Chapter 3

Chi Yan was the Princess Royal’s son. His brows swept toward his temples, his eyes shone like stars, and his milk-white skin was without a single blemish. Everyone adored the handsome young gentleman. Many noble girls were fond of him.

I was no exception.

Better still, he took after his father in his gentle disposition. He never despised me for my awkward position.

I had prepared his birthday present long before and planned to send it on the day. I never dreamed I would have the chance to give it to him in person.

The night before the feast, I could not sleep. I tossed and turned until midnight and almost overslept the next morning.

It was not only because I would see Chi Yan. At the Princess Royal’s banquets, we often played my best game: wooden skittles.

Also called fifteen-pin ball, the game used fifteen wooden pins, narrow at the top and broad at the base, arranged in a mixed formation on the ground. Players struck a ball along the ground to hit them. Ten pins bore red characters: Benevolence, Righteousness, Propriety, Wisdom, Trustworthiness, Gentleness, Kindness, Respect, Frugality, and Deference. Five bore black characters: Disrespect, Arrogance, Flattery, Greed, and Excess.

Hitting a red pin earned one point; hitting a black pin lost two. Each player had three shots, and the highest score won.

A black pin stood between every two red ones, making it extremely difficult to knock over the red pins without touching the black.

After long, hard practice at home, I had finally mastered a technique that let me topple every red pin without knocking over a single black one.

The thought of showing off my special trick—of showing Chi Yan what I could do—made me too excited to sleep.

The next day, the Princess Royal opened the game herself. Her three balls swept through the formation and knocked down every pin. She scored zero, exactly as if she had missed them all.

Everyone roared with laughter, and the gathering immediately grew lively.

“Well, it seems I’m as hopeless at skittles as I am at pitch-pot. Never mind. Let my poor effort inspire something better.” She slipped a spinach-green Hetian jade bracelet from her wrist. “Here is the prize. You young people play. It’s just for fun, so don’t stand on ceremony. Today is Yan’er’s birthday. We old folk shouldn’t steal the attention.”

I stared at the bracelet, my palms damp with nerves.

Its translucence was exquisite, its color rich, its luster oily and smooth. Against it, the Princess Royal’s wrist looked white as snow.

It was so beautiful.

Most importantly, Chi Yan was watching beside her, his eyes curved in a smile. A breeze lifted a stray lock of hair and sent it dancing across his forehead, lending him a fragile beauty. My face grew hot; I could hardly look at him.

Forcing down my excitement, I sat on pins and needles, watching the young ladies take their turns.

Princess Wanping hit Benevolence, Righteousness, and Propriety. Three points.

The Duke of Ying’s third daughter hit Respect and Frugality but brought down Arrogance too. Zero again. She flung her sleeve in irritation and sat down, casting an embarrassed glance at Princess Wanping.

The Marquis of Rong’s heir joined in. When everyone teased him about wanting to win a girl’s trinket, he bowed deeply. “Not for myself. I hope to win it for my elder sister.”

“Your elder sister? Surely you mean Sister Lianlian?”

Lianlian was the nickname of the Duke of Ying’s third daughter.

At their teasing, she bit her lip and reached out to hit Senior Grand Secretary Lu’s eldest son for his impertinence. Too embarrassed, she sat back down. Yet her glance at the marquis’s heir grew sweet, and the corners of her mouth quietly lifted.

After another round of teasing, the heir stepped forward. His first ball toppled Benevolence and Righteousness, his second Propriety and Wisdom, and his last Respect and Frugality. Each shot passed precisely between a pair of pins and knocked them both down without catching a neighboring black one. His three shots won applause from the entire hall.

Six points.

He had clearly practiced hard too. But next to my special trick, it was nothing.

At last I rose. Just as I was about to step forward, the Princess Royal smiled. “Does anyone else wish to try? If no one challenges him, my bracelet will belong to Ah Fan. Whether he gives it to his own sister or Sister Lianlian afterward is no concern of mine.”

Mischievous laughter filled the hall again. Chi Yan watched quietly with a smile, his long lashes lifting and falling. He seemed very happy too.

No one noticed me.

Gathering my courage, I stepped forward. “Your Highness, this subject’s daughter would like to try.”

The hall fell silent.

The Princess Royal’s smile faded little by little. Her gaze traveled over me twice before she gave a scornful laugh. “How can our little princess call herself a subject’s daughter? Since you followed your mother into the palace when she married, you should simply call me Aunt. There’s no need to be so distant.”

I wanted to say that I was the eldest daughter of the late Grand Secretary Zeng Jingyuan, so there was nothing wrong with how I had addressed her. But the emperor had indeed made me a princess because of Mother. I…

In the end, I could not say that word: Aunt.

I did not dare.