Jun Beiyue was actually coming back tonight? Hadn’t he said he’d be away for several days? How had he traveled back so fast?
None of that mattered, though—the real question was, what business could he possibly have here in the dead of night?
A flash of fear crossed Chu Feiyan’s face. Just as she was about to ask, Consort Yi abruptly wrenched free of her grip, hastily taking her leave. “Princess Imperial, look at yourself, always so impulsive. I need to avoid suspicion here—take care!”
With that, she and the Second Prince hurried toward the back door. Their fear of Jun Beiyue ran just as deep as their hatred for him—Consort Yi and the Second Prince had to tread carefully, knowing full well that this Nanzhao mission was their last chance.
Jun Beiyue had only condescended to escort Chu Feiyan on this marriage procession for the sake of the Lonely Isle’s secrets, and Chu Tiange too had only sent Chu Feiyan off in marriage to exploit those same secrets, giving Jun Beiyue this very opening!
Both sides harbored ulterior motives, each scheming their own agenda—who would ultimately come out ahead, even Consort Yi couldn’t say for certain.
Though badly flustered, Chu Feiyan’s fear was quickly overtaken by excitement and delight. Consort Yi had already said as much, and hadn’t Han Ziqing herself just obediently offered her tea and apologized? She refused to believe Jun Beiyue’s arrival could possibly go badly for her!
It had been so, so long since she’d last seen this man—nearly a year now, hadn’t it?
Not since the civil and martial examinations had she laid eyes on him.
Chu Feiyan clasped her hands tightly to her chest, growing anxious, looking around at the disarray of the room, momentarily at a loss for what to do.
“Princess, the prince will be here shortly—shall we say you’ve already retired for the night?” a maidservant murmured from outside the door.
But Chu Feiyan flung the door open at once, snapping furiously, “Retired, my foot! Get in here and help me get ready!”
Seeing the room in such chaos, the maidservant didn’t dare ask questions, hurrying in at once!
Chu Feiyan fumbled frantically through her clothes, but after rifling through two entire trunks of new garments, she couldn’t find a single outfit that satisfied her!
“Is this all there is? Just these two trunks?” she snapped irritably, busily checking herself in the mirror all the while—only then noticing the speckled scars still dotting her face. Furious, she abandoned the clothing search entirely, sitting down at once, applying layer after layer of powder, unable to cover the marks no matter how much she used!
“Come look at this—what am I supposed to do about my face! This!”
The maidservant, turning to look, was nearly frightened by the thick layer of white powder already caked on. “What should we do, Princess? Think of something quickly, or I won’t let you off the hook!”
“Princess, perhaps try applying another layer—we could go for heavier makeup.” It seemed like the only option left.
Chu Feiyan hesitated a moment before following through, and this time it finally managed to conceal the blemishes, satisfying her at last. She turned her attention back to choosing an outfit.
“Only the old clothes are left. But the princess is naturally beautiful, anything looks good on her—that riding outfit suits her best of all!” the maidservant flattered.
Chu Feiyan tuned out everything else, but flattery she believed without question. She immediately straightened before the mirror, turning this way and that, delighted. “Really?”
“This servant would never dare lie to the princess!” the maid nodded eagerly, again and again.
Chu Feiyan had only been asking rhetorically, not really listening to the answer at all, already happily holding various hair ornaments up to the mirror, matching them against her outfit.
“With this one, don’t I look pretty?”
“The princess is the most beautiful of all!”
“More beautiful than Han Ziqing?”
“Without question. Prince Yao should be arriving soon—let’s go out and meet him!”
…
Just as Chu Feiyan was about to leave, she glanced at her handkerchief and, deciding it wouldn’t do, swapped it out two or three times before finally being satisfied with every last detail of her appearance, then hurried toward the main hall, both excited and nervous.
Reaching the main hall, Jun Beiyue had not yet arrived. She sat down to the right of the seat of honor, only then realizing how thirsty she was—but fearing it might smudge her lip color, she didn’t dare drink any water.
After waiting quite a while, there was still no sound from outside the door. Chu Feiyan murmured under her breath, “Didn’t they say he was coming? Where is he?”
Just as she spoke, an announcement rang out from beyond the door: “Prince Yao has arrived… Princess Yao has arrived!”
Chu Feiyan trembled with nervousness she couldn’t suppress, immediately drawing in her stomach and straightening her posture, forcing a calm expression while her eyes remained fixed on the entrance.
