Du Heng could say such frivolous words precisely because the other party was Her Highness the Eldest Princess of Great Luo.
A larger part of the reason came from the shame and annoyance churning in his heart.
This woman was truly unreasonable and loved to toy with people.
At Ruo Xian Pavilion, Du Heng had also acted with a certain swagger, though by nature he was calm and easygoing, and did not like fighting.
Still, he was not one to suffer losses; otherwise, he would not have earlier wanted Yun Shuyu to properly teach a lesson to the person who had plotted against him.
So from last night until dawn, being pressed and tormented by Yun Shuyu, he was naturally flushed with shame and irritation, and there was also an unfamiliar itch in his heart.
Why should that bad woman get to bully him over and over?
Thus he became a little reckless. But once the words were out, he actually regretted them.
Flirting with a woman was a first for him.
Just as Du Heng’s regret surfaced and he started to feel a little cowardly, he saw Yun Shuyu looking straight at him, and she actually froze for a moment.
That smile of Du Heng’s had left Yun Shuyu momentarily dazed.
What kind of words were those?
The taste left in his mouth?
If word got out, people would think this princess had been the one acting indecently toward him.
But just as Yun Shuyu was about to flare up and seize the upper hand, she met his smiling face.
He was handsome and refined like jade; when he smiled, the deep pools of his eyes seemed to hold countless stars.
Yun Shuyu was momentarily unable to hold her own. She turned her head away to avoid Du Heng’s gaze, her slightly red cheeks especially striking.
“Oh… I see.”
“Then, then Lord Consort, have some more?” Yun Shuyu said with a light laugh, covering the redness on her face with her small hand.
She was not someone whose defenses could be broken by a few words from Du Heng. Soon enough, her expression had returned to normal.
Yun Shuyu put on an air of calm, and even though the blush on her face remained, her usual serene and elegant bearing was unchanged.
“Thank you for your concern, Your Highness.”
Du Heng caught a fleeting glimpse of her panic and shyness, and when he looked up again, she seemed perfectly normal, so he assumed it had been an illusion.
This bad woman was truly impossible to reason with…
He had already said something like that, and yet Yun Shuyu was telling him to eat more?
Eat what? The pastries on the plate, or… from her mouth?
Du Heng’s move had failed, and his irritation only deepened. With nowhere to vent it, he could only obediently nibble at the pastries in a halfhearted way.
In order to prevent Yun Shuyu from coming up with more ways to torment him, he simply stopped provoking her.
Mingzhe, seated nearby and treated like air, listened to their conversation with growing alarm.
What was wrong with Her Highness? If it were any other man, even if it were His Majesty himself, saying something like that would probably get him sent off to dig mines.
Another half incense stick passed.
“Lord Consort, once you finish eating, come find me in the study.”
Yun Shuyu took the handkerchief Mingzhe handed her, wiped the corner of her lips, and rose to leave.
Du Heng stared at the food piled high in his bowl and glared fiercely at Yun Shuyu’s departing back.
He now thought the regret he had felt just now was ridiculous. He should never have softened toward that spoiled bad woman.
The princess’s study.
“Your Highness.” Du Heng pushed the door open and went in.
Yun Shuyu sat upright in the center of the study. Her loose black hair had been gathered into a strand and tied with a white ribbon, while the rest still hung down loosely.
Yet another side of the Eldest Princess, different from her sleeping appearance and from the moment she first woke.
“Lord Consort, you’ve come. If you have questions, ask.”
Du Heng thought for a moment, then got straight to the point.
“Since Your Highness already had people suppress yesterday’s rumor, why refuse to break off the engagement with me?”
“How do you know I was the one who suppressed the rumor?”
“The court is a muddy mess right now. Anyone who could suppress a rumor so thoroughly without a ripple must be one of the powers in court.”
“My father is a straightforward man. When I went back, I learned that they knew nothing about my conflict with Your Highness, so it naturally wasn’t my father who did it.”
“As for the others, their relationship with my father is such that they would gladly see him gone. Let alone suppressing a rumor; they would probably be delighted if Luodu became even more chaotic.”
