Chapter 2

Chapter 2

At the Hundred Flowers Banquet, I sat meekly in a corner stuffing my face with pastries.

I’d traveled far and wide since childhood and wasn’t close with the noble girls of the capital.

So all I could do was secretly eavesdrop on their gossip about palace secrets.

“The Eldest Prince is a hero who fights for our country. If only he would take a liking to me.”

“I prefer the handsome His Highness the Crown Prince.”

Someone gasped. “His Highness the Crown Prince has such a terrible temper, most people can’t avoid him fast enough. How could you…”

“Oh, you don’t understand. My mother said-” The girl lowered her voice mysteriously.

“A man with a good nose is also gifted down there. I’ve observed His Highness the Crown Prince. He has a tall, straight nose and deep-set eyes. If I could earn His Highness the Crown Prince’s favor, I wouldn’t dare imagine how happy the rest of my life would be.”

…

Cowards.

I dared to imagine it.

After Xie Zhaolin swaggered in with his entourage, I deliberately glanced below his waist.

Damn it.

His robes blocked everything. I couldn’t see a thing.

Little did I know Xie Zhaolin caught me peeping.

His sharp, icy gaze swept over.

Then suddenly stopped on my face.

“Seventeen?”

“Ah!”

I responded by reflex, then abruptly realized my current identity was Lin Suisui, the daughter of an official, and hastily changed my tune.

“Oh my, His Highness the Crown Prince is so wise. This girl was Seventeen last year, and has just turned eigh~teen~ this year.”

I finished in a pinched, affected voice. The young eunuch beside me looked utterly creeped out and rubbed his arms.

Xie Zhaolin’s brow twitched.

Then he advanced another two steps toward me.

His gaze was probing.

I shrank my head like a quail.

“His Highness the Crown Prince,” the head eunuch said, beaming as he held up a tray. “This is Lord Lin’s Daughter from the Court of Remonstrance. Would you like to bestow a palace flower upon Miss Lin?”

Xie Zhaolin glanced at me indifferently and casually picked up a red palace flower.

My heart instantly leaped into my throat.

Bestowing a palace flower meant a prince had taken a liking to you. If the emperor and empress agreed, an imperial decree of marriage would follow.

But I… did not want to marry Xie Zhaolin.

True, the Crown Prince’s beauty could topple kingdoms.

But as a woman of great ambition, how could I hang myself on one tree?

In a moment of desperation, I kowtowed frantically-thump, thump, thump.

My brains were almost shaken smooth.

Xie Zhaolin frowned. “What, do you think I’m unworthy of you?”

“No! His Highness the Crown Prince deserves better.”

Not the best, which would be me.

Trembling, I said,

“Your servant was a nun for several years and long ago cleansed her heart of desire, keeping far away from men. In your servant’s heart, you are a divine Buddha in Jinluan Hall. How would I dare defile you?”

After hearing that, Xie Zhaolin raised an eyebrow and laughed.

Heh.

The narcissist was pleased again.

I had just breathed a sigh of relief.

But the next instant, he suddenly tore the palace flower to shreds.

Fragments scattered all over the ground.

His dark eyes fixed on me, and his lips curved into a smile with no warmth at all.

“No flower.”

“Grant her death.”