*cough* *cough*

"Your Highness, we've reached your residence. Please hold on."

Prince Lin Zi Xuan nodded. He thought that he would be able to outsmart those bandits, so that he would be able to return with his younger brother. Who would have thought that they would ambush him?

Since he wanted to portray himself as someone who cared for his younger brother, he had to send Prince Lin Hu Xi back first and dealt with the ambush. They were a bit stronger than he expected, so he ended up injured.

There was no way he could possibly reunite with his younger brother in this condition.

There would be a high chance for Prince Lin Hu Xi trying to kill him if he did. And Lin Zi Xuan didn't want to put himself in more danger and expose his real forces in front of the others.

It was not the time yet.

"Your Highness, I'll call for the doctor."

The steward quickly rushed out. But when he came out, he saw Feng Ning was looking in their direction. He quickly bowed towards her before rushing out once more.

"Your Highness, do you want to call him?" Xiao Lu asked carefully.

Feng Ning shook her head.

She merely looked in the direction of the study. Ever since Prince Lin Zi Xuan headed to the battlefield, no servant had been walking around the place. After all, it was Lin Zi Xuan's personal space that no one dared to cross in fear that they would be in big trouble.

Now, a steward personally came from there.

Did her husband return?

But there were no pieces of news regarding that matter.

While Feng Ning was a bit confused, she didn't dwell on this matter. It was only the next day did she receive another pieces of news.

A servant rushed towards her and kowtowed. "Your Highness, Prince Lin Hu Xi had returned with injury. He said that it's Prince Lin Zi Xuan who had caused his injury."

Feng Ning's eyes turned cold.

"Did they send anyone to investigate?" Xiao Yu spoke out the words Feng Ning wrote on her palm.

"His Highness Prince Lin Zi Xuan and General Wei are both still at the battlefield. It's estimated that they will only return in a few days' time. In the meantime, His Majesty is angry and would like to check on His Highness. They'll send a few people to come here, Your Highness."

"Sending people to check on a prince's residence. They're getting bolder." Feng Ning laughed without any sound. She looked at the gate sharply. "Let them come, but make sure to remind them that this is a prince and princess' residence."

"Yes, Your Highness."

The servant trembled. Even though the one who spoke was Xiao Yu, the aura that Feng Ning seemed to emit seemed to be something that didn't allow anyone to refute her in the slightest bit.

It was scary.

After the servant left, Feng Ning wrote on Xiao Yu's hand. "Call Steward Xiao. Tell him to clean up His Highness's study room so that the inspector would be able to take a look."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Steward Xiao was stunned when he received the news and rushed over to the study room in order to find Prince Lin Zi Xuan. Right now, Lin Zi Xuan was still quite weak, but he could already walk by himself.

His manservant stopped Steward Xiao when the latter wanted to rush in. "What's the matter?"

"Her Highness said that there will be investigator coming, so she wants me to clean up the study room."

"Investigator?" Lin Zi Xuan's eyes narrowed. Thinking of his younger brother, his eyes turned even colder. It seemed that he had to settle Lin Hu Xi as fast as possible before that brat caused more trouble in the future.

But for the time being, he had to escape.

"Take me to her quarter."

"Your Highness?"

"If they had to follow the protocol, the safest place is her room." Lin Zi Xuan smirked. Males were not allowed to enter women's room and if Feng Ning were smart enough, she would never allow anyone to enter her room. That way, the safest place for him to hide would be inside her room.

"Yes, Your Highness."

The preparation was fast as there were some routes that had been purposely cleared by Steward Xiao as they brought Lin Zi Xuan to Feng Ning's room. No other servants saw them as they crossed the yard.

On the other hand, Feng Ning was waiting in the main hall calmly with Xiao Yu.

It would be impossible for her to prevent the investigator to enter her husband's study room, so she wanted him to hide in other places. Other places where those people would never be able to enter.

"Your Highness, they're here."

Feng Ning nodded. She didn't move from her position and only looked at the investigators who came calmly. Her eyes were tranquil as they didn't reveal any of her real feelings in the slightest bit.

After so many years, it was easy for her to hide what she truly felt deep down.

"Your Highness Princess Xing, we're under the order of His Majesty to take a look at His Highness Prince Lin Zi Xuan's Residence. We hope that you'll cooperate in this matter in order to find out the truth," the investigator said politely. No matter what, he's still facing a royalty.

"You all may take a look. However, I hope that you all will follow the necessary protocol."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Follow me and I'll bring you to take a look."

