Chapter 4
I asked the senior palace maid beside me, “Qinghe, what is the punishment for breaking palace rules?”
Qinghe answered precisely, “It depends on the severity. Twenty slaps across the mouth, forty strokes of the cane, or immediate execution.”
“And the crime of scorning a princess’s authority and offending one’s superior?”
The back of the woman on the ground stiffened.
The comments overhead descended into chaos.
“Aaaah, don’t hit our heroine! She’s the prime minister’s daughter! She’s already suffered so much, and now that she’s finally back in the capital, she still has to be punished. It’s too cruel.”
“What is the second male lead waiting for? Save the heroine, or who will cure you later?”
Qinghe was about to answer when Shen Yanbai began coughing. He walked over slowly and bowed to me. “Your Highness, this maid of mine has only just entered the palace and does not understand its rules. Please let her off this once.”
I smiled. “I am a princess, not someone who lets horses loose. If everyone who entered the palace could run wild merely by claiming ignorance, would the palace not fall into chaos?”
I waved a hand. Two young eunuchs dragged the woman to her feet and toward the palace road.
Panic crossed her face. Biting her lip, she looked at Shen Yanbai, her eyes reddening.
“Why is this supporting girl stealing so much screen time?”
“The second male lead is useless. He can’t even protect the heroine. No wonder he never gets promoted to male lead.”
“Don’t worry. The male lead is about to appear, and the heroine will soon return to the prime minister’s household. I’m so excited!”
With desperate resolve in her eyes, Cheng Shu said to Shen Yanbai, “There is no need to save me, Young Master. I am the one who implicated you and earned the princess’s dislike. I deserve all of this.”
As her words fell, someone came strolling toward us from the distance.
A tall figure drew nearer.
The comments began cheering, celebrating the heroine and hero’s first meeting.
I looked over, froze slightly, and regarded him with a strange expression.
He was the male lead?
Before he even reached us, the newcomer sneered, “What imposing authority the Third Princess possesses, killing or beating anyone she pleases.”
Everyone’s eyes settled on him.
Light slowly blossomed in Cheng Shu’s gaze.
The man glanced at her and said, “I came into this palace perfectly innocent. Before I’d been here a few days or even met more than a handful of people, my marriage was decided for me. If I can’t be happy, no one else gets to be happy either.”
He yanked one of the eunuchs away.
Cheng Shu looked at him and murmured, “Young Master, there is no need to save me. It will only anger the Third Princess.”
His tone turned mocking. “The Third Princess…”
He turned toward me, then stopped. For a moment, his expression went blank.
I inclined my head. “Heir of Beiyang.”
Chi Song blinked, shifted his gaze away, then pulled the eunuch back and pressed the man’s hand onto Cheng Shu. “Hold on properly. The Third Princess gave you an order, so why aren’t you carrying it out?”
The comments streamed past:
“No, no, no. What kind of male lead is he? That’s the Third Princess’s beagle-brained fiancé.”