Chapter 2: The Price

There was a long period of silence where Xu Shan didn't know how to react. He just stood in silence, frowning.

The middle-aged man known as Zi Huang sneakily looked up, wondering why the young prince wasn't speaking at all. Even though the young man before him didn't have a single trace of celestial aura, unlike the other prodigies, he was much scarier than others!

Despite being the third prince, his status was even higher than the Crown Prince after all! No one knew why that was the case, but he was the child most doted upon by the Great Emperor of the Eternal Dynasty!

Despite all his evil deeds that the Emperor knew about, the Emperor never once scolded him. Some said that the Emperor was just too forgiving to the evil prince. However, there were also some who felt that there was more than met the eyes. It was as if...even the Emperor was scared of scolding the Prince at times. 

The middle-aged man even wondered if he had made some mistake that upset the Prince. He had no idea that it wasn't that he did something wrong. It was that the Prince himself was frozen after hearing his own deeds. 

Currently, Xu Shan had no idea just why his transmigration had to be in this body. However, now that he was here, he had no choice but to play along. He didn't know anything about this world. If the people realized that his soul had taken over their Prince, it could easily become a disaster. 

Unfortunately, he didn't even know how their Prince would've reacted in this situation. However, based on his personality, Xu Shan could only imagine the Prince to be a cold-blooded man who wouldn't bother talking to a mere guard, only treating them like slaves. 

"Hmm." He lazily nodded like a great prince who was looking at a small ant. He went back inside the room and closed the door behind him. 

Zi Huang didn't notice anything unusual about the Prince. He was so worried about his own fate that he didn't have time to notice anything peculiar about the Prince. It was only after the third prince left that he sighed in relief.

"It looks like I was overthinking things. I didn't offend him." 

His figure disappeared in the silence of the night like a ghost. It was unclear where he was going next. 

....

Back inside the room, Xu Shan stood with his back resting against the door as if he was worried that the middle-aged warrior was going to push the door open and rush inside. 

Before his eyes was a beautiful lady with her hands and legs tied, lying on the bed. Until recently, he thought she was just sleeping peacefully. It was only now that he realized that she was drugged!

The Third Prince was certainly planning to do something to her before killing her. However, for some reason, his plans went awry, and Xu Shan ended up in his body. 

After ensuring there were no movements outside the room, Xu Shan finally lowered his guard. He rubbed the back of his neck, walking closer to the bed. 

"Who would've expected that after lying in bed for five years, the first time I could move freely, I would end up falling into this obvious death trap!"

"The girl is from Celestial Palace. I've no idea what that place is, but the way that guard reacted, it certainly isn't any less influential than the Dynasty where 'my father' rules. If that weren't the case, the guard wouldn't be so hasty about getting rid of the woman."

"But what can I even do in this situation? Sooner or later, the woman will open her eyes. No matter what, I can't free her either. I can't just tell her that I accidentally drugged and kidnapped her."

"If I freed her, she would certainly inform the Celestial Palace about everything, and I'll be dead. After a long time, I got an opportunity to freely move. I don't really want to die for a stranger."

His mind was really conflicted. On one end, he couldn't get himself to kill her for no reason. On the other end, he couldn't let her leave either. However, he couldn't keep her imprisoned either. 

With what the guard said, the Celestial Palace had a way to locate her. As soon as they received news about her disappearance the next day, they were going to use their method to locate her present location and find her. 

Xu Shan paced back and forth in the room, lost in thoughts. 

"Should I just run away from the Palace and start a life with a new identity? That's not a solution either. The Celestial Palace would certainly find me even if I left the Dynasty. Even the Dynasty might find out that I'm a fake."

"Or you could just kill her. Isn't that much simpler?"

While Xu Shan was talking to himself, he heard a mysterious voice. The voice was sweet and melodious as if it belonged to a fairy. However, the young man didn't have time to think about that. He was more surprised to find that someone else was here already! Was his identity already exposed?

Stunned, he looked toward the source of the voice. 

"Who are you?" Not too far from him, he saw a woman standing with her back resting against the wall. 

The woman had a slender face and a charming figure that was wrapped tightly in a black dress. However, what stunned Xu Shan the most was that the woman wasn't a human!

There were two wings behind the girl! The black wings behind the girl weren't made of feathers. Instead, they were made from some mysterious energy that even made him feel a chill run down his spine! It was as if he was going to die if he touched it!

"Of course, I'm the one who saved your life," the mysterious woman smirked. However, for some strange reason, her voice came from right beside him. It was as if she was whispering right in his ears. 

Stunned, he turned around to find the dark-clothed woman standing right beside him! As for the one who was standing before the wall, she had disappeared!

The woman's long black hair that came down to her waist revealed a tint of red at times. However, her smile was something that was absolutely mesmerizing, as if she was a demoness with the beauty of an angel. 

"You saved my life?" Xu Shan frowned, raising his brows. 'What did she mean by that?'

The woman didn't respond right away. She simply pointed toward Xu Shan's left hand. 

"It's better if you find it out yourself. Don't worry though. We'll be meeting more often than you'd like... After all, you're the one who needs to pay the price for his wish..."

Even as the mysterious woman disappeared, her words could still be heard echoing in the room. "Did he really think his life was enough for a life…"

A hint of apparent mocking could be heard in the mysterious woman's voice. 

As the woman disappeared, silence returned to the massive room where more than twenty king-sized beds could easily be accommodated. 

Xu Shan was standing in silence, looking at his left hand. He didn't know why, but there was just something mysterious about the silver ring in his left hand. As soon as he thought about the ring after the woman's reminder, he was able to look inside the ring!

It was as if there was a mysterious space inside the ring! The space wasn't too small. However, it wasn't too big either. The space was only five meters long and five meters wide, having a height of only three meters. 

The mysterious space only had two items inside, which made it look awfully empty, especially when those two things were so small!

One of those two things was a modern-looking journal, something he could easily find back on earth. The second thing was slightly different. It was a black book with no name on it. 

Not only was there nothing written on the black book, but it was also made of some strange material.

It definitely wasn't something one could find on Earth! What was even more bizarre was that he could sense a similar feeling coming from the Book that he sensed from the mysterious dark-haired woman…