Chapter 5

The man standing before me now was that real Xing Ye.

His dark eyes and the wildcat’s deep green ones stared down at me together. The sight was rather intimidating.

Ungrateful beast.

I flicked the cat’s forehead. It whined and rubbed its face against Xing Ye’s robe in complaint. A few pieces of meat each time he visited, and it had betrayed me completely.

Xing Ye laughed, rubbed the cat’s head, then bent close to my ear.

“Why would you not admit it?”

Admit our affair? He wished.

“The little wildcat is much more obedient than you, Yaoyao.”

It was a pet. I was not.

Wen Mingzhu tugged at his sleeve. “What are you whispering to Aunt?”

She stood behind him, shooting poisonous looks at me.

He stroked the cat with perfect composure. “I was inviting Aunt to join us for an evening walk over Vermilion Bird Bridge.”

His eyes fixed on me. “Will you honor us with your company?”

Wen Mingzhu looked terrified that I might agree.

Any chance to make her miserable was worth taking.

I smiled with gentle consideration. “Of course. I only wonder whether Mingzhu will mind her aunt intruding on you both.”

“I…would not mind.” Her hands clenched into trembling fists beneath her sleeves.

How delightful.

Before the Crown Prince, our Mingzhu was an innocent, magnanimous girl. She had no choice but to swallow the grievance.

Openly wicked girls might not be loved, I reflected, but tormenting people was wonderfully pleasant.

Dusk melted into endless lantern light. Red lotuses burned along both banks as voices and music surged around us.

“Which mask is prettiest?” Wen Mingzhu asked, her pomegranate-red skirt fluttering like sunset clouds.

“The white rabbit suits you,” he said warmly.

I could not help laughing. An innocent little rabbit indeed.

Xing Ye looked at me, his gaze gentled by the dim light. “Will Aunt choose one too?”

Wen Mingzhu’s smile froze.

I squeezed between them and deliberately brushed Xing Ye’s arm as I lifted the nearest white rabbit mask to my face.

“Does the little rabbit suit me, Your Highness?”

The mask hid my expression. My eyes wandered over his face without restraint.

This, perhaps, was what competing for a man’s favor looked like.

He met my gaze. “No.”

My smile faded behind the mask.

Of course it did not suit me. Only Wen Mingzhu deserved the Pearl of the Vast Sea. Only she could be his innocent white rabbit.

I put the mask back. “Then what suits me?”

He chose a red fox mask and settled it over half my face.

“This.”

A fox spirit. Scheming, sly, full of wicked ideas.

Who loved a fox? What woman wanted to be one?

Wen Mingzhu looked smug.

I tore off the mask. “Then allow me to choose one for Your Highness.”

“With pleasure.”

I picked up a snarling hound and slapped it into his hand.

“This suits you best.”

Wretched dog of a man.

His eyes brightened with amusement. He was not angry in the least.

Wen Mingzhu shoved past me, took a gray rabbit mask, and placed it affectionately over his face.

“Wear a matching pair with me?”

I folded my arms. “A married pair of rabbits. A match made in heaven.”

Coming with them had been idiotic. I had meant to upset Wen Mingzhu and succeeded only in upsetting myself. My presence merely added spice to the lovers’ outing.

“Aunt.” Xing Ye’s voice cooled beneath the gray mask.

I smiled. “Fox Aunt does not belong with a pair of rabbits. I will be leaving.”