The Villain's Foremost Treacherous Courtier - Chapter 3

For the next hour, I looked left at Liu Bing, then right at Shen Ji.

I covered my mouth and giggled like an idiot.

Then I turned my head back and forth again.

At last, Shen Ji stopped playing with the dagger in his hand and looked up.

Full of anticipation, I prepared to enjoy his first flutter of attraction toward Miss Liu Bing and his awkward attempt at conversation.

Instead, he stared at me.

“Has your backside sprouted fur? What are you wriggling for?”

“Brother! How can you speak to my savior like that?”

“Yours has too! Hairy little monster!” Shen Ji treated everyone equally.

The princess glared at him, then pouted and silently shed tears of hurt.

He looked at me without a flicker of emotion. “This is all your fault. You’ve made Her Highness cry. Apologize to me at once.”

“Huh?”

“She’s disturbing me. Naturally, you apologize to me. Well? Go on.”

Shen Ji tapped my forehead as if he were flipping a switch.

I immediately clasped my hands. “Your Hiiiighness! Your extraordinary bearing, your magnificent presence—one glimpse leaves us sighing in wonder, sighing at our own insignificance, struggling to catch even a glimpse of your back! Other people stay off the hunting grounds because they’re clumsy and lazy. But you, Your Highness, stay away out of excessive modesty! You fear your grace would dazzle everyone, your beauty would send the animals fleeing to their caves in shame!”

Liu Bing’s hand abruptly trembled as she took the princess’s pulse.

The princess, still sniffling and wiping her tears, gave a sobbing hiccup.

The emperor, who had been demanding to meet that “brave servant of the Prince of Yan who protected the princess,” happened to arrive just then.

He heard this torrent of flattery and stopped in his tracks.

The wariness in his face vanished. Without hesitation, he told Shen Ji, “Fifth Brother, you must make ample use of such a fine talent. Whatever you do, don’t give her to anyone else.”

His Majesty had such an eye for talent! My heart warmed.

I immediately dropped firmly to my knees.

“Your Maaaajesty!”

Before I could begin, the emperor waved me silent.

“Don’t direct it at me. Just keep praising the Prince of Yan.”

His refusal was decisive, as though one more sentence from me might herald the fall of our dynasty.

Shen Ji merely nodded, unconcerned.

“Fifth Brother, now that I think of it, why have you not taken even a single concubine after all these years? How about this? I’ll make the arrangements and give you a beauty.” The emperor beckoned Liu Bing over.

Suppressing her feelings, Liu Bing lowered her head and pressed her lips together. She knelt, but her posture remained stubborn, like a little white lotus of the purest, loftiest kind.

In the book, Shen Ji and Liu Bing had fallen in love after marrying. Eventually, when Shen Ji was about to raise troops and force the emperor’s hand, Liu Bing informed on him.

To emphasize the villain’s cold brutality, the author had Shen Ji viciously kill Liu Bing.

But that very same day, his rebellion failed and the male lead swooped in to reap the benefits.

Since Shen Ji had killed the emperor, the hero was spared the sin of murdering the good sovereign who had once appreciated and promoted him.

The male lead ascended the throne and married the empress.

Shen Ji’s head was cut off and hung at the city gate, and he was buried with Liu Bing.

Misery piled upon misery.

Thinking of this, I couldn’t help looking at him with sympathy.

Shen Ji glared at me as if he’d seen a ghost.

Then he told the emperor, “Thank you, Your Majesty. I have no need of a concubine at present.”

The blunt refusal was a real slap in the emperor’s face.

He smiled. “Fifth Brother, I have your best interests at heart. You’re unwilling to have anything to do with women. Could it be… that those savages in the south forced certain unspeakable tastes on you? I wouldn’t wish to interfere, but the honor of the imperial family is at stake. Don’t make our late father’s spirit ashamed of you.”

Good grief. Even ancient people indulged in snide insinuations about men preferring men?

At this point, even if Shen Ji didn’t want to agree, he had no choice.

Otherwise, the sordid rumors would be taken as fact.

But instead of getting angry, he chuckled, madness curling even at the corners of his eyes.

“Your Majesty seems very curious about my experiences in the south. I did indeed suffer greatly. Those tribesmen mistook me for Father. Only when they stripped off that imperial armor did they discover I was merely an unfavored prince. They tied me to a stake, left me under the blazing sun, whipped me, and even sliced flesh from my arms with little knives. They roasted it piece by piece, then fed it to me when I was on the verge of starving to death…”

“Stop!” The princess clapped her hands over her ears and screamed, cutting him off.

Shen Ji stared at the nauseated emperor and the terrified princess.

He gave a soft snort.

It was so quiet that only I could hear it.

“Then, Your Majesty, I shall take my leave.”

Shen Ji and I rode in silence.

Suddenly, he caught my sleeve and tugged. I nearly toppled against him.

His lips pressed close to my ear. As though he were desperately fighting some battle with himself, he whispered, “They didn’t violate me. I’m clean.”

His breath brushed my ear, and I shivered.

“Your Highness…” Praise almost slipped out by instinct. But when I looked up, I saw a complicated, secret grief in his eyes.

I swallowed the false flattery and told him softly, with all sincerity, “I believe you, Your Highness.”