Chapter 8: The Twisted Hearts

Content Warning: Slight mentions of rape and violence.

The nobles had settled in and had sat down on their seats inside of the elegantly decorated Grand Hall. Each one of them caught in awe and jealousy with how glorious the Jian palace looks like.

The ceiling hung hundreds of glass lanterns that lighted up the whole hall yellow in the middle of the night. The proud amount of excellent food were impressively laid in every table possible to give the nobles a delightful dinner.

Each of the food choices were also in the suggestion of Jian Li who organized the venue in his father's blessing which gave the nobles a wide variation of food that they could choose from that would suit their taste; all so they could spend a comfortable and enjoyable night.

There were many seafoods that were presented on the table as their kingdom is the land with most abundant in resources regarding of water. The Jian is known for their dominance on their territory for seas, rivers, and many lakes, resulting wide catch of shrimps, clams, fishes, octopus, lobsters and other aquatic foods.

There were freshly cooked and smoking monstrous red lobsters and crabs served on a table, their tables are filled with mouthwatering food in huge amounts as for their belief that the more food there is on a noble's table, the wealthier and powerful they are.

Roasted pork and their rare but really juicy beef meat are served sizzling hot in front of them. And of course, healthy dishes such as salads and shiny green vegetables were also included in the menu.

Sugary desserts like pastries, pies and cakes all had rich cocoa coatings, fruits like strawberry are dipped on a bowl of fresh slick honey, and other types of sweets were busily served for children and teens having sweet tooth.

Lastly served were the refreshments for the adults, like the slow burn blood-red wine, white wine, some deadly strong ass wine, and as well as the other varieties of colors of drinks that gets your throat on fire.

Glass pitchers containing perplexing substances in colors of white, violet and blue were placed on a line on the table, servants also go around giving them to the guests.

Added with the drinks were the honey-sweet extracted juices from fruits for the young nobility who has no sense of taste for wines or maybe who dislikes the taste. But commonly, even small kids are already taught to drink wine in this luxurious kingdom.

Seated comfortably in a white, nicely carved wooden chairs, the nobles were chatting with each other, each mostly have their palms trying to spin their wines around mesmerizingly.

Musicians that were carrying their specialty instruments played along the night, as if trying to entertain the gods and making the halls a true heaven. The music flowed round and round, until all were enchanted and swallowed by the night. Yet all of a sudden, the salivating scent of their dinner got swept away, and was replaced by the bone striking fragrance of royalty.

The two royalty children, the Jian Princes has arrived.

"Glory to the Crown Prince, the next King of the kingdom!" Shouted one of the soldiers in position of the spokesman who announces important people. He stands at the entrance of the Grand Hall.

With soft gasping, murmurs and whispers where heard from the nobles.

"Ah! Its His Highness! So graceful!"

"Its the Crown Prince!"

"Indeed he is glorious!"

"He is really a femme!"

"So beautiful!"

They clapped, eyes shining admiringly to Jian Li's direction.

Jian Li's footsteps were heard so clearly against the marble floor, every noble's heads turned to watch his arrival. The veiled, blue cladded Crown Prince marched along the trumpets, his breathtaking presence steals their attention.

The lovely dressed noble ladies shot out their heart eyes of interest towards the Prince who paid them no attention after he bowed for them.

Following after him were his attendant, Aren dressed in white and emerald clothes. The servants also wore a white uniform and a blue badge, indicating they are in exclusive service of only Jian Li, the Crown Prince. Even when he silently took his seat, a grand air surrounds him from the golden crown he was wearing.

In front of the nobles' table are a set of three thrones, getting one of the seats taken, two other seats are still left unoccupied beside him.

The doors opened again, "Glory to the Prince, the second son in throne!" Shouted the soldier once more, the standing nobles clapped their hands, a bright welcoming smile shown on their faces.

Morfran, with his chest out, freaked out the ladies more. Obvious blushes were spread along their cheeks and faint squeals were heard, with Morfran's muscular built and height, they might've complimented the second Prince quite a lot just from his body.

"It's the Second Prince!"

"He looks so strong!!"

"He resembles his father's youth-"

"We are blessed with such brothers!"

"The rumors has it that he—"

Unable to keep his temper locked away, Morfran gritted his teeth, and leaned down to the noble's ear: "Shut up old man." Harshly mumbled him under the veil that completely struck the poor noble who became violet faced, deciding to never open his mouth again.

