Note:
Shuo Jin- First Prince
Hui Jing- Second Prince (Crown Prince)
Gua Peng- Third Prince
Gua Jiang- Fourth Prince
~~~~~
In the Royal Library,
"How was the first brother caught then?" the fourth prince queried as he moved towards his third brother.
"Maybe the palace maids were aware of it beforehand? They might knew about it and ended up informing about his sins to the Emperor." Peng stated.
"If he can kill his own blood brother for the throne then he might slaughter...." before Gua Jiang could continue his words, he was interfered by the Crown Prince.
"Enough! What are you saying, Jiang? He is our first brother and I believe he doesn't have such ill intentions toward us."
Moving his gaze towards Peng, Hui Jing warned, "Don't brainwash Jiang by speaking such rubbishes. It would be better if you focus on yourself more than others."
Then, he sauntered out of the royal library following by his general Li Chen behind him.
"Third brother! Have we really misunderstood Shuo Jin?" Jiang asked as he was taken aback with what Hui Jing said just now.
"More than that, I am amused on why the second brother suddenly started defending the first brother?" Peng raised his concern, smirking as his eyes followed the direction Hui Jing was heading to.
~~~~
As Anchhi was about to finish her tour to the palace, her feet halted as she reached the courtyard, seeing a terrible scenario in front of her. Her eyes fell on one of the maids who was getting beaten mercilessly by another maid. She flinched her brows in dismay!
Bending down that maid was being thrashed with a whip which made her bleed excessively.
"Stop this inhumane act." Anchhi shouted while stepping forward. Hearing her call, that maid stopped for a second.
"What did she do so wrong for you to beat her like this?" she defended.
"Who are you to meddle in my affairs?" a squeaky voice was heard from a woman who was adorned in a pink silk-fabric Quju. She had dazzling pair of eyes but her mouth spoke foul. Having a dominant and prevalent personality, she was YanYan the one and only princess of Gua Empire and the precious daughter of the Emperor and the Empress.
Court Lady Ming and Shoumen immediately bowed, seeing the Princess appear before them. "Young Miss! Please do not intervene on Princess's matter." Ming whispered on Anchhi's ear while tugging her back.
"Princess?" Anchhi furrowed her brows. "Being a royal, how can you inflict such degrading treatment upon her?" she bursted.
YanYan stepped ahead and sighed with a stern expression, "I am in charge of running this household. I saw her stealing that's why I am punishing her, simple!"
"Punishment... My foot! She is a human too and torturing her relentlessly is not acceptable." Anchhi indignantly said, making an eye to eye contact with YanYan.
"Why are you showing compassion towards this maid?" YanYan lightly chuckled. Then the creepy smirk no longer plastered over her face and soon it turned into a malicious one. "Whip her again." she roared.
"I said stop..." interjected Anchhi, stepping in front of the injured maid.
"This is disrespectful! You are getting on my nerves." pursing her lips, YanYan sneered.
"You don't have the authority to punish her. It's upto the court to decide the punishment. More than that, you need enough proof to show her as the culprit." Anchhi declared rigidly while helping the maid stand on her feet.
YanYan threw satirical laughter and then raised her eyebrows saying, "Do you think I am here to make a fool of myself?"
"I was not.... stealing." the injured maid sounded shaky which distracted YanYan's attention, making her gaze averted at the maid.
Glaring her pair of eyes on that maid as if they would gobble her up at anytime, YanYan spoke, "She is a mere maid and after what she has done, she deserves to be treated on such way."
Then, she walked forward to grab the maid's hand and that's when Anchhi stuck her foot out and tripped YanYan. As a result, she knocked against Anchhi's foot and fell flat to the ground.
"If you don't know how to treat people with respect then that place is definitely one for you." Anchhi asserted, her gaze looking down at the fallen princess.
"You wench! How dare you act this way in my household." YanYan immediately stood on her feet before throwing her palm on Anchhi.
"Wench?" Anchhi gripped YanYan's wrist. She then twisted it around her back that made YanYan moan in pain.
"What is all this commotion?" a voice interrupted out of nowhere. When the Princess and Anchhi found the presence of Hui Jing among them, they both became quiet.
Anchhi loosened her grip that freed YanYan and she immediately ran towards her brother.
When Anchhi saw the Crown Prince, her eyes also didn't spare the two Princes coming from the Royal Library, who were Gua Jiang and Gua Peng.
"This maiden dared to lay hand on me, brother... Punish her." YanYan hid behind her brother.
Anchhi was taken aback from YanYan's words. "What a shape-shifting snake you are!" she chuckled. "Everybody saw you were dominating, torturing this poor maid and now you are making me wrong in front of them?"
"Don't listen to her brother. She had tripped me over her feet and even twisted my hand. You can see the finger marks around my wrist, brother. See! My dress is also stained from the dirt." in a meek voice YanYan asserted showing her stained dress and her wrist to her brother.
"Haissss!!! I should have kicked you instead of tripping you over my feet. It would be so fun to watch." Anchhi humored, folding her one arm and another hand resting on her chin.
The Third Prince and The Fourth Prince who appeared to witness the catfight, couldn't hold their laugh and finally bursted out.
"How funny of you! You are such a bold lady to talk head to head with our princess." Peng praised while holding his laughter.
"Indeed. You are the first one who made our princess shut her mouth." added the Fifth Prince. Hearing this, YanYan bored her gaze on Gua Jiang who realized the purpose of her long stare and clearing his throat, his expression's went calm.
As Hui Jing stood tall like a tower between YanYan and Anchhi, it didn't matter to him on who was wrong and who was right. For her sister, he knew how expressive she could be as she was pampered and spoiled by the emperor and the empress. While for Fei Jia, he was surprised to see her in the palace. Moreover, Hui Jing was amused seeing her argue obstinately with YanYan.
As long as he remember, Fei Jia wasn't the one who would care whether anybody lives or dies but the Fei Jia in front of him, really took stand for a mere maid and fought for righteousness. She had really changed and become a witty conscientious woman.
Everybody present there was waiting for Hui Jing to put his opinion forward regarding this matter but he suddenly held Anchhi's hand and took her away from that chaotic place.
Seeing the Crown Prince's gesture, YanYan stomped her feet hardly on the ground and mumbled, "I will make sure you regret this moment, you wench!" Then, she walked aggressively following by her two maids behind.
"That lady was really tough, wasn't she?" The third prince said while his eyes stuck on the direction where Hui Jing and Anchhi headed.
"I guess she will be a good competition to our arrogant princess." The fifth prince chuckled.
~~~~~~
Watching all this scenario from beginning to the end was our beautiful Crown Princess, Bao Zhu who was the legitimate wife of the Crown Prince and the future Empress of Gua Empire.
She stood in the palace's passages from the moment the drama started to unfold. She clenched her jaw along with her fists tightly as it made her blood boil seeing Hui Jing take Anchhi from there.
With her heart filled with detest towards Anchhi, she turned around and left for her chamber.
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Did you enjoy their catfight? Comment down<3