Despite her antics, he hadn’t kicked her out. This proved she was different from the rest.
But this wasn’t enough. She wanted him to touch her; she wanted him to peel away her garments layer by layer, and she wanted those cold, detached eyes to burn with desire…
How could she take the next step?
Lin Yao didn’t expect the opportunity to present itself so soon. Chang Feng was out on business, and the servant delivering lunch was a different face.
Lin Yao asked the man, “Where did you serve before this?”
“I was a junior scribe, My Lady. Since His Highness doesn’t require attendants, I handle errands and the like,” the servant replied with a submissive posture.
Lin Yao felt something was off. If he were a simple errand boy, why did he have callouses on his hands like someone who regularly handled a blade?
As the servant spoke, he opened the food container. In the next heartbeat, he drew a dagger from the box. A flash of silver streaked through the air as he lunged toward Prince Yu!
“Your Highness, watch out!”
Lin Yao screamed and threw herself forward, shielding Prince Yu with her own body. A sharp, searing pain instantly tore through her.
In the blink of an eye, the assassin was sent flying. Prince Yu’s silhouette flickered in front of Lin Yao as he engaged the killer. The assassin was agile, but the Prince was stronger. Within a few exchanges, he had the man pinned. The assassin’s mouth overflowed with dark blood, his face turning purple—he had swallowed poison to end his own life!
With the threat neutralized, Prince Yu turned to look at Lin Yao, his brow furrowed. Previously, he believed this woman was merely a silver-tongued flirt who claimed to love him for sport. But just now, she hadn’t hesitated to throw herself in front of a blade for him.
Does she… truly love me?
As for Lin Yao? In truth, she had noticed the servant was suspicious from the start. She also knew exactly how powerful the Prince’s martial arts were. Her “sacrifice” was a calculated move. The dagger had struck near her armpit—painful and bloody, but not fatal or deep. However, as long as her acting was on point, she could make it look tragic.
“Your Highness… am I dying?” Lin Yao clutched her chest, acting so melodramatic she almost made herself sick.
Prince Yu turned as if to leave. