On the first floor of the palace, the imperial doctor's room was provided. The head of imperial doctor and physician was required to stay in the palace in case an emergency happened. He was the one who treated Lixue's injury.
Dr. Sean was doing some work in the main room outside his bedroom when his door was knocked. He permitted the visitor to enter and was surprised to see Lixue opening the door timidly with his head slightly bowed.
He was wearing a set of women's clothing and Dr. Sean guessed that it was probably the most neutral clothing Lixue could find. He didn't ask anything as he knew the situation. More than half of Lixue's wardrobe was changed by the first lord into gowns and dresses.
"What's wrong, Prince Li? Please sit down. Is it your injury?"
Dr. Sean knew that this was the son of the first prince. Now that his father passed away, he naturally gained the title of a prince. He was aware that the people in the palace were abusing and bullying him, but there was nothing he could do to help because he was just a mere doctor.
The least he could do was to treat Lixue's injuries properly.
Lixue sat down in front of Dr. Sean. He looked up at the imperial doctor. In his past life, he was the only one who didn't join in abusing him. Although this doctor didn't help him much except treating his injury, it was enough for him to be dependent on Dr. Sean in his past life.
But in the end, this doctor betrayed him and injected him with drugs daily under his older cousin's order when he was thrown into the dungeon by his uncle after his uncle took the throne. This drug was made to heighten his pain and sensitive nerves so the torture he faced at the dungeon was 10 times more painful than the initial pain.
"Doctor… The wound on my forehead itch and uncomfortable." Lixue weakly said.
"Itch?" Dr. Sean frowned.
Is Lixue allergic to the medication? Or is there an infection?
There was actually a spray to close the wound almost instantly and it could heal after a few days, but the first lord forbid him to use it and so he had no choice but to stitch it the primitive ways. Fortunately, he studied ancient medical techniques and could perform them well. But now that there was a reaction on the wound, he became unsure whether he did it correctly or not.
"Can your highness lift your head? Let's open the bandage first. Please hold up your bangs, Prince Li."
Lixue did as he was told.
Dr. Sean's hand that was reaching out to the bandage halted as he got dazed.
Yesterday, when he treated Lixue's wound while he was unconscious, he already saw Lixue's face behind those bangs and he was indeed handsome. But now that those eyes were opened and his face was painted with emotion, his true charm was unraveled.
He almost didn't know where to put his hand and felt a bit panic to touch the prince.
Lixue could read Dr. Sean's thoughts from his face and not-so-subtle body reaction. He couldn't be more familiar with this kind of reaction.
"Doctor…?" Lixue softly called out.
Dr. Sean snapped out of his daze, "Yes, please wait a moment while I check the wound, Prince Li."
After the treatment finished, he thanked Dr. Sean and left. Looking outside at the moon, he could tell that it was around 9 PM. It was a skill he picked up from his past life. After all, he didn't have any communicator and could rarely saw the time.
He needed 10 people. 9 left to go. After that, he would need 100 people. There were more than 200 servants and 100 palace guards in this palace. He remembered each of their faces who bullied him, engraved in his mind. From small to significant grievances.
Tonight is going to be a festive night.
Let this cage be the altar for him to present his sacrifice to his lord.
At 11 PM, except for the palace guards who shifted their guard duty every hour, every people resided in the palace has gone to rest. In the dead of the night, the crisp clacking of boots resounded on the first-floor hallway heading towards the servants' accommodation building.
With every step, a surveillance camera along the path would glitch before becoming calm again. When Lixue walked within its frame, his figure wasn't shown in the footage.
He arrived in the servants' accommodation without trouble. The palace guard wouldn't bother to guard this insignificant place.
He quietly entered one of the rooms. In each room, there were 4 servants.
He narrowed his eyes as his lips widened into a demonic smile. What luck, all 4 of them owed him a debt.
One splashed him with boiled water. Done in both lives.
Two beat him up. Done in both lives.
The last one mocked him and called him a stray dog, which almost everybody did in this place. Done in both lives.
He would thoroughly make them pay and kill them. The worse their offense, the slower their death.
One of the sleeping servants was awakened by a sound. When his mind cleared a bit, he realized that it was a sound of laughter. A low elated laugh that was clearly a man's voice, but there wasn't any roughness in it.
He quickly sat up as he recognized the voice didn't belong to any of his colleagues. After he turned on his bedside lamp, he saw a man with his back facing him standing in front of the window.
"Wh-Who are you?!"
His roommates were shocked awake by his shout and also turned on their bedside lamps. Then, the closest one to the window saw the face of the intruder.
"Dog–" he swallowed his words as he saw the terrifying smile on Lixue's face.
Lixue glanced at him, and the servant shivered. But after recalling Lixue's status in the palace and how the royal family treated him even worse than a servant, his courage and anger from being scared by a mere glance emerged back.
"Sir Li, what are you doing in the servant accommodation this late at night? Wearing woman's clothing like that, we might misunderstand that you are delivering yourself to us." The servant maliciously said, knowing fully well that Lixue didn't have many choices in his wardrobe.
The other 3 servants laughed disgustingly while looking at Lixue lecherously. The dim light from the bedside lamps made them able to see Lixue's slender figure with elegant curves. They got to admit, even compared to a girl, Lixue's body was truly tempting.
Lixue adjusted his leather gloves and tightened the belt on them. Suddenly, the servant who just mocked him stopped laughing and looked as if he was choked by something. His own right hand moved to his throat and gripped it while his left hand pinched his nose tightly.
"Cough!! Kgh!! Ugh! Gurk!!" the servant coughed and gagged until his face became red and tears up.
The laughter stopped and the room fell into silence. The only sound was the servant's painful gag from suffocation.
"Hey, what's wrong with you?" the servant on the bed next to the choking servant wanted to get up and checked his colleague but then realized his body couldn't move.
He tried to struggle but as if his body was paralyzed and glued to the bed, he was as unmovable as a mountain. He then noticed a bone-chilling sensation which secured his legs down to the bed and held his entire arm, body, and head like an iron clamp.
The other 2 sensed something was wrong and wanted to get up, but they suffered the same restrain as their colleague. Then, they heard a giggle from Lixue.
"You stray dog! What did you do to us?! Let us go!! I'll report this to the prince!"
"Hm~ then all the more reason I shouldn't let go of you," one of the two servants who beat him up was pulled out of the bed and stopped in front of Lixue, "Just so you know, I'm not the type of villain that like to monologue before taking action."
Lixue bent his knee and clenched his fists. He condensed his demonic energy into his fists as he showed a crazed smile with his neck slightly tilted. His eyes were glowing red, and his pupil shrank into a slit. The whole picture was the embodiment of nightmare.
Without any warning, he landed a fast and clean uppercut right to the center of the servant's jaw.
The other 2 looked in horror as a chunk of cut-off tongue fell down to the ground and blood poured down from their colleague's mouth like a faucet. The punch was so hard that it cut off the servant's tongue when he accidentally bit it.
"Ah…! Ahh!! AHHH!!! GUAAH!!"
The painful scream of the servant in front of him and the other 2 fearful screams filled the room. It was music to his ears.