淫欲的代价

He Yuan was on guard for the next few weeks and when Yu Ming did not try to break into his room again, he was able to relax a little.

He still ran into the first prince on several occasions though. The man had made it his mission to make him \'green-eyed with jealousy\' and so he took Cao Luomei on walks, sent her kinds of gifts and was caring and affectionate towards her.

And every single time he did any of those things, he made sure He Yuan was aware or present to witness it. He Yuan diligently ignored the idiot and focused on raising Cao Xiwang.

He might have spent the longest time in this realm but it was actually the most relaxing. Cao Luomei was a mere paper tiger without her harem members. This could be seen from the fact that she didn\'t take actions against Cao Yuemei until she had all three men in her last life.

Even then, she wasn\'t the one to even move against Cao Yuemei but her men instead. She could scheme, but her schemes weren\'t deep. After all, she could not apply the same methods she used against her fellow courtesans on Cao Yuemei. It would be basically ineffective.

The matriarch had gotten sicker and sicker as the months flew by and was basically on her death bed. He Yuan had checked her pulse one time and knew she wouldn\'t be able to live for longer than two years.

Another year passed by and He Yuan was relieved. This was the year Cao Luomei turned fourteen and also the year she met the second member of her harem. The talented general, Shang Wu.

"I would want it to have green skies and a blue sun instead." He Yuan was currently in the middle of a conversation with 888 over what kind of realm he\'d love to build. Yes, he was that bored.

Cao Xiwang was squatting next to a shrub of flowers, messing with a bunch of butterflies.

888 was exasperated. [Have you not noticed that all realms share the same basic characteristics when it comes to appearance? No matter what, your realm must take its foundation from the appearance of the realm of realms.]

"The realm of realms?"

[Hmm. The home of all realms and also the residence of the highest level taskers and higher ups.]

"Wow. So it\'s like a big realm with tiny realms floating about?"

888 laughed. [I have no idea. I did hear that it\'s just like a normal realm but the place where all realms are created is called the Sea Of Formation and is located in the realm of realms.]

He Yuan pumped his fists. "I\'m going to be an ultra level tasker and I\'m going to take you there to see for yourself so you don\'t have to depend on hearsay."

888 laughed harder. [Okay. I\'ll be counting on you.]

He Yuan was about to reply when a servant walked into the garden and bowed.

"Second miss, an invitation from the palace."

The first thought that came to He Yuan\'s mind was Yu Ming. He\'d done his best to steer clear of the man\'s sight and was doing a rather good job as the prince had been bothering him less and less so what did the man want now?

He Yuan accepted the invitation and dismissed the servant just as Cao Xiwang ran over.

"Big sis, what does it say?"

He Yuan opened it. It was an invitation... To the first prince\'s birthday celebration. He Yuan was a bit stunned. He knew of this event, the entire capital has been bustling with excitement for over a month now because of this.

Cao Yuemei hadn\'t been invited to this event in the past. Understandably though.

Another reason for his surprise was that the general had come into the capital on the evening of this same day, just after the first prince\'s birthday celebration. He was planning on going out later that evening to encounter the general.

But this was good. If he was also invited then he\'d have to go and return with Cao Luomei, meaning he\'d be present when she encounters the general and tries to take an arrow for him.

The celebration was in two days, some people had received their invitations a month ago. It seemed like him getting an invitation at all was an afterthought.

On the day of the celebration, He Yuan wore a light green dress with cloud design at the end and wide sleeves. He settled on using pearl accessories for his hair and wrists. The sparkly milky colour complemented the green beautifully.

"Wow. Second miss is so beautiful, it makes my heart tickle," Wu Bai complimented with eyes full of worship and He Yuan smiled in thanks.

He walked outside to find Cao Xiwang squatting at the entrance of the courtyard with an abandoned look.

When the eight year old spotted He Yuan, he rushed over. "Wow. Big sis is so pretty~" And then he gave He Yuan puppy eyes. "Can I really not come?"

He Yuan smiled helplessly and stroked his head. "I\'m sorry Xiwang. You\'re too young and it\'s by invitation."

"I can wear a dress and then we could pretend that I\'m a really short noble lady who misplaced her invitation?"

He Yuan laughed. "Silly boy, I\'m very sure they\'d be able to see through your lie. The imperial family knows every noble household, which noble household are you going to pretend to be from?"

"I... I..." Cao Xiwang\'s face reddened from his efforts and He Yuan\'s laughter increased.

"How about this, you stay home and be a good boy then I would buy you lots of food to eat on my way back. Hmm?"

Cao Xiwang pouted his lips in contemplation before nodding firmly. "Fine. But don\'t think I\'m letting you go because you bribed me with food. I\'m not that cheap!"

