Chapter 2
Princess Leyi stormed into the room with a crowd behind her.
She had come to catch us “in the act.”
Her companions were the wives and daughters of the capital’s great households, all guests at today’s banquet.
She meant to leave my reputation in ruins.
Instead, she found only Zhai Jiulang, sitting at the bedside and tying his sash at his leisure.
“Where is she?”
Leyi glared, utterly unconcerned that so many people stood behind her.
“Surely Your Highness is joking. I was resting here. Why would anyone else be in the room?”
He lifted his long lashes and gave her a look that was almost a smile.
That single glance stopped her short.
This was Lord Yu, who had always been as cold and unresponsive as a block of wood.
She had spoiled him and tried to please him for so long, yet he never reciprocated.
Accustomed to getting her way, Leyi had never endured such treatment. In a rage, she had drugged him and thrown him here as “punishment.”
She wanted to see him furious, humiliated, and utterly helpless.
But the man before her was not reacting as she had imagined.
The ladies watching from the door stood dumbfounded.
Although Zhai Jiulang had covered every inch of himself, when had these women, bound by strict rules all their lives, ever seen such a handsome man sitting on a bed dressing himself?
Suggestive images crowded their minds.
They blushed. The mothers hurriedly covered their daughters’ eyes and withdrew in indignation.
“Disgraceful! Shameless!”
Whether they meant Leyi or Zhai Jiulang was anyone’s guess.
He smiled bitterly and tilted his head toward Leyi.
“Your Highness, may I finish dressing?”
He had so bewildered her that she had forgotten about trapping me.
She waved a hand, and servants dispersed the onlookers.
Sitting beside him, she took his hand.
“My Lord Yu, do you resent me?”
Disgust flickered between his brows. He gently pushed her hand away.
“I thought Your Highness cared for me differently, so I took a few liberties. I never imagined you could be so heartless.”
He turned away like a sulking lover.
Delighted by this new side of him, Leyi smiled and coaxed him without pause.
Had her residence not been full of guests for the banquet, she might have spent some time in his embrace.
When she finally left, his expression chilled at once.
“Have you seen enough? This was your brilliant idea?”
The book cabinet was so cramped that I had to stand on tiptoe, holding my breath.
That was why Leyi had suspected nothing.
The moment he opened its door, I tumbled out.
Straight into his arms.
We both blushed at the memory of what had happened behind the curtains.
“To think a minister’s daughter could be so unrestrained.”
There was disdain on his face.
I chuckled.
“I’m Minister Li’s adopted daughter, not his own. I grew up in the countryside. We don’t have so many rules there.”
He sneered.
“The countryside? Then how do you know who I am? Liar.”
My lips curved.
“Anyone who comes to the capital seeking wealth and rank needs a few resources. Otherwise, why would the princess consider me a threat?”
“At least you’re honest about that. What exactly do you know?”
Looking at the dispirited man before me, I could scarcely reconcile him with the brilliant young scion of the Zhai family I remembered.
His had been one of Jiangbei’s great aristocratic clans. Many of its sons had once held office in the capital.
Then the sovereign’s wrath had destroyed it overnight.
A family established for a century had been torn out by its roots. Its sons were killed or exiled.
Zhai Jiulang had still been a boy then.
And I had been a young girl who knew little of the world.
My elder sister had nearly been betrothed to one of his cousins.
When I accompanied Mother and my sister to Jiangbei to meet the prospective groom, I had seen him riding a spirited horse in splendid clothes, dazzling and full of life.
Who could have imagined he would fall so low, becoming a toy for the powerful?
“Who hadn’t heard of the Zhai family of Jiangbei in those days?”
I spoke softly.