POV: Head maid Su min
LOCATION: The imperial Court
TIME: Late Evening - The next day
To say you were panicking would be huge understatement because as you watched the evening sun hide behind the clouds , your legs could not stop shaking as you watched the gate impatiently for you prince.
You are well aware that the queen dowager have given him to you to raise and you know full well the consequences should any harm come to him. However that was not what was causing the panic that was coursing through you. This was the only child you had ever since .....
"No no never" you cry
You throw that thought back to the darkness it belonged. This will not be like the last time. This is much stronger child.
Eventually the steps you hoped for walked up the cobblestones covered in rags, dung and blood.
"My prince! What in the world happened to you" you cry "hurry up and get some water for the prince"
You run towards him to take him inside but he stops you with an air that could not be disobeyed.
"There are twenty children outside who can bearely walk due to not having recieved their mother's milk. Find them cuddled milk and make sure to take care of them in any way you know how."
"But my prince you need....."
"The servants will take care of my clothes and bathing su min. I have use for these children and you are the only one I can trust to care of them. Get them settled in the outer apartments and come look for me"
So saying he walked into the palace
Words could not describe your feeling at those words.
Was this really the child you had raised all this years? How did he become so cold and callous?
You quickly shake that thought off your head as you take a brief look at reality
Was not luoyang a pit a vipers? The sooner the boy learnt to survive the better for him.
So saying you left to cater for the children that the prince had asked you to take in. Just like he said the children were malnourished and could bearly walk.
It took some time to get the children in order, feed them and assign them to suitable apartments. It also took longer to make absolutely sure that word of prince's outing will never go beyond the four walls of the prince's bedroom.
By the time you were you done, you were exhausted beyond measure but you still manage to change your clothes and go to your prince on shaky legs.
"You should have taken the time to rest you know." He says jovially "are your questions that important?"
"You come back covered in blood and rags with children who stink of grime and you ask me if I have questions?"
You quickly kneel to the ground
"My prince I will not presume to question your actions but can I please request the reasons for your recent actions?"
He looks at you with a look akin to pity and gently said
"In all of louyang there are three people who I believe can examine my decisions and question my intentions. You are one of them lady su so there is no need to kneel when speak to me.
You sit up and he stares at you with those sea blue eyes that seem to reveal so much and so little at the same time.
"You were aware of my outing correct?"
You simply nod
"Well I came to a slum in louyang called the crannies. The people there were good people but while i was there a group of soldiers under the command of certain lord yu zo came and demanded for taxes even though the harvest season is not present."
He then turned to you and asked"is this proper?"
Your sharp mind quickly discern that he was not just asking about the lord's actions but also about the law that governed China. To that end you reply
"Wether it was proper or not does not change the fact that, the lord acted withiñ his rights to demand tribute from his people."
"True but that did not mean I had to tolerate it"
You narrow your eyes as suspicion cuts through you like a sharp knife
"What did you do my prince?"
"I took two of my new friends, snuck in to his house and burnt down his granary and his guard tower, and on our way out we had to kill no less than three of his guards"
Words can not explain your shock as you stared at the boy who could not be above seven but yet spoke about death and murder so casually
"Heavens my prince, do you realize what you have done?" You cry out as soon as the shock wore off "what if this lord yu zo decide to take revenge on everyone in the entire crannies? What would you do then? Do you realize that you have put hundreds of innocent people in danger?"
"Why do you think I am telling you all this?" He reply with a gentle smile "before lord yu zo can take revenge on an entire farming district or slum as you can call it, he will need imperial permission. In order to get that permission I firmly believe he will come to my father early in the morning bearing gifts. He will ask about the emperor's health and make small talk. After that he will then state his real purpose for coming and it is then I will reveal to my father that I am the one behind his misfortune."
"And after that? I hope you don't think he will abandon the matter simply because you are an imperial prince do you?"
"Quite to the contrary I intend to buy the crannies from him"
"You want him to sell you a whole farming district in front of the son of heaven?"
"I will just have to be very persuasive "
"Persuasive? How are you even going to get the money to pay for a farming district?"
"You let me worry about that" He replied with a smile
You look into his eyes and you see a spark of certainty that is as clear as the noon day sun. This made you begin to wonder where in all of china could he have gotten his money from but you choose not to ask.
"That still dose not explain why you brought these twenty children here my prince" you say changing the subject
"Have you not figured it out by now?" He ask with a scrutinizing tone "I do not need to tell everything"
"I will never presume to know your thoughts my prince" you reply defensively
"Yes but you can presume to guess it. This is a privilege I will allow only a select few." He clarifies "so humor me su min, why would I want to take care of twenty malnourished children who have spent all their life knowing the nook and cranny of every place they enter and the pouches of everyone they encounter?
You smile gently with a raising pride as the answer comes to you like a touch from the heavens.
"Spies" you reply "you plan to raise these children as your personal spies don't you?"
He lightly nodded with a serious expression
"Every single maid in this palace are not just here to take care of me. They are also here to report all my actions to the empress He and the empress dowager are they not?"
You could only nod
"Well I am not foolish enough to believe that their scrutiny will get lighter as I grow up in fact it will get much heavier as I come of age"
"Is that why you need these kids? To counter any of the empress attempt to spy on you?"
"Not just the empress but spies from any angle. I will eventually have secrets and ni order to make sure those secrets remain my secret,I will need people who will be willing to do anything to keep my secret safe. That is where you come in."
"What will I need to do?"
He looks you dead in the eyes
"Feed them cuddled milk and make sure they are healthy in mind and body. After that teach them how to read, how to write, how to speak and deceive and most importantly how to fight and kill without remorse."
"I will see they learn these things personally my prince." You add with a raising voice"I will also make sure they are absolutely loyal only to you and willing to kill and die without the slightest hesitation in your name. You want a group who will protect you from the hidden blades in the dark and serve as a hidden blade against your enemy? I will make sure that this twenty will serve as a connerstone for the greatest spy organization all of china will ever know. I swear it."
This oath brought a smile to his face and he lightly nodded.
"Good see to it that everyone of them become vipers worthy of this palace. For after all when you live in a nest of vipers you must become a viper yourself." He said with finality and gave you signal to go
"There is one small problem my prince" He turns to look at you
"What do you plan to call them"
He thought deeply for a while and says
"I once knew of a fine warrior whose work was that of an assassin. He was so good that people feared him as the hand of death."
"What was his name?"
"Nobody knows but they knew the name of his clan"
"And his clan was called?"
He looked at you for a moment and said
"THE LIN KWEI