In the banquet tent, Long Tianhao felt a sudden surge of uneasiness in him.
Because they were out and about, Long Tianhao and Lin Mengya would not be sleeping separately in different tents since they were husband and wife. Ye had also been left at home.
Long Tianhao made an excuse to go to a temporary tent set up as a bedroom, but there were only four maidservants of Lin Mengya.
“Where’s your mistress?”
With a frown, he looked towards the maidservants in the tent, who were looking lost, immediately an uneasy feeling welled up in his mind.
“Our Mistress had gone out alone.”
The poise one among them, Baiji, immediately sensed that something had gone wrong. She braced herself to answer Long Tianhao.
“When did she leave? Who did she go with?”
Something was definitely amiss since this was not the Prince’s Mansion, so it was unlikely that Lin Mengya would go out for a walk without bringing anyone along with her.
Moreover, this was out in the wild and it was pitch dark in the woods. Where could she have gone?
“Send some men out to look for the princess right away. We have to find her!”
Long Tianhao could sense something fishy. Moreover, the Crown Prince and Hu Lunan had left halfway through the meal after giving some excuses.
What if Lin Mengya bumped into these two and got into some conflict?
“Where are you going in a hurry?”
As Long Tianhao was hurrying out of the tent to search for Lin Mengya, he was intercepted by a gentle voice.
Lin Mengya lifted the curtain at the tent entrance, entered the tent and appeared before everyone.
“Princess! Mistress! Where’ve you been, we’re so worried about you.”
The four maidservants lunged towards her and started tenderly asking about her well-being. It was a heartwarming scene.
“Me? I just went out for a walk. Don’t worry, Qinghu was with me.”
Once she got out from the vice Princess’s small tent, she had walked back here briskly.
The three people were frightened by her words at that moment, but would surely recover in a while. Lin Mengya may have a high skilled bodyguard around, there was no way she could defend herself against the many trump cards in her enemies’ hands.
It was a miracle that she managed to escape from the danger unscathed.
“Where’ve you been?”
Long Tianhao’s heart finally felt at ease the moment Lin Mengya entered the tent.
He watched as Lin Mengya tried to say words of comfort to all the others, but himself. He realized that she had not even noticed that he was there and he felt a tinge of sadness in his heart.
“I’ve just been out for a walk around the place, Qinghu can testify for me. Your Highness, the Prince, why are you here? Has the banquet ended?”
Lin Mengya was a little surprised to see Long Tianhao in the tent. The banquet should not have ended yet at this moment.
“I’m glad you’re alright.”
Long Tianhao, being choked by Lin Mengya’s words, thought that he was not being appreciated.
He had come precisely because he was worried about her that he had returned to the tent to look for her, putting aside all other matters.
Now it looked as if he had been too nosy.
Long Tianhao’s heart dropped and immediately turned to leave.
Lin Mengya was left standing there, unaware of what had happened.
“Your Highness, you were not aware that when Prince Yu realized that you had gone missing just now, he was so anxious. How could you speak to him in that manner?”
Baizhi was outraged by injustice towards Long Tianhao, as if to reprimand her mistress for being negligent.
“How would I know him… forget about it. I will go to apologize to him later on. Did anyone come here to make trouble for the four of you?”
When she was taken captive at the vice Princess’s tent, she was only worried about these four maidservants. She was afraid that someone would make trouble for them.
The fortunate thing was there were many guards all around. Moreover, Baisu, who was skilled in martial arts was also guarding them.
When she saw with her own eyes that everyone was safe and well, Lin Mengya’s heart was finally at ease.
“Rest assured, Mistress. As Long as Baisu is around, I would not allow anyone to lay a finger on them.”
Through the last few days that Baisu spent with Lin Mengya, she had thoroughly got to know her mistress.
Although she was a noble prince, Baisu could tell that Lin Mengya esteemed her friendship with them highly.
Therefore, Baisu would give her all to protect all of them for the sake of the princess.
“Alright, looks like I’ve nothing to worry about. Baishao and Baizhi, you two will follow me back to the banquet.”
She was afraid she would create a commotion in the banquet tent if they discovered that she had gone missing since she had left early.
Moreover, the Crown Prince and Hu Lunan would have returned to the banquet. She did not want to miss the show.
The banquet proceeded as planned and as expected, she observed that all the people had returned to their seats. The moment Lin Mengya entered the tent, countless pairs of eyes were turned to her.
“Thank you for being worried about me, Your Highness, the Prince.”
Lin Mengya sat down next to Long Tianhao and whispered her thanks to him.
Her statement warmed Long Tianhao’s heart and his expression relaxed.
He paused for a moment, then replied abruptly with a deep voice, saying,
“You are welcomed.”
Lin Mengya felt warmth in her heart again, but she tried to conceal the smile on her face by bringing the cup of wine to her face.
While the banquet proceeded, the eyes of the Crown Prince and Hu Lunan were boring into Lin Mengya.
“Please don’t be angry, it was all my fault for not being thorough enough with the plan. I am willing to take any punishment from you, Your Highness.”
