Chapter 1

On a secluded garden path in the Duke of Zhenguo’s residence.

Carefully dressed for the occasion, I stood beside a slanting, flower-laden branch, watching the path a little way off.

As the figure drew closer, I hurried out from the turning, making it look like a chance encounter.

“Cousin! What a coincidence.” I blushed prettily and dipped into a graceful curtsy.

Cui Zheyu wore white robes, his hair black as ink, a jade belt at his waist. His features might have been painted.

His dark eyes were cool and remote. There was something almost unworldly about his refinement, something that made people hesitate to approach him.

He acknowledged me with a distant, courteous nod, an unreadable gleam in his eyes.

I steeled myself, suddenly tilted sideways as though I had twisted my ankle, and fell toward him.

Just as I was about to land in his arms, Cui Zheyu stepped aside. He let me fall in an ungainly heap, then reached down, caught me around the waist, and lifted me up.

“Have some self-respect, Cousin. This is the third time you’ve fallen by accident. If it happens again, I shall find a physician to treat your foot.”

“You cannot afford the consequences of provoking me.”

Cui Zheyu bent his head and caught my chin between his fingers. His eyes were dark as ink, his breath warm against my face. Every word warned me to behave.

Watching him walk away, I rubbed my chin, grimaced, and cursed him silently.

What an exalted, inaccessible creature. Getting anywhere with him was proving difficult.

My maid, Xiaocui, ran up from a distance. “Are you hurt, Miss?”

“I’m fine.” I brushed the dust from my skirts without much concern and dropped the bashful manner I had so carefully assumed.

I rubbed my half-numb arm on the way back to our lodgings. My stepmother was waiting in my room, turning prayer beads through one hand. Her expression gave nothing away.

When I came in, she raised her eyelids and glanced at me coldly. “Well?”

“Mother, I found another opportunity to speak to my cousin. He was very kind and gentle with me.” I lowered my eyes and answered meekly, quietly letting my hand fall from my sore arm.

My stepmother nodded, a satisfied smile appearing on her face. “That’s more like it. Men all have the same appetites. I trained you with such care. How could a son of the Cui family fail to fall at your feet?”

“We are only distant relations, after all. We cannot stay in the duke’s residence too long. You must win him over quickly. Once you become his concubine, the Shen family will have someone to rely on.”

I answered softly, though inwardly I kept scoffing.

Distant relations? The connection was so tenuous that anyone who heard it would laugh themselves sick.

We could barely claim a connection to the duchess’s half sister, born to a concubine. Yet my stepmother had shamelessly brought me to the capital and installed us in the duke’s residence.

She claimed she wanted the duchess to find me a respectable marriage. In reality, I was supposed to win over the duke’s son in secret.

My stepmother set her prayer beads on a little red sandalwood table, looking smug, as though she could already see the declining Shen family restored to splendid prosperity in Jinling.

I knew better than to interrupt. I kept my eyes on the toes of my embroidered shoes and let her dream.

The room was quiet. After indulging her fantasies for a while, she turned her attention back to me. “Your waist still isn’t slender enough. You’ll go without supper tonight.”