“Ningning, Yanyu-gege, I’m done eating. Take your time.” Yan Shiyao set down her chopsticks and rose to leave.

Yan Yunning swallowed. 【Fafa, what do I do? How could she leave me here alone to face the deranged Crown Prince?】

Fafa: 【Master, you’re not exactly alone — aren’t there still maidservants around you?】

Yan Yunning chewed the food in her mouth in small, careful bites, trying not to make a sound.

“Are you afraid of me?” Xuan Yanyu suddenly spoke, his slender fingers curling around a cup of wine and swirling it gently.

Yan Yunning met his deep, penetrating gaze and smiled pleasantly. “Not at all.”

【I’m the mistress of this house. He’s only a guest. Look at him — does he have any idea how a guest is supposed to act?!】

Fafa: 【…… Master, who told you to have a noble and distinguished second male lead, while you’re merely cannon fodder? You don’t even qualify as a supporting female character in this novel.】

Yan Yunning: 【……】

Why couldn’t she have transmigrated into the female lead instead?

“Second Young Miss, your hands are trembling.” Xuan Yanyu’s lips curved slightly, a flash of amusement flickering through his eyes.

“Low blood sugar — is that not allowed?” Yan Yunning muttered under her breath, quietly setting down her chopsticks and soundlessly tucking her hands into her sleeves.

Could she not tremble?

Knowing her fate — facing the very person who had killed her — how could she not be afraid?

“Low blood sugar?” Xuan Yanyu raised an eyebrow, his tone carrying a touch of casual indifference as he repeated the phrase.

He lifted his wine cup and took a light sip, without even raising his eyelids. “Then the Second Young Miss should eat more.”

Yan Yunning tapped her fingers together. 【Fafa, he actually knows what ‘low blood sugar’ means?】

Fafa: 【Master, have you forgotten? This novel’s author borrowed a great many modern elements.】

Yan Yunning: 【……】

“Second Young Miss, please enjoy the meal at your leisure.” Xuan Yanyu wore a precisely measured smile at the corner of his lips as he rose gracefully to his feet and strolled unhurriedly toward the door.

Yan Yunning raised an eyebrow, picked up her chopsticks, and began eating again. 【Fafa, they all ate so little — aren’t they hungry?】

Hardly anything on the table had been touched.

Fafa: 【……】

After the meal, Yan Yunning took some time to dress herself up before heading out of the estate with Qiuci.

Walking along the bustling main street, Yan Yunning couldn’t help but marvel. On both sides of the road were street vendors everywhere, and quite a few men and women strolled arm in arm.

It didn’t feel like ancient times at all — it was more like stepping into a lively modern evening market.

【Fafa, where’s the male lead?】 Yan Yunning walked up to a stall covered in fragrant sachets.

The stall owner, seeing a customer approach, immediately lit up with a wide smile and greeted her warmly. “Young Miss, which one has caught your eye? All of our sachets here are the finest quality.”

Yan Yunning let her gaze travel slowly across the stall, then picked up a light green sachet embroidered with a floral pattern. Her fingertips traced the needlework — delicate stitches, soft and elegant in color.

“This one. Qiuci, pay for it.”

Qiuci took out some broken silver from the coin pouch and handed it to the stall owner.

The owner accepted the silver with a grin and struck up a conversation. “Young Miss, is it a gift for a beloved man?”

Yan Yunning laughed awkwardly, neither confirming nor denying.

The stall owner took her for shyness and said cheerfully, “Wishing the young miss good luck.”

Yan Yunning replied softly, “Thank you.”

“Second Young Miss, do you have someone you fancy?” Qiuci blinked, her voice brimming with excitement.

Yan Yunning tilted her head to one side, reached out, and pinched Qiuci’s cheek. “Yes. Qiuci, remember this — your young miss is very fond of the Third Imperial Prince. Extremely fond.”

As she said so, she clasped both hands together beneath her chin, a sweet smile spreading across her delicate face, her expression dreamy and blissful.

While the male and female leads hadn’t yet fallen in love, she would make her move first. Surely an elder sister wouldn’t stoop to competing with her own younger sister, would she?

Fafa: 【Master, this path might not work. The male lead is destined for the female lead. Besides, in ancient times, a man having multiple wives and concubines was perfectly normal.】

The smile on Yan Yunning’s face froze. 【Shut up. Don’t dampen my spirits!】

Fafa: 【Master, listen to me — enjoy yourself while you can. Stop scheming at pointless things. Maybe once we’re done in, we can transmigrate back.】

【What if I can’t transmigrate back? What do I do if I really get killed here?】

Fafa: 【Then what can be done? If you’re really done in, then you’re done in.】

【Get lost!】 Yan Yunning rolled her eyes.

Fafa: 【Master, you’d be better off thinking of a way to make Xuan Yanyu fall for you. Though he probably won’t — in the novel, he only cares about the female lead.】

【Get lost!!】 Yan Yunning squeezed the sachet in her hand in frustration.

This wouldn’t work, that wouldn’t work either — was she just supposed to sit and wait?