Morfran keeps both of his hands inside the pockets of his pants, the red veil's beads under his silver coronet were jingling with his every step as he finally arrived next to Jian Li and sat beside him. He couldn't help but feel annoyed on how unequal their chairs looks like in height. He clicks his tongue t relieve the unpleasant feeling and chose to shift his position in a more comfortable way of sitting, trying to entertain himself with the graceful performers dancing by the side, slightly pulling up his veil and not forgetting to blow a smoke around the air.

The silent Prince crosses his leg on his seat while he patiently waits for his father to walk in. The nobles observing the two at a distance could clearly tell how large the difference is between the brothers' frames.

Later on, a white fog clogs Jian Li's nose.

"The smoke, brother. It will suffocate you under your veil." Suggested by his older brother that in other words is: 'stop smoking.'

Jian Li hears him snickering under the veil, "Wanna remove it? (And get penalized?)" He notices a grin in his words.

Honestly just being concerned to the other, Jian Li replies: "You will catch a disease in the lungs and die early." He blankly says while Morfran scoffed and blew a larger smoke towards the other's veil, unnaffected on his brother's medical prescription for him. Jian Li did honestly are getting irked, but the smell of smoke faded when someone came.

"Glory to the King, Jian Hongwu!" Nearly cracking his voice, the soldier announced smoothly. The guy coughs and gulps his saliva to lubricate his poor croaking throat. Finishing his job and as well as his voice, he steps out of the scene and snatches a dessert secretly, munching on it as he went for a patrol around the palace.

The King had arrived at last. A grand crown around his head shines so brilliantly, and the red mantle around his shoulder waved inside the hall.

His absolute presence dominated the entire room, leaving a powerful, weighty aura behind him.

The crowd immediately drops their head down, some kneeled, and others gave their greetings on Hongwu's arrival.

The man walked unveiled, revealing a terribly handsome man to feast for their eyes. He is unrivaled at height that indicated a power of intimidation and his masculinity were to be admired.

His heavy foot steps that he drags sounded to have more power than the Crown Prince's. Just as one would expect.

He stood by his throne and made a small smile plastered on his gorgeous face.

"My Lady's and Lord's, everyone; I thank all of you for attending my proud son's pre-coronation celebration. My fellow citizen of Jian, let us all get along well with each other, and enjoy the night." The King said in a low and luscious voice, then raising his golden goblet carved with a ferocious lion on it. The nobles raised their own cups and was followed by a long, cheerful applaud of the attendees.

The cheerful music played almost immediately when the King had moved away from his seat and went around the hall to speak with his other nobility partners.

Morfran had long gotten bored on his seat and decided to step down the throne to get himself a time-passing talk with sir Deverus, the Royal Advisor of the King. The man who always wore a black diadem, a coal jewelled crown around his forehead that still very much twinkled.

Jian Li boringly stared at the glass of wine in front of him, his head flying away. A habit he couldn't really get rid of.

He picked up the wine and tilted it around, wanting to entertain himself just a bit.

Few droplets of the wine had overlapped the glass.

Jian Li exited his trance and panicked: 'Oh no! don't spill!'

At that moment, Jian Li witnessed something extraordinary. The red bloody droplets of wine looked as though it got frozen in midair. It was following Jian Li's gaze like he was manipulating it. Figuring the trick out quickly, he turned his gaze back down to his glass, the droplets willingly returns inside and blends along the wine again.

Jian Li sat on his throne eyes wide, wondering what just happened.

Looking around, no one had come to notice the moment of oddness that just occured to him.

He chuckles under the veil in embarrassment of himself and decided to shake off all his thoughts, he thought that he might've just been exhausted. After all, he stayed up all night using his mind's best conditions and only took short nap after.

He finds it funny that this is how exhaustion would plays tricks on him.

"Really odd hallucinations." He says. There's just no way a liquid just freezes itself in mid air.

Jian Li then exhaled and stood away from his seat, leaving the weird behaving wine glass behind.

Walking around the Grand Hall, people bowing to him here and there, the Prince spotted the King who was engaging with other nobles. He thought to head towards them to join their conversation until he accidentally overheard a topic the Lady's were talking about that made him stop on his tracks.

"—who knows what she may do! 'It is a noble's obligation!' Ugh! That ugly peasant was inside my manor! And now more and more of my silver cutleries are missing! And she denies that she did not stole it from me when i saw it under her bed!" The other women gasps at her story. "How i want that little lying thief out of my mansion!" A woman with a crumpled face ranted angrily to the other nobility ladies that was sharing the same table. Jian Li heard angry mutters following after.

"Why did you even agree with the adoption of that filthy creature in the first place?" Jian Li's ears perked at the question of the other Lady.

