Chapter 7
I had lost count of the fireworks.
Outside, cheers rose like sky lanterns, gathering until they seemed ready to lift the heavens. Inside the stifling carriage, every smaller sound vanished into that roar like a stream entering the sea.
Our fingers were locked together against the carriage wall.
“Yaoyao, could that frail scholar possibly be better than I am?”
I braced myself upright and smiled coldly. “Appearances can be deceiving, Your Highness. Look at you—noble and radiant before others, but quite different in private.”
His handsome face was faintly lit by stray, secretive glimmers.
“Different?” His dimple deepened. “There are times when Yaoyao enjoys me very much.”
“How do you know I enjoy only you?” I asked. “Perhaps I will try another man and discover someone better. I am not bound to Your Highness.”
Darkness flooded his expression.
“Very well, Wen Lanyu. Try it.”
He used the full name whenever he was angry.
I was not Wen Lanyu, so what did his anger matter?
“Is Your Highness demanding my fidelity?”
“I believed it was understood.”
I laughed. “Officials may set fires while commoners cannot light lamps. Next month you welcome a lovely bride, yet tonight you speak of understanding? An understanding that restrains only me?”
The fireworks paused, plunging the carriage into darkness. I could not see his expression.
“What a sharp tongue you have, Yaoyao.”
He avoided the question.
I forced a smile over the color draining from my face. “As do you.”
“Sometimes I wonder whether you are the one afflicted by a curse, or I am.”
That made me laugh. “Your Highness is always clear-headed. How could you be cursed?
“Noble and lowly. Beloved and plaything. You know precisely what belongs with whom.”
He stared at me. “You are angry.”
Only then did I realize he was right.
The pearl. The fox mask. One thing after another reminding me how little I mattered.
How absurd to be angry over any of it.
I smiled and slowly smoothed the wrinkles in his robe.
“You think I would be angry for your sake? Impossible.”
I crushed those unwelcome emotions beneath perfect, rational calm.
He watched me in silence.
The fireworks began again. Splendor and celebration belonged to the world above, never to Lian Yao. I belonged in this narrow corner of darkness, born from mud and hidden from the light.
Amid the deafening explosions, Xing Ye kissed the ornament painted between my brows.
“Stop this, Yaoyao. Marry me.
“We will bow to heaven and earth, swear an alliance, and never doubt each other again.”
His thick lashes brushed my ear, trembling faintly.
The fireworks seemed to last forever. Colored light shifted across the curtain. My breathing faltered, and my heart lost control.
I climbed astride him and looped my arms around his neck.
“Three letters and six rites? A proper wedding? Will I be Crown Princess?”
His throat moved. “Become my Junior Consort first.”
The fireworks withered into darkness.
So did my smile.
His offer was not tempting enough.
He asked me to stake everything on him while keeping every one of his plans hidden. If I won, he might pull me up from the cliff. If I lost, the man who lifted me could turn and cast me back into the abyss.
Even blood kin became enemies.
I trusted no one but myself.
“Forget it, Your Highness. Let us end this.”
After a long silence, he asked, “Is that what you want?”
“Yes. I no longer need you.”
His laugh was thin as mist. “It began as a transaction. If you wish to end it, I have nothing to say.”
His easy acceptance made his promise of marriage feel like another lie.
Good. At least the Crown Prince was proud and fair enough not to force an unwilling partner.
“Thank you for your care these past four years.” I meant it. The bargain had brought me wealth and pleasure.
“There is no need. We each took what we wanted.”
I straightened my hair and dress, picked up my mask, and prepared to leave.
He turned away and handed me a brocade box.
“Wen Lanyu. Wear this and the curse will be broken without shortening your life.”
Inside lay the Lantian Mist Jade, its smoky glow drifting beneath the surface.
Of the northern realm’s two great treasures, this ranked first. The Pearl of the Vast Sea ranked second. The pearl would cure me at the cost of years from my life. The jade had no such price.
But a treasure captured in war belonged in the imperial vault, which was why I had never asked him for it.
After a moment, I removed the ornaments from my hair.
“One last transaction, Your Highness.”
I would smother the last weak flutter of my heart beneath another exchange of profit.
He caught my chin, his gaze deepening.
“I thought I might deceive you into staying.” His tone made it impossible to tell whether he jested.
“Call me Yanzhi once. It has been too long.”
“Yanzhi…”
My water-red skirt spread like lotus petals startled open beneath a summer moon.