Future Beast World: Becoming A Pampered Beauty-Chapter 465 - 404: The Disfigured Servant

The illegitimate son sent for the political marriage was named Yun Qi. ’Tsk, so he really is the abandoned one. They were so careless they even put it in his name.’ A sliver of pity bloomed in Sang Luo for the boy she had never met.

Sang Luo then recalled the identity of the servant from earlier. He was Kong, the personal attendant to the servant, Yun Qi.

Kong had come with Yun Qi from his clan, and the two had been through thick and thin together.

After Yun Qi lost his eyes, it was Kong who had been personally taking care of him. The servant had never been in the Princess’s favor to begin with, and most of the staff in the mansion knew who to suck up to, often making things difficult for this master and his attendant. One could only imagine how hard their situation was now. Yet, Kong never left his side, remaining fiercely loyal.

Sang Luo casually summoned another servant and, after some questioning, finally learned the whole story.

Ever since his eyes had been gouged out, the servant Yun Qi had spent all day in his room, rarely venturing outside. This morning, he’d said he wanted to go for a walk to get some fresh air. Partway through, he claimed to be thirsty and sent Kong away. But when Kong returned, he discovered the servant was gone.

Kong searched the entire Princess Mansion but couldn’t find him. Fearing that something terrible had happened to the servant, he had no choice but to beg the Princess for help. But when Ji Wan heard the news, she showed no compassion. Instead, she ordered that no one in the mansion was to help him, or they would suffer the same punishment!

With that decree, no one dared to offer help, terrified of being implicated and ending up with the same fate as the servant.

And that was what led to the scene just moments ago.

Sang Luo rubbed her forehead.

’What a headache.’

...

It was now the season of the Frost Moon. The sky was grim and overcast as the snow began to fall harder, the light flurries turning into a heavy blanket of thick flakes. The bare branches of the trees bent under the weight, the rooftops were covered in half an inch of white, and the lake had frozen into a sheet of mirror-like ice.

Sang Luo, dressed in a dusty rose, fur-collared cloak and holding a small, hand-warming censer, went out for a walk surrounded by several Servants.

Her pace was brisk, her eyes darting left and right, as if she were searching for something.

"Princess, please slow down! It’s cold and the path is slippery!"

The two Servants struggled to hold up her heavy skirts, barely able to keep up.

Sang Luo ran to the shores of Dongxin Lake.

Her face was flushed and she was panting lightly, her hands clenched tightly around her cloak. ’This pampered Princess’s body is actually quite frail. It’s nothing compared to my original one.’

It was the largest man-made lake in the mansion. A layer of white snow covered the surface, which had long since frozen solid. However, in an inconspicuous corner, there was a break in the ice. It wasn’t obvious against the white landscape. The disturbed water was freezing over again, forming a thin crust of ice that was slowly solidifying.

"All of you! Get in the water and save him! Now!" she yelled.

The servants were dumbfounded. Save someone? Who were they supposed to save?

’There’s someone in the lake?!’

No one’s thoughts went to the missing servant. After all, everyone knew how much the Princess detested this illegitimate son from the Fox Clan, her marriage-alliance partner. She took pleasure in tormenting him daily and wished he would just die, let alone show such a panicked expression over him.

An athletic-looking Beaver Rat Beastman threw off his outer coat and plunged headfirst into the water.

Beneath the fractured, pale-blue ice, the frigid lake water churned.

’Why would a blind man want to go for a walk in a snowstorm? He was probably—looking for a chance to kill himself!’

’No matter how much the Princess despised him, Yun Qi was still a servant by title. Many eyes were on him daily, and the Princess would never permit something as inauspicious as a death to occur in her mansion. It wasn’t even easy for him to commit suicide. Jumping into the lake was a way to die silently, without a trace.’

’How desperate must the boy have been to want to end his own life, to escape from all of this.’

