Housekeeper of the Hundred Blossom Palace
Chapter 87: Despondent Princess

‘Besides, these guys clearly have a backer, too.’

Yui Mei was checking all the names that she marked with x up until now.

It didn’t matter if they were living in the Huang territory and the locals here were antagonistic towards the Imperial family; going against powerful people was truly a bad idea.

Normally, they should only watch the flow of things from afar.

However, many servants, starting from those chefs, were trampling on the envoy of the crown prince out in the open.

They must have thought that even if they were dismissed, their lives afterward were already secured.

‘These guys are probably minions of Lord Li Min’s aunt, I guess.’

The strategy of ‘attack from the outside and work from within’ was an old trick, nothing special.

Yui Mei was not a Chinese drama otaku just for show.

Chinese dramas had lots of fighting scenes, so she was also very familiar with the tactics and strategies they used.

Anyway, Yui Mei folded the paper and put it in her bosom again, then she headed towards Princess Pan.

“Princess Pan, may I come in?”

Yui Mei called out from outside the room, and the maid appeared and opened the door for her. Princess Pan seemed down as she pedalled away on her exercise bike. 

‘She’s probably worried about Lord Li MIn, huh.’

Li MIn didn’t go on his usual pirate extermination voyage this time around.

They would attack the lair of the pirates.

There was the possibility of the tables being turned on them, of course.

Untactful comforting wouldn’t cut it during such an uneasy time.

It might be counterproductive, too, since it might draw her ire. She might even say ‘What do you know’, so it was better to handle it properly by trying to act as normal as possible, and to wrack her brains to replace ways to do that.

“Princess Pan, aren’t you pedaling too fast?”

The princess finally noticed it herself when she heard Yui Mei’s words.

“Really?”

Yui Mei nodded her head firmly.

“You can look forward to taking a stroll at the harbor with Lord Li Min once he returns.”

The princess looked at Yui Mei fondly as she imagined the future scene she had said.

“…True. I easily ran out of breath before when Lord Li Min took me to the harbor. I didn’t know back then that Kai has many places where carriages can’t pass through.”

Indeed, Kai was a port city, so the houses were built right beside each other, so it gave off that compact feeling.

On the other hand, Princess Pan, being a person raised in the Inner Palace, was used to being carried in a sedan in order to move around the palace.

It was very rare for her to walk on her own two feet, so a simple stroll was already very hard on her.

“So that’s what happened. Still, next time around, you will be able to enjoy walking around a lot more. Lord Li Min will be surprised, for sure.”

“Fufu, you think so?”

It might have been light, but finally, Princess Pan laughed.

Just when Yui Mei thought about that, the princess suddenly turned to her.

“Oh, Yui Mei, aren’t you worried about Li Yong?”

“What?”

Yui Mei suddenly stiffened.

‘Ah, no, no, not at all, if anything, I should be more worried about myself, right.’

Yui Mei’s current role was to be the decoy, after all.

***

Let’s turn back the time for a while, just before Li Yong’s departure.

“What are you planning to do?”

Yui Mei had pulled Li Yong towards the corner of the mansion’s yard, and she pressed him for the answer.

She couldn’t believe her ears when she heard that Li Yong, who was the crown prince’s envoy, would participate in Li Min’s pirate extermination plan.

It was the Huang family’s problem, after all.

‘This guy isn’t the sentimental sort of person, after all.’

Yui Mei had been helped a lot of times by Li Yong, or should she say Libin, but he didn’t do that because he already anticipated it would happen beforehand.

He was always with Yui Mei, not because he wanted to, but because it was what the crown prince wanted, so she already had a grasp about this person’s personality.

Basically, he wouldn’t show sympathy in things that didn’t concern him.

And yet, this person volunteered to join Li Min’s expedition.

“Princess Pan has almost recovered now, so it’s good if her surroundings are fixed after that.”

That was what he said.

“Fixing her surroundings… are you saying you want Lord Li Min to return back to Princess Pan’s side as soon as possible, so you’re participating?”

Li Yong snorted when he heard what Yui Mei said.

“As if, they’ll be able to deal with those pirates even without me, after all, there’s no way those guys would win against the military power of the Huang family.”

“Well, you’re right.”

No matter how strong those pirates were, they were just a bunch of guys who gathered together, so there was no way they would win against the well-trained military troops.

––––

T/N: So it’s confirmed, cat’s out of the bag already for Li Yong, huh.

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