Negotiating with the Crown Prince

Problem of trusting people too much? Ha, who did he want to fool? Trust issues, he had trust issues alright.

Such a good prince, he has such paranoia, and still got tricked by his brother, he must either be hopeless, or plotting something else underneath. Zhao Xing shook her head inwardly, this was indeed what they meant when they said crouching tigers and hidden dragon!

How could she, a normal human being with no name help this Prince who was so overpowered with a whole manor full of his people. She also heard he had the token that controlled a portion of imperial guards! 'My God. What have I gotten myself into?'

She really wanted to cry but had no tears. She was really out of luck this time.

The prince didn't stop there, "Another thing Master said, since you still haven't completed your life in your world, you would still be able to alternately travel between the two worlds till you task here was done."

"What?" he really stopped at nothing to crush all hope she had to rid herself of this world.

So she wasn't dreaming? But just traveling between worlds? What sort of torture was this?

"So I hope grand tutor would put your heart and mind into this cooperation."

Cooperation? This was clearly him forcing her.

"You...how could you be like this? If you're this smart then why did you fall for the trap your brother set up for you? And..and that Master of yours you trust so much, how do you know he sent you a 'wise instructor' that would help you achieve your goals? I'm only a normal high schooler, my grades are just so-so, how would I be able to help you?"Zhao Xing said in frustration. Could she just push the blame to his Master? Besides, she really wasn't a wise sage or anything along that line! This was completely unfair to her. She just wanted peaceful days, nothing more than peaceful days!

Hearing her mention his forth brother, anger boiled from deep within him, but he held himself back.

"Well my Master's not here, and I can't confirm much for the time being so..." He said with a sigh.

So was he telling her she was going to help him whether she liked it or not? Where was this Master of his, she really had to beat someone up.

Zhao Xing took deep breaths, she was going to vent this frustration. She had to vent.

"Then prince, you'll have to put up with an eccentric person" She said crossing her arms.

"No problem, I'm very tolerant."

??

"I don't know anything about etiquette."

"I'll arrange for someone to teach you." The prince smiled.

Seeing he refuted all her excuses, Zhao Xing was so mad she was speechless.

"I'll get straight to the point, my father, the Emperor, is sick and it is already estimated he wouldn't last long. But right now the court is in a mess, and so we must let my Imperial father live for few more years"

She wasn't the one helping with that, right?

"Master said you would help me."

Zhao Xing almost choked on her saliva. "Me?"

The prince nodded.

"The plan is simple, but we must bring down a few troublesome officials, before we can go any further"

"How am I supposed to help with that?"

The prince poured himself a cup full of tea and drank, before his eyes lazily shifted to her, "That is not for you to worry about."

Zhao Xing felt there were a lot of loopholes in what he said. His father was sick, his brother tricked him..was his brother that formidable? Or was there a mishap somewhere? Nuo Nuo had said the Emperor had been favorable towards the Crown Prince, if the forth prince was so good, where was he all the time the Crown Prince had accumulated his father's trust? Was he sleeping? Did he just wake up and want to fight against his brother out of the blue, or was there a deeper story to this? Nuo Nuo didn't really say a lot about that incident. Sigh, at that time she had thought the prince was some stupid person, easy to manipulate. If she had known, then she would have asked Nuo Nuo to elaborate further.

Plus from the way he put it, he didn't seem to need any help, as he was pretty prepared, except for the fact that she had to 'magically' keep the emperor alive, which was practically impossible for her to do. She didn't see any reason why they should summon a whole human being, like it was some kind of a joke. "The 'keeping the Emperor alive thing' I can't do it, find yourself someone else to do it. You must have some elaborate plan, you seem pretty confident about it too. I can't help with anything else. In that case there is really no reason for me here then." she rolled her eyes feeling like she had been robbed of her rights.

There was bit of silence as they both stared at each other. Both sides seeming to suppress certain emotions.

"Well, I also feel like you do look very useless"

Zhao Xing wanted to choke for the second time, today. What was up with this prince? One minute he needs her, the next she's useless?

"Hey!" But looking at the prince, he really did seem annoyed, so she didn't have the guts to say all the profanities she was about to spit out.

"Master refused to help me, so he said he'd send someone else. Who would have thought that he'd send someone like you instead." He said calmly, staring at the cup in his hand, he had yet to put down, but Zhao Xing dared not speak this time. He might have looked like he was an easygoing person that likes to smile, but he could be really scary, especially when the expression on his face remained the same even when he was annoyed. The only thing was the air around her turned cold, and his aura turned oppressive.

The oppressive aura died down a bit, as he turned to face her with the same friendly smile he always carried. He put the cup down and continued; "But master always thought me not to judge a book by it's cover, so I'll wait and see what this book has in store. Hopefully it won't disappoint." He emphasized the last sentence while staring straight into her eyes.

Heavens ah! She really wasn't good, there was nothing to see in this book, he shouldn't have picked it in the first place if he didn't like the cover. And now he wants to blame her?

He seemed pretty angry that master of his refused to help him. He was probably picking on her because he couldn't find his master to vent! She too was angry, scared and frustrated, who should she vent it on?