Half an hour ago, after catching a fleeting glimpse of Wen Tingyue’s figure, Nanzhi’s emotions had churned violently like crashing waves. Yet, with the Crown Prince sitting right beside her, she didn’t dare reveal the slightest hint of abnormality.
Suppressing the complex turmoil in her heart with all her might, Nanzhi released her pale grip on the window frame. With a calm gaze, she pulled her head back inside and settled into her seat, looking as though absolutely nothing had happened, save for the lingering redness at the rims of her eyes.
Shen Huaixu set down the book in his hand, pulled her into his embrace, and enveloped her icy hands in his. Wearing an expression of utter nonchalance, he asked as if merely passing a casual remark:
“What was Zhizhi looking at just now? Why are your eyes red?”
Trapped tightly against his chest, completely immobilized, Nanzhi kept her head bowed and replied:
“Your Highness, this subject’s daughter was feeling a bit carsick, so I looked out the window to catch some of the breeze. Perhaps the wind blew some sand into my eyes, making them uncomfortable, so I rubbed them a few times.”
The Crown Prince’s hearing was undoubtedly far sharper than hers. He had clearly heard her mother’s voice calling out and knew exactly why her eyes had turned red, yet he deliberately chose to interrogate her like this.
However, since the Crown Prince was feigning ignorance, she sensibly played along and avoided bringing it up.
“Oh? Is that so?”
Shen Huaixu’s eyes narrowed slightly, a dangerous, inscrutable glint in his gaze that made it impossible to look at him directly. Kneading Nanzhi’s freezing hands as though casually playing with a toy, he asked again:
“Why are your hands so cold?”
“Your Highness, this subject’s daughter just had her hands resting by the carriage window in the wind.”
Nanzhi’s voice was light and gentle, washing over the listener like a warm spring breeze, making it incredibly difficult to doubt her words.
A faint ripple flickered within the profound depths of Shen Huaixu’s eyes. Wrapping his warm palm entirely around Nanzhi’s soft, petite hands, he let out a low chuckle:
“Gu will warm them for you.”
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
Yet, just as Nanzhi was about to let her guard down a fraction, Shen Huaixu’s tone took a sudden turn. Draping his left arm lazily around her slender waist, he spoke in a low, drawn-out voice:
“Gu didn’t allow you to bid your mother farewell. Is Zhizhi blaming Gu for being heartless?”
His warm breath brushed against the sensitive skin of Nanzhi’s neck. Her cool, pristine face instantly stiffened, and her bright, moon-like pupils contracted sharply. The heart she had just managed to soothe clamped tight in her chest, and her breathing stalled for a heavy second.
The hand trapped within Shen Huaixu’s grip seemed entirely immune to his warmth, plunging a few degrees colder instead.
“Your Highness’s itinerary takes precedence.”
Keeping her head lowered, Nanzhi’s lips quirked into a hidden, self-deprecating sneer.
Truthfully, she desperately wanted to speak her mind, but she simply didn’t dare. She was utterly terrified of the Crown Prince sitting beside her.
Was he not the very definition of a heartless, cold-blooded beast?
With the Crown Prince’s exalted status, who would dare incite his displeasure?
Hearing her response, Shen Huaixu gave the soft flesh of her waist a light pinch:
“Zhizhi is indeed blaming Gu.”
A faint, teasing tickle spread from her waist. Paralyzed by fear in the Crown Prince’s embrace, Nanzhi didn’t dare squirm, terrified that if she upset him, he would find some new way to torment her. She could only reply in a stifled voice:
“Your Highness, this subject’s daughter would not dare.”
Shen Huaixu withdrew the hand resting on her waist, merely to press his long, slender middle finger directly beneath her chin. With just a fraction of upward pressure, he tipped Nanzhi’s face up, forcing her to look him directly in the eyes.
“Zhizhi, look at Gu when you speak. Gu likes hearing the truth.”
Shen Huaixu’s deep, velvet voice curled seductively around Nanzhi’s ear, yet to Nanzhi, the suffocating wave of oppression radiating from the Crown Prince crashed into her, heavy enough to steal her breath.
Forced to crane her neck, her gaze plunged straight into the fathomless, ink-black abyss of his eyes, making her heart skip a frantic beat in terror.
Nanzhi remained silent for a long moment. A sheen of moisture gathered in her clear, pure eyes. Staring straight back at him with red-rimmed eyes, she spoke in a faint, detached tone:
“Your Highness, what would you have this subject’s daughter say?”
“What if this subject’s daughter does speak the truth? Will you turn the carriage around and let me see my mother one last time?”
