Queen, I Do Not Need to Flaunt My Looks

"Where is he? How did he vanish in the blink of an eye?" Serena and William scoured every corner of the tea shed, but there was no sign of Ninth Royal Uncle.

"Excuse me, did any of you see a man in blue come in just now? The horse outside belongs to him." Serena and William politely asked the tea shed patrons, but were met with rolled eyes and utter indifference. The shopboy and owner both claimed to be too busy to notice anything.

The horse was clearly there, so the man couldn't be far. Serena and William were both even-tempered; faced with the patrons' cold stares, they simply smiled and said nothing.

But after searching everywhere and still finding nothing, both grew anxious. Ninth Royal Uncle wasn't the type to act so unpredictably; his sudden disappearance genuinely worried them.

With no other options, they braced themselves and approached another table in the outer room to ask again.

"Excuse me..."

But before they could finish, they were met with a burst of irritation from inside: "Where did these little brats come from? Can't you see we're having tea here? No manners at all—are you looking for trouble?"

Wham—just as he finished, the man grabbed the large knife by his side and slammed it onto the table. He lifted his boot onto a chair, oozing bandit bravado.

A flash of disgust crossed William's eyes, but he still maintained his elegant composure. "Sorry to bother you. We're just looking for someone."

"Looking for someone? So you think you can just barge in here? Kid, what do you take this place for—a brothel?" The loudmouth glanced at William and instantly pegged him as an easy mark and a fat sheep.

Even dressed in rough homespun, William's noble aura was impossible to hide. That was William Wang Jinling: no matter how simply he dressed, it couldn't change the fact that he was wealthy. People like him—if you didn't fleece them, you'd be missing out.

Confronted by the brute's rudeness, William frowned, his expression still calm, but he couldn't hide the pride and disdain in his bones. He looked up, meeting the man's gaze with a quiet authority that refused to be challenged.

The thugs were rattled by William's presence; a few unconsciously crossed their arms, instinctively trying to protect themselves.

Only one clueless short guy jumped out, shouting, "Even if this were a brothel, you can't just come and go as you please! This punk's gone too far—thinks he can bully people just because he's good-looking. No matter what, we've got to make him pay today."

The short thug's words snapped the group back to reality. The men grabbed the weapons on the table and formed a semicircle, surrounding Serena and William. Serena stood to the side, a mocking smile on her lips.

These people were just asking for trouble!

"What do you want?" William wasn't some pampered noble whose hands had never touched hardship. He'd traveled widely and had seen plenty of situations like this—though usually he'd had a squad of bodyguards with him. This time...

William quietly shifted Serena behind him, sizing up the thugs with a half-smile, not taking them seriously at all. His hidden guards were nearby; if these men wanted to hurt him, they'd have to strike fast enough that the guards couldn't intervene. Right now...

These guys didn't stand a chance.

"What do we want? You two kept coming in and out, letting in the cold air and making us catch a chill. What, you don't plan to pay us some medicine money to calm our nerves?" It was just thinly-veiled robbery. Serena burst out laughing, her reaction stinging the thugs' pride.

Five big, strong men—skilled fighters—against this delicate-looking pair, one pale, one dark. Clearly unarmed, they looked like they couldn't even truss a chicken, yet they dared to laugh at the thugs. That was infuriating.

Swish—the knife was drawn and pointed at Serena. "Ugly woman, what are you laughing at? Listen, if you don't hand over at least eighty or a hundred taels to calm our nerves, you're not leaving today."

Ugly?

Serena was momentarily taken aback. She reached up and touched the scar on her face, then looked up at William. "Am I really that ugly?"

What kind of eyesight did these people have? All she'd done was stick a fake scar on her face—did that really make her ugly? And to say it right to her face—how rude, how utterly lacking in class.

If you wanted to know what class looked like, just look at William. He clearly didn't like these brutes, but he still wore a gentle smile and spoke softly. Class was about your own standards, not about who you were dealing with—whether it was an emperor or a street thug, he was always the same.

"Qingchen is just Qingchen; it has nothing to do with looks." William's gaze was deep as a well, as if it could draw in your very soul. He said it so sincerely, you couldn't help but believe him.

"Ha! What's so funny? Just look at you—people call that 'Enchantress'? You should really look in a mirror. Someone like you, even if you paid to sleep with me at a brothel, I..."

"Shut up!" William cut him off before he could finish.

William was refined, but that didn't mean he had no temper. In fact, he had a fierce one. If they'd just insulted him, he wouldn't care, but comparing Serena to a brothel girl—that was his bottom line.

A murderous aura instantly filled the tea shed. In a heartbeat, William transformed from a gentle nobleman into a cold-blooded general—even Serena was startled.

"Shut up! You little punk, you've got a lot of nerve telling me to shut up. Who do you think you are, talking to me like that?" The brute was first intimidated by William's killing intent and retreated a few steps, but then, humiliated and angry, he raised his knife and charged at William.

William didn't flinch—not even a blink. His lips, slightly dry, spat out a single merciless word: "Kill."

A faint sense of danger flickered in the air—William's hidden guards moved. But someone was even faster.

Bang! Bang!

Serena made her move!

Having been shielded by William, Serena suddenly stepped forward. She gripped her gun with both hands and fired at the thugs—five shots, each one hitting a hand.

Clang, clang, clang—the gunshots ended, and the thugs' knives clattered to the floor. One blade nearly landed at William's feet, but Serena reacted quickly and pulled him aside just in time.

"Ah! My hand, my hand!" The thugs clutched their bleeding hands, staring at Serena in shock. They hadn't expected this dark, supposedly ugly girl to strike so hard. Even the hidden guards, ready to intervene, were stunned and froze in place.

Serena was even faster than the guards. Did they even have a purpose anymore?

Silently, William's hidden guards exchanged glances and obediently stepped back.

No wonder neither Ninth Uncle nor Serena ever brought guards with them—they simply didn't need to.

The smell of gunpowder and blood filled the tea shed, but everyone else acted as if nothing had happened—after a brief pause, they simply went back to chatting and drinking tea.

In a corner, a raggedly dressed man saw the gun in Serena's hand; a flash of excitement and surprise crossed his eyes, but before Serena noticed, he quickly looked away.

Serena and William remained calm. Once the gun cooled, Serena smoothly tucked it away. William was shaken, but didn't ask questions—their teamwork was so natural, it was as if they'd faced scenes like this a thousand times before.

Serena holstered her gun and stepped forward. "I'm ugly, am I? That's because I don't need to put on a show." As she spoke, she leaned in aggressively, making the thug instinctively back away. In that moment, no matter how plain her looks, it was clear she was a queen.

And that was exactly what Serena wanted. She didn't believe, after all this, that she couldn't force these men to admit whether they'd seen Ninth Uncle...