The room fell silent. The moment Jun Beiyue stepped inside, his gaze went straight to the spot on Ziqing’s midsection where the dart had been hidden.

Ziqing, long accustomed to silence, never spoke first. He didn’t sit, didn’t speak—so she remained standing too, head lowered, quiet as ever, looking, as always in such moments, exactly like a child who’d done something wrong.

A flicker of unmistakable fondness crossed Jun Beiyue’s eyes as he said flatly, “Not going to invite me to sit?”

He hadn’t even noticed himself that “this king” had, somewhere along the way, quietly become simply “I.”

“Your Highness, please, sit,” Ziqing said flatly, taking a seat herself first. Jun Beiyue watched with evident interest—it seemed his mood was rather good, having the chance to be alone with this woman—and, without bothering to comment further, sat down across from her.

Ziqing figured he must have come about the assassination attempt.

Sure enough, the moment he spoke, he asked, “That thing was yours?”

“Yes,” Ziqing answered honestly.

“Why?” Jun Beiyue asked, raising an eyebrow.

Why, indeed?

Had she not thrown that dart, Situ Xin’er would likely have already fainted straight into Jun Beiyao’s arms. It had been Jun Beiyao who’d struck first, after all—just not quite as fast as she was.

“I don’t like her,” Ziqing answered with complete honesty—she genuinely did dislike that girl.

“So you took the opportunity to try to kill her? You dislike Seventh Brother, so you took the opportunity to frame him too?” Jun Beiyue countered. He’d genuinely seen through Jun Beiyao’s little scheme at a glance, but had he arrived even a moment later, this woman could have gotten away completely clean!

He’d always had a vague, nagging sense that something lay between her and Seventh Brother, though he could never quite pin it down through probing.

These two shouldn’t have had any dealings with each other at all, should they?

“Yes,” Ziqing admitted without any hesitation whatsoever—that had, in fact, been exactly her intention.

“What exactly is going on between you and Jun Beiyao!” Jun Beiyue asked coldly.

“I’ve already told you—I simply don’t like that person,” Ziqing said, then rose to her feet on her own, seeing him out without any pretense of courtesy. “Your Highness, if there’s nothing else, kindly settle my payment for this mission before you go.”

Jun Beiyue’s eyes turned cold at once—couldn’t this woman ever just have one proper, pleasant conversation with him?

“And what about Xin’er?” Jun Beiyue asked again.

Xin’er?

This cold, distant man—had he ever addressed any woman by such an intimate name before?

He had called her Qing’er once, but only ever in front of others; alone, he always addressed her formally, full name and all—Han Ziqing.

“Your Highness, my sincere apologies—I don’t know what her standing is. Please do let me know, and if she ever provokes me again in the future, I’ll be sure to give her a wide berth,” Ziqing said earnestly.

Jun Beiyue was faintly taken aback—this woman had seen through his true purpose here at a single glance.

He’d come tonight for exactly two matters. The first was to discuss the matter of Situ Xin’er with her.

“She’s the young lady of the Situ Family, a close friend of mine. I don’t want the two of you carrying any grudge going forward. She simply doesn’t know better—if she offends you in the future, please, for my sake, don’t take it too seriously,” Jun Beiyue said flatly. He knew perfectly well, of course, that had Situ Xin’er not provoked her first, this woman would never have bothered with her at all.

She was such a distant, reserved person.

“Your Highness, don’t worry—there likely won’t be much occasion for our paths to cross going forward anyway. I only carry out my assignments; outside of that, you rarely see me at all, let alone her. These past two incidents were simply accidents,” Ziqing said flatly.

Ever since Situ Xin’er had entered the picture, she’d witnessed this man experience quite a number of firsts.

And now, here he was, coming to plead on behalf of a woman for the very first time, asking her to yield some ground for his sake, wasn’t he?

He’d genuinely intended to discuss this reasonably, but hearing this, Jun Beiyue felt an inexplicable tightness in his chest, and, unable to hold it back, snapped irritably, “Must you be like this? No one’s asking you to avoid her!”

Ziqing gave an inward, cold laugh—no, he wasn’t asking her to avoid Situ Xin’er, was he? He was asking her to yield, to tolerate her!

What exactly did it mean to “get along well”? Did one side simply giving in while the other stood firm count as getting along?

