I did not expect love from you

Upon Licheng's order, a servant showed the quarters to Xiana. "What is your name?" Xiana asked her.

"I am Ju Banruo, Princess."

"Call me Xiana. I am also a servant like you," Xiana stated.

"But the Crown Prince has said to call you Princess Xiana," Banruo replied.

"Ignore him," Xiana said and looked around the quarter. There were twenty-five beds in the room. Banruo asked Xiana to take the bed which was at the wall end. Currently, only that bed was empty. Xiana hummed and went to the bed. She sat on it and found the mattress was hard. She laid down as she wanted to check if she would get a good sleep on it.

"May I know why the Crown Prince bring you with him?" Banruo asked and went to her.

Xiana set up on the bed and shook her head. "He said I needed to return the favor he did on me," she answered. "Licheng thinks I cannot survive in such quarters when the truth is I can live well. If he has titled me as a servant, then I must act and work like one," Xiana stated.

Banruo nodded her head. "If you need any help, you can tell me any time," she said and passed a tiny smile to Xiana.

"I needed to buy clothes for myself. Luckily, I carried some gold coins with me. So, when should we go to the market to purchase the dresses?" Xiana asked Banruo.

"We are not allowed to go out of the palace at this time of the month. However, if we take the Crown Prince's permission, then we can," Banruo told her.

"Why him? I will ask the Emperor!" Xiana pronounced and asked her if she could show him where the King lived in the imperial palace.

"Will you really go to see the Emperor for such a small matter? I think you should ask the Crown Prince," Banruo advised her.

"Do you see the redness on my forehead? It is what Licheng did to me. He is already using violence on me! I do not want to see him," Xiana pronounced.

"The Crown Prince is a gentle person, Xiana. This is what I have heard from Eunuch Jize. He does not use violence," Banruo defended Licheng and it irked Xiana.

"Then, Eunuch Jize has observed something wrong. Licheng is not gentle at all. He has put on a facade to fool all of you. He loves to threaten people with their lives. When he came to my place, he pointed the sword at my fiancée, Zhi Yawen. He is vicious and clever. Beware of Licheng," Xiana said a lot of things about Licheng.

Banruo gulped to hear all those things. Xiana stood up from the bed and requested her to take her to the Emperor. She nodded and took Xiana to the Emperor's manor, which was in the Northern Palace.

However, before they could head to the Northern Palace, Su Licheng stopped them. Banruo was shocked to see the Crown Prince in the servants' quarters and realized he had listened to their entire conversation.

"Where are you going?" Licheng asked Xiana and stopped in front of her.

"To see the Emperor," Xiana replied.

"Follow me," Licheng said.

"I do not want to," Xiana sternly said.

"I will punish this new friend of yours then. You were telling her a lot of things about me," Licheng stated.

Xiana scrunched her brows and walked past Licheng. She hit his shoulder with hers and walked ahead of him. Licheng chuckled and went after Xiana.

"It seems you do not need your sword back from me," Licheng said as he approached her and matched her steps.

"I know, you will not give it to me easily. You are a thief!" Xiana pronounced.

"A lot of servants are hearing you. Don't you think?" Licheng questioned her.

"They must know how gentle the Crown Prince is!" Xiana taunted him when he suddenly stood in front of her. Xiana almost bumped into him, but to prevent it from happening, she ended up losing her balance. She thought Licheng would save her from falling, but he did not. Xiana fell to the tiled floor and whined in pain.

The servants looked in their direction and stopped doing their work.

Xiana looked up at Licheng, who was smiling at her. "You could have saved me from falling," she said.

"Since you called me vicious, I thought not to help you," Licheng answered.

"I hate you!" Xiana pronounced in anger.

"I did not expect love from you either," Licheng replied. She continued to glare at him and decided to get up. However, to her surprise, Licheng bent a little and pulled her up. "You do not need to share everything with the servants around you. They may harm you. It is a palace after all. Every single person here wants to catch the eye of royalty. I hope you keep this in mind. Well, this must be happening in the Yu Palace too, so I do not need to explain more," Licheng gave her slight warnings.

"My place is not like yours," Xiana said.

Licheng smiled at her and lowered his hand from her arm. "You wanted to know how the sword came flying to me. I will show it to you," he said and turned to go ahead. Xiana's eyes glimmered to hear that and she ran after Licheng.

"Will you really tell me? Can you teach me too? If you do, I will do every single work of yours without any complaints," Xiana offered a deal to him.

"You cannot learn it, Xiana. It is something that is bestowed to me," Licheng asserted.

"Just admit that you do not want to teach me. You are merely lying to me," Xiana said and they soon reached the Crown Prince's manor. She kept provoking him to get angry at her, but he kept his composure.

When they reached the patio, from where the rock garden started, Xiana asked him again, "Were you telling the truth?"

Licheng got down the three stairs and stopped near the small water stream, and turned to gaze at her.

Licheng extended his hand out when something magical occurred around his hand. She saw the silver and sky-bluish hues around his hand and his sword finally appeared in his hand. Xiana widened her eyes and met his gaze again.

"I was not lying, Xiana," Licheng said and smiled at her.