriously.
" I have proof! I have a letter which proves my allegations" I replied.
" A letter?" Princess Li Mei suddenly ask
"Yes! A letter was written by Wei himself!" I said while everyone except my brother looked at me shocked.