Mary was anxious and doubtful. She heard a word or two from the servants that the reason why her cheap father, Ralph had not yet married a formal queen was because of the princes who had grown up contended with each other either secretly or openly.
The emperor was oversensitive and did not trust anyone except his sworn brother, Ralph. Therefore, Ralph was always swamped with loads of work.
Today, the nine brothers who were good in the face but not in the heart had all gathered at Munashii Temple, it was certain that Mary would be extremely surprised, especially meeting all nine of the princes at once. Although she was an agent in her previous life and had excellent mental quality, she was still shocked.
Yet, if they did not hope her to recognize their identity, Mary would pretend that she did not know about it. She then bowed quickly at the princes and wanted to leave.
When she walked pass through the ninth prince, the corner of his mouth rose and he gave her a smile.
That smile almost stopped Mary from walking away further. She could not believe there was person with this kind of beauty found in the world. His almond eyes gleamed like stardust making people not dare to stare. His lips were like plum blossom in the spring, urging people to pluck.
Mary’s ears went red when she only got to see his smile clearly, she lowered her head and was afraid that she would sink inside those eyes if she gave another stare.
Sebastian was afraid of the crown prince, Henry and he actually let Mary go afar without harassing her any further. He licked her lips and said with a slightly upset voice, “Big brother, why did you let that little maiden go? I was just about to go forward and ask about her, seeing her as beautiful as a goddess.”
The sixth prince, Jared giggled, “Fourth brother, why can’t you have a more flexible mind? Haven’t you heard what that Gautama Damma said? Today the whole Munashii Temple has been cleared just to serve the family of Lord Regent. From what I saw, I bet that lady must be one of the mistresses of the regent household. Based on her appearance and the dress she wore, she must be a much loved mistress.”
Sebastian’s eyes squinted, “I’ve seen two of the mistresses of the regent household before, one was the fourth mistress, Luna Debeur who has a delicate look, and the other one…” Sebastian remembered the utmost embarrassing experience in the regent household and his face went dull, he then continued, “…was that idiot, who looks like a pig.”
The crowd laughed, having remembered the scene when that idiot from the Debeur family chased hard after Sebastian.
Yet the ninth prince, James spoke out, “Haven’t brothers heard about it? A while ago that fifth mistress was suddenly treated by a medical expert, she recovered and had become a genius that was able to remember everything that she read. Even her teacher, Salvador Watson was lavish in his praise to her.”
Sebastian deprecated and replied with contempt, “Salvador Watson was their family teacher, and he of course needs to take considerations for the regent household. That idiot has almost reached her age, and isn’t her third sister about to marry Kace? I think it must be Lord Regent panicking, afraid that the idiot is going to be the only one left therefore he asked Salvador to cooperate with him to act on a show, so they would be able to get rid of that hot potato when the news about her recovery is spread out and those ignorant families are tricked to propose a marriage with her.”
“Fourth brother, you can’t say it like that,” James’ eyes slowly went cold, the smile on his face just now had disappeared, “Mr. Watson is a great scholar who combines profundity with virtue, if he lied, does that mean he wants to destroy his own reputation?”
The fifth prince, Ivo who remained silent all the time suddenly interrupted, “If Salvador really did appreciate his reputation, and he would not go to the regent household to solely become a teacher.”
Seeing somebody agreeing with him, Sebastian became cocky and pouted his lips towards James, “Did you hear him? Ivo was right, that Salvador was not a decent person.”
Ivo was always indifferent, feeling uncomfortable seeing Sebastian’s behavior, he said lightly, “Fourth brother, you’ve misunderstood me. What I meant was what Salvador did have cost him dignity as a scholar, not because he was an indecent man.”
Being debunked, Sebastian’s face went red due to embarrassment. He had a hot temper and wanted to explode right at the scene, yet Henry stood forward to mediate the dispute, “Alright, alright. We’re brothers, let’s not destroy our relationship for someone unimportant.”
“Big brother, I don’t agree with you,” the third prince, Hector spoke with a gruff voice, “how could Lord Regent’s daughter be someone unimportant? Destroying other lady’s reputation, Sebastian was also not a true man.”
Hector learnt martial art from Ralph, and to him, Ralph was like his second father, therefore he would not allow anyone to talk bad behind Ralph and his family at any price.
Feeling his pride slightly wounded, Henry replied with a weird voice, “Hector, are you criticizing me?”
On the verge of breaking out a fight, the eighth prince, Leonard suddenly smiled, “We’ve argued here for a long time, I’m afraid that Brother Kace has been waiting for us anxiously. He has a weak body and the night is chilly, I hope he won’t catch a cold while waiting for us. Madam Gladstone would not forgive us if we dare aggravate his illness.”
Minister Gladstone’s wife, Aadya was a powerful character. The two sons of the Gladstone family, Zane and Ian Gladstone were now at Marbulo Temple and Ministry of Penalty each and both of them were mischievous since young. Minister Gladstone, Shawn was henpecked; he always listened to his wife and could not discipline his two sons. Therefore there was one time when Aadya chased after Zane and Ian all over the streets with a cleaver on her hand when she was irritated by them.
