Tian Yuan’s reaction somewhat surprised Shen Xihe, but in an instant, she gave a slight smile, her gaze shifting back to Xiao Huayong: “Your Highness is truly difficult to fathom.”

“Princess…” Xiao Huayong called out in an exceptionally gentle and soft voice, his kind black eyes suffused with the gentle radiance of moonlight, “Do you truly wish to fathom me completely?”

Shen Xihe’s gaze remained indifferent as she stared at him steadily, maintaining her silence.

Above them, the plane tree’s long branches bore golden leaves, adorning the twigs like butterflies ready to take flight in the breeze.

The courtyard was completely silent. After their eyes met for a moment, Xiao Huayong spoke: “In this world, except for newborn infants, everyone has more than one face. I do, and so does the Princess.”

“You’re wrong,” Shen Xihe said quietly. “I have only one face, regardless of whom I face.”

“Really?”

“Yes.” Shen Xihe’s tone was definitive. “I may conceal things, but I never disguise myself to achieve my goals. Shen Xihe disdains disguise. What I want, I shall pursue openly and clearly.”

“Openly and clearly…” Xiao Huayong carefully savored these words, then suddenly smiled. “Princess, if I had been open and clear, I wouldn’t have survived until today. I admire and envy your candor, but I can only admire and envy it.”

“Your Highness isn’t coughing anymore?” Shen Xihe asked with an ambiguous smile.

Xiao Huayong’s lips curved slightly as he picked up a cup of tea and took a small sip: “Princess, my health is truly poor.”

“I believe you.” Shen Xihe nodded, then resolutely stared at Xiao Huayong without any change in expression.

“Why do you look at me this way, Princess?”

“I want to know what kind of person Your Highness truly is.”

“What kind of person?” Xiao Huayong seemed to ask himself softly. “I too don’t know what kind of person I am, but since the Princess asks, I can only say I’m neither as complex as you imagine, nor as simple as you see.”

As he spoke, he leaned slightly forward across the stone table, reducing the distance between himself and Shen Xihe: “If the Princess wishes to know, why not spend days and nights together, and see clearly for yourself?”

He drew so close that when Shen Xihe lowered her gaze, she could see the tiny black mole at the corner of his eye, seemingly flowing with charm. His voice was so gentle, gentle enough to be enchanting, capable of easily stirring one’s heartstrings.

However, the one sitting opposite him was Shen Xihe. Not only did she not show any sign of avoidance or evasion, but she also lowered her gaze slightly to meet his eyes, her calm pupils indicating her complete indifference.

After a while, Shen Xihe finally spoke: “Your Highness, I dislike allying with the strong; I prefer to make them my enemies.”

Xiao Huayong had thought he had figured out Shen Xihe, but at this moment, he couldn’t quite understand: “Why?”

“When allied with the strong, once we turn against each other, they become lethal enemies. No matter how strong an enemy is, if we’ve never allied, know nothing of each other, even in defeat, we won’t face destruction,” Shen Xihe explained slowly.

“But hasn’t the Princess already allied with that person?”

“No, we merely reached a current agreement of mutual non-aggression,” Shen Xihe corrected. “If Your Highness is willing, we could do the same.”

Xiao Huayong glanced at Shen Xihe, then lowered his head with a smile: “I don’t want to ally with the Princess; I want to join hands with you.”

“You have feelings for me?” Shen Xihe asked without changing expression.

“My desire to marry is genuine, my wish to join hands is sincere,” Xiao Huayong answered. “Most importantly, the Princess is the best choice for me, and I am the best choice for the Princess.”

Shen Xihe acknowledged this statement: “Your Highness speaks truly. For me, Your Highness is indeed the best choice at present.”

“If that’s the case, why does the Princess need to test, we could…”

“Your Highness,” Shen Xihe interrupted him, slowly standing up. “Being the best now doesn’t mean being the best forever.”

Leaving Xiao Huayong with a meaningful smile, Shen Xihe gracefully bowed and departed unhurriedly with Biyu and Hongyu.

She wore a thin primrose-colored cape, her slender figure gradually disappearing behind the falling plane tree leaves.

Only after she had vanished did Xiao Huayong laugh.

“Your Highness, did the Princess… believe you or not?” Tian Yuan couldn’t read Shen Xihe’s thoughts at all.

“She only had five parts suspicion of me, to begin with,” Xiao Huayong sighed lightly. “I was careless.”

Shen Xihe’s acuity exceeded his expectations. He shouldn’t have let her know it was he who exposed the An Xi matter.

Unexpectedly, Shen Xihe used the timing of his knowledge to calculate the whole situation and suspect that he was the person she was guarding against.

“Only five parts?” Tian Yuan found it unreliable.

Could it be that His Highness was again beautifying his position in the Princess’s heart? To him, it seemed the Princess was quite certain of His Highness’s identity.

“Five parts suspicion, five parts testing,” Xiao Huayong tilted his head back slightly, his eyes, now stripped of pretense, gathering a silvery light. “She suspects I might be him. If I weren’t, after telling me this, how could I tolerate such a person’s existence? Wouldn’t I take action, thus helping her find the person who’s like a thorn in her throat?”

Tian Yuan couldn’t help but purse his lips, quite curious about how His Highness would go about finding himself.

Xiao Huayong’s eyes shifted, glancing sideways at Tian Yuan: “Don’t act rashly.”

“???” Tian Yuan had thought His Highness would create a false trail to confuse the Princess and clear suspicion.

“Her thoughts run deep,” Xiao Huayong turned his gaze back to admire the golden leaves floating down. “Even if I truly weren’t this person, if I were to search, I would have to expose many of my forces, which would perfectly serve her intention to probe my depths.”

She had three purposes in coming: first, to test if he was the person she suspected; second, to let him know of the existence of someone threatening his claim to the throne; and third, to wait for him to take action against this person.

“!!!” Tian Yuan was startled – besides his master, the Princess was the second person whose depths of scheming frightened him.

“Let the suspicion remain suspicion,” A soft leaf fell on his snow-white cape, and Xiao Huayong picked it up, pinching the stem between his fingers and gently twirling it until the leaf spun like a blooming flower. “Better than letting suspicion turn into vigilance.”

He no longer wanted to deceive her. Rather than expending effort to dispel her suspicions, he’d rather contemplate how to transform her current best choice into her permanent best choice.

As long as he remained her only choice, nothing else mattered. When they could spend their days together and their identities changed, even if she truly had a heart of iron and stone, he had plenty of ways to warm and soften her heart!

Thinking thus, Xiao Huayong twirled the plane tree leaf in his hand as he slowly walked to the high platform. His dark eyes, obscure and unfathomable, turned toward the easternmost edge, his voice scattering in the wind: “What is best now shall be best forever.”

Tian Yuan followed this direction and precisely spotted a royal residence.

Knowing that their master was about to nip any possibilities in the bud, Tian Yuan silently recited a prayer for the other princes.