(Diao Chan POV)
I yawned as I came down the stairs from our bedroom, just in time to hear the sound of someone cursing loudly in the main hall.
Slowly, I crept down towards the main hall to see what the commotion was about.
Delta was at the door, facing what seemed to be a pompous dude with an armed escort behind him.
"Youkai in my villa?! The nerve of them! I want all of you out, NOW!" He roared.
"Apologies, but no matter who you may be in the past, you hold no sway over this villa's management at this moment," Delta told him off, the elf absolutely unfazed at the number of armed men standing in front of her.
The man in front of her furrowed his brows, sweeping his arm in a dismissive gesture, "Damn bitch! Do you know who I even am?!"
"I do not know and I do not care. There is only one Master of this villa right now and you are not him."
"Hmph! Typical of uncultured monsters like you to not know about me! I could have you and your entire family killed if I wanted to!"
I could see that Delta was trying her hardest not to roll her eyes at him.
The elf managed to maintain her calm appearance, "I highly doubt so, but that's not important. You are unwelcome here and I would suggest you and your posse show yourselves out through the door now."
"Insolence! I will have your head, you damn bitch!"
"Now, now. I think that's enough," A familiar voice spoke from the entrance.
Everyone turned to see Master walking through the doorway with a sleeping Cai Hong in His arms.
Delta bowed her head, "Welcome back Master. How was your walk?"
He smiled, "It was great. Is anyone else awake yet?"
"Aside from Mistress Diao Chan, no one else has yet."
Oh, that sneaky little elf, I guess she already heard me coming down the stairs.
Before I could make myself known, that pompous old fart had turned to glare at Master.
"You?! You are the master of this villa now?! How dare you?!"
Master raised an eyebrow at him, "What? You have a problem with that?"
"Of course I do! Who are you to claim to be the master of this place?! You are not even part of the Royal Family!"
I think it's my time to appear.
I stepped out of the shadows and into the hallway, "Master is currently occupying the position of the Queen's Royal Tutor and is also part of the Royal Household. He has every right to be here. More so than you, in fact."
The old fart glared at me, "And what does a harlot like you know anything about me?"
I tilted my chin upwards slightly, "Oh I know you. Bei Diu Diao, the disgraced brother of the former king. If I recall, you were stripped of your authority before being exiled. Now that your brother is dead and the country still recovering from the war, you came back seeking to take advantage of the chaos, aren't you?"
I spotted Master's lips curling slightly upwards at me and that was more than enough of a praise as any for me.
It seems like my intense study of BeiYang's politics paid off!
That old fart actually drew his sword, prompting all his guards to do the same.
"INSOLENCE! I will have you know that I am still a Royal! That cannot be denied from me!"
I was just about to point out his lack of any authoritarian power when Master raised his hand to get our attention.
"Yes, yes. You are correct of course. Delta, please clean up the master bedroom and allow this… Ahem. Allow his highness to stay."
Delta's eyes darted to me for a brief moment before bowing her head, "It will be done, Master."
"Hold it," Diu Diao held up his palm to stop her from leaving. "The master of this villa is no longer him. The only one that should be referred to with such a title is me, understood?"
Delta shook her head, "I'm afraid that is not possible. Queen Guiying has specifically made it clear who the Master of the villa is. And since no one currently can supersede her Royal authority, you are merely just a guest in Master's villa."
"Why you!"
"Now, now. Let's all just relax here," Master interrupted, patting Cai Hong with a hand. "I'm sure your highness must be tired from the long trip, why don't we go ahead and have something to eat first? I'm sure we can sort out the details later."
The old fart looked like he was contemplating for a moment before he turned away, sheathing his sword and storming off in the direction of the dining hall without another word.
His guards followed suit, most of them taking the chance to give us the stink eye.
I waited until they were out of earshot before turning to Master, "Master… Why do we have to accommodate him? He has literally no power after the previous king exiled him. As he is, we could have just kicked him out without any repercussions."
"Ah, but he is still of Royal blood, Diao Chan," Master patted my head. "Mistreat him carelessly and one can still be convicted of lese-majesty and I don't want that sort of trouble befalling on us."
"Master, we could just turn him away," Delta pointed out.
"Hmmm, doesn't look like he would leave without a fight does he? The last thing I want is for any of you to get involved in these politics. It's a very sticky business I can assure you."
Ahh~ Master is always thinking about us! What did we do to deserve such a God!
"Umm… Master… For someone who is exiled, he shouldn't even be here in the first place. We can actually execute him on the spot with Queen Guiying's blessing even."
Master gave us a wry smile, "I would at least want to check on what Guiying's relationship with him is like before I burn any bridges. Who knows, maybe he might have been framed and he just has a naturally bad personality."
As expected of Master, His benevolence truly knows no bounds! Any other person would have just cut that idiot down without a second thought.
"What's more," Master added. "I learnt that usually there's more than meets the eye for these kinds of things."
Delta frowned, "But if Master is letting that thing… I mean his highness stay in your room, where would Master stay?"
Master looked at me, "There's still spare beds in your rooms right?"
My heart leaped and I nodded quickly, hoping against all hope that it will be what I think it is.
"Then I can just stay there for the time being, at least until we find out what Guiying wants to do with her uncle."
I screamed internally, already looking forward to our night!
"In that case, please allow me to go inform the others of the intru… I mean, our new guest," Delta bowed once more before disappearing.
"I will do the same for the other girls too," I bowed.
"Mnn… I will go ahead and check the kitchens then," Master nodded to me before he headed off in that direction.
Of course, Master is too benevolent for trash like that reject who would take advantage of Master's kindness. I knew for a fact that once I told the rest about this intruder, there would be a unanimous decision to get rid of him too.
All we need to do is have Manami teleport one of us to Guiying to confirm his uselessness and we would definitely get rid of this piece of trash in the most painful way possible, without Master knowing about our involvement of course.
After all, he did come in to interrupt our lovely vacation time with Master. That fact is already unforgivable by itself.
I wonder if I should pull out his nails or his teeth first?