Soon, the Beaver Rat Beastman climbed back ashore, dragging a slender young man with him.

Both of them were soaked to the bone. The moment they were exposed to the frigid air, ice crystals began to form rapidly on their bodies.

Even the Beaver Rat Beastman was shivering violently from the cold. Sang Luo had someone toss him a thick overcoat and then gave him a few Beast Crystals. "This is for you."

"Thank you, Princess!"

Sang Luo looked again at the unconscious youth on the ground.

He was dressed in a single, thin white robe. His disheveled black hair, completely soaked, obscured most of his face and had frozen into icicles. His entire body was swollen and purple from the cold, so much so that he was barely recognizable. If not for the faint rise and fall of his chest, anyone would have mistaken him for a corpse.

"You there, carry him back to his room! And bring the mansion’s witch doctor here! Quickly!"

"Yes! Princess." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Two able-bodied Beast Servants quickly carried him away, and the witch doctor arrived soon after. With a direct order from the Princess, no one dared to treat the matter lightly.

It was three days before Sang Luo heard that the servant, Yun Qi, had woken up. She had someone deliver some restorative supplements to the West Courtyard.

"Since when does the Princess care about that servant?" an attendant who had served her for many years asked curiously.

Sang Luo cracked a melon seed between her teeth and replied casually, "He is, after all, the servant I was properly wed to. He’s only just arrived. If he were to die under suspicious circumstances in my Princess Mansion, wouldn’t I become a laughingstock? And how would Father answer to the Nine-tailed Fox Clan? It would just be handing them leverage against us, wouldn’t it?"

No matter how little the Nine-tailed Fox Clan valued this illegitimate son, Yun Qi was still a child of the clan—the Clan Leader’s own son. If word got out, it would be bad for the reputations of both clans.

The Nine-tailed Fox Clan might even feign grief and refuse to let the matter drop, just to demand compensation from the Red Fox Clan.

’Princess Ji Wan was cruel and domineering, but she wasn’t an idiot. This line of reasoning fit her persona.’

’On a personal level, Sang Luo truly pitied the young man. Based on her calculations of the timeline, Yan should be the Young Master by now, which would make this boy his own half-brother.’

’Liking him for Yan’s sake was one thing, but there was more to it. If the boy’s death truly turned the Nine-tailed Fox Clan and the Red Fox Clan into mortal enemies, a blood feud would stand between Yan and the Princess. How could their relationship ever develop then?’

’Everything she was doing was probably part of the original storyline anyway.’

Sang Luo thought for a moment, then rose and headed outside. "Oh, whatever. I have nothing better to do today. I’ll drop by to see him. It might keep him from trying to kill himself again and disturbing my peace."

"Let me help you change, Princess."

...

「West Courtyard.」

The young man, just beginning to recover from his ordeal, stood by the window. Outside, the plum blossoms were in vibrant bloom, their branches laden with snow.

He was dressed in a white under-robe with a dark teal robe draped over his shoulders. His ink-black hair, looking a bit dry, cascaded down his back. He was so thin and frail he looked as if a gust of wind might topple him.

He opened his palm, and a few snowflakes fell into it, slowly melting...

When Sang Luo arrived, the sight of this picturesque scene made her stop in her tracks, momentarily stunned.

The servants were about to bow, but she came to her senses, raised a finger to her lips, and let out a soft, "SHH."

But the young man had already heard the footsteps. He turned and bowed. "Princess."

Sang Luo froze when she saw his face clearly. She hadn’t noticed it last time, but half of his face was disfigured. His voice, too, was hoarse and grating, painful to hear.

’No wonder the Princess disliked him.’

Sang Luo looked at the young man’s tightly shut eyes, her tone even. "You knew I was here?"

"I recognize the Princess’s footsteps," Yun Qi said, his tone respectful but not fawning. Sang Luo, however, glimpsed the fingers hidden in his sleeve clenching and trembling. He was terrified of the Princess.