Chapter 3

In the end, the engagement was dissolved.

Together with the marriage agreement, I received a verbal decree from Imperial Father: three months of confinement to reflect on my actions.

Imperial authority could not change from one morning to the next. I had acted on impulse and destroyed a marriage. His punishment was already extraordinarily light.

Each day, I sat by the window and watched a tree full of blossoms bloom and wither. When the boredom grew unbearable, I copied sutras or embroidered to pass the time.

By the time I had copied the sutra a hundred times, A-Luo lifted the curtain and led someone inside.

I had known him since childhood. His name was Xie Wei, heir to the Prince of Nanping, and I had not seen him for years.

Xie Wei strode in on long legs and swept a careless glance over the room. When he spotted the sutras on my table, he pointed at them and laughed.

“Li Chang’an, I heard you’d changed, but this? I leave for a few years and you turn into an old nun with nothing but a lamp and the Buddha for company?”

We had loathed the sight of each other since childhood. The moment he opened his mouth, my head began to ache.

Pressing a hand to my forehead, I asked, “Weren’t you in Shu? What are you doing here?”

“I came to see you.”

“…What?”

Xie Wei lowered his eyes and gave me a sidelong look.

“Don’t flatter yourself. I happened to return to the capital and brought some lychees. His Majesty asked me to deliver your share.”

I understood at once. Imperial Father had confined me, then sent something to comfort me.

He had always been like this. He could never bear to punish me in earnest.

An attendant brought in a plate of exquisite little fruits chilled on ice, their skins brilliant red and two green leaves at the bottom still dewy with freshness.

I could not help looking twice before feigning indifference. “Thank you, but I don’t care for sweets.”

Xie Wei gave a noncommittal grunt, sat down, scooped up a lychee, and popped it into his mouth.

“I heard you ended your engagement.”

He had been unbearable for as long as I could remember. I knew his next sentence without thinking: *A girl with a broken engagement will have trouble marrying. Lucky you were born into the imperial family.*

I had been spoiled and headstrong from childhood. Though I had deliberately restrained myself in recent years, all that restraint vanished in front of Xie Wei.

I straightened, planted my hands on my hips, and glared down at him.

“So what if I did? I don’t need you coming here to laugh at me.”

Xie Wei ate without manners and sat without decorum, his long legs sprawled comfortably apart.

“What haven’t I seen of you? I only know you liked Wei Zheng for years. If you suddenly broke the engagement, did someone wrong you?”

For once, I had no answer.

I had never imagined he would say that.

No one thought I had been wronged. Wei Zheng was perfect in every way, and I had ended our marriage over a trivial grievance. On nights when headaches kept me awake, even I wondered whether I had been absurdly delicate.

And yet I felt so wronged.

My heart was full of bitterness with nowhere to pour it.

Almost without meaning to, I asked him solemnly, “If I had suffered the greatest wrong in the world, what would you do?”

Xie Wei sat up and answered just as solemnly, “We do share some history. Naturally, I’d help you win back your dignity.”

I stood stunned for a moment before saying, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. So what happened?”

I fell silent for a long time. In the end, I only said, “Xie Wei, my head hurts. Attend to me properly, and this princess might consider making peace with you.”

His face plainly said, *Do you even hear yourself?*

Though I had infuriated him, he forced down his impatience and asked, “How am I supposed to attend to you?”

I raised one imperious hand and pointed to the side.

“Peel that plate of lychees for this princess.”

Only when I looked carefully did I see that the silver plate was empty and the discarded skins beside it formed a little mountain.

He had secretly eaten them all!

Fury shot to the very tips of my hair. I lunged at him.

“You–Imperial Father told you to bring those to me, and you ate every last one! That’s defying an imperial order! I… I will impeach you!”

Xie Wei burst into laughter. He dodged nimbly, slipped out the door, and somehow found time to pat the top of my head.

“Heartless brat! I’ll be waiting for your memorial.”

I lifted my skirts and chased him out. Two large baskets of lychees stood quietly in the corridor, filled to the brim and still breathing pale mist from the ice. What he had eaten was only the smallest fraction.

When I looked again, Xie Wei had already vanished from the empty gallery.

Hmph. He was as hateful as ever.

I kicked one of the baskets in outrage.

“Bah! I won’t eat them!”

A-Luo covered her mouth and laughed.

“Your Highness has been so listless since you fell into the water. Only after the young lord’s visit have you finally shown some spirit.”

I curled my lip. “Spirit? What spirit? I certainly get angry the moment I see him!”