Someone who had absolutely nothing to do with her—why should she be the one expected to get along nicely with her? Couldn’t she manage to avoid trouble even if she wasn’t willing to provoke it herself?

“Your Highness, I’ve already said there won’t likely be much overlap between us going forward. Please, don’t worry about it,” Ziqing said, still flat and unmoved.

“Han Ziqing, don’t you forget you’re still this king’s princess consort!”

At last, Jun Beiyue’s temper snapped entirely. Of everyone in the world, only this one stubborn woman could ever provoke him to genuine anger so easily.

And yet, this woman, precisely when he was losing his temper, remained utterly unmoved, raising an eyebrow to shoot back, “Your Highness, is Situ Xin’er perhaps to become your secondary consort, then? Is that why I need to prepare myself to be so accommodating, to get along so well with her going forward?”

The moment these words left her mouth, Jun Beiyue’s brow furrowed sharply. “Do you even know who she is!”

“No, I don’t—so please, do enlighten me!” Ziqing shot back, her own temper flaring despite herself.

Who was Situ Xin’er? What did that have to do with her at all?

Jun Beiyue very nearly blurted out the matter of the Nanzhao charm-scent affair, but held himself back at the last moment, saying coldly instead, “Just answer me one thing—are you still holding a grudge against her?”

“Yes!” Ziqing answered without hesitation at last!

Did crying really work that well?

Just how hard had Situ Xin’er cried, to bring this man here in the middle of the night to plead on her behalf, to try to get her to agree, to promise to get along well going forward, to be more tolerant of her!

Why didn’t he go teach that irritating girl a proper lesson instead, so she’d learn not to be so arrogant, so recklessly confident in the future!

Jun Beiyue’s fist clenched so tight it creaked audibly, his cold gaze fixed on Ziqing, saying nothing for a long moment.

Ziqing, however, took a step back, bowing respectfully. “Prince Yao, I don’t know, and I don’t wish to know, just how important Miss Situ is to you. Ziqing has only this to say: if I can’t afford to provoke someone, I’ll avoid them. But ‘unable to avoid them’ is a phrase that has never once existed in Ziqing’s vocabulary.”

Being expected to actively seek out Situ Xin’er’s company, or even to curry favor with her—that, she simply could not do.

Jun Beiyue’s eyes turned coldly forbidding, and yet Ziqing continued regardless, “Your Highness, if there’s nothing else, please settle my payment before you go.”

No one could say just how much fury Jun Beiyue had been suppressing—the words came out almost forced through gritted teeth, one by one. “Han Ziqing, you’ll avoid her? Let me tell you something—starting now, until we return from the mission to Nanzhao, Situ Xin’er will not leave this king’s side for even a single day. How exactly do you intend to avoid her then?”

Ziqing’s heart clenched tight at once, tight enough that breathing itself grew difficult. She couldn’t even understand how things had come to this—for a moment she couldn’t even find the words to speak, only feeling an ache, a deep, terrible ache in her chest.

And yet, stubbornly, she still forced herself to speak. “Your Highness, Ziqing understands. Ziqing can’t promise you anything more than this—Ziqing will try her best to avoid her, and if that proves impossible, Ziqing will simply give way. Is that acceptable?”

In that hazy moment, Jun Beiyue thought he glimpsed a flicker of something like disappointment in Ziqing’s eyes, and felt an inexplicable urge to pull her into his arms, to promise her something, anything.

But he had no reason to do such a thing!

Situ Xin’er couldn’t afford to be offended further—not at this particular juncture, at least. Couldn’t things between them simply be handled properly, without all this friction?

Wasn’t the favoritism he’d already shown her, the leniency he’d already extended, enough?

There seemed to be a thousand things left unsaid, and yet he found he had no wish to say any of them. Jun Beiyue lowered his head and turned to leave in silence.

Hongyi, who had heard every word from outside the tent, rushed in the moment Jun Beiyue left. “My lady, are you out of your mind? Why would you go out of your way to avoid Situ Xin’er! We’re not afraid of her!”

“Hongyi, I’m not avoiding her. I just want… I just want to avoid Jun Beiyue,” Ziqing said flatly.

Hongyi froze. “My lady, you… what’s going on between you and my lord? What exactly are you planning to do?”