"Of course. My family\'s Xiwang is so expensive, how could you be swayed by mere food?" He Yuan coaxed and held Cao Xiwang\'s hand as the kid escorted him to the carriage.

When they got to the carriage he was riding with Cao Luomei, the attendant opened the curtain and Cao Xiwang scoffed.

"Big sis, you\'re so much pretty than some people seated in the carriage. They look so pale, like they\'re sick. How sad."

He Yuan covered his lips to hide his smile. This little troublemaker.

Cao Luomei, on the other hand, glared at Cao Xiwang. "Who are you referring to? I dare you to repeat your words and see if I won\'t smack you directly to Meng Po\'s front door!"

Cao Xiwang puffed out his small chest. "So now you want to silence me for telling the truth? Who asked you to look so much like father? My big sis looks so delicate, you look like a blacksmith!"

"You-" He Yuan quickly entered the carriage and closed the curtain before Cao Luomei could do anything so she faced him instead. "You\'re the one who put him up to this aren\'t you? Just because you\'re jealous?!"

He Yuan just smiled at her and said nothing. In fact, Cao Luomei was ten times prettier than Cao Yuemei. It\'s just that Cao Xiwang was a little prince of bullshitting and would bullshit his way through anything.

Once they arrived at the imperial palace, they walked in with Cao Long and Cao Feng, who rode in a different carriage, escorting them.

Once they entered the banquet hall, the place seemed to go quiet. Anyhow, the Cao family had good genes and they were all pleasing to the eyes but more eyes trailed Cao Luomei. He Yuan wasn\'t bothered by this. The girl was a beauty.

They walked over to pay respects to the emperor and empress seated on the platform. The emperor looked like an older version of Yu Ming, he was handsome and imposing, even at his age. The empress on the other hand, was beautiful but she was also stiff and looked tired. The harem must not be easy to manage.

Yu Ming showed up. He looked dashing in his dark purple robes and made the noble ladies swoon. Even Cao Luomei turned into a blushing mess. The party continued after they gave their gifts to him and He Yuan went over to the buffet table to busy himself with munching on fruits.

He wasn\'t interested in the party or socializing with the other nobles.

Yu Ming stepped forward and offered the first dance to Cao Luomei, making other noble ladies jealous. The weird thing was, throughout their dance, his eyes were focused on Cao Yuemei who paid him not a single bit of attention.

Cao Luomei noticed this and lowered her eyes sadly.

He Yuan had just finished munching on a piece of grape when a hand appeared before him. He looked up, confused. Yu Ming? What did he want now?

"Dance with me?" The first prince said and He Yuan looked at him as if he had three heads.

"Wh-" He Yuan wanted to ask why but quickly caught himself. He was in the imperial palace, being stared at by a truck load of people, the emperor and empress included. One wrong move and he was in trouble and so he wiped his hand and place it on Yu Ming\'s.

As they danced, Yu Ming brought his lips close to He Yuan\'s ear. "You must have been jealous seeing me dance with Luomei."

He Yuan was dumbfounded. "You danced with Cao Luomei?" He had no idea at all! He was more concerned with the fruits.

Yu Ming eyes turned furious and he said through clenched teeth, "Cao. Yuemei. We were the centre of focus and you\'re telling me you had no idea?"

He Yuan changed his tone. "Of course I did." He didn\'t. "The both of you danced so beautifully, you\'re good together." Although he had planned to separate Cao Luomei and her harem members, he changed his mind when he realized Yu Ming\'s weird interest in him.

It was either him or Cao Luomei, so he had no qualms offering Cao Luomei to the pedo. He already had a plan that would keep Cao Yuemei from harm\'s way if the prince and Cao Luomei got together and the prince decides to take revenge on her on Cao Luomei\'s behalf.

Yu Ming saw through He Yuan\'s words and grit his teeth in anger. He had always gotten the admiration of every woman so why did this Cao Yuemei disdain his advances?

After the dance, He Yuan ran off to a shaded part of the imperial garden to wait until the end of the banquet. He didn\'t want to run into the prince again.

Cao Luomei and him were sent off at the end of the banquet whilst Cao Long and Cao Feng remained to converse with the emperor.

As they rode on the carriage, Cao Luomei kept glaring daggers at him but he pretended not to see. He wasn\'t the one that told her perverted man to be interested in him.

When they got to the main street, their carriage ran into a huge crowd. The people were screaming happily and the ladies were throwing scented handkerchiefs at a long procession of soldiers. He Yuan raised the window curtain and smiled.

Harem member number two, the talented general Shang Wu, was here.