The Lazy Villainess

The attendant leads me into an incredibly furnished room with antiques in every corner. There are beautiful paintings that would put an art gallery to shame. I wonder how much they would sell for…

I stay on alert as we continue further inside, and at the very far end of the room, sitting on a very ornate chair, was the crown prince. I try to look calm as possible, but inside I want to run as far away from this guy as possible.

The attendant announces my arrival, and Tian Mo slowly looks up at me. I am sweating buckets at this point, but still calmly bow towards the crown prince.

'Greetings, crown prince,' I said respectfully, hoping that my voice wasn't shaky. 'To what do I owe the p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e of meeting your highness?'

"Ah, Song Laing, is it?" he says cheerfully, but I can make out the hint of annoyance in his voice.

'Your highness…?'

"Well what are you doing standing? Come sit!" he said gesturing to the seat in front of him.

I obey, not trusting him at all, and gracefully sit in front of him. He calls for his assistant to bring a game of Go. Did he just call me for a game of Go? No there must be something else, and I need to be patient...

The assistant places it in front of us, and we begin to play. Thank god, Kira was obsessed with this game at one point and forced me to learn how to play it.

I took the black counters, and the crown prince begins to play. I was also a hardcore gamer in my teenage years, so coming up with gaming tactics were part of my life. In my last life I enjoyed RPG and strategic games. Go is a game of strategy, and my pride would not allow me to lose, even if I am playing against a man with immense power.

When the game began, all my worries vanished as I confidently took on the Crown Prince. He also was very confident and tried to take out all my territories. He looked up to see my reaction, and unable to control my player instincts, I flashed him an evil grin, as I put 25% more effort into my part. He was surprised at my confidence and just like I had predicted, he started performing much worse.

What did I expect? He was a child against an a.d.u.l.t, and this thought made me more confident in dealing with him. During the final moments of the game, which we were playing in absolute silence, he realised that there was no way of winning. He huffed as he called quits, and in this way he passed the win to me.

I sat silently and gave him a victorious smile.

"I didn't know Miss Song was so good at Go..." he said looking at me suspiciously.

'Ah, your highness…' I answered while sipping on the tea gracefully, 'Practice makes perfect…'

He seemed to ponder about something, and then finally looked at me and says, "I heard Miss Song is a good poet, how about we write a few poems, and compare them?"

I almost choke on my tea, but I manage to keep a straight face. 'I wonder where your highness heard such baseless rumours…'

"Ah my brother Sanghue admires your work very much…"

That little twit. I knew someone in my class must've ratted about my poetic skills. That explains why he knows my name, Sanghue must've exaggerated my skills to this very jealous prince…

I give the prince a smile and say, 'Your highness, this one isn't as good as Prince Sanghue says…'

"Nonsense!" he says loudly, making me almost jump. "Sanghue is a great judge of talent! I say we see your talent. Ju Bai! Bring us some scrolls and ink!"

"Yes Master!" says the attendant and hurried out of the room. I keep quiet and quietly sip on the tea, while the crown prince creepily observes me.

~~~~~

"Damn this Song Laing!" the prince angrily thought, "She's actually better than I thought! I can't believe someone way younger than me managed to win against me!"

The prince fumed even more when he saw that smug little smile she had when she won. "This shameless girl, what does Roqing see in her?"

He observed her attitude and mannerisms, and was surprised to find that she drank in a similar fashion to his Empress mother. It was strange for him to see a girl this young drink so elegantly. The prince was even more surprised when he saw her not showing the slightest hint that she was interested in him. Most girls would do anything to gain his favour or even try to seduce him. They would also wear the most flashiest dresses to gain his attention. But this difficult girl not only gave him the cold shoulder, but even dared to win against him, all the while wearing clothes that made her look like she was attending a funeral.

When the prince told Laing that he heard of her great poetic skills, he was surprised to see her reaction. When he praises most girls on their skills, they blush or act modest, but this one strange person almost looks…angry?

They begin their duel of poems, and he begins to write on the paper. He looks up at her to see her progress only to see that she was quietly pondering, not a single word on her scroll.

"Ha," he thought, as he smirked, "She seems to be all talk and not real talent. Sanghue must've been mistaken…"

They continued this in silence, and he finally finished his poem. He looked up to see her progress and almost jumped when he saw her quietly sipping tea, already finished with her poem. He squinted at her, but she wasn't paying attention to him.

"Okay, now we read out our poems" he said, and she slowly put down her tea. "I will go first…"

The prince picked up his poem and began to recite.