During that time, Grandpa Gladstone was still alive and jumping, holding a walking stick. When he asked Shawn to sign the divorce letter, Aadya even wanted to chop Shawn with the cleaver. Shawn was so terrified that his shoes came off when he escaped. Grandpa Gladstone was so angry until his whole body trembled and wanted to hit Aadya with his walking stick. Aadya was not afraid of him and even wanted to chop him too.
Grandpa Gladstone wrote a letter of appeal to the emperor and hoped he could help him decide for the matter. Yet Aadya’s father was a brave general and also the master of the emperor and Ralph, therefore the emperor found the matter difficult dealing with his arrogant junior female apprentice.
In addition to that, even Grandma Gladstone who had a strong body also advocated her daughter-in-law, therefore the Gladstone family could be counted as falling completely into Aadya’s hands.
Reminded by Leonard’s words, the brothers had all remembered Aadya’s barbarous acts. The seventh prince, Jesse being the most innocent and naïve, quickly replied, heart throbbing with fear, “Yes, yes. Leonard was right. Let’s get going.”
The other princes also agreed at once and an upcoming crisis was being solved by Leonard’s few words with him still smiling lightly. Henry could not help but stared at Leonard deeply; his eighth brother was good at acting nice and was his greatest rival to compete for the throne.
They walked towards the apricot blossom forest of Munashii Temple while chatting happily with each other like before. Iago and James walked at the end of the line. Seeing the people in the front talking cheerfully with each other, Iago whispered, “What is wrong with you? Why did you start an argument with Sebastian? That did not look like you.”
James pretended to not understand his words and asked, “Second brother, what are you talking about? How would I dare to start an argument with fourth brother? I was just saying that without purpose.”
Iago smiled lightly, “Do you think that I don’t know what’s going on just because I used to read all day? James, you’ve underestimated me. Let me give you a piece of advice, your fourth brother was in the limelight amongst us brothers, therefore don’t you ever provoke him. Don’t think that he was chastised by father because he did something wrong a few days ago, he was still loved by father due to Concubine Gerita. Be careful, if he discovers your intention and talks about you in front of father, it would make your life difficult.”
A faint smile appeared in James’ eyes, “Second brother, you’re the only one who is being sincere to me.”
Iago shook his head lightly, “You can’t trust anyone during this time. I could not be counted as being sincere to you as I’m only afraid that you’ll suffer losses since we’re brothers. I could not dare watching siblings fighting and hurting each other after all,” Iago sighed again, “Hoping the brothers to get along has become an extravagant wish now. Your fifth brother is indifferent and tends to offend others when he spoke and who knows how many people have grown hatred towards him, either secretly or blatantly. Mother had held my hands and asked me to take care of him before she passed away yet I find that difficult to accomplish. Your third brother is a nice guy and is straightforward, and the people that he has offended are no less than your fifth brother’s. As for your seventh brother, he’s truly a pure-hearted person, yet unfortunately he has followed such an elder brother, which is your sixth brother.”
James interrupted, “What about the eighth brother?”
Iago gave James a deep stare and said softly, “Leave him as far as possible.”
James fell into silence and asked, “What about big brother?”
A profound smile suddenly appeared at Iago’s face, “James, you knew best in your heart, better than anyone, don’t you?” Upon finishing his sentence, he shook his fan softly and strode forward to catch up with the other brothers.
Seeing the crowd walking afar, James’ smile slowly appeared, he never knew that his second brother was a sensible person.
At this moment, Luna who was alone at the apricot blossom forest had suddenly wanted to have some fun.
Luna was initially a lively girl, yet because of her identity and position in the regent household, and also to struggle for a living for her and her mother from the side consort’s power, Luna had always put up a mask to hide her lively and lovely inner self away by pretending to be cunning and caustic. Now that there was no one around, she could no longer suppress her true self.
She took off her flower shoes gently and hugged an apricot tree. She climbed up the tree with just a few seconds and then sat on top of the thickest branch, hiding herself among the densely packed apricot flowers. There was one time when Luna was being bullied by Grace and Amy, she was forced to a pond side and almost pushed Amy into the pond.
From then on, Luna had learnt to climb trees and she climbed trees whenever she was bullied by them again. Sometimes when she felt annoyed and perplexed, and did not want to talk to anybody else, she would secretly hide herself in the trees so that no one could find her.
Therefore, not only that there was a big water lily pond in front of June Hall, there was also plenty of sycamore trees in the yard which made Luna felt happy when seeing them.
The waiting period was too long and Luna felt a bit bored. She then took out the jade flute from her waist, closed her eyes and played a mournful tune.
The tune was composed by a prostitute and was a masterpiece initially played whenever she was strolling beside the lake and admiring the flowers with her lover. The front part of the tune was lively yet the behind part was tinted with a deep sorrow. It turned out that her lover had wives and children and only hung out with her for her beauty.
Luna only played the front part of the tune. She stopped abruptly before reaching the climax.
It was at this time, a voice asked surprisingly, “What’s wrong? Why didn’t you continue further?”