Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Early the next morning, Little Aunt was helped back to her room.

When she tried to drink some water, she could barely hold the cup.

The older maids mocked her. “I heard she begged for mercy several times last night. How delicate.”

“And here I thought she was something special. Turns out she’s just a pretty face with no substance.”

“She really didn’t know her place, thinking our Prince is like those useless cowards from the Wu Region.”

Little Aunt said nothing in response, quietly applying ointment to her body.

Her dowry maid stood by her side, trembling with anxiety. “Princess, how will you explain this if the Northern Qi imperial family asks?”

Little Aunt remained calm. “I know what I am doing.”

I took Little Aunt’s hand. “Auntie, let’s run away. I know there’s a dog hole in this courtyard we can crawl through.”

She smiled and tucked a piece of candy into my mouth. “Yingying, we aren’t running away in this life.”

“In this life, we are going to live through this together.”

I didn’t understand what she meant by “this life” or “that life.”

After applying her medicine, Little Aunt fell asleep and didn’t move a muscle.

I stayed by her bedside, occasionally checking to see if she was still breathing.

Fortunately, she was still alive.

During this time, He Lanzheng visited once.

He was seventeen when I was sent to his prince’s manor.

He was taller than even my tallest Imperial Elder Brother, and he was more handsome than my most good-looking Imperial Elder Brother.

He looked at me and said the people of the Wu Region were animals for sending such a young child for a political marriage.

My attendant had laughed and said that although I was small, I was the most beautiful of all the princesses in the Wu Region; after being raised for a few years, I would be ready to serve.

In response, He Lanzheng raised his hand, and the attendant’s head fell off.

I heard that he was the one who conquered several of our cities in the Wu Region.

I heard that countless people from Wu had died at his hands.

I cautiously blocked his path. “You… you can’t kill my Little Aunt. She’s a very good person.”

He Lanzheng gave a cold snort and called me a little idiot.

I wasn’t angry.

Since I was small, everyone said I was an idiot.

Only Mother and Little Aunt said I wasn’t; they said I had just been badly frightened.

They said that when I grew up and my illness got better, I would surely be a clever and beautiful girl.

He Lanzheng was strange today. He didn’t draw his blade; he just stood there quietly watching Little Aunt.

I had no choice but to watch along with him.

My Little Aunt was very beautiful, just like Mother.

She looked lovely when she smiled and just as lovely when she slept, soft and gentle like the finest velvet.

But I liked her best when she was out on the lake, using a bamboo pole to pick lotus seeds. She would make hair ornaments for me out of lotus flowers and umbrellas out of lotus leaves.

When she lowered her head, even the wind became gentle.

I told all of this to He Lanzheng, hoping he would see how good Little Aunt was and not be angry with her.

Eventually, He Lanzheng prepared to leave, but he picked me up and carried me out too.

He said I was noisier than the chattering sparrows of Northern Qi, chirping incessantly.

He told me to go play in another courtyard and not to stay inside and disturb Little Aunt’s rest.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

If he was letting Little Aunt sleep, did that mean he wasn’t going to kill her?