She refused to believe she couldn’t win the male lead over!

Fafa: 【Master, trust in the power of the plot. The male and female leads are meant to end up together after all their twists and turns.】

【Shut up, shut up. I need encouragement — stop deflating me.】 Yan Yunning’s cheeks puffed out.

Fafa: 【Very well, Master. You will definitely succeed. Though, Master, after Xuan Yanyu has you killed in the novel—】

Fafa: 【The author wrote that after Xuan Yanyu and Yan Shiyao’s wedding, she immediately filed to end the story. She added an epilogue in passing — the male lead Qi Qingchen and the female lead Yan Shiyao worked from within and without,】

Fafa: 【and it took nearly ten years before the Xuanzhao Kingdom finally collapsed and the two of them got together. What happened over those ten years was never explained.】

Yan Yunning: 【…… Ten years?? The male and female lead are actually weaker than the second male lead?? So I’m just the poor unfortunate soul? The entire Prime Minister’s estate and only I got killed???】

Fafa: 【Yes, you really are the unfortunate soul. With your example in place, Yan Shiyao didn’t dare refuse him. Master, no matter what happens in between, the male and female leads will ultimately get together. Stealing the male lead won’t do you any good.】

Yan Yunning: 【…… How do you know it won’t work without trying? During those ten years — did Xuan Yanyu never manage to make my elder sister fall in love with him???】

Fafa: 【It’s rather strange. The author never explained it clearly. Xuan Yanyu only ever wanted to make Yan Shiyao his Crown Princess — and after marrying her, he paid her no attention whatsoever. You’d say he doesn’t love her, yet he insisted on marrying her. You’d say he loves her, yet after bringing her home, he completely ignored her.】

Yan Yunning: 【…… Win her over and then lose interest! He’s insufferable!!】

Fafa: 【Not exactly either. Even after ten years, it was the female lead’s first time.】

Yan Yunning: 【???】

“Third Imperial Prince? Second Young Miss, you have feelings for the Third Imperial Prince?” Qiuci asked in mild surprise.

Yan Yunning raised an elegant eyebrow. “What of it?”

Qiuci rose up on her tiptoes and leaned close to Yan Yunning, lowering her voice to the faintest whisper. “The Third Imperial Prince is the intended match Lady has arranged for the First Young Miss.”

Yan Yunning’s mouth twitched. “?”

“Second Young Miss, you’ve lived away from the Prime Minister’s estate for so many years — you wouldn’t know. Everything in this household, top to bottom, must revolve around the First Young Miss. You’d be better off setting your sights on someone else.” Qiuci chose her words carefully.

Yan Yunning lightly wound a strand of hair hanging at her collarbone around her fingertip, her tone indifferent. “Change? I won’t be changing.”

Qiuci pressed her lips together and continued to urge. “Second Young Miss, Lady will be displeased.”

Yan Yunning smiled, draping her arm over Qiuci’s shoulder with a completely unconcerned air. “Let her be displeased, then.”

What mattered more — her displeasure or Yan Yunning’s own life?

Fafa: 【Master, the male lead is just ahead — Qi Qingchen.】

Yan Yunning lifted her gaze and saw a man dressed in white, standing leisurely beside the thick trunk of a tree, a faint smile resting on his handsome, refined face.

Unlike Xuan Yanyu, he exuded an air of cultured elegance through his entire bearing.

His robe rippled gently with the breeze, making him look like the distant, untouchable glow of a cold white moon.

Yan Yunning raised her brow with a smile. He looked quite easy to charm.

Her eyes flickered. Yan Yunning turned around and began walking backward. She chatted with Qiuci while gauging her distance, retreating in the direction of Qi Qingchen.

Until she backed into a solid, firm figure. She hooked the corner of her mouth and said in a voice sweet as honey, “I’m sorry, good sir.”

She turned around, her arm grabbing hold of his, and deliberately let herself stumble — her slender frame leaning naturally into his arms as she said in a soft, tender voice, “Good sir, I’m truly sorry, I…”

“Second Young Miss.” The man’s voice carried threads of warm, suggestive tone.

Yan Yunning recognized the familiar voice. Her body stiffened all at once, and she retreated several steps in a fluster. “Why is it you?!”

Xuan Yanyu’s eyes held a teasing glint, his lips curved in a bold, uninhibited smile. “From what the Second Young Miss seems to be implying — did you fling yourself into the wrong person’s arms?”

Yan Yunning’s face was written all over with shock, but she forced herself to stay calm. “No, it’s just… a bit of a surprise to run into you here. Where is my elder sister?”

Xuan Yanyu glanced at her, then turned and stepped into a fabric shop.

“Second Young Miss, you gave me such a fright — what was that just now?” Qiuci pressed a hand to her chest.

Her young miss had nerves of steel. How could she simply throw herself into a man’s arms like that?

Yan Yunning covered her face. 【Fafa, where did my handsome, clear-featured, absolutely gorgeous male lead go?】

Fafa: 【He went to the teahouse.】

Yan Yunning: 【……】