Chapter 1

Chapter 1

When I led Lu Yuanhui into the palace, my elder brother, the Emperor, was busy feeding fish in the Imperial Garden.

He turned around, spotted me, and then noticed the newly minted Zhuangyuan standing behind me.

The fish food in his hand fell into the pond with a soft splash.

“Imperial Brother,” I said, bracing myself.

Lu Yuanhui followed with a bow, his posture so upright and proper that not a single fault could be found.

However, his sleeve had slipped down a fraction, revealing a striking red mark on his wrist-

It was from the rope I used to bind him last night. I had untied it this morning, but the mark hadn’t faded yet.

My brother’s gaze snapped onto that mark like a nail being driven home.

His lip twitched, and he took a deep breath before beckoning me over. “Zhaohua, come here.”

I shuffled over.

He lowered his voice, his tone filled with pained disappointment:

“Even if you can’t stand him, you can’t go around hitting people! This is the Zhuangyuan! He is the face of the Imperial Court!”

Before I could open my mouth, Lu Yuanhui’s cool, detached voice drifted over from behind:

“Your Majesty misunderstands.”

“The Princess Royal did not hit Your servant.”

“She simply slept with Your servant.”

My brother: “…”

I closed my eyes.

A fish in the pond made a massive splash.

My brother grabbed me and dragged me behind a rockery, his voice a harsh whisper:

“Zhao Changying! What on earth did you do?!”

What I did was, in fact, quite simple.

At the palace banquet last night, I’d had a few too many drinks and was feeling the buzz.

I happened to run into Lu Yuanhui walking out of the palace alone. This reminded me of an old grudge from the hunting grounds last month, where he had publicly lectured me for “acting excessively and lacking decorum.”

In a moment of heat, I had my people “invite” him over.

At first, I just scolded him.

I called him a hypocrite, a prude, and a bookworm who had studied himself stupid to dare lecture This Princess. But under the flickering red candlelight, that face of his…

Tsk, he really was three shades more handsome than even this year’s Third-Ranked Scholar.

His features were crisp and cool, his lips pressed thin, and he didn’t say a word as he let me rail at him.

As I scolded, my voice grew softer.

As I scolded… I just couldn’t help myself.

Part 2

I sobered up once in the middle of it all.

The candlelight was still swaying, and I had torn the ties of Lu Yuanhui’s inner robe.

-His body was covered in red marks of varying depths.

There were also two very obvious bite marks.

My mind went blank for a second, and I felt a flicker of panic.

But then I thought about it-and felt at peace again.

What was there to panic about?

My Zhao family had seen it all.

My grandfather liked other men’s wives.

My father snatched his widowed sister-in-law.

My brother didn’t want any of his Three Palaces and Six Courtyards; he specifically loved being a certain woman’s secret lover, and after three years, he still hadn’t been made official.

As the dignified Princess Royal, what was sleeping with a Top Scholar compared to all that?

It was simply the family tradition.

So, I reached out, wrapped my arms around his waist again, closed my eyes, and went back to sleep.

His whole body stiffened, but he didn’t struggle.

Until the sun was high in the sky.

I sat up and leisurely put on my clothes.

Lu Yuanhui was awake too, staring motionlessly at the top of the bed curtains.

“Fine,” I said with a wave of my hand. “This Princess will compensate you for last night.”

Before I could even step out the door, I heard a loud *clatter* behind me.

I turned around and nearly lost my soul-

Lu Yuanhui had somehow moved a high stool and was standing on top of it.

He was clutching the hemp rope from last night, tossing it over the rafters.

I lunged at him and grabbed him. “What are you doing?!”

He looked down at me, his eyes as still as stagnant water. “Your servant has no face to go on living. Only death can preserve my honor and protect Your Highness’s reputation.”

I stamped my foot in frustration. “Death my ass!”

Sleeping with someone is a romantic scandal; driving someone to suicide is cold-blooded murder.

If he actually died, the Censorate would nag me to death.

I hurriedly promised him he could pick any gold or shops he wanted.

I asked if he wanted a grand mansion with seven courtyards.

Lu Yuanhui stopped moving and looked down at me.

His gaze was strange, like he’d been doused with a bucket of cold water.

From head to toe, he radiated an indescribable desolation.

I took the chance to kick the stool over.

He fell to the floor, but as soon as he scrambled up, he tried to ram his head against the wall.

I hugged his waist tightly. He kept straining forward like a stubborn donkey.

I gritted my teeth and went all in: “Your future! Think of your future! This Princess will guarantee you a rank-three position within two years, and a seat in the Grand Secretariat within three!”

Even I felt guilty saying that.

A seat in the Grand Secretariat in three years? Even my late father, the Emperor, would be stunned to hear that.

But he actually stopped moving.

He was breathing hard, his back to me, his spine rigid.

After a long while, he slowly pried my hands away.

He walked to the table and picked up the small silver knife used for cutting fruit.

“Your Highness, this matter is not entirely your fault.”

Then he started quoting the classics.

The general gist was that a gentleman losing his virtue was like a flaw in white jade; to live on would be to be a mere shell of a man, so it was better to die and be clean.

My scalp felt numb listening to him.

Finally, he said, “I must trouble Your Highness to bring paper and ink.”

“For what?”

“Your servant shall write a suicide note.” He looked up, his gaze clear and chilling. “I will state clearly that I took my own life out of shame for my lost virtue, and that it has nothing to do with Your Highness.”

The tip of the knife was pressed against his heart; I didn’t dare move.

I went from talking about his career to talking about marriage.

I asked if there was someone in his heart. Did he feel he had wronged her?

“Tell me who she is, and I’ll go to my brother. We’ll title her a County Princess and ensure she lives a life of wealth and glory.”

His hand holding the knife paused. He looked up. “Your servant has no beloved.”

“Then you…”

He started reciting the words of the sages again-stuff about “unwavering loyalty” and “honor as heavy as a mountain,” one lecture after another.

My head throbbed.

He didn’t want wealth, he didn’t want a career, and he didn’t have a lover-

I was completely out of options. The words left my mouth before I could think.

“Then what on earth do you want? You can’t possibly… want This Princess to take responsibility, can you?”

I stunned myself as soon as I said it.

The room suddenly became terrifyingly quiet.

He placed the silver knife gently on the table.

Then he lowered his eyes, his eyelashes casting a small shadow on his face.

His voice was so low it was almost inaudible:

“…That would work.”

Me: “…?”

He looked up, his clear gaze falling upon my face.

“Your Highness’s word is gold.”