The guards got up from the ground and all knelt down.
Xuanyuan Yonghao glanced over the guards who knelt before him.
He slightly lifted his thin lips, curving them upward,
"What’s going on here? Did you do this?"
His tone wasn’t filled with anger, only those black eyes staring intensely at Su Yan.
Su Yan lowered her head, looking as if she had been caught making a mistake.
Lin Liqiang clasped his hands together and said,
"Your Highness, this Maid is quite suspicious, please allow your subject to investigate thoroughly."
Xuanyuan Yonghao did not answer him.
He walked forward a few steps, passing the throng of guards to assess Su Yan from head to toe.
Despite fighting so many guards, she wasn’t hurt at all, and other than hearing her breathing unevenly and seeing the fine sweat on her face, she looked... perfectly normal.
He raised his eyes, looking towards these guards and spoke softly,
"So many people couldn’t catch one palace maid, General Lin’s soldiers really impress me."
Lin Liqiang’s face reddened with embarrassment, feeling more humiliated than ever.
Lin Liqiang clasped his hands, his voice solemn,
"Your Highness, it is my fault for poor supervision. Once we capture this Maid, I shall make sure to train them rigorously."
Standing aside, having remained silent, Prime Minister Zhao Ziyang observed for a while before speaking gently,
"Your Highness, do you know this Maid?"
Xuanyuan Yonghao smiled and did not speak, his gaze turning towards Su Yan.
"Have you had enough fun?"
Su Yan raised her head to look at Xuanyuan Yonghao, not quite understanding his attitude.
Opening her mouth, her tone soft,
"This servant was merely passing by; they insisted on capturing me."
With every utterance of ’servant’, Xuanyuan Yonghao felt she bore no awareness of her own servitude.
Watching her demeanor, he took her hand and nodded.
His cool lips curved up slightly, his dark eyes twinkling with amusement,
"Clearly they are in the wrong, let’s return to the palace; I will decide for you."
He pulled her to leave, but Su Yan took a step and then stood still.
She pinched her sleeve, wiping the sweat from her forehead, her lips a bit pale.
"I can’t walk."
Her soft voice carried traces of fatigue and weakness.
Her calves trembled, taking another step might just see her kneeling on the floor.
His eyes faintly smiled,
"How come I didn’t see this hint of weakness when you were hitting others?"
Teasing her, he bent down and scooped her up in his arms.
Prime Minister Zhao and General Lin watched in surprise as Xuanyuan Yonghao departed.
Lin Liqiang was utterly confused, scratching his head he turned to ask the nearby Zhao Ziyang,
"Is that Maid under Third Prince’s command? How come I’ve never seen her before? Since when has His Highness cared so much about a subordinate?"
Hearing Lin Liqiang’s bewildered words, Zhao Ziyang’s usually sharp eyes suddenly included a hint of amusement,
"General Lin, in future, not only must you pay attention to military affairs, but you also need to understand matters of the heart."
A subordinate?
Who has ever seen a master treat a subordinate so intimately, with indulgent tones, completely biased without principle?
What sort of person Third Prince is, they both knew all too clearly.
What surprised Zhao Ziyang was that the person showing such fond expressions was Third Prince himself.
It truly shocked him.
Lin Liqiang was no fool, with Zhao Ziyang’s hint, he quickly grasped that there was a relationship between Third Prince and that Maid.
Following that, Lin Liqiang frowned, somewhat disapproving,
"His Highness is poised for great deeds, he must not be entangled by affairs of the heart. Furthermore, that Maid’s Martial Arts skills are mysterious and peculiar."