The story teller laughs giddily. "Of course i have to be recognized by the King! A fancy lady with a beautiful heart! Adopting a dirty lowborn would make such a good stage! Who knows i may be chosen as the next Queen of Jian Kingdom! Hahaha!~" They all laughed on her joke, yet Jian Li could tell that they all had the same awkward brows. Their face unrecognizable between confidence and jealousy. They all must've set their eyes on the throne.

Then the angry woman turned to the magenta dressed Lady beside her, whispering words that Jian Li also overheard.

"Do not worry my Lady Anwir. I have ironed the hands of that peasant ahaha! So even if she does plan to steal anything, she couldn't!" Then they both giggled, their faces so happily engulfed with an evil curving smiles.

Jian Li glares on the ground, possible that he could rip two holes on his veil.

Then she flaps her fan open and mutters lowly only to be heard on Anwir's ears: "Between us, i say that disgusting child was annoyingly persistent! Saying she wants books to learn! Hah! Pretending to be a noble! Such books are not suited for underclass slaves! She was being praised by her- her- ugh! intelligence by the townsfolk! and I wanted her annoying mouth out of my mansion so i ordered one of my maids to put the silver kitchenwear under her bed! Hahahaha! Now she's out of my house! Her body being used and violated by countless of men as a manhood relief out there on the streets! It suits such a daring child to be something useful!" Jian Li grits his teeth from the story he just heard, veins appeared on his forehead. Ears filled with the dirty truth, he forces himself to calm his thumping heart that paced rapidly, his mind engulfed inside a complete anger.

'And she plays victim in front of others after what she did to a mere child.' He tries to sigh his anger, gulping the words that he might spit.

"Oh! Physical abuse!...." He heard Anwir gasp.

But what she said next frightened him.

"Oh what a good punishment for such a child who's so full of herself! Ahaha!!"

He couldn't believe his ears. The tutor that had taught him for years... Was... Was this type of person?

'Father must be notified.'

However, as he was about to turn his heels to the King's direction, the body of his father was already towering beside him. Smiling, he says: "Dear son! do greet our guests." The King pats his son's back and nods to the ladies. Jian Li froze, unable to start verbalizing his feelings. He flinched as soon as his father turns his heels around. "I will go back to my seat now."

"Father I— ...." He holds his own tongue, thinking of the aftermath of his actions.

Jian Li absolutely didn't wanted to ruin his father's pleasant evening, as this celebration may be the only good time his father had for weeks as the works of the kingdom suddenly piled up these past two weeks due to the matters of Hongwu's stepping down from the throne.

He watched his father go back and bravely faced the table where Lady Anwir and the chatty woman are dining.

"Glory to everybody. I expect all of you are fed well?" Jian Li forced a smile under his veil, the people replied cheerfully to the Crown Prince and thanked him for the concern. Though veiled, he was glaring to the woman who told the tragic story of the lowborn girl just a second ago now with large smiles as if she didn't just ironed both hands of a child.

A memory flooded Jian Li's mind. The King's voice said:

"—you see Jian Li, our power as royalty, born in the highest ranks of the kingdom, comes in grandest responsibility. A responsibility for everyone who lives under us. Our power as you know is the greatest. We are in sitting at the top of all people of this world. So it is up to us, their superiors, on whether we help, or we abuse our position. Whether to treasure them or to drown ourselves as we achieve our own earthly desires.

You, a boy holding a higher position since birth, a boy having a fate more fortunate than any other people of this world. Your destiny as King, a person of authority who is stronger than anyone, are given two choices, either to give or take. And as King, i chose to protect. If you have the power and will as i have, use your position as your ground and surely, everyone under your reign would live far more better life. Everyone would be grateful to you." —

He snaps back to reality.

The lady who was whining earlier were now leeching on Jian Li's arm. "Your Highness!" Jian Li turned to her, feeling her bosom rubbing so irritatingly on his arm and her tiara were so pointy and polished that it was already itchy and blinding.

The Prince then tried to calm his boiling blood, "Your gown.. it is nicely done." They walked away from the rest.

The lady blushed, "Oh! Your highness!~ I greet you! I carry the name of the noble family—"

Cutting in, "That color," he keeps his chin up. "-just perfectly resembles my rag." He bluntly said, shocking the woman.

She removed her snake arms around Jian Li's and gasped, her face turning frenzy red. Foul she looked, ugly inside and out.

The lady heard his voice smile behind the veil: "And if your cutleries disappear again, do consult me, i can give you golden spoons." The woman shook in terror. Their conversation had been overheard by no one but the next King! Her family's done for!

He leaned down to her ear, mumbling: "You do not belong here."