Chapter 6

When I went to take my leave of the princess, she did not mock me.

She seemed to have noticed Xie Qingwei’s absence. Frowning as she ordered servants to find him, she merely waved me away with irritation.

She had no attention to spare for making my life difficult.

I took the carriage home.

Jiang Pingting returned toward evening and hurried to see my uncle as soon as she arrived.

The marquis’s legitimate grandson, Xie Qingwei, had vanished from a banquet held by his own mother. The city was in uproar. All nine gates were locked, and the hoofbeats of the patrolling Jinwu Guards never ceased.

I sat restlessly in my bedroom too.

Deep into the quiet night, someone tapped twice on my window.

I pushed it open at once.

Xue Shao stood outside in black. Seeing how quickly I answered, he knew how frightened I must be and came straight to the point. “It’s settled. Xie Qingwei isn’t dead. I’ve hidden him somewhere extremely secluded. The princess cannot find him.”

I hesitated. “With the Ninth Prince?”

Xue Shao paused.

I looked at him. “You need only tell me yes or no.”

After a moment’s silence, he said, “Yes.”

I breathed out. “Good. Thank you for being honest. In fact, I didn’t knock him unconscious because he tried to molest me. He told me he had seen a vision of the future. He said you served the Ninth Prince, and that the Ninth Prince…that he knew a crucial secret about His Highness. I was afraid he would harm you both, so I struck him.”

I watched his astonished eyes brighten a little. “I want to see the Ninth Prince. Please arrange it. What I did today is proof of my sincerity.”

“…All right.”

He had come secretly under cover of darkness. This was no time for a conversation. With his agreement secured, I gestured for him to leave.

But he remained at the window.

“Have you eaten?”

He was worried that anxiety had kept me from my meal.

I hesitated. “I have…”

He nodded and stepped back half a pace to let me close the window.

Instead, I suddenly caught his sleeve.

Xue Shao froze.

I remembered what I had forgotten to ask. “You weren’t hurt, were you?”

He hadn’t expected that question. His lowered eyes rose to mine in surprise, then darted away as though our meeting gazes had burned him.

“N-no.”

“That’s good.” I released him.

Now he did not retreat. After a moment’s hesitation, he took a paper packet from inside his robe and set it on the sill.

I looked at it in puzzlement.

“Peach-blossom cakes. You lied. You haven’t eaten.”

I stared.

“I pinched them from the Ninth Prince’s household. They’re delicious. And clean.” He still refused to look at me. “Eat something before you sleep.”

“…All right.”

I picked up the packet and gave him a bright smile.

“Thank you.”

His lashes trembled. “…Mm.”