The misty haze in Nanzhi’s eyes swelled into a thick veil of unshed tears. Turning her face away, a thread of stubbornness laced through her soft, yielding voice:
“No, you wouldn’t.”
“You know the answer as clear as day, Your Highness, so why bother asking this subject?”
A hot, crystal teardrop slipped silently from Nanzhi’s eye, landing directly on the back of Shen Huaixu’s hand.
Sensing the sudden warmth against his skin, Shen Huaixu tipped her face back up. Seeing her tear-stained, weeping visage, a look of simulated astonishment crossed his features as he spoke with feigned heartache: “So it turns out to be Gu’s fault after all.”
“Seeing Zhizhi look so heartbroken pains Gu. If you miss your mother, Gu will simply send someone to bring her to the capital to reunite with you later on.”
His tone softened, and a charming smile curved across his refined, noble face. Though it looked like an attempt to soothe her, his eyes remained entirely flat, without a single ripple of genuine emotion.
She didn’t believe him for a second. The Crown Prince was nothing but a fraud.
Gazing straight into his eyes, Nanzhi’s long eyelashes fluttered slightly. The Crown Prince was merely throwing out empty words to placate her; she naturally couldn’t take them seriously.
While his lips spoke of heartache, his deep, fathomless eyes remained dead calm, not even a single splash of water stirring beneath the surface. She knew when to stop while she was ahead.
Blinking away her tears, Nanzhi allowed a look of radiant surprise to break across her face, beaming with sudden joy: “Thank you, Your Highness! You mustn’t tease this subject with false promises, though.”
When Nanzhi smiled, it was as if a hundred flowers bloomed all at once, dazzling enough to steal anyone’s breath away. Gently stroking her smooth, delicate cheek, Shen Huaixu let out a low chuckle from deep within his handsome throat: “Rest assured, Gu naturally takes your matters to heart. Gu will not break his word.”
Any other woman would have been moved to absolute tears by such a gesture, desperate to melt right into the Crown Prince’s embrace. Yet, while Nanzhi wore a tender, sweet smile on the outside, she was sneering coldly in her heart.
“In the future, Zhizhi need not restrain yourself in front of Gu. Gu likes seeing you smile.”
Shen Huaixu’s crisp, cool voice brushed past her, inviting one to let down their guard.
Yet Nanzhi dared not lower her guard for even a second. Feigning a blush of shyness, she lowered her head and gave a soft nod: “Mm.”
Just when Nanzhi thought the interrogation had finally come to an end, the Crown Prince’s tone abruptly shifted once more. A flash of light played across his breathtakingly regal face, his dark, thick brows arching upward as he asked with casual nonchalance: “What was Zhizhi looking at just now?”
Nanzhi’s breathing stalled for a fraction of a second before she smoothly replied: “Your Highness, as you heard yourself, Mother called out to me just then. I couldn’t bear to part from her, so I couldn’t help turning back to look a few more times.”
Her voice remained entirely steady and her expression tranquil, though a thin film of sweat had broken out across her palms.
Surely the Crown Prince hadn’t noticed that she had been looking at Wen Tingyue?
Staring down at her pale, flawless profile and the slender, graceful curve of her neck, Shen Huaixu’s cool gaze darkened. Instead of pressing further, he reached out, pinched Nanzhi’s flushed cheek, and before she could even react, captured her soft, pale lips in a kiss.
Never in her wildest dreams had Nanzhi expected the Crown Prince to make such a sudden move. Stunned into a daze, her long, feather-like eyelashes swept lightly across Shen Huaixu’s face.
Instinctively, she tried to push him away. Subconsciously, she harbored a deep resistance toward him, but Shen Huaixu pulled her tightly into his arms, his warm lips brushing and nibbling back and forth across her tender lower lip.
The elegant, subtle scent of sandalwood unique to the Crown Prince wrapped completely around her senses.
Perhaps sensing her distraction, the kiss—which had started out gentle like water—instantly escalated into something fierce and blazing like wildfire. Slipping past her lips, Shen Huaixu captured her tongue, entangling it in a wild, tempestuous storm within her mouth.
In an instant, the ambient temperature inside the carriage seemed to spike, thick with a heavy, intoxicating haze of intimacy.
Nanzhi was kissed so fiercely that she nearly lost her breath. Her white-and-pink skin flushed even deeper under the assault, glowing as brilliantly as peach blossoms in the third month of spring.
She couldn’t help mentally cursing him in the safety of her mind: Does the Crown Prince belong to the dog family or something?! Why does he resort to kissing her over every little thing?!