The investigators looked at each other before they decided to follow Feng Ning. In any case, they really couldn't run around because there was only an accusation that was thrown to Prince Lin Zi Xuan.

Besides, it was just a little investigation until the prince and General Wei arrived at the Capital City.

Feng Ning walked around and Xiao Yu's voice kept on ringing as she introduced the places one by one. However, they didn't come in most of the time because the investigators were somewhat afraid.

Looking at the way Feng Ning stared at them, there was a kind of deterrence that seemed to come from the bone.

"This is the library. Would you like to come inside and check?"

"Thank you, Your Highness."

As they entered the library, they only took a look at the books and all. Most of them were study books that seemed to be rarely touched. Prince Lin Zi Xuan only stayed at the Capital City for a short period of time. It was not strange that his items were left untouched for a long period of time.

Some of them were even outdated, which seemed to be from his childhood.

None of them looked suspicious, so the investigators ended up leaving.

Then, they reached the servants' area and the investigators asked some routine questions to the servants. None of them dared to say anything out of the line. Princess Feng Ning was still watching them.

If they dared to say anything wrong, it was guaranteed that their lives wouldn't be easy. It was even possible that they would be disposed right away and no one would know about it.

Servants' life was very cheap.

Very very cheap.

"Are there any other places left, Your Highness?"

"My husband's study room is the only one left if you would like to take a look."

"Please, Your Highness."

Feng Ning nodded and then led the investigators to the study room. She actually wanted to slow down her pace a bit because she was not sure whether Lin Zi Xuan was still there or not. After all, she never tried to confirm.

Hopefully, he got the message from Steward Xiao and left the place.

As they reached the study room, Feng Ning could faintly smell the sandalwood smell from the incense stick. She arched her eyebrows and turned to look at Steward Xiao, who was sweeping there.

...Why in the world a steward would sweep the ground?

While she felt a bit dumbfounded, Feng Ning still continued to play her role. "Steward Xiao, are you the one who used the incense?"

"Your Highness!" Steward Xiao quickly kowtowed on the ground. "This servant thought that His Highness will return soon, so this one wanted to make sure that the place smelled the same as before."

"There's no such instruction." Xiao Yu was trying her best to keep her face poker as she followed the words Feng Ning wrote on her palm.

Steward Xiao apologized vehemently.

Meanwhile, the investigators looked around the place. They didn't sense anyone there and there didn't seem to be anything wrong with the books that Prince Lin Zi Xuan had. Most of them were about military and all.

Probably, it was what he used to study in the past.

Aside from some books, there were only a few other papers left from the investigation regarding the bandits. It seemed that they were left behind because it was no longer necessary.

The information didn't look to be that important either.

"Have you finished?" Xiao Yu asked when she saw the investigators walked back towards her.

The lead investigator nodded, but the investigator behind him chirped, "Your Highness, we haven't seen your place."

Feng Ning stared at that person with a smile that was not a smile. Her fingers wrote on Xiao Yu palm calmly. "I can bring you to take a look, but you're not allowed to come inside."

"Why not?" the investigator seemed displeased. "Are you hiding something?"

"Would you check into the inner compound of other noble ladies?" Feng Ning instead answered that way. "Can you be responsible if someone tried to tarnish my reputation? If you persist, I'll appeal to His Majesty that his investigators are trying to harass a princess!"

The lead investigator felt his heart jumped when he heard what Feng Ning said. He quickly pulled that man down and kowtowed on the ground.

"Your Highness, that's not what we intend to do. We're only here to do our job and not to make things difficult for you."

He knew very well that if Feng Ning did appeal that way, all of their lives and even their families' lives would end. Even if Feng Ning is only a princess, she's still part of the Imperial Family. And Imperial Family's Honor must never be tarnished.

The investigator who spoke earlier also swallowed the words he wanted to say. He thought that it would be easy for him to pressure Princess Xing, who was known to be a quiet person and rarely appeared in the nobility world.

But he was wrong.

She was not a paper tiger but a real tigress who was capable of baring her fangs once they dared to cross the line.

"Do you dare?" Xiao Yu spoke out the word that Feng Ning wrote.

"No, Your Highness...."

The investigators apologized vehemently before Feng Ning led them to her quarter. They only looked from a distance and upon seeing that there didn't seem to be anything wrong, they quickly returned.

There was no way they would want to stay there any longer with a raging princess.

If she decided to really appeal, their lives would be done for.