Chapter 9

Chapter 9

On the way back to the palace.

Cheng Su blocked my path once again.

I let out a long sigh and dismissed my maids, gesturing for him to speak quickly.

“I didn’t hold her,” Cheng Su said with a serious expression.

I blinked. “?”

Cheng Su repeated himself. “I didn’t hold her. I lifted her onto the horse behind my lieutenant.”

Only then did I realize he was referring to the incident at the polo field when he saved Cao Mingyu.

My heart felt soothed, and that lingering trace of displeasure slowly dissipated.

Yet, I felt a touch of annoyance. I clearly didn’t want to marry Cheng Su, so why did I care about such trivial matters?

I suppose that dream was simply too vivid-so real that I had developed a sense of possessiveness toward Cheng Su. Even if I couldn’t marry him, I didn’t actually want him to be with anyone else.

Realizing this, I suddenly felt how petty and frightening I was being.

I silently told myself: Li Fuyun, you cannot be like this.

I looked up, my expression solemn. “Lord Cheng, what does that have to do with This Princess?”

Cheng Su choked on his words. His breath hitched slightly, and his dark eyes gazed at me as if he were seeing me for the first time.

His tone turned a bit cold. “I thought I made myself very clear at the Huazhao Festival. My heart has not changed.”

He spoke with such gravity that I felt it necessary to correct this dangerous mindset of his.

“Lord Cheng, you must have misunderstood. Have I ever made a pact with you? Or given you any hints? Where did this talk of ‘changing hearts’ even come from?”

Cheng Su was so angry he laughed.

“Who was it that told me to live until I was twenty?”

“Who was it that grabbed my hand to snatch the booklet away?”

“Li Fuyun, you turn your back on people as if we were strangers, but I am not someone who can be cast aside so easily.”

My face flushed crimson, and I nearly stamped my foot in shame. “Cheng Su, what nonsense are you talking about?”

Seeing my reaction, the smile in his eyes deepened.

“Fuyun, whether I’m talking nonsense or not, you know the truth in your heart. Do you dare say you truly have no feelings for me?”

“If you really have no feelings for me, then let me ask you-do you want this?”

He pulled something else from his robes.

This time, it wasn’t a booklet, but a thin sheet of paper.

Subconsciously, I felt that this item must be very important to me.

I gritted my teeth, glaring at him in irritation.

My father is the Emperor; he possesses everything within the four seas.

If Cheng Su could find it, how could I, a grand Princess, not find it myself?

This time, I was determined to say I didn’t want it.

No, I wouldn’t even say I didn’t want it.

I turned to leave.

Cheng Su caught my wrist, his voice softening. “Are you angry?”

“No!”

“Then you are angry. Fuyun, I missed you dearly.”

My heart began to race inexplicably, and the spot where he held my wrist felt as if it were burning.

“How dare you!”

I swung my hand and slapped him across the face. He didn’t dodge, taking the blow squarely.

I was stunned. Why didn’t he move?

His eyes dimmed for a moment, but in the next instant, they shone with a startling intensity.

“Since you’ve already hit me, why don’t we…”

“What are you trying to do?”

I backed away step by step as he pressed closer.

Finally, he let out a soft chuckle, took my hand, and pressed the paper into my palm.

He released my hand lingeringly, whispering in my ear, “Hit me lighter next time. That one actually hurt. I’m leaving now. If I stay any longer, your guards might actually commit murder.”

With a smile playing on his features, he turned and strode away.

I watched his retreating back, my tense body finally relaxing, yet a strange emotion swirled in my chest.

I thought to myself that this feeling-of falling from the clouds into a valley, then soaring from the valley back into the clouds-was something no one else in this world could ever give me.

I looked down at the paper in my hand, and the lingering romantic tension Cheng Su had stirred vanished instantly.

It was actually a letter between Cao Shun and the Rong State. The phrasing used in the letter was highly ambiguous.

With this letter alone, Father Emperor could execute Cao Shun ten times over.