2 Their first encounter...or is it?

"There's a monster in Yu river!

Hurry up and find it....otherwise you all will get beheaded! "

Anxious servants were running to and fro. The inner court.... the outer court..... all of them were a mess. Concubines and consorts getting frightened, maids and servants dashing along the bank of Yu river. Some officials and generals also came out from the hall of Zui Gao to help searching the creature even before their discussion of state affairs came to an end.

This monster thing.... in reality, it all began with the white silhouette people saw in the water of Yu river. The first ones to saw this silhouette were two maids of the empress. On their way to the Phoenix chamber as they walked across a white stone bridge of Yu river, the two caught a glimpse of something like a giant fish or snake swimming past them under the bridge.

Almost immediately, they hurried to inform head maids and eunuchs only to get scolded so hard. No one believed or thought it was true up until the point there were more and more witnesses who saw that vague yet very suspicious silhouette of a giant creature in Yu river.

After confirming their suspicion, it only took some time for the entire imperial palace to be shaken by this sudden news and get into absolute chaos. Empress and imperial concubines were warned not to go near Yu river, any other lakes or ponds till the suspicious creature had been captured.

Even though everyone was rushing to search the monster, no one had any idea how to deal with or handle it even after finding it. Though no body mentioned it aloud, in each and every one of them, there already was the very same hunch. That creature in the water..... it must be a mermaid or a siren...

If it were the former, then there's nothing to be worried about. After all, most of mermaids and mermen were harmless by nature. In their heart, everyone was desperately praying for that unidentified creature to be a harmless mermaid.

Because if it were a siren, there's a high chance that their imperial palace would turn into bloody ground in next to no time.

Sirens were somewhat similar to mermaids. Just like them, they were half-fish, half human. But everything else about these creatures were absolute contrast compared to beautiful and delicate mermaids. They had the creepiest features a creature could ever possess. Their skin pale, sometimes gray, sometimes greenish..... in addition to their scary cuspid teeth, sirens also possessed webbed hands with sharp claws.

Unlike gorgeous lower half of mermaids, there were keen pelvic fins in sirens which were spreading outwards from their spine or from each side of their tail. With two powerful flukes and a sharp barbed stinger in the middle, it was with no doubt how dangerous these aqua monsters could be.

There never was a 'once' in the past they saw any giant aqua creatures like this in Yu river. Granted, there were many memaids and mermen captured in the palace to be killed for their precious body parts or to be adopted as pets by aristocrats.

But only small lakes or ponds were used to place them. This special artificial stream like Yu river in the imperial palace was used for fire prevention and drainage system. No matter how beautiful or gorgeous or graceful mermaids were, there's no way the emperor would let such a special artificial stream turn into a casual swimming pool for some petty creatures.

In fact, maids had already checked every single lake and pond to see if one of the captured mermaids or mermen had been missing. But the only answer was no. Every single one was there, in their own lake, in their own place... so it was clear the creature in Yu river... it must be an intruder...

Many eunuchs, servants were hurrying to find the creature in the water and hopefully subdue it after. But none of them couldn't spot a single trace of it anymore. In reality, it was just that the real culprit was swimming leisurely in a particular place of Yu river where no body dare to set a foot without a particular prince's consent. And that place was the garden of Hexie, a garden within the vicinity of the crown prince's mansion.

It was a lovely scene...a garden full of white and light pink cherry blossoms....At the touch of playful wind, some were dancing merrily whilst some lost their petals as they landed onto the surface of the earth or Yu river.

This grand garden existed behind the crown prince's mansion.... Zhao Yuze ..... he was the crown prince of this empire.... and also a younger brother of the current emperor Duan. It's not like there's no offspring to emperor Duan to make his younger brother crown prince of the empire. Yeah, there were..... but these potential princes were all disregarded by emperor Duan. Only Zhao Yuze was chosen to be officially crowned as a Taizi.

Such genuine brotherly love.... citizens said... but as to the truth and the real reason, only the two brothers knew.

"Your Highness..... your highness.... this subject was wrong. This subject was wrong. I won't do it again.... please.... please.... spare this lowly subject just for this once.... just... just this once.... "

Crown prince, Zhao Yuze, didn't even bother to spare the betrayer another glance as he gestured the general beside to finish the man.

Zhao Yuze had just come back from Zui Gao Hall where all the officials, princes and emperor discuss urgent state affairs, so he was still in his taizi court outfit. A graceful apricot outfit matched with his irresistibly charming appearance and dark black hair, citizens giving him a nickname "killer of beauty hearts" was indeed not without a reason.

"Your Highness..... Your Highness..... please spare me... please spare... general Wang, please don't..... please... please spare me.... I beg for forgiveness.... "

Seeing the general unsheathing his sword, the man crawled and hugged the leg of crown prince as he apologized pathetically with tears and snot. But after realizing the crown prince had no thought of changing his mind, the man changed his method. As a brainless official as he was, this man chose to threaten the prince, not knowing it was nothing different from seeking for his own death.

"Wait...Zhao Yuze! Do you think you can kill me as you wish? Do you think you can kill me without the emperor's consent? No matter what kinds of crimes did I commit I'm still a high rank official. You can't take my life just like this. You can't....

Who do you think you are to not even wait for the judgement of the imperial court? You are not someone with the most supreme authority in this empire. I wish to see the emperor and ask for forgiveness.

Just a crown prince bastard like you can't kill me casually.... just because you're a lucky bastard who got a caring brother like emperor Duan, it doesn't mean you can do as you wish.... wait... what!.... prince Zhao....No!!.... arghhhh.... "

Tossing his sword which had just cut the head of a petty official into the general's direction, Zhao Yuze kicked the bloody headless corpse away from his boots.

A lucky bastard?..... Without even knowing who the hell was the real lucky bastard, this stupid official even dared to compare him with his petty brother. If it were not for his generosity, that useless brother of his would never have a chance to experience the true luxury of being an emperor.

Their so-called benevolent emperor Duan was nothing but a shadow of Zhao Yuze in reality. Only prince Zhao himself was the one who possessed real supreme authority in this empire.

Splashhh.....

With mild alarm, Zhao Yuze turned around as a splashing sound of water came from the direction of a little lotus pond in the garden. Zhao Yuze was standing in the middle of a winding path of the garden. The so-called lotus pond was, in fact, connected to Yu river. And, of course, there would be fishes in it naturally.

But the noise from earlier was a bit loud. And it was something that came from movements of a creature obviously bigger than other fishes in there.

With light steps, Zhao Yuze walked over to the pond calmly, his two hands clutching behind the back. And guess what he saw over there. There was a person in lotus pond facing the prince with his snowy bare back. They have such gorgeous ebony hair, their skin even whiter than snow, their movements as graceful as a noble.

This person seemed to have troubles with something under the water. They were wriggling and struggling. Zhao Yuze was wondering what's wrong with it when he saw crimson hue tinging the surface of green jade- like pond.

So it was injured....

And that was when the other turned back and glanced into his direction. And at that moment, one human prince and one mer-prince met eyes.....staring hard into each other's eyes as if each was drawn into the deepest part of the other's soul...