08

Sylvester was almost at the door leading to the inner part of the Harem when he heard a voice that made his blood boil. He was ready to kill and double ready for his consequences.

Prince Li Wei angers Sylvester naturally and when Li Wei has run away from the country to the Qing dynasty after committing such a terrible act, Sylvester tried everything possible to catch up with him and take life out of him. But one thing stopped Sylvester that night; it was the eyes of a slave. 

The voice roared one more time, “Who the hell is this person who wants to deprive me of something that I desire the most at this moment, who the hell is he?” The next thing he saw was Li Wei tearing off his Dove’s clothes and at that moment, he saw red. 

Before he could draw his sword and attack him, when he felt a dagger pass his side from Ying’s hand missing Li Wei’s hand by an inch. 

“He was about tearing the other cloth” Ying whispered and Sylvester nodded, acknowledging his action. 

Sylvester has always trusted Ying with all of his decisions as Ying is always more vocal than Sylvester.

“If you do that one more time, I swear on my life, You will not see the sun set!” Sylvester roared and walked towards Prince Li Wei. His eyes red from anger. 

“Who do you think you are to go against the Prince of the kingdom?” Li Wei questioned looking around, searching for the owner of the threatening voice. 

Even though his senses had hinted that it could be Sylvester Ho, he had dismissed the thought with the question of why would Sylvester Ho; a descendant of the prime minister’s house come to an Harem. 

“Your nightmare!” That reply alone sent shivers down the body of the prince and he knew Sylvester had the key to make or mar him. He knew Sylvester knew about his darkest secret, the reason why he left. 

He quickly changed his demeanor and masked his fear with a bitter laugh.

“You’re nothing, Sylvester. Just like before when you were nothing” He claimed.

“Do you want me to prove that to you? Do you, Li Wei? Even if I’m loyal to the King, your brother, my loyalty has a boundary. Should we test the length of it?” Sylvester threatened and that got the prince to shut up. 

He moved closer to Desire and touched her face with his hand, she was already shaking with tears. His little dove was scared and Sylvester Ho was concerned for her.

Alerted, he saw a hand holding Desire’s hand tightly and when he looked over at the owner of the hand, he calmed down once he saw that it was a frail, looking girl.

“Why do you always attract trouble, Dove?”

“My lord” She couldn’t find the right words to give to her Master. 

Desire was relieved when she heard his voice. She knew he was the only person who had the right to punish her. That had been made clear after the Head lady of the Harem had told the prince that her Master would not like him touching her. 

“I didn’t know he could pick you but when I realized how charming you are, I knew something like this could happen. You’re too pure for a man like this” 

She couldn’t find an answer to her question—- why will he travel all the way from the mansion just because he thought the prince was going to select her.

“Answer me, Dove. Why do you always attract trouble?” He screamed at her.

“I do not know my lord. I don’t have an answer”

“You don’t have answers to a lot of questions, do you?” He removed his long robe and placed it on her shoulder, shielding her dignity and innocence from the world. 

“My lord?” Desire was astonished by his action. 

“Look at me, Desire. You’re safe now, okay?” She nodded. Desire had never known this soft side of his Master. Today was also the first time he had called her by her name. 

Sylvester had every intention of ruining the whole Harem when he was on his way but on getting to the Harem and seeing his Dove’s eyes, she calmed him and his anger evaporated into the air.

“Go get all of her stuff for me” Sylvester ordered the Head lady, who quickly carried out her assignment like her life depended on it and dropped the bag of clothes at her feet. 

“Ying, please take Desire and her friend to the Queen’s Chamber, I’ll meet you there in a few minutes” 

Ying hesitated for a minute but knew he couldn’t refuse his orders. He led the two ladies away from the Harem and his horse too and they made their way to the Palace. 

“Let this be known, Li Wei, you can have any other lady you want in this kingdom but the moment your attention drifts to either my sister or any of the ladies in my mansion, I would not hesitate to kill you by myself. As you already know, killing you would be the easiest of all things despite the fact that you’re a prince after all” 

“You will do no such thing, Ho. She’s just a slave girl and as you know, all slaves belong to the throne and yes! I am the throne”

“Well!, why don’t you try and see if I can do such a thing or not. A slave girl she is, but she’s my slave girl. It’ll be better for you to thread carefully Li Wei, the grounds are more slippery. See you at your banquet, Prince Li Wei” He mockingly bowed in respect and walked out of the mansion. 

Prince Li Wei saw red and started thrashing around the Harem, breaking things in his way while the women tried to avoid his wrath. 

Once Sylvester was out, he heaved a huge sigh of relief. 

“Fang! I did well”