This scene of brotherly affection was warm and heartwarming. Envy filled Lianxiang’s clear eyes. Although the Prince was not the Little Prince’s father, he still loved and cared for him as if he were his own child.
Just by looking at how the Prince treated the little prince, anyone could tell that he would be a good father in the future.
Without realizing it, she thought of her late husband. How wonderful it would be if he were still alive.
Then she would not have had to leave her child when he was only a little over a year old and come to the Prince’s Manor to work as a wet nurse.
Perhaps the scene before her was too warm and touching. As a mother, Lianxiang could not help staring at it.
The Little Prince, small and cuddly, was nestled against the Prince’s chest.
It was like a playful little lion cub climbing all over a big lion. The big lion was patient, tolerant, and protective.
The sight drew her in completely.
Suddenly, she felt someone looking at her.
She raised her gentle eyes and carefully looked up.
She met the Prince’s cool, moonlike gaze.
A trace of panic flashed through her clear eyes, like a startled deer.
“Nanny said you can read?” Yun Suiwu asked slowly.
“Yes.” Lianxiang nodded quickly. “This servant knows a few characters.”
Yun Suiwu glanced toward a stone table behind her.
Several books were lying on it.
“Bring one and read to Shi’an.”
Lianxiang obediently walked to the table.
The pages were illustrated with animals. When she opened the book, she found that there were not many words, and the characters were simple and common.
The stories were all short children’s tales.
The Little Prince was only ten months old, so she did not know if he could understand them.
Still, she liked the stories.
Perhaps because the main characters were all little animals, her voice naturally became softer and cuter as she read.
Whenever the story mentioned animal sounds, she even imitated them.
She read vividly and with great emotion.
Her voice was already pleasant to listen to. Now, with her cheerful and playful tone, she seemed even more lively, sweet, and charming.
The Little Prince listened with great interest.
Whenever he heard an animal sound, he happily kicked his legs and laughed.
Water splashed everywhere around the pool.
Halfway through reading, Lianxiang suddenly stopped.
She timidly raised her eyes from the book and looked at the Prince.
“Your Highness, I don’t know this character.”
Upon hearing this, Yun Suiwu slowly opened his lips.
“Bring it here.”
Lianxiang carefully approached and presented the book to him, pointing at the character she did not recognize.
Yun Suiwu opened his eyes and glanced down.
The first thing he noticed was not the character, but her slender fingertips.
Her neatly trimmed nails carried a faint pink color.
Against the black ink on the page, her hands looked delicate and graceful.
One could not help wanting to hold them in their palm.
“It’s husun (monkey),” he said, his voice slightly hoarse.
“Husun…” Lianxiang repeated it several times.
Although she still did not know exactly what it meant, she continued reading.
The Little Prince tilted his little head back, his bright black eyes fixed on her, eagerly waiting for the story.
As the book and her delicate fingers disappeared from his sight, Yun Suiwu looked away.
Lianxiang was kneeling beside the pool.
Her hair was arranged in the same simple style as always.
There were no ornaments in it, only a plain ebony hairpin.
Looking at her hairstyle from behind, one might think she was an older married woman.
But now, as he watched her gentle and beautiful profile while she read, revealing a row of white teeth whenever she smiled, she seemed incredibly youthful and delicate.
Her brows were graceful, and her lips were red like lotus petals.
There was not a trace of seduction about her.
Even her figure seemed ordinary at first glance.
But when his gaze moved lower and landed on the pair of fair, delicate feet peeking out beneath her skirt, a pure yet captivating charm naturally emerged.
It was unlike any vulgar beauty.
Yun Suiwu took a deep breath and closed his eyes again.
The water around him rippled gently with the rise and fall of his chest.
She looked so much like that person.
Yet she possessed a unique charm of her own.
A charm that was strangely attractive.
Listening to Lianxiang’s sweet and pleasant voice felt like countless ants were crawling over him.
Slowly, the most primitive desires of a man began to stir within him.
After reading a few more lines, Lianxiang encountered another unfamiliar character.
She pursed her lips and looked toward the Prince again.
Only to find that he had already closed his eyes and seemed to be resting.
“Your Highness, I really don’t know many characters. Perhaps we should wait for Aunt Pei to come back and read to the Little Prince.”
She lowered her head helplessly.
“Or perhaps Miss Xiyu or Miss Xixue could come in…”
Because the Prince disliked having too many people serving around him, Xiyu and Xixue were waiting outside instead of entering.
Yun Suiwu leaned back against the edge of the pool without moving.
However, one arm emerged from the water.
He opened his palm toward her.
“Write it here.”
Lianxiang stared at his hand.
His fingers were long and elegant.
A thin layer of calluses covered his palm.
Because it had been soaking in the water, the skin had softened, and droplets trickled down along the lines of his palm.
She hesitated.
Clearly, she was afraid to do it.
But the Little Prince was tilting his head, waiting.
So she gathered her courage.
After drying her fingers, she carefully traced the character onto the Prince’s palm.
Her movements were extremely gentle.
And because a young woman’s fingers were naturally soft, it felt like a feather lightly brushing across Yun Suiwu’s hand.
Stroke by stroke, she wrote very seriously.
Before she could finish, Yun Suiwu already spoke the character aloud.
So Lianxiang continued reading to the Little Prince.
For some reason, more and more unfamiliar characters appeared.
She truly felt uncomfortable repeatedly writing in the Prince’s palm and troubling him.
So she began guessing and stumbling through some of the words.
Her mouth was growing dry from all the reading.
At the same time, she wondered why Aunt Pei still had not returned.
“Read properly.”
The warning in his voice was obvious.
How could the Prince not tell when she was reading the words incorrectly?
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Soon, she encountered another unfamiliar character.
This one had so many strokes that she could not even guess its meaning.
“Your Highness…”
“Write it.”
Before she could finish speaking, the Prince had already opened his palm again.
Lianxiang carefully copied the character from the book onto his hand.
Since she had never seen the character before and it was so complicated, she began to worry that the Prince could not understand what she was writing.
Meanwhile, the Little Prince was already splashing water impatiently, urging her to continue.
Feeling anxious, she instinctively used her hand to wipe away the character she had written on the Prince’s palm.
“That’s not right… not right…” she muttered.
Perhaps that action displeased Yun Suiwu.
After all, he was a royal prince.
Yet his noble left hand was being treated like a writing board and casually erased and rewritten on.
To some, it could be seen as disrespectful to his status.
His fingers suddenly closed.
He grabbed Lianxiang’s small hand.
His hand was large enough to completely envelop hers within his palm.