07

Sylvester Ho was in his suite when he received a letter from his King to attend a banquet held by the Royal Household.

Sylvester wondered about why a banquet was being held at that time of the year.

“Read it out loud!” He commanded the knight who had brought the Royal letter.

“Yes My lord” He clears his throat before he proceeds with the reading. 

“I, King Wang Wei, and the Royal Household invite the household of Ho to the banquet held in Honor of the return of the Royal Prince, Li Wei in three days' time. I’ll be pleased with your presence” 

He was beyond shocked at the sudden arrival of Prince Li Wei in town after so many years of leaving. 

Prince Li was the most hated animal, the most useless of all and how much Sylvester hated his guts is inestimable especially after what had happened between them years back. 

Prince Li didn’t just leave, he ran away from the wrath of Sylvester. If Li Wei had managed to escape the last time, Sylvester wasn’t sure he'd be able to contain his emotions and not run a dagger through his heart. 

Flashback .....

“What happened to you Fang? Who did this to you?” Sylvester roared at the young lady crying on the floor before him. She was rolling in pain as blood pooled around her. 

She was too terrified to answer. She had lost everything including her voice and was even too weak to talk. 

“I swear to God almighty that I’ll kill whoever did this to you, I’ll kill him” Fang dragged him down to her level with the little strength she had in her. 

“You can’t!”

“Why?” Sylvester screamed before gathering her into his arms and using his hand to stop her from bleeding any further from her stomach. 

But it was too late, the worm had fallen into the pit of salt.

“L—Li Wei” she managed to voice out before she finally collapsed and embraced darkness.

   

Sylvester screamed and wished he could do everything in his power to bring her back to him and take the life out of Li Wei.

Flashback ends

“When did he come back?” He asked his knight.

“I heard from one of the Royal Knights that he came in yesterday, My lord” 

“You May leave” 

The knight left his suite and Sylvester continued with the work he was doing. He had no intention of going for the banquet because so help him God, he might lose his sanity and finally get rid of Li Wei once and for all. 

He heard another knock on his door and when he gave permission to enter, it was his personal and closest knight, Ying. 

Ying grew up in the Ho’s household as the grandson of the previous assistant court lady who served the household for years before her death. 

Ying and Sylvester grew up together and this prompted their closeness. They were always going for training together at the Royal court and through the help of Sylvester, Ying was able to complete his martial training before proceeding to becoming a knight.

Even though the poor were not allowed to become a knight, Sylvester’s father adopted Ying so he could fulfill his greatest wish of becoming a knight. 

After Naomi got married to the Royal Household, Ying asked to follow her and protect her from all the webs of evil dangling through the palace and even though Sylvester didn’t like the idea, he didn’t have a choice than to let go of his closest friend. 

“Ying, what brings you here?” He asked abruptly 

“At least, offer me a chair!” Ying retaliated 

“Would you mind sitting on a floor?” Sylvester jokes.

“You’re brutal”

“Only to you, Brother” they both had a good laugh and Sylvester gestured for his dear friend to have his seat. 

“What brings you here?” 

“I brought a new knight with me, he’ll be serving under your household. He’s a brother to a friend of mine and I want him to be safe, which is why I brought him here. The other knights will introduce him later to you” He replied.

“What’s going on in the Royal Household? I heard Li Wei is back” 

Ying pauses for a while and examines his friend’s face.

“I could read your mind through your eyes before but now it’s void of any emotions, what’s going on with you, Sylvester??” 

“Nothing at all”

“Well, Li Wei came back and you know how he is, trouble follows him everywhere. Will you be coming for the Banquet?”

“No” 

“I guessed as much,” Ying replied. “The Queen asked me to deliver an urgent message to you. 

“The one you hate the most will be visiting the place you loathe the most. If she’s important to you, don’t just sit down and watch him mess things up for you. Get up and come for the banquet but not without breaking protocols” Ying finished reading the small note from the Queen and before he could blink, Sylvester had risen from his seat and made his way down the stairs leading to his horses.

“Sylvester? What is wrong with you?” Ying asked worriedly.

“Nothing but I swear to God, something will happen in the next hour if care isn’t taken. Go with me Ying, please” This was the first time Sylvester had asked his friend humbly to do a thing for him and Ying couldn’t reject his proposal.

He nodded at his friend and mounted his horse. 

“Tell the court lady to prepare my ceremonial dress and send it down to me with three of your men, I’ll be going ahead to the royal court to attend the banquet of the soon to be thrashed bastard called a Prince” He left his instruction and off he and Ying went. 

He knew his destination and he knew the first place he was going to stop. 

The Harem!

For years, the Ho’s Household has been known to have a strict protocol that every of their generations had respect for and one of them was to never visit the Harem for any pleasurable reason.

Well! Sylvester was sure it wouldn't be a happy visit.