The Crown Prince and his consort were surrounded by their confidantes, therefore they had no qualm about speaking their mind.
Vice Princess Dugu never would have imagined that the plan would turn out this way.
She knew the Crown Prince’s temperament too well. Not only did he not lay hold of what he desired, but he was also counter-attacked by Lin Mengya. How could he not be enraged?
“You are not to be blamed for this. I just didn’t expect that woman to be so cunning.”
As the Crown Prince hold on to the wine cup, he almost crashed it into pieces in his hand.
What a great humiliation it was for him to have fallen into the hands of a girl!
Moreover, this girl was Long Tianhao’s woman!
Sooner or later, he would make them pay for this.
“Thank you for being understanding, Your Highness, the Crown Prince. However, the security here at Mount Lingju is nothing compared to the security in the capital city. Rest assured, Your Highness, I will be extra careful next time, so she would not get away again.”
In fact, there was no enmity between vice Princess Dugu and Lin Mengya.
This time it was because she was deeply affected by how the Crown Prince was so infatuated with Lin Mengya.
The Crown Prince had many consorts and concubines in his mansion, and she would have to make extra effort to win the Prince’s heart and special favor once again.
For this reason, Lin Mengya quickly became her target for hate.
“Your Highness, the Crown Prince, a true warrior in the western vassal state must be able to catch tigers and shoot wolves. I wonder if there are tigers and wolves on Mount Lingju?”
King Ming was looking excited. In the western vassal, the man who was going to be the king must possess the quality that transcended common people, he must be exceptionally valiant and bold.
It was said that when he was young, he had managed to catch a wolf with his bare hands.
Lin Mengya took another look at King Ming and concluded that he must be a formidable and dangerous man.
“Mount Lingju is the royal hunting ground. It is too dangerous to keep savage beasts in here where there might be the possibility of people getting injured.”
Within the royal hunting ground, there were usually just roebuck and the other small animals.
To be honest, there was the fear that the men from the royal and noble families would be injured by savage beasts while hunting.
Therefore, this hunting ground was set up for the sole purpose of entertaining them.
King Ming burst out laughing after hearing the reply of the Crown Prince.
“There’s no harm getting the youngsters to take some risks, it will toughen them up and they grow up. I’ve brought a fierce tiger from the western vassal state. Let’s just make it our good omen for this hunting trip.”
King Ming waved his hand and immediately, four strong-looking warriors from the western vassal state carried a huge iron cage forward.
Lin Mengya took a closer look and the tiger in the cage was indeed a fierce one. It was just placed inside the cage and immediately it gave out an earth-shattering roar.
The tiger was much bigger than the four strong men. It looked as if the tiger was not going to yield just because it had been put into the cage.
The tiger’s entire body was covered with a completely white coat of fur.
What a fierce tiger! Lin Mengya thought it was such a pity to make it the prey.
This was exactly what people mean when using the idiom “When a tiger wandered into the plains, they would be bullied even by the dogs”.
“This… this doesn’t sound like a good idea.”
The Crown Princes hesitated as he looked at the tiger.
Not everyone had the skill to overcome this tiger. Moreover, this tiger had originated from the western vassal state and was considered the king of the forest, it was not to be looked lightly upon.
“Don’t worry. Although the tiger is very fierce, it is merely a beast in the eyes of our warriors in the western vassal state.”
King Ming’s words contained a tinge of provocation. The Crown Prince had no other choice but to accept this challenge so he eventually nodded in agreement.
Lin Mengya could not take her eyes off the white tiger, which surprised Long Tianhao.
Did the lass think that it was easy to overpower a tiger?
“Your Highness, Prince Yu, can you spare the life of this beast later on?”
Long Tianhao was taken aback by Lin Mengya’s words, asking him to spare the white tiger’s life.
“Oh, but I won’t be the only person targeting it once the hunting session starts.”
Long Tianhao did not intend to participate in the first place. He was planning on just putting up a show.
However, Lin Mengy had turned to look at him with determination in her watery eyes.
“This female tiger is pregnant. If it dies, the baby in its womb would die too.”
Lin Mengya had taken a moment to observe the tiger just now. Although it looked fearsome, the size of its stomach was not in proportion with the rest of its body.
While it was making the roaring sounds, it was also trying to shield its belly all the time.
For this reason, Lin Mengya had deduced that it must be pregnant.
“How do you know?”
Long Tianhao took a second look and realized that the tiger did look bigger than usual.
It seemed that Lin Mengya could very likely have guessed correctly.
“I know it would be impossible to ask King Ming to release the tiger now, but I just hope that it could deliver its baby first.”
Lin Mengya was fully aware that if the tiger was being left to wander among people, even a butcher would not simply kill a pregnant animal.
This was a common understanding of the people at that time. No matter how small a living thing was, man would still render it respect when it was in the process of procreating.
Lin Mengya was not just a sweet girl who loved animals, rather, her heart had gone out to this tiger mother.
“In this case, I’ll try my best.”
For some unknown reason, Long Tianhao gave his word to Lin Mengya. However, right after he said this, he realized, with helplessness, that it was getting more difficult for him to refuse her requests to him.