The outskirts of the Capital, the Crown Prince’s detached villa.
The spring chill was biting. Wisps of fragrance filled the bedchamber. A snow-white, delicate arm reached out from the warm, scented covers as the candlelight was flicked brighter.
“My Lord, it is not yet dawn. Are you leaving already?”
Seeing the Crown Prince dressing to leave, Liu Qinghan wrapped her soft, fragrant body around him from behind, embracing him.
That soul-melting “My Lord” was enough to make one’s heart tremble.
A rare flash of tenderness crossed Xiao Jinyan’s cold, stern features. He whispered his instructions, “I have made the arrangements. Tomorrow, I will send you to Xuzhou to take on a new identity. In two months, I will officially bring you into the manor.”
“I shall follow your every arrangement, My Lord…”
Liu Qinghan helped him dress and, as if to please him, tied a sachet to his belt. “I made this sachet myself. If you wear it, My Lord, it will be as if I am still by your side during these coming days.”
She was exquisitely beautiful. The slight upturn at the corners of her eyes was tinged with a faint red, lending her an indescribable, vivid allure.
“You are thoughtful.”
Xiao Jinyan fell silent for a moment, withdrawing his gaze from that stunning face.
As a martial artist, he disliked wearing sachets or jade pendants. However, seeing her utter devotion, he indulged her and left the sachet hanging from his belt.
“My Lord…”
Overjoyed, Liu Qinghan took the opportunity to throw her arms around his neck and act spoiled. “I will miss you. I do not want to leave you.”
“The Jiang clan of Xuzhou is a century-old family with deep roots…”
Perhaps because of the impending separation, Xiao Jinyan felt a touch of reluctance as well. He spoke more than usual. “Their daughter’s status is no less noble than that of the imperial family. The head of the Jiang clan has already received the message. Once you arrive, he will arrange everything. You won’t suffer even the slightest grievance.”
“I understand,” Liu Qinghan replied obediently, leaning affectionately against his chest.
Xiao Jinyan had to attend the morning court. Seeing the sky brightening, his romantic mood faded. After a few more low-voiced instructions, he wasted no more time and strode out.
“Slut! How dare you bewitch the Crown Prince!”
Not long after the Crown Prince left, a commotion suddenly broke out in the villa. The door to the bedchamber was kicked open with great force from the outside.
A group of servants swarmed in, surrounding a woman dressed in magnificent robes. An old mama leading the group slapped Liu Qinghan to the floor. Her forehead struck the corner of a wall, and her vision went black from the pain.
“Crown Princess, this is the woman. The Crown Prince was going to bring her into the manor to compete for your favor.”
The old mama grew more arrogant after the strike and kicked Liu Qinghan hard in the stomach several times.
The Crown Princess, Lin Wanru!
Liu Qinghan snapped her head up, a mountain of hatred instantly flooding her entire being.
She indeed wanted to enter the Crown Prince’s manor, but it wasn’t for the Prince himself.
She was originally Su Xiao, a girl from a fishing family on the banks of the Qinhuai River.
Two years ago, her father and brother had rescued Lin Wanru—the legitimate daughter of the Prime Minister’s residence—from drowning. In return, her entire family was slaughtered!
She had narrowly escaped death by falling off a cliff. After enduring countless hardships to reach the Capital, she found herself with nowhere to go. She drifted through brothels, waiting for an opportunity to get close to high-ranking officials and seek revenge.
After two years of biding her time, the heavens finally opened their eyes. She had actually encountered the Crown Prince, Xiao Jinyan.
He had been plotted against for some reason and was accidentally poisoned with an aphrodisiac drug.
She was snatched from the brothel by his secret guards to serve as his “cure.”
Since then, he had kept her in this villa on the outskirts of the Capital as an unofficial mistress.
She had used every means to please him, eventually causing him to lower his guard and promise to bring her into the manor.
All to get close to her enemy and avenge her parents.
Slap.
The old mama struck her again. “Bitch! Is the Crown Princess’s visage something the likes of you can look upon?”
Liu Qinghan’s head whipped to the side, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.
There was a sharp pain in her abdomen, and a surge of hot blood flowed from between her legs.
“With that fox-like face… a common whore from a brothel dares to dream of entering the Prince’s manor?”
Seeing that she was already pregnant, Lin Wanru became even more enraged. “Someone, ruin her face! Let’s see how she’ll seduce the Crown Prince then.”
Two maids stepped forward and pinned Liu Qinghan down to begin their work.
“Crown Princess!” Liu Qinghan fought back in desperation. “Do you want to know why the Prince favors only me? The Prince… he has a hidden ailment. I have a way to help, I only beg you to spare my life…”
The old mama’s expression changed. “Crown Princess, do not believe her! She is a prostitute; all she knows are seductive tricks and filthy, lowly things. Don’t let her foul your ears.”
“Let her speak.”
These words struck a chord with Lin Wanru.
In the two years of their marriage, Xiao Jinyan had been extremely cold to her. She had no children and relied entirely on her aunt, the Empress Dowager, to maintain her position.
She involuntarily stepped closer.
“Please, come closer, Crown Princess… This concerns the Prince’s hidden ailment; it shouldn’t be known by too many…”
As Lin Wanru approached, Liu Qinghan suddenly lunged. She pulled a gold hairpin from her hair and thrust it toward Lin Wanru’s throat.
The old mama blocked it with her hand, causing the hairpin to veer off course. It slashed across Lin Wanru’s face down to her neck, leaving a long, bleeding gash.
“Ah! My face! Kill her! Kill her now!”
Lin Wanru wailed in agony, her face twisting with malice.
A flash of cold sword-light streaked across. Liu Qinghan felt a sharp pain in her chest as the guard’s blade pierced right through her.
Pfft.
She spat out a mouthful of blood, her consciousness gradually fading.
In her final moments, she felt as if she had returned to the banks of the Qinhuai River, seeing her loving parents and family.
Lin Wanru was not dead. She had failed to avenge her parents and kin.
She had failed them.
She was filled with such hate… such deep hate…