Once This Flower Blooms Completely, There will be Less Petals

Without even accounting for the clever and calculated strategy Blue Prince designed, Emperor Yuansheng was overjoyed with Blue Prince’s accomplishment. Emperor Yuansheng’s primary goals were never to increase his own material wealth or expand his territory. Instead, he wanted to protect his people from harm. Rather than be most happy about the threatening tool Blue Prince managed to wedge in between them and Beijiang, Emperor Yuansheng likely loved the fact that Blue Prince didn’t sacrifice a single life to successfully carry out the plan even though there was no way to verify if Blue Prince purposely accounted for that.

Apparently, Emperor Yuansheng summoned someone else covertly into the palace before Blue Prince’s audience with him. It went without saying that it was a happy and exciting conversation centred around the election of a Crown Prince. Emperor Yuansheng was in high spirits all the time after hearing of his son’s exploits. He was probably looking forward to crowning a Crown Prince everyone was satisfied with and could live up to expectations. Suffice to say, crowning a Crown Prince introduced a plethora of new variables, and Emperor Yuansheng’s past experience reminded him that having a Crown Prince didn’t guarantee peace, but it was a rare opportunity. Perhaps he was only able to settle on a Prince because he was high on emotions. Alas, the result of their meeting left everyone scratching their heads.

Officials who heard about the meeting stayed up all night, but news of Blue Prince being conferred the title of Crown Prince never came. It was said to have been an unhappy night. Blue Prince left the palace in a huff, packed up his luggage and planned to depart from the capital immediately. Had the official in charge of Censors not stopped him, Blue Prince would’ve left. Emperor Yuansheng, similar to his son, was furious, but they managed to contain it to just breaking some bowls and plates. Though they managed to censor the matter from the public, the servants spread word of it. Emperor Yuansheng was known for being able to control his temper, so vandalising stuff was a first for many of them.

Nobody would’ve thought Blue Prince returned to the capital victorious if they saw his cold demeanour after that night. He left the capital after a few days without taking His Majesty’s reward along with him. Nobody ignorant to the talk that night was certain if Blue Prince was too proud to care for the rewards or if he and his father truly had a break down in their relationship. Anyone who knew the contents of their talk never dared to mention a word. From then on, Emperor Yuansheng never mentioned crowning a Crown Prince again.

Boss only had her conjectures based on conversations with His Majesty.

“They say that the six Princes have all formed factions for the throne. In my opinion, a fair number of them aren’t that zealous about the throne. At the very least, Green Prince and Red Prince aren’t interested. As for Blue Prince, he has an enormous faction of supporters and soldiers. The majority of his soldiers are stationed up north to deal with Beijiang, while the remainder are stationed in his territories. I heard he recently leveraged the small state to sabotage Luocha and Tiezhen’s alliance. Compared to the Seven Champion White Princes, he’s far more of a hero. It’s hard to argue he’s conspiring to something when he doesn’t want to be Crown Prince. What is he after? Does it make any sense to you?”

I thought Blue Prince was a weirdo, but he was weirder than I gave him credit for.

“If you’re asking me, everyone has their reasons for their decisions. There are only two possible reasons he wouldn’t accept the role. One of them is that it’s a tough shoe to fill.”

“That’s obvious. You think he’s qualified?”

“Absolutely.”

Perplexed, Boss shook her head. “He’s smart and incredibly proud of himself. He’d only need a few reads to memorise what others took an entire day of studying to remember; that applies for all books. He liked challenges, which was why Uncle entrusted two areas to him. He’s the only person to say, the more the better, and happily tackle the daunting task. If Crown Prince’s shoes were tough to fill, he’d be happy to accept the challenge. Uncle initially picked him precisely owing to this trait of his. It’s not surprising Uncle was mad when he refused.”

“Mm.” I bobbed my head. “That leaves only the second possibility.”

“Which is?”

“He’s not interested.”

“Not interested?”

“If someone doesn’t want to be Crown Prince, the only possibility besides it being too difficult is that they’re not interested in being Crown Prince.”

Boss widened her eyes at first. “We’re talking about the Crown Prince seat here.”

I shrugged. “No matter what it is, if you don’t like it, you don’t like it. Aren’t I uninterested in being Mount Daluo’s patriarch, too? No matter who tries to persuade me, no matter what reasons are offered, I’m not interested. It’s as simple as that.”

Regardless of what Blue Prince’s motivations were, it had to have included those two reasons. I didn’t care why he wasn’t keen, but there were plenty of people and things that didn’t fit into stereotypes. My shifu preferred women over the world. He’d rather play mahjong and hit on ladies than rule the world despite how strong he was. Grandmaster sat at home for a century, watching clouds or sleeping. Wouldn’t you consider the two of them weird? I didn’t understand their mentality in any greater depth despite growing up around them. With that said, my inability to understand them didn’t hinder them or reduce my respect for them. If any misfortune were to befall them, I’d have placed my life on the line for them.

Subsequent to some mulling, Boss showed a bright smile. “Thanks for the insight. Now that you mention it, I can see how that is possible.”

I, too, was relieved and happy to see her smile. “It’s just my personal thought. I’m thirsty after all that talking.”

Though the tea was cold and tasted nothing like tea, the cool tea was soothing to the throat. I just couldn’t my finger on where I smelt the scent from, but it was familiar.

“You’re thirsty? I just finished the tea… What did you just drink? Did I still have a cup?”

“Hmm?”

You finished it? Wait! Wait! Didn’t I also realise there was no tea left?!

“I’ll have someone refill. What’s the matter?”

“N-n-nothing. J-just…”

Don’t think about it! Don’t think about it, or you’ll be a freak, Ming Feizhen! Don’t!ｂ𝚎ｄｎ𝚘ｖ𝚎ｌ.𝚌𝚘ｍ

“Was it good?”

“Very!“

… I’m not a freak!

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