This mixture of anticipation and anxiety, delight and fear, made her completely forget that Han Ziqing would be arriving with him too.
At last, she saw him.
That man—that man she hadn’t seen in so long—had finally arrived!
He still wore that mysterious, finely-tailored black tactical attire, and simply by standing there, he radiated an overwhelming, dominant masculine presence. His jade-like face was cold and stern, his features breathtakingly handsome—he was like a spirit of the night, a fallen angel from hell itself, exuding a lethally seductive aura from head to toe. The moment she laid eyes on him, she couldn’t bear to look away, not knowing when she might see him again, greedily wanting to drink in the sight of him for as long as possible!
But it wasn’t long before she noticed Jun Beiyue’s hand, wrapped tightly around Han Ziqing’s waist.
That snapped her back to her senses at once, her eyes immediately clouding with malice. She held herself back—she absolutely would not lose face in front of Beiyue, and certainly not in front of Han Ziqing either!
She’d made up her mind the moment she learned Jun Beiyue had agreed to escort her—she was determined to show him her most perfect, flawless self!
She immediately rose and bowed in greeting, smiling softly. “Feiyan greets Prince Yao. The prince must have just returned.”
Jun Beiyue nodded, about to walk past, but then turned back to glance at her once more.
Chu Feiyan secretly smiled to herself, thoroughly confident in her own beauty—not only had Jun Beiyue looked at her, but Ziqing had noticed too, seeing Chu Feiyan’s heavy makeup at this hour of the night and thinking to herself… how truly dreadful.
But the couple said nothing at all, Jun Beiyue simply guiding Ziqing forward with his arm around her, striding toward the seat of honor. Ziqing had no idea what was going on in Jun Beiyue’s mind—he hadn’t spoken a single word the entire way, walking unusually fast.
There was only one seat at the place of honor, and he’d brought her up there with him, so naturally she expected to stand attentively off to the side. But Jun Beiyue made no move to stop her from doing so, letting her stand behind him, slightly to one side.
Seeing this, Chu Feiyan immediately felt smug. Just as she’d thought—no matter how capable Han Ziqing was, no matter that she’d already won Jun Beiyue’s favor, what did it matter?
Her place wasn’t in Jun Beiyue’s arms—it was standing behind him!
In a setting like this, this was a moment for her, the noble princess, and Jun Beiyue—she didn’t even have a seat of her own!
“Prince Yao, I feared you might have to wait too long for me, so I came ahead of schedule, and came straight to visit the estate the moment I arrived…” Chu Feiyan began explaining. Ziqing’s forehead wound was so obvious—who knew what accusations might be made against her to Jun Beiyue—she naturally needed to clear her name first!
But before Chu Feiyan had even gotten halfway through her explanation, she noticed Jun Beiyue wasn’t listening to her at all, leaning lazily to one side, an amused expression on his face as he raised an eyebrow, looking toward Ziqing instead.
What… what did this mean?
Was he planning to question her about Han Ziqing’s account of things? Or was he signaling for Han Ziqing to speak up on her own?
Chu Feiyan had no idea what Jun Beiyue meant by this, but Ziqing understood perfectly well. She felt a bit helpless about it, but obediently walked over anyway, wrapping her arms around Jun Beiyue’s neck and settling onto his lap before letting go, nestling lazily into his embrace.
He! He had actually meant this!
Chu Feiyan’s previously buoyant mood immediately soured, her breath catching in her throat. She had never quite believed it, not even when Consort Yi had explained everything so clearly—the incident at the Court of Judicial Review, the truth about the National Beauty—she still hadn’t believed it!
How could Jun Beiyue possibly treat a woman so tenderly? How could he hold a woman in his arms and dote on her like this? Even she herself had never dared imagine such a thing—her greatest hope had only ever been that he might take her hand; she’d never once dared to dream of being held in that embrace!
She’d dressed herself so carefully, and all she’d earned was a single extra glance from him—while Han Ziqing had already settled herself right onto his lap!
“Does it hurt?” Jun Beiyue finally asked seriously, reaching out to touch the wound on Ziqing’s forehead, careful not to cause her more pain.
Imperial Physician Gu had already told him everything about Chu Feiyan’s rampage at the Prince Yao estate.
Chu Feiyan being Nanzhao’s princess consort meant nothing to him—even if she’d been the queen herself, if she’d wronged Ziqing, he wouldn’t have gone easy on her.