Yun Shuyu nodded. “Truly worthy of being my royal…”
Du Heng did not know what she had been about to say after “my” and then the word “royal,” so he found it strange. Didn’t the Eldest Princess usually refer to herself as “this princess”?
When she used the word “I,” shouldn’t it be reserved for people close to her? Du Heng felt he had not yet reached that level.
Yun Shuyu awkwardly changed course. “Truly worthy of being my royal family’s Lord Consort, sharp of mind and quick of thought.”
“You guessed right. It was indeed this princess who had someone block the rumor.”
“Since Your Highness suppressed the rumor, that means you don’t want to be tied to me, so why not break off the engagement?”
Yun Shuyu rose from behind the writing desk, walked around to stand before Du Heng, and looked him over from head to toe with a slight lift of her eyes.
She smiled with interest.
“You are someone this princess brought from Ruo Xian Pavilion, so you are this princess’s person. Why should I step back?”
“As for suppressing the rumor, even though this princess has a marriage pact with you, she is still an unmarried woman. To protect her own reputation, she used a few small methods. What’s wrong with that?”
After hearing this, Du Heng understood that he had mistaken her meaning. Influenced by his previous life, he had assumed that once engaged, the two of them did not need to be so guarded, but after all, this was still a world governed by rites.
Du Heng bowed with clasped hands. “I spoke too hastily. Please forgive me, Your Highness.”
Seeing how quickly he admitted his mistake, Yun Shuyu straightened him up and asked with a soft teasing tone,
“You insist on breaking off the engagement with this princess. Is this princess so unbearable to look at that I don’t even meet the Young Lord’s standards?”
“Not at all. It’s simply that I am not worthy of Your Highness the Princess.”
Du Heng looked at Yun Shuyu with a sincere expression.
“My cultivation is low, as Your Highness must have seen. I have practiced the Dao for several years and have only reached the Qi Condensation stage.”
“In the future, I won’t be able to shoulder great responsibilities, and I may even drag Your Highness down. It would be better to cancel this marriage and find a better match.”
“Oh? Then what if I insist on having you?” Yun Shuyu said casually.
“As for cultivation, this princess does not care much. After all, in Great Luo, aside from the sages and the National Teacher, this princess does not fear anyone in terms of cultivation.”
Du Heng’s expression went blank. He felt as if he could not make sense of what she was saying. This was far too absurd…
Was she trying to keep him?
Yun Shuyu loved seeing him look so silly. Her eyes curved into crescent moons as she watched him with great interest.
“Your Highness, a marriage forced into being can only end in a pair of resentful spouses. Your Highness doesn’t even like me, so why bother?”
“What if I insist on forcing it?”
“How do you know I don’t like you?”
“You…” Du Heng stared at her in shock.
The excuse this bad woman had given earlier for suppressing the rumor was probably false. She was so reckless and willful; she was clearly not someone who feared rigid social etiquette.
While Du Heng was thinking it over, his left cheek was pinched.
Yun Shuyu was smiling. The more she teased him, the happier she became, and she could not help pinching his face.
After pinching it, she even rubbed it lightly. Du Heng was still stunned and had not yet come back to his senses when Yun Shuyu herself realized something was wrong, and she quickly hid that mischievous hand behind her back.
She coughed as if to cover it up.
“Ahem. Lord Consort, do you have anything else to say?”
“Then has Your Highness already taken a liking to me?”
He blurted it out like a fool. Since this was a negotiation, Du Heng felt they should get straight to the point.
Yun Shuyu’s face reddened slightly. “Not… yet…”
Unconsciously, the hand that had been causing trouble just now was still pinching her own palm.
Yun Shuyu was capable of keeping the court under control, so she must be a clear-minded person. She knew very well that she had good feelings toward Du Heng, but it was not enough to call it love.
She simply found tormenting him very amusing, and he was of great use to her, so naturally she did not want to let him go.
Du Heng was left a little dizzy by Yun Shuyu’s roundabout answers.
“Then why is Your Highness so fixated on me?”
Yun Shuyu thought it was about time, and that she should tell him.
“Every day at court, those old diehards keep using my marriage as an excuse to make trouble. This princess has had enough, so I thought I would find a shield from your Ruo Xian Pavilion.”
Du Heng broke out in a sweat. “So it really is a fake marriage pact?”