Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I sat at the edge of the bed and studied the fool carefully by candlelight.

His skin was flawless and delicate, and both his face and figure were exceptional.

I had heard Mama Shi mention before that his birth mother had died when he was three, and when he was ten, he had fallen gravely ill. The fever had burned out his mind.

What a pity. If not for those misfortunes, he might have been the finest young man in the world.

I took a deep breath and lightly nudged his leg with the tip of my foot. “Hey, are you asleep?”

Rong Yi shook his head like a rattle-drum. “The floor is cold. I can’t sleep.”

Resting my chin on my hand, I fell into thought. In truth, there was something I had always found suspicious.

Why had a young palace maid just so happened to spill wine on my clothes that day?

And how had this silly boy, Rong Yi, managed to barge right up to my door and start shouting, neither a step too early nor too late?

“Hey, let me ask you something.”

I leaned toward him. “Do you still remember the Plum Blossom Banquet last month? Who told you there were mad monkeys fighting in that room?”

Rong Yi squeezed his eyes shut and covered his mouth.

Seeing him like that only deepened my suspicions.

“If you tell me, I’ll give you candy.”

Rong Yi’s voice leaked out from between his fingers. “Father said I can’t tell anyone, especially not my wife! Ow, I let it slip!”

With that, he actually smacked his own mouth.

I was amused despite myself. “Then let me guess. It must have been your second brother, Rong Zhaonan, who told you to go look for the monkeys, right?”

Rong Yi shot upright. “How did you know?”

Anger surged in my chest. So it was true.

If he did not want to marry me, he could have said so to His Majesty outright. Instead, he incited his foolish elder brother to come make a scene.

There was no need to ask. Those vile rumors must have been spread by him in secret as well.

The Empress Dowager must have known about it all along, but she had no desire to investigate. After the scandal, she hurriedly married me off to a fool.

Ah, if Mother Consort were still alive, how could I have suffered such humiliation?

My nose stung, and I could not help but cry.

“Yuanyuan, why are you crying?”

Rong Yi panicked. He knelt by the bed, trying to wipe my tears with his sleeve, and even blew at my face. “Don’t cry, don’t cry. You won’t be pretty if you cry.”

I dodged away from him. “You even know I’m pretty?”

“Of course! Yuanyuan is the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen.” Rong Yi spread his arms wide. “This pretty.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “On the day of the banquet, what else did your second brother say?”

Rong Yi thought for a moment. “My little brother said that Princess Jiangcheng is already well into her twenties, old and ugly and powerless, and not worthy of him at all. He has a woman he likes, so he doesn’t want to marry that old maid.”

I was so furious my teeth itched. “Silly boy, do you know who I am?”

Rong Yi grinned. “Yuanyuan.”

I spat, “I am Princess Jiangcheng!”