Chapter 19: The curse is not mine

To be honest, Xiao Lan was getting frustrated just sitting in the room. While he had ample practice and patience sitting behind the desk and being busy, his mind was killing him with useless thoughts in the recent hours.

How had noble Lee died? Had it been a natural death? The reports were in his hands but Xiao Lan was not sure how much he could believe in them. They mocked him pretty heavily with their fancy words and no relevant information.

Why could they simply not summarise but have to make the wordings impossible to understand? What did 'unusual causes' mean? Can they not clarify what they suspected and what they know for certain and not use 'its believed' for everything?

Honestly, how had any of these people landed such high profile jobs despite their low level of intelligence? Xiao Lan ought to fire them all and appoint better people in their place.

"Who was the one to find the body? And who checks it over to prepare these reports? They had not disturbed the body too much have they?" The captain commander questioned once he saw the frustrated expression on his charge's face.

He had served Xiao Lan long enough to be aware of the rising temper. The young prince hardly ever got angry or frustrated but the only one who could get a rise out of him had been Fu Hua who was still unconscious.

They currently had a curtain placed between them and the entrance of the room to prevent people from having a glimpse of the current situation. Hence, Wang Yuhan had to make do as the translator between them.

"Give me a full report of how and when he died," Xiao Lan asked the captain commander who conversely sent the message to the shaking guard. The guard looked shook and gave a look to the curtain.

"T-the detectives from the ministry Song Xu checked the body. The doctor estimated the time of death to be somewhere around yesterday evening. They used a preservation spell on the body to make it last longer for your highness to check" Commander Yuhan was surprised at the other's words.

Detective Song was not someone who took a lot of cases. The other was known for his laziness and non-caring attitude. It was pretty rare to see him at work, much less to see him take an interest in a case.

There were also rumours of him and the emperor having a relaxing time together because they were similarly useless most of the time.

"I see. I will try to be there as soon as I am able to. But in the meantime, I'll send my cousin to my place to check on things. Tell everyone to follow his orders as if they were my own" the guard tucked those words close in his mind and left.

So the young master was an important figure and as the rumours said - close to the young prince Xiao Lan. Was the rumour of the kid being the imperial mother's illegitimate son true then? He needed to spread the news and wanted to spread it fast.

"You do know this will spark a lot of conflicts right? You are handing your power over to a kid just like that. It's not something you are known to do" Xiao Lan already knew what the rumour mills said about his small form and honestly, he did mind.

But that was the best way to ensure people cooperated with him peacefully. Most of the people who saw him chose to ignore him because they thought he had no backing. With this one move, he had improved his stats from 10 to 90.

"Let them say what they want to say. You stand guard outside and inform me when something important comes our way. I'll wait for Fu Hua to wake up for now" the captain commander knew the other had sent him outside to not scare Fu Hua off.

Xiao Lan must have a plan in his mind for the future and the captain commander would follow his given command.

"As you wish" once commander Wang Yuhan left Xiao Lan turned his gaze over to the still sleeping Fu Hua. A lot had already happened but the others seemed content to stay asleep.

How long would the other stay asleep? Xiao Lan did not know. But according to the doctors, he should be about to wake up now.

Unless…..

"You're already awake aren't you? You cannot fool me" there was no change in the breathing pattern of the other, nothing to indicate Xiao Lan's words at all but Xiao Lan was confident Fu Hua was awake.

Maybe he had been awake for a while now and listening in on their conversations.

"I'm not mad at you or anything so stop pretending" the body in the bed finally sagged in relief and the pair of silver eyes opened to peek at the smaller teen.

"You lied to me" Fu Hua's tone was accusing in nature and it brought back a strong wave of nostalgia in Xiao Lan's mind which he had to push down.

"I told you the truth the first time we met but you were convinced that I was not Xiao Lan so I improvised. It's your own fault you did not believe me" Xiao Lan felt his temper rise but he had to contain it.

Today had not been a good day so far but it had the potential to be worse which was saying something.

"How could I have believed you when you looked like a kid? Why are you a kid? Is all of you a kid?" Fu Hua whined. Whining! In this situation! The audacity of this person and why was Xiao Lan feeling fondness for it?

But then the anger came at the ignorance as if the other did not know it already.

"Why don't you tell me why I am a kid? After all, aren't you the reason why I am cursed in this form?" Xiao Lan knew his voice was getting higher and he should not be shouting like this but he could not help himself.

The other had made a mistake and he did not even have the guts to admit it? What kind of humans didn't even spare Xiao Lan some face? Did their past mean nothing to Fu Hua at all?

"Calm down a little. You were cursed? It was not me who did this to you or at least I don't remember doing it? But I had no reason to curse you either so it definitely was not me. I would have just killed you instead of cursing you" Xiao Lan froze because that logic was correct.

Fu Hua had never shied away from killing when he needed to. Xiao Lan had never liked it but he had understood it all the same. Sometimes there was no other choice and Fu Hua always made it for him.

"You cannot trick me with it. You cursed me because you could not bear to kill me after our time together. Just accept your fault so that we can establish it between us" Xiao Lan saw emotions pass through Fu Hua's eyes.

Once upon a time, he would have been able to place each and every emotion apart and then come to a conclusion but not this Fu Hua. This one had a veil on his emotions far too tight for Xiao Lan to place.

Finally the other sighted and looked Xiao Lan in the eyes. Silver clashed with green, a show of wills.

"I admit to cursing you into this form. What will you do to me now?" The admission should have given Xiao Lan the satisfaction he had been craving since the start but all it did was install a feeling of suspicion.

This was not right and he understood what the other was conveying.

"It was not you at all, was it? Shit, who was it then? What else are you not telling me? I know you have an idea who it could be" Xiao Lan cursed in his haste. If it was not Fu Hua who cursed him then who did?

What was going on around him these days? Why had everything turned out to be so problematic ever since Fu Hua had returned? It had not even been a day yet and things went south.

Their only possible lead, Noble Lee was dead as well which was another problem Xiao Lan needed to face.

"Remember, you are only alive because you saved my life this once and I need to repay you for it. You will help me solve things and then I will kill you to take my revenge after that. Don't think you can escape my punishment" the other gave a small laugh at his words, his face showing amusement which Xiao Lan did not like.

The other was mocking him and to his face.

"Alright, but what if I ran away before that. I'm sure I can outrun your smaller form and you will never see me again" no, the other was not allowed to escape him and Xiao Lan would make sure the other knew that too.