Su Yaoyao gently touched the smooth rosewood beads, her smile still soft and unfolding, when a flurry of hurried footsteps echoed outside the Sutra Pavilion.
“Yaoyao! Su Yaoyao!”
That voice…
Her brows furrowed slightly as she turned toward the door.
Xiao Qiming practically barreled in, his jade crown crooked, eyes red-rimmed, clearly still drunk from the night before.
Two panicked guards trailed behind him, trying to stop him but too afraid to intervene.
“Your Highness, this is a pure Buddhist sanctuary…” one guard whispered.
“Get out of the way!” Xiao Qiming shoved them aside and, upon seeing Su Yaoyao, his eyes lit up. Stumbling forward, he reached for her.
“Yaoyao! I went to the Hou Mansion to look for you—they said you came here! I rushed over! Are you… here to pray for me? Yaoyao… you still care for me, don’t you?”
Su Yaoyao stepped back, avoiding his grasp, her expression calm.
“Second Prince, control yourself.”
“Control myself?” Xiao Qiming laughed as if hearing a joke.
“Su Yaoyao, we’re betrothed! You’re my future wife—what’s wrong with me touching you?”
“Betrothal?” Su Yaoyao’s gaze was cool, piercing.
“Second Prince, have you forgotten? Three days ago in the palace, that paper betrothal was already nullified.”
“That was just your temper talking!”
Xiao Qiming’s voice grew urgent. “I know you were angry about Su Yun’er, but that was an accident! I… I was drugged, my mind wasn’t clear…”
He reached for her wrist, but she easily evaded him again.
“You needn’t explain,” Su Yaoyao’s voice was icy.
“I’ve already made it clear—I will step aside for you and your sister. From now on, marriage and love are separate matters.”
“I don’t believe it!”
His voice rose sharply. “Yaoyao, you used to like me so much, always following me around—how could that just change? Your breaking the engagement must be fake! You’re testing me, right?”
His gaze was intense, almost obsessive.
“Don’t worry, even if Yun’er enters the palace, she’ll only be a concubine—no one can take your place. You’re still my true wife. Yaoyao, when I marry you, I swear I will treat you well!”
Su Yaoyao watched him, suddenly amused.
In her past life and this one, she had seen too many men like this—careless when they had someone, regretful when they lost them. How much of their remorse was genuine, and how much just rooted in possessiveness?
“Second Prince,” she said slowly, her voice echoing in the quiet library,
“you say I once liked you. Do you remember the last time I brought you snacks?”
Xiao Qiming paused.
“On the seventh day of the twelfth month last year,” Su Yaoyao answered for him. “It was snowing heavily. I waited outside your study for two hours until my hands went numb. When you came out, you didn’t even glance at me, only said: ‘How dare you bring such crude snacks—how embarrassing.’”
She continued, each memory a precise strike:
“And during the Lantern Festival, I wanted to watch the lights with you—what did you say? ‘Don’t follow me, it’s shameful.’”
“And during the spring hunt, I fell off my horse. You passed by without stopping, not even your horse.”
With every word, Xiao Qiming’s face paled.
“Second Prince, I did once like you,” she said, calm and unwavering, “but that affection was gradually worn away by your treatment of me.”
“No… I… I was wrong! I was young and foolish… Yes! It was because of Su Yun’er. She kept talking ill of you in front of me…”
“So?” Su Yaoyao smiled, laced with ridicule. “Second Prince, how old are you this year? Twenty? A twenty-year-old prince, and you still let a girl dictate right and wrong?”
She shook her head, pity in her gaze.
“You say you were wrong. But what you truly did wrong wasn’t believing someone else—it was never genuinely respecting me as a person.”
“What you liked was the obedient Su Yaoyao who answered at your command. But now, this Su Yaoyao—who resists, who says no, who turns and walks away…”
She paused, voice soft like a sigh:
“You don’t like her. You don’t deserve her.”
She lifted her wrist, revealing the rosewood prayer beads.
“Your servant has a new desire.”
Her fingers caressed the beads, lips curling into a subtle smile.
“These beads were gifted to me by the Crown Prince.”
Xiao Qiming’s gaze froze on the beads.
The Crown Prince’s prayer beads…
He recognized them. Xiao Chenyan’s inseparable rosewood beads—famous throughout the capital—were now in Su Yaoyao’s hand?!
“Impossible…”
He muttered, then, provoked, lifted his head sharply.
“Su Yaoyao! You’re doing this to spite me, aren’t you? Because of Su Yun’er, you’re deliberately getting close to the Crown Prince to anger me!”
His voice escalated:
“The Crown Prince—who is he? He’s devoted to Buddhism, avoids women—how could he possibly be interested in you? Stop dreaming! He only pities you, or… maybe the Empress forced him!”
Su Yaoyao listened quietly, letting him vent.
When he finally ran out of words, she asked softly:
“Finished?”
Xiao Qiming was speechless at her calmness.
“Finished. Then please leave,” she said.
She turned and walked deeper into the pavilion.
“The Buddhist sanctuary should remain free from worldly disturbances.”
“Su Yaoyao!”
He shouted behind her, “You’ll regret this! The Crown Prince will never marry you! He’ll never be moved by a woman in his life! Mark my words—when he abandons you, don’t come crying to me!”
Su Yaoyao did not falter.
Only when she reached a row of sutra shelves, ensuring Xiao Qiming could no longer see her, did she stop.
Leaning against the cool shelves, she closed her eyes and drew a deep breath.
To say she didn’t feel pain would be a lie.
The remnants of the original owner’s feelings still stirred at the mention of past events—a delicate ache resurfaced.
That foolish girl once truly cared for him.
But her sincerity had been trampled into nothing.
“Feeling the sting now?”
A clear, icy voice suddenly sounded at her side.
Su Yaoyao’s eyes snapped open. She turned—and Xiao Chenyan was there, standing on the other side of the shelf.
Holding a sutra scroll, he looked at her quietly, calm as ever.