"Huff. This is all I can get." Dongling dumped several papers on Beiyue's desk. "All info about Xue-Yifei, her son, and her relations to the Xue Clan. Thanks to miss decision, the Xue Clan is losing face and it's easy to find some dirt on them." The maids love gossippings in-between duty. That's why Maids make very effective spy. With how much the Maids in Harem palace, all Dongling had to do to blends in was using makeup to make herself look tanned and putting fake freckles.

"Thank you." Beiyue nodded. Her eyes skimmed the information, taking notes of the first priority: where her Royal Cousin fit in this whole scheme.

The answer? A lot. Prince Jing was one of Candidate for the Throne after all. In fact, he was the second choice after Zhangye, being the First Prince and a Seven-Star Summoner. Thus the Xue Clan invest a lot on him. From political support, engagement, and some others. Seemingly pulling as many strings as possible.

It was not good.

"Inform my cousin that I wish to see him, this afternoon if possible."

Discussion

Huang Jing, the first prince of Nanyi country, stared at the gate that protected the Princess Royal Palace, now Princess Beiyue's. A sense of guilt, trepidation, and dread pooled in his stomach.

Why, oh God WHY, did his maternal relatives do something incredibly stupid?! Anyone who knows Princess Royal knew that the Emperor loves her oh so much and it transferred over to Princess Beiyue. And he repudiated her. That brainless cousin of his might as well spat at the Emperor!

And they ask him to beg forgiveness from Beiyue.

Jing wants to groan.

Just what did he do in his past life to earn such bad karma? Become a mass murderer?

The gate swung open. It was Beiyue's "manservant" who opens the door.

Zhonglei, formerly of Xiao. The only Xiao who spared from the humiliation and bad repute, due his name was struck out from family registry and he was a no-show in the social events for two years. Combine with the fact he barely resembles his parents, if any, made it harder to think he was a Xiao in the first place.

"She's been waiting." He said and led Jing's entourage inside. It was not a big one, only him and his eunuch aide.

He led them to the garden gazebo, where two people were waiting there.

The first is a beautiful girl with pinkish hair. Despite her fairness, she was wearing a modified maid uniform. Her waist wraparound apron-skirt was gone and replaced by a wide sash, and the skirt was having high slit on the sides. Only her underskirt pants being the thing that preserves her waist down modesty. She was standing on the side.

The one sat down on the chair... it took Jing a few moments to realize it was Beiyue. My goodness! People haven't been kidding when he said Beiyue could pass as either gender! Beiyue's choice of clothes hides her curves and with how her head and face were barren from any decorations, it's hard to determine her gender.

"Cousin." Beiyue greeted with a slight nod. Jing replied in likewise as he sat across her. "What do I owe this pleasure of your visit?"

Jing grimaced. Here it is.

"I'd like to apologize to you." He said with head bowed down.

Normally he won't bow at all, however, Beiyue is a special case.

He doesn't want to anger a girl who deceptively crafted a long term creative punishment.

The Xiao aside, her decision to cut all ties with Xue Clan affected his maternal relatives in many ways. First, it made them losing face because WHY the Princess hated them so much she can't stand the childe unless there's a certain distance between them? People speculate and gossip. Second, it affects his mother's standing as Father had been cold and distant to his mother lately. Third, annulling all business and arrangements with the clan hurt the finance. The Xue Clan supply some material goods to Qinghe and Miyang. Not as much as the Bugiel Clan, but enough that once the punishment is declared, they faced quite a financial trouble. Not to mention the Anguo Gong splurged a lot of money to buy that Red Spider so soon afterward.

The rest of the clan, his mother include, was furious because of it. It would take years to fill the family coffers. Either that or selling off several precious and prestigious assets they had accumulated.

The most damning of all, Jing felt like he had failed Father and Royal Aunt. He never asked questions about why Beiyue stopped visiting when previously she loves visiting and would stay as long as possible. He never questioned the source of the rumor and if those were true. Worse, he knows both of his cousins were engaged to each other and he never asked about the progress.

Maybe he does deserve to be related to a bunch of idiots if he himself is a neglectful idiot...

"Cousin, do you know about the plan to annul the engagement? Do you agree to it?"

"No." Had he knew he would have cracked down on them. Hard. With his Spiritual Beast. Slighted monarch is a big crime and anyone with a brain knows that the Emperor loves Beiyue as if she was his own flesh and blood.

"Then why are you apologizing?"

Huh?

Jing raised his head and saw Beiyue did not look at him in anger. Instead, she looks perplexed more than anything.

"You are not your cousin. You are not the rest of your clan. I do not hold grudge against you."

Ah.

"Be as it be, I'm here to representing my maternal relatives. After all, I am related to them through my mother."

Beiyue's face becomes unreadable. Jing doesn't know if it was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Dongling, Zhonglei, leave us alone." Seeing her dismissing her Servant, for whatever reason, Jing does the same to his aide. Now it was only two of them in the Gazebo. Beiyue's gaze was sharp and as if she looks straight to his soul. It was creepy and unnerving. Then she seems to found something, as her gaze softened.

"Cousin." Beiyue spoke softly, "you are not your cousin or the rest of your clan. You do not have to take responsibility for their action."

"Yes, I have." He's a Xue as much as he's a Huang. "That's how things work, Beiyue. If a family was punished, the entire member took the punishment. I'm a Xue too, as such I also take a burnt of it. That's why I'm representing my maternal family."

"Then... how long?"

"How long... what?"

"How long are you going to be their servant?"

WHAT?! "What do you—"

"You take the burnt of their fall. You come here to apologize when they can send an envoy. I specifically said I can't stand Xue Che and his father. I said nothing about the rest of the clan. If it had to be a royal, fine, send your mother. She's the Xue Clan representation in Royal Harem. You are busy with expedition and stuff out of town, while she was here in the town. This is her job, not yours, so why it was you who have to grovel?"

Jing opens his mouth o said something, anything, but he can't formulate a response.

"That... that's..."

"The fact you agree to this, means they have power over you. They would think to use you to clean up their messes rather than fix it themselves."

"But they are my family."

"Blood doesn't always mean Family. You know the proof."

She doesn't... "Don't compare us to the like of Xiao!" Snapped Jing.

"If you stop being their shield, then I would!"

"They've helped me many times!"

"Exactly. That's what I'm talking about." Beiyue slams her teacup down. "Have you ever heard Conditional Love? They're helping you paved your career. They smoothing your troubles, they're giving you support. Why? So you felt indebted to them. So they have the power to lord you over. They're helping you now so they can claim 'you owe us' in the future. And the fact you agree to it means you enabling this behavior. They're aiming to make puppet emperor through you so they can gain indirect control over Nanyi country."

Jing stood up abruptly. His face paled.

He was not a puppet. He was not...!

"Cousin," Beiyue said forlornly. "This might be harsh, but I do this because I care."

"And why do you care?!" God, would she shut up?! He doesn't want to hear anything anymore...!

"Because you remind me of Mother."

...what?

"Despite, or perhaps because of, her achievements, Mother was pressured into a lot of political crap. And look where it lead her to. A loveless marriage with a sham who can't even keep it under his pants. Mother was too kind to say 'No' and she paid an unfair price for it while everyone else keeps taking miles." Beiyue closed her eyes. "Cousin, you are in a similar predicament to Mother. Your maternal family keeps pulling your strings. It's not healthy for you. They keep demanding, demanding, and demanding. Pushing yourself to your limit in hope of appeals to Royal Uncle just to balance their screw up. Things may look still okay right now, but it won't forever be. Sooner or later, something will happen, and if you keep doing like this, it will be you who paid the price."

Jing was silent.

"...I can't just cut all connections with them, you know?" He finally said. "After all, they're still my family. It was like to abandon my paternal family just because someone makes a mistake."

"I don't ask you to abandon them. I know how familial love feels. I really do." Replied Beiyue with a tired, but fond and understanding smile. "I just ask you to tell them "No, fix your own wrongdoings". You can help, but you will let them do the heavy lifting by themselves. You are your own person, not an extension of them. You are my family, I don't want to see you snapped because people keep demanding things from you."

"...I see... thank you."

"You're welcome... and I'm sorry. For yelling at you and saying hurtful things."

"Mm... I apologize too."

This meeting had quickly grown out of hands. Both parties are at fault. Jing felt a headache forming and quickly excuse himself.

"Ah, Cousin." But Beiyue seems to be not done yet. "You're engaged, yes?"

"Um. Wan'er and I will be marry at end of the year."

"You're really fond of her. I hope you have better luck than I did."

It was supposed to be a blessing, and encouragement.

So why did Jing felt dread?

~X~

Beiyue closed her eyes. Hands curled around her teacup.

Jing reminds her of her past self before she realized what Iemitsu and Nono had been playing by choosing her over Xanxus.

It was scary how easily she finds the parallel.

Tsuna and Beiyue and Zhenshi have the same problem. Isolation, abandonment. Left alone when they need help the most, being mocked down yet no one is willing to help, and those who can give help were either helpless or have yet to realize the problem. That's why she insists on visiting Zhenshi and involves him whenever she felt she could.

Tsuna and Jing both are puppet rulers in the making, with the older generation pulling the string so they can control everything without risking their own neck when shit goes down. Someone who appears to the public and yet trained to bend over the whim of those who "raised" them. Tsuna was lucky Reborn trained her too damn well she quickly spotted the plan and break free from it. That's why she's been harsh to Jing. She wants to extend the same help so he can be his own person and not a mockery of a man he could have been.

Damn.

Damn her and her bleeding heart. Damn her and the Sky Attraction bringing all sorts of problem child to her.

"Miss? Are you fine?"

"Sneak me a jar of wine and I'll be good."

She can hear sound jaw hitting the floor.

"YOU'RE TWELVE!"

"And I have one helluva headache! Either hand the damn thing over or I'll get it myself." She swore. "My eldest cousin is another Royal Education Screw Up Case with the polar opposite problem than Zhenshi's!"

And she still has to make sure no one talking about how distraught Jing was when he left her residence. And there's still a dinner to attend and she has to put up neutral disinterest face no matter what she felt inside lest her cousin takes the fallout. If someone asked her how her day goes... urgh...!

Ancient and noble etiquette are pain in the ass! The only thing that prevent Beiyue from making social faux pass was because of lesson hammered onto Muscle Memory!

"You know, Yue," Zhonglei hummed. "You don't have to attend. You have Need to Study excuse since the Lingyang entrance exam is coming close. And you still have to find suppliers for Qinghe and Miyang to replace those of Xue Clan."

Beiyue laughed hysterically.

To think there's a day where paperwork is preferable than social troubles... hoo boy. Everyone back home surely would have a field day making meme out of it.

"Right. Linyang. Thanks, brother." She smiled. "By the way, have you decided how your name wants to be written as?"

It was another suggestion to make Zhonglei's past become even more obscured. His name would be rewritten with other characters.

In this world, changing one's name that was already listed in official records is EXPENSIVE. Almost as expensive as "buying" surname. But thanks to the so-called "punishment", Zhonglei name was struck and erased, making him un-person, thus giving him leeway to pick how his name written as.

Kanji is a beautiful thing. There are many variations of how his name can be written as, and they sound similar.

"Well, I do." Zhonglei smiled. "I really like this." Using ki, he draws the character he wants his name to be written as.

Beiyue whistled. "That's quite a poetic name. You give it a lot of thought, huh?"

"I want people to know that despite whom I born from and what my actions seem to imply, I am not some two-faced backstabber. Unlike two bitches I, unfortunately, blood-related to."

"Don't worry." Beiyue patted his shoulders. "Blood of Covenant is Thicker than Water of Womb and all of that."

"Thank you."

"So then, what course you two want to take? Imperial or Eastern College?"

"Eastern Collee. Warrior Course." Answered Dongling. "We really need some formal lesson in the fighting. Since most of my spells need good aim, I'll take Archery. I really need the accuracy." And if she can take a double class, it's Archery and Polearm.

"Eastern College too. I want to take the Enchanter Course since learning spell is interesting... but it was for Alchemist and crafting items... I don't think I'm that creative enough to take it." Moped Zhonglei. "And I can't take Pharmacist Course for obvious reason..."

"Yes. Because you made mean stew and soup." Deadpanned Dongling. "And by 'mean', I mean we can use that as bio-weapon. It's THAT bad."

Zhonglei can cook just fine... but don't let him make stew or soup. Somehow it ended up totally ruined, a poison, or plain abomination from hell. Last time he tried to make soup, it oozes purple smoke.

Dongling once tried to teach him to step by step, even supervised him, but the stew ended up on fire for some unfathomable reason. She pulled her hair in frustration because HOW THE HELL DID THINGS ENDED UP IN FIRE?!

"..so yeah. No Pharmacist for me. It's either Warrior Course: Sword Class, or Summoning Course. I'm leaned towards Summoning, but it kinda risque you know?" Zhonglei continues as if Dongling's scathing comment about his cooking skill never existed. "But hell. Maybe I'll do a coin flip."

"Don't come crying on us if you regret it later."

"Won't. I'll just borrow books from the library."

"What about you, miss?"

"Imperial. People think I'm a glass statue. Let them think I am incapable of fighting without you to protect me." Whoever comes after her, thinking it would be piece of cake, would get a nasty nasty surprise and whiplash. "I'll take mount Archery, though."

She can't do archery. It's Hayato who's resident Archer. But Mount Archery is the closest thing Imperial College has for P.E.

Stupid ancient schooling system.

TBC