Am I Evil?...

26

"F$#@!!!!"

"what in the world!!!!"

"Sob... my ears!!!!"

The crowd cried aloud among themselves as they gripped and pressed hard on their ears. The Emperor and Empress were no different, however, since they were further away from Xu Ming, the damage to them was lesser. After a few minutes, the shrieking rings in their ears stopped.

As for the unfortunate few who sat next to the 6th and 9th princes and possessed no martial arts/spiritual power, their heads were literally on the edge of exploding and their ear drums had ruptured.

Since the 6th and 9th prince practiced martial arts and therefore have spiritual power, even though they did not pre-prepare themselves for the severity of the screech, their spiritual powers quickly kicked into gear after the initial shock, thus protected their ears. So aside from a painful, long, irritating ring in their ears, their ear drums remained intact.

...

With that said, as soon as the ringing Jan Tu's ears ceased, he abruptly stood up and ferociously shouted at Xu Ming, "IMBECILE!!! you DARE direct harm towards the royal family!!!!"

Xu Ming blinked his eyes innocently a few times and tilted his head to the side, "What does your highness mean? Dai Yun was only following your highnesses' order."

At this point, both the 6th and 9th prince were completely furious with Xu Ming. But since the 6th prince was a bit calmer in his personality and knew to think things thru before acting, he just took in a deep breath of air and glared coldly at Xu Ming. The 9th prince on the other hand unsheathed his sword and swung it towards Xu Ming's neck.

Dodging the attack, Xu Ming quickly ran behind King Dai and Queen Tian, whom by the way were still trying to shake out the painful ringing in their ears.

"nin..9th prince, what is the meaning of your action?!! Since Dai Yun is just a young master, it's okay to direct your anger at Dai Yun. However, must you so bluntly state your mutiny against the Emperor. With that said, even if you don't honor him as the Emperor of the nation, he is still your father too. Are you not afraid of the heavens?" Xu Ming frowned towards Prince Yi Jan Tu.

Upon hearing Xu Ming's accusation, Jan Tu tighten his gripped on his sword even more, turning his knuckles white. "Nonsense!!! I will kill you for slandering this prince's name!" Jan Tu angrily roared as he raised his sword and rushed towards Xu Ming.

With a terrified squeak, as Jan Tu rushed towards him in a fit of anger, Xu Ming grasped hold of King Dai's shoulder and hid behind him.

Seeing Jan Tu indiscreetly swinging his sword down, despite seeing that King Dai was in his line of aim, several of the King Dai's hidden guards stormed forth and the other guests, who have somewhat recovered from the painful ringing in their ears, screamed in panic.

...

When the chaos finally calmed down a bit, many of the audience who did not see what happen during the chaos, was extremely surprised to see that Yuhan has stood up and blocked Jan Tu's sword with his cased sword. Based on what they know and have seen, Yuhan had never cared much about anything aside from Yuzhu. So, to see him protect King Dai really surprised everyone and some even wonder if there was some sort of secret alliance between the quiet, cold prince and King Dai.

"That bastard just called me a traitor and he has harmed the royal family! MOVE!!!" Jan Tu screamed in anger as he pushed down hard with his sword on Yuhan's cased sword, but still failing to move it even a millimeter downwards.

The previously frighten audience was now eagerly waiting to hear what Yuhan would reply back, but unsurprisingly, Yuhan kept quiet and just stood in place. It was Xu Ming who chided from behind a shock and trembling King Dai, "Tsk. The Emperor himself has already declared that I am pardon for any consequences that my playing might cause. His majesty's words are gold, to not honor his words is the same as walking over his head. I have said numerous times before that I don't know how to play an instrument. Queen Tian has even said herself that I was not allowed to learn any art forms growing up. It was your highnesses that insisted I played. Now it is okay for 6th prince, prince Lan, and 9th prince, Prince Jan Tu to see no value in my words and Queen Tian's words, but to treat his majesty's words with so much disrespect and to bluntly stomp over his power like this... sigh. No matter what, even if you may become the future Emperor, you must still remember that at this moment his highness is still the Emperor and therefore, you must treat his decree with honor and respect!"

Hearing Xu Ming's words and reflecting on Jan Tu's action, the Emperor swallowed in his rage. Like Jan Tu, the Emperor was angry at the harm that Xu Ming caused and planned to punish him harshly. But Xu Ming had reminded him that he (Emperor) had said from his own mouth that Xu Ming will be pardon from any consequences his playing may caused.

If he (Emperor) were to just change his mind because of this, how would the people speak of him from now onward. Angrily sighing and half cursing his sons for instigating trouble in the first place, the Emperor closed his eyes and shouted, "Silence!"

"This Emperor's words are final. No one is to challenge my word. Is this clear?!" The Emperor opened his eyes and scanned the audience.

As everyone bowed and stated in unison, "prince/official/Empress/subject would never dare!", the Emperor coldly stared at Xu Ming with a vicious look in his eyes.

Now even though the Emperor did not have to fight for the throne like the past Emperors because he was the only son in his family, he has had his fair share of schemes and revenge. Additionally, having lived for close to over 200 years, he is by no means retarded to underhanded things. So, he had a very good feeling that Xu Ming had done what he did on purpose. However, since he has given his words, he just sucked in a breath of air and coldly declared, "Today this Emperor has seen for himself how atrocious Dai Yun's musical skills are. To spare this Emperor's subject from ever experiencing the same horror that this Emperor had endure today, from this day forth, Dai Yun of the Dai family is prohibited from playing with any flute for as long as he may live. This celebration will conclude now."

Since the one getting the punishment was Dai Yun and not himself, Xu Ming sort of regretted his action upon hearing the Emperor's words, but before Xu Ming could plead for leniency, the Emperor had already stood up and everyone had to bow as the Emperor and Empress left.

Right after the Emperor left, the princes and princess also left one by one. However, unbeknownst to Xu Ming, who was still busy worrying over the harm that he's brought onto Dai Yun, Yuhan's eyes were carefully monitoring and probing every little one of his actions, right up until the moment he (Yuhan) left with his confused son (Yuzhu).