Suining's breath caught. His words carried a deep bitterness, and she felt a pang of sorrow. A-Yu's physical disability could never be remedied—it must be a wound that would pain him for a lifetime.
Yue Tingyu noticed the silence behind him and grew even more certain of his suspicion. The Princess never came without a purpose; her recent warmth was merely laying the groundwork for something she wanted.
He sighed silently and kept walking. When he heard the muffled footsteps behind him, he knew she had followed. He said gravely, "This slave has noted the Princess's request. There is no need to keep beating around the bush in the future."
Jun Suining gently tugged at the corner of his robe. After a moment's thought, she said softly, "Don't feel inferior because of your disability. Even a eunuch can have feelings. Love cannot be stopped."
Her expression was gentle and tactful, as if she were afraid of wounding his pride. Yue Tingyu turned and looked down at her, his heart a tangle of emotions. "This slave will escort the Princess back to the palace."
In the carriage returning to the palace, Suining kept glancing at Yue Tingyu, but he kept his gaze straight ahead, and in the end she said nothing more.
She also felt that he had not yet opened his heart to her. Saying such intimate things when they were barely acquainted might wound his pride again. Better to take it slowly.
The palace gates slowly opened under the morning sun, and the officials in court robes waiting outside filed in.
Suining descended from the carriage on Yue Tingyu's arm, and heard him ask in a low voice, "What kind of person does the Princess like?"
The sudden question caught her off guard. She stared blankly at the man before her, her throat suddenly dry, and then answered in a lowered, earnest voice—
"Once I had a dream. In it, there was a man who treasured me above all else. Whatever I asked, he granted. He said he had loved me since long ago…"
Yue Tingyu saw the yearning on her face and unconsciously frowned, a flicker of complexity passing through his eyes. Then she continued, her voice tinged with confusion and melancholy—
"But when I woke, he had never had such a dream. It became a dream that belonged to me alone. So I must wait for him."
Yue Tingyu stood coldly at her side. He had assumed it was merely a young girl's romantic fancies, but hearing the rest, he realized the person she spoke of was not a phantom of a dream, but real.
His voice was restrained and low. "A dream is only a dream. If the Princess judges people by dreams, she will inevitably misjudge them."
The lecture, unreadable in tone, made the hope in Suining's eyes slowly fade. He did not even show the slightest curiosity about who that person was.
Suining could not help asking, "Aren't you curious who it is?"
Yue Tingyu's deep pupils shimmered faintly. He walked beside her down the palace path and said indifferently, "The Princess's fiancé has arrived."
…
A gentle, refined young man in court robes was walking toward them. His robes trailed the ground, his official's hat shadowing the elegance of his brow. His face was as fair as mutton-fat jade, and everywhere he went he seemed wrapped in a warm halo.
The mildness in his features stood in stark contrast to the cold Yue Tingyu beside her—that warm, gracious temperament was one polished and nurtured by generations of aristocratic breeding.
This was Pei Zhengchu, son of the Prime Minister, an official of the first rank. He himself was accomplished beyond his years—at only twenty, he had already risen to the post of fifth-rank Vice Minister. He was the model gentleman of Shunjing, and Jun Suining's childhood sweetheart and fiancé.
Jun Suining had once believed they would spend their lives together, supporting each other through it all—but reality had slapped her hard across the face.
Pei Zhengchu, that unattainable flower on a high peak, had unexpectedly fallen in love with a common girl soon after. Even at the cost of angering the imperial family, he had insisted on marrying the woman he loved.
Jun Suining had hated him for a long time. It was not until she found someone she loved herself that the hatred gradually faded. Now, meeting him again felt like a lifetime apart, and she no longer had the temper for it.
"Your Highness," Pei Zhengchu said, his back straight as a bamboo pole. When he saw the person beside Jun Suining, a flicker of surprise crossed his face. "Nine-Thousand-Year Lord, what brings you to be with Her Highness?"
"A chance encounter," Yue Tingyu lied without a change in expression. "Her Highness was just speaking to me about Vice Minister Pei."
Hearing this, Suining felt something was off. When had she ever mentioned Pei Zhengchu?
Wait—could he have mistaken her "man in her dreams" to be Pei Zhengchu??
"I wasn't!" Suining blurted out, terrified that Yue Tingyu might misunderstand.
Seeing her sudden agitation, Pei Zhengchu became even more convinced of Yue Tingyu's words, and asked curiously, "What did Her Highness say about me?"
A mocking curl touched Yue Tingyu's lips. "Didn't catch it. Couldn't be bothered to listen." Without so much as a glance at Suining, he strode away.
Jun Suining watched his retreating figure. He really had misunderstood.
But even if he had, surely he wouldn't care.
"Your Highness?" Seeing her gazing so intently after another man, Pei Zhengchu felt an indescribable strangeness settle over his heart—her eyes, he thought, looked altogether too implicated.
But on second thought, even if the Nine-Thousand-Year Lord enjoyed the Emperor's favor, he was still only a eunuch. How could the Princess possibly harbor feelings for him? He must be overthinking it.
Jun Suining came back to her senses and looked at him with a complicated expression. "Vice Minister Pei, you should hurry to court."
"There's still time," said Pei Zhengchu, who had not seen her for several days, his face full of concern and joy. "I heard Her Highness fell into the water two days ago and was nearly assassinated yesterday—you must rest and recover properly. My grandmother's birthday celebration is next month; would Her Highness have time to attend?"
Jun Suining felt she had nothing to say to him and was trying to think of an excuse when a man dressed as a eunuch came shuffling unsteadily along the palace path, groveling and bowing, until he stopped in front of Suining, muttering something under his breath.
An indescribable stench filled Suining's nose. A flash of light burst before her eyes, and she instinctively shut them as a searing pain tore through her upper abdomen. When she opened her eyes, she saw the eunuch driving a dagger into her belly…
"Your Highness!" Pei Zhengchu, witnessing the attack firsthand, could no longer maintain his usual gentleness. He rushed to support Jun Suining, his eyes brimming with urgency and worry. "Someone, help!"
The palace path erupted into chaos in an instant. Jun Suining's eyes followed the eunuch. Under her gaze, the man slowly raised his head, revealing a familiar face.
It was Feng Ying—fifth brother's Hidden Guard, whom she had ordered castrated only days before. His face was twisted as he stared at her fixedly, breaking into a deranged smile. "It's all because of you! You've made me into this—neither man nor ghost!"
Suining's eyes slowly closed. In the last moments before losing consciousness entirely, only one thought remained in her mind—
The blade she had dodged yesterday had, after all, landed on her body today…