Chapter three- The Bachelor Emperor

"Young Miss, you made us worry sick! Do you want our heads to be chopped off?"

"Young Miss, you don't love us! I thought for sure that when we met again, one of us would be dead!"

"Thank Buddha you're alive! Please don't leave us like that again!"

"If we hadn't found you, Great Master would have had our hides!"

"Young Miss, we must hurry! Today is your Marriageable Age Ceremony!"

"Let's get home before Great Master sends the entire household looking for you!"

Lin Xue listened patiently as her maids rambled on, following them as they prepared to leave.

"Wait."

The deep, commanding voice made them all freeze in place.

Lin Xue turned, looking at him questioningly, while her maidservants shrank back, their faces full of worry and fear.

The young man strode up to her and extended his hand, revealing a jade chain.

She glanced at it, then took it without hesitation. "Don't be late tomorrow."

With that, Lin Xue and her maids left, leaving the young man standing there.

Moments later, five of his bodyguards arrived. They knelt before him as one of them reported, "Your Highness, we caught the man. The bald one confessed—he was the one who shot the arrow at that young Miss."

The young man—Wu Zheng, the Emperor of the Wu Kingdom and the feared successor of the Wu Dynasty—narrowed his eyes. He was known as the Bachelor Emperor, the youngest and most ruthless ruler in history.

His gaze darkened. "How is he now?"

The bodyguards understood his unspoken order. Two of them immediately left to deal with the bald man.

"Let's return to the palace." Wu Zheng commanded.

The remaining bodyguards followed him without question.

---

On the way back to Lin Mansion…

"Young Miss, let's hurry! We're already late!"

Lin Xue groaned dramatically. "My legs! My legs hurt! Can we slow down? I can barely breathe!"

The red-clad maid immediately knelt. "Young Miss, let me carry you!"

Lin Xue side-stepped her with a scoff. "No need."

She eyed them suspiciously. "By the way, how did you figure out I was in the forest?"

The blue-clad maid puffed out her chest proudly. "It was my idea!"

She explained eagerly, "We searched all over the market, but you were nowhere to be found. I analyzed the situation and suggested we try the small forest nearby. If you had been kidnapped, it would likely be near the marketplace or the forest. But since Young Miss can fight, I reasoned you'd either be in trouble or just… admiring the scenery."

Lin Xue rolled her eyes. "Tsk. Why would I go to the forest just to admire scenery?"

The pink maid chimed in thoughtfully, "Miss loves to fight. Maybe you went there to hunt."

She then added curiously, "Young Miss, who was that man?"

Lin Xue yawned. "Oh, him? My future husband."

The maids froze mid-step and turned to stare at her in shock.

"Young Miss, are you serious?!" the pink maid gasped.

Lin Xue sighed dramatically. "Yes. We both had a mark on our foreheads. Happy?"

The green maid squealed in delight. "Young Miss is getting married!"

Lin Xue rolled her eyes again. "In your dreams."

Then she crossed her arms. "I'll discuss it with him tomorrow. I'm too young to get married."

The red maid hesitated. "Will he agree?"

Lin Xue smirked. "I don't know. But if he tries to force me, I'll threaten him."

Her eyes glinted with determination. No one can force me into marriage.

The pink maid frowned. "How will you threaten an Emperor?"

Lin Xue stretched her arms and yawned. "I'll think about that tomorrow. Right now, I just want to rest. My whole body aches."

The pink maid instinctively reached out to massage her shoulders, but Lin Xue dodged. "Don't touch me."

---

Inside Lin Mansion…

The entire household was in chaos. Maids, servants, and bodyguards scrambled around, desperately searching for Lin Xue and her maids.

The furious voice of Lin Xu Lang, the patriarch of the Lin Family, boomed through the estate.

"LLLLIIIIINNN XUUUUUEEEE!"

Lin Xue and her maids heard it from outside and immediately stiffened.

The blue maid clutched her heart. "Oh, Buddha, Great Master knows we went missing."

The red maid gulped. "Young Miss, what do we do?"

Lin Xue took a deep breath and straightened her back. "We face the consequences."

But in her mind, she was screaming, I'M DEAD!

Steeling themselves, they stepped into the Lin Mansion together, heads bowed obediently like children awaiting punishment.

As soon as Lin Xue saw her grandfather standing before her, she threw herself at him with a bright smile.

"Grandfaaaattttthhhher!" she called sweetly, wrapping her arms around him.

Would her charm work this time?