The Birth Of A Villainess

Kael's face twisted as he heard her words. He stood up and exclaimed. "Wh- why? Weren't you just going to let us off easily this time as a warning?"

"Let you off easily?" Lin Xiaofei raised her brow. "Who said so?"

Kael and Chu Chu bit their lips and shrunk their heads lower at her glare.

Sighing, Lin Xiaofei stood up and said, "You two will be spending your two weeks in your own chambers. You two are grounded for endangering yourselves and not planning things out completely."

"But we did plan things though…" Kael replied while pouting. "Besides, we successfully did it in the end."

"Then, I guess no one was injured or hurt in your plan?" She questioned them and in turn, Kael and Chu Chu chose to say nothing.

They both sustained enough minor and major injuries during the scuffle with the bandits. Although they were successful in capturing the entirety of the bandit's group, they still put their lives in disorder and even almost endangered the hostages. Not only that, Kael ended up having countless cuts in his lips and forehead as a result of that one bandit beating him up.

Honestly, if Qu Xing Xu's highly trained and expert men weren't there, the two of them were only offering themselves as sacrificial lambs who willingly went to the Lion's den to be eaten. Even before they could face their intended target, Yu Fangzhu, they were bullied and beaten by the bandits.

But what could they do?

In the first place, this plan was Kael's. Qu Xing Xu was only helping them by supervising and listening to the child's plan and seeing how much he improved in planning. It even took Kael a couple of times to fail before the duke could finally force himself to say yes to his plans.

And thus, that started their plan to use the bandits against Yu Fangzhu.

"We're sorry."

"... We apologize."

Both Kael and Chu Chu said their apologies once again before Lin Xiaofei told them to follow Shen Mo back to the Qu residence to receive their punishments.

When the door was closed behind them, Lin Xiaofei focused her attention on the waiter who was idly standing on the side this whole time.

"I haven't been up-to-date on the happenings in the Capital. Can you brief me on the news recently?"

The waiter blinked and a smile bloomed on his mouth. "Certainly, milady. Do you wish to know the problems of the masses? The headaches of the nobles? Or perhaps, you wish to know what happened inside the Imperial Palace?"

Lin Xiaofei silently stared at the waiter. She was amazed at him because he was practically telling her that he knew everything that happened in the entire Zheng Empire.

But she was more intrigued at what he meant by the 'headaches of the nobles'.

"What happened to the aristocrats' side?" Lin Xiaofei asked him.

The waiter smiled gently. He poured her a cup of tea and pushed the tray of bite-size snacks towards her before sitting on the chair opposite to hers.

"From what information I gathered. Soon, there will be a trial happening."

"A trial?" Lin Xiaofei was astounded. A trial means that the nobles have decided to band together and judge someone who has sinned in the views of the masses. However, she couldn't tell why there would be a trial when the Chu empire's envoy and prince was staying here.

Were they asking themselves to be further humiliated in front of another kingdom after the cave and the two princesses fiasco?

The waiter nodded his head. "Yes, a trial. Currently there are some activities that have caught the sights of several nobles. Have you heard of the Head Hunter?"

"Head Hunter? Isn't that the criminal who escaped from the prison in the Chang Feng estate and started to hunt several nobles." Lin Xiaofei frowned after saying this. The head hunter was a heinous criminal beyond saving as he would murder any nobleman he comes across.

Even before she died in her original body, the head hunter had been spreading terror to several nobles across the Eastern side of the Zheng Empire where the Change Feng estate was located. Although Lin Xiaofei didn't care much about the ins and outs of a criminal nor cared about the countless fatuous and arrogant nobles, she didn't think that that man would actually cause this much trouble and forced the nobles to open a trial.

"Have they captured him?" She asked.

The waiter shook his head.

"No one has seen him actually. After he escaped and murdered several noblemen, he disappeared for a while now and hasn't taken any movements until last night."

"Last night?"

"Yes… He has killed the Chu family's Di son, Chu Wang Ji. Currently, the Chu family has started to move their forces and manhunt the head hunter. Unfortunately, they still haven't found him." The waiter told her.

'Chu Wang Ji…' Why does it feel like she's heard of this name before.

"And the Chu family head gathered the nobles and begged them to open a trial without the man suspected of this crime?" Lin Xiaofei asked but saw that the waiter was staring at her weirdly as if she said something wrong. "What is it?"

"Milady… Have you forgotten that Chu Wang Ji was once your fiance?" The waiter asked her.

As if realization struck her, Lin Xiaofei's eyes widened in surprise. So, that was why she thought that that name was extremely familiar and wondered if it was from her first life.

So, it seems that Chu Wang Ji was once betrothed to her.

Seeing how nonchalant and unbothered Lin Xiaofei was even after hearing that Chu Wang Ji, her ex-fiance, died made the waiter speechless. Wasn't the normal reaction when they heard someone related to them somehow whether in a good or bad way was to feel sympathy or cuss them out?

But why does it seem that the new duchess doesn't even care and as if Chu Wang Ji was a stranger to her?

Not willing to stress himself out, the waiter continued, "Anyway, the Chu family and the rest of the aristocratic families wish to catch this dangerous man and hand a suitable punishment for him in public."

"So, they basically want a sadistic performance where they can test out their sadistic torture methods in public to instill fear to the masses." Lin Xiaofei summarized what the nobles were exactly thinking.

...

Author has something to say: Yay! Yu Fangzhu's end is nearing. Already wrote and posted the chapter, but it's in the privilege chapters.

1 scumbag down XDD