Gift of the Fox

Chapter 28: Wang Shao's Feelings

"So, you're saying it was Di for all this time?" Shao frowned once he heard Tao's whole story. He put a hand to his chin and fell into his musings. "I thought so..."

"So, what should we do?" Tao wondered, "We can't leave His Highness Prince Wu in the dungeon - he's innocent!"

"Yes, but it won't be that simple. We must give that servant you mentioned - Christine - to His Majesty, but only your words won't be enough proof."

"Then, what to do?"

"Hmm..." Nick, who also presented in the room, stroked his short beard. "Maybe we could wait until Christine brings that fruit basket to you too, Prince Wang Shao, and then show everyone the snake that will be hiding inside?"

"That's a good idea!" Shao brightened, "Pretty ingenious, Nick!"

After a day, Christine brought a fruit basket to Shao when he was relaxing in the garden. As the prince expected, the snake indeed emerged, so he, already aware of its presence, clutched and killed it. A lot of servants and even the other princes noticed the snake since they were training nearby, so everyone got worked-up. Christine was given to the emperor for judgment and proven guilty. But here, the friends - Tao, Nick, Liz, and Tiegan - forgot to consider one important detail: Christine was blamed for the murder of the Crown Prince all alone, while Di, the true mastermind, remained hidden and undetected. 

Once the sentence was pronounced, Tao gasped in shock, but could not object, for it was the emperor's word and thus always absolute. Christine was punished for her crime - she was attached to four horses and torn apart like the emperor had ordered even before he would know who the murderer was. He even ordered not to hold a burial for Christine at all. Tamie couldn't bear the thought of what had happened because of her actions.

All is my fault! 

She darted off to the 4th prince's room. Wang Shao was resting on his bed, reading a book. 

Ugh, how can he be so calm when a girl has just been tortured to death?!

Tao ran up to the prince and fell to his knees before him. Shao glanced down at him from his bed and raised an eyebrow.

"What's the deal?" he asked. "I haven't called for you, as I remember."

"I came of my own free will, Your Highness. Please, tell your father to ease the punishment on the poor maidservant and let her be buried and mourned. She was not guilty! It is Prince Wang Di who is to be blamed, you know it well!" 

Yet, all she got for an answer was Shao's irritated sigh. It brought her a great surprise: 

W... What does this mean? How dare he act so cold?! It's a matter of someone's death!

"First of all," Shao's deep voice, which had turned strict and severe, sounded, "he is not my father. Second: even though I know it was Di, I've got no proof to accuse him - the second-born of the emperor. Hence, I've got no right to do it. Third: honestly, I don't really care about what happens to that slut."

The prince coldly got back to his book. Tamie flared up in anger - slut? He called her fellow maidservant a slut?! Ugh, he was unbearable!

"But master! How can you be so cold about someone losing her life?"

The prince's eye flashed with wolfish anguish. He threw his book aside, leapt upon his bed, and thundered:

"Don't you ever dare raise your tone in front of me! You know nothing of the life in the palace! That girl, she intended to kill my... favourite servant. She indeed died after that incident... I shall never forgive that blonde maid!"

"W... What are you talking about? Who was your favourite servant? Why would you have a favourite maidservant at all? Are you truly interested in maidservants?"

"No. I wasn't interested in them at all. It's just that, she was something different... I don't know her name even now. I only know that she died, because my brothers found her torn clothes near the river a month ago. 

"At first, all I could notice was how different my black cloaks and kimonos looked - they were washed a little too diligently. My brothers' clothes were normal, while mine were too pure and shiny. I couldn't understand the cause of it, so I began to contemplate the water-maids from the window of my room, wondering who it was so zealously cleaning my clothing. I was surprised because out of all the princes, I have the least rights, so it was truly weird why the servants would bother for me the most. It even made my brothers a little jealous. 

"What I saw was even more astonishing than I could ever imagine: there was this little girl of only nineteen years, diligently cleaning my clothes every time she found herself at the river. Her fragrant brown hair and expressive brown eyes captivated me - at one glance a usual peasant, but if you looked in those eyes more closely, you'd see a whole new, different world... I can bet she was of noble blood. It was so funny to see how she would tear my clothes out of her colleagues' hands in order to wash them herself!" Shao chuckled a little, bitterness and sorrow heard in his laugh. "No one had ever been as caring and devoted to me as she... It was truly weird because she was not my personal servant or anything. I didn't even know her! So, I decided to play with her..." He chuckled again. "I deliberately dirtied my clothes from then on so that she could have time washing them and could feel she was doing at least something for me, because as far as I judged, she... liked me, perhaps... I don't know why, though. I couldn't even make simple villager girls like me since they all think I'm a mixed-blooded wretch. To add that I am the pitiless Wolf Prince, a one-eyed ogre, a fighting-machine of the emperor, and who knows what else... Yet still, that fragile little creature liked me, I could feel it.

"Then, once, when we were dining, she served at the table. I felt so happy to finally see her up close! She looked even more beautiful... But then, that slut pushed her, and she spilt some of the rice-wine on my kimono. I was terrified, not because she had dirtied my clothes (who would care about such a simple thing if not some of my foolish brothers?), but because that blonde fool dared do this to her own colleague, her fellow maidservant! I could barely hold my hand from whipping that rat! I got a hold of myself, for I could understand that I had a far greater problem: my poor little cutie was about to get punished severely for the little thing she had done! I quickly stood up for her before it was too late. I felt a bit guilty, though - I didn't want her to feel I pitied her. I just wanted her to know I was by her side, just like she had always been by mine as much as she could. Yet, I bet she understood my gesture as pity because her eyes filled with such humiliation! Poor little one...

"Alas, I never saw her after that. I heard that she had run into the forest, and there, beasts had_" He winced with sorrow. "She had died."

While he thus lamented, Tao was frozen in shock:

You... are kidding me...