How To Survive as a Villain

Xiao YuAn returned early in the morning and took a short break after having lunch. In the afternoon, he read the memorials for half a day. When he saw that the sunlight became dim, he looked up from the pile of memorials, and felt that something was wrong.

Instead of Hong Xiu, a maidservant stepped down to salute him: “Your Majesty, would you like to eat dinner?”

Xiao YuAn nodded. Suddenly, he felt like he could see the silhouette of Hong Xiu, and stared blankly at the vermilion hairpin laying on the table. His chest felt extremely tight and painful. Xiao YuAn stood up wanting to go to the courtyard to get some fresh air. When he walked out of the gate of his bedchamber, that strange feeling surged up once again. He walked back and forth in a dazed state. Suddenly, he realized what was that wrong feeling he felt before: After leaving for the morning Court, he hadn’t seen Yan HeQing for the whole day!

Xiao YuAn went back to the gate of his bedchamber and asked one of the Imperial bodyguards that was guarding the door: “Is Yan HeQing not on duty today?”

The several Imperial bodyguards hesitated, but they ended up saying that they weren’t sure. One of them replied instead: “Answering to His Majesty, Yan HeQing has been temporarily transported to another Palace.”

“Where was he transferred to?”

“Yongning Hall.”

“Princess Yongning asked for him?”

“Answering to His Majesty, yes.”

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Xiao YuAn nodded, inexplicably feeling a little bit lonely, he went back to his bedchamber, losing appetite for dinner. He then stood at the window and stared at the courtyard, thinking about the future.

After a while, Xiao YuAn suddenly frowned.

The Imperial bodyguards are under the jurisdiction of the House of Internal Affairs, and the transfer must go through the hands of Eunuch Zhao. Princess Yongning can’t take someone away with just a few words.

Moreover, Wuning Wangye colluded with the Southern Yan Kingdom to launch an attack, which caused the Palace to go into panic. Yan HeQing, who also happened to be the Prince of the Southern Yan Kingdom, became the target of public criticism. With such a situation at hand, the idea of him being suddenly transferred to Yongning Hall made him feel that something wasn’t right.

Xiao YuAn suddenly turned and rushed out of the Imperial bedchamber. Regardless of the insisting voices of the maidservant and the Imperial bodyguards, he went straight to Yongning Hall.

When he finally reached Yongning Hall he asked the Princess and, as expected, she didn’t know anything at all!

Inside his heart, Xiao YuAn was blaming himself for this negligence, and hurriedly walked towards the House of Internal Affairs.

At the House of Internal Affairs, Eunuch Zhao had already heard that the Emperor was approaching. He put down the teacup, tapped his knees, and slowly got up from the chair, saluting at Xiao YuAn: “Your Majesty.”

When Xiao YuAn looked at the kind-faced old man, he couldn’t help but think about the river of white bones and blood that was hiding behind his back: “Eunuch Zhao, you should already guess why I came here.”

“Your Majesty, this old slave that grew up watching everything inside this Palace. What the Emperor is thinking, how can this old slave don’t know?” Eunuch Zhao replied. “It is just that His Majesty must understand that after the incident that took place a few days ago, it’s necessary to guard against suspicious people, and it’s better for His Majesty to not take care of it. This old slave will give the Emperor satisfactory results soon.”

“Eunuch Zhao, without any evidence, you can’t just act on simple speculations.”

“Your Majesty, even if there’s no evidence right now, will Wangye’s followers be able to keep their mouths shut? At this time, when everyone that has been involved in the matter has been exposed, this old slave just feels that it won’t take much time before the truth comes out.”

Xiao YuAn’s mouth pursed into a tight line. He also knew that Yan HeQing would be persecuted sooner or later the longer he stayed at the Palace. But he didn’t expect it would happen so soon.

Eunuch Zhao covered his mouth and coughed twice. His whole person looked more and more bent: “When His Majesty was still a child, he used to listen to this old slave very much. Later, when His Majesty got older, there wasn’t a chance for this old slave to advise the Emperor anymore. Now, I hope that His Majesty will listen to this old slave’s advice again. Your Majesty, even if you like him, you can’t keep him. There could always be a substitute, this break up is not unfortunate. I’m more afraid that His Majesty would hurt himself for the sake of this love.”

Xiao YuAn stared at Eunuch Zhao, and for a moment, he didn’t know how to answer.

Eunuch Zhao was vicious and cruel, but in this world where Xiao YuAn could hate anyone, he still wasn’t able to hate him.

Eunuch Zhao has been inside the Palace for so many years, and every single thing he had done before was with a single purpose in mind.

For the stability of the Northern Kingdom. For the safety of the Monarch of the Northern Kingdom.

Therefore, even if he was abandoned by thousands of people, Xiao YuAn must not be one of them.

“Your Majesty.” Eunuch Zhao’s voice sounded like a pleading, old and hoarse. “This time, you must listen to this old slave.”

I’m feeling the same as XYA, I want to hate Eunuch Zhao so bad!!!! … but in the end I can’t, because he’s just doing his job, and at the end of the day, YHQ is the Northern Kingdom’s enemy, if XYA wasn’t the Emperor, he would’ve longer been sentenced to die (like in the original)