chapter 2
The men wandered away, still laughing and trading obscenities.
Only when every sound of them had vanished did I raise my head from among the lotus leaves. I was about to swim ashore when my right calf seized. Agony shot up my leg.
My heart lurched.
No.
Water flooded my nose. I choked and kicked desperately with my other leg, but my body kept sinking.
The memory of dying helplessly in bed in my previous life crashed over me. The same suffocating powerlessness wrapped around my throat.
Had I been given another life only to drown like a fool?
Then a voice called from shore. “Grab hold.”
A sash whipped across the water and landed directly in front of me. I clutched it without thinking.
The man pulled hard, hauling me out of the water and onto the bank. I sprawled on the stone paving and coughed for a long time before I managed to push myself upright.
A young man stood before me in moon-white robes. His features were striking, and there was an easy nobility in his bearing that marked him as anything but ordinary.
He looked at me, then suddenly went still. His gaze had fallen to the side of my neck.
I followed his eyes downward. My soaked clothes clung to my body, and my loosened collar exposed a small patch of skin.
Alarm tightened my chest. Was he another lecher?
I started to retreat, but he had already averted his gaze and turned slightly away. Removing his outer robe, he held it out to me.
“Put this on first.”
After a moment’s hesitation, I accepted it and wrapped it around myself. It was dry and warm, carrying a faint scent of pine.
I studied him while pretending to adjust the robe. With his distinguished bearing and his presence at the marquis’s banquet, he had to be an honored guest from some important house.
Before I could ask his name, hurried footsteps sounded behind us.
I looked back. It was Chu Heng.
He was striding quickly, face dark, as if rushing toward some urgent destination. The moment he saw the young man, his expression changed. He bowed at once.
“Your Highness, Prince Chen.”
My heart stirred, though I lowered my eyes.
Prince Chen—Xiao Qi’an.
The late emperor’s youngest son, and the reigning emperor’s only full brother.
Xiao Qi’an kept a remarkably low profile. He spent most of the year in his fief and rarely visited the capital. I had never expected to see him at today’s banquet.
“Why is Your Highness here? Were the manor servants neglectful?” Chu Heng asked.
Xiao Qi’an’s tone was mild. “I was walking in the garden when I heard a disturbance in the lake. This young lady had fallen in, so I pulled her out.”
Only then did Chu Heng seem to notice me. His face flickered with surprise.
“Why are you here?”
He sounded as if he were interrogating a servant who had done something wrong. His eyes swept over my soaked dress and the outer robe around my shoulders, and his brows drew sharply together.
I said nothing. I merely bowed my head and feigned fear.
Xiao Qi’an spoke. “Lord Chu, who is this young lady?”
Chu Heng paused, reluctance plain in his voice. “She is Concubine Shen’s younger sister. She has seen little of the world. Please forgive her if she offended Your Highness.”
“Concubine Shen’s younger sister,” Xiao Qi’an repeated, without inflection.
Chu Heng nodded. “Her parents are dead, so she lives here under her sister’s protection. She has never learned much etiquette. I hope Your Highness will not hold it against her.”
That was how Chu Heng always introduced me. Every sentence was meant to belittle me.
Xiao Qi’an glanced at him. “Concubine Shen belongs to the Marquis of Dingyuan. By seniority, her younger sister is an elder of yours.”
Chu Heng’s face went black, but he did not dare argue. He could only bow his head and agree.
Xiao Qi’an dismissed him and looked down at me instead.
“Your clothes are soaked. Go change before you catch cold.”
I thanked him and pulled his robe tighter around me.
Xiao Qi’an turned away. His moon-white figure gradually receded along the path.
I was about to leave when a hand clamped around my arm.
Chu Heng glared at me. “Shouldn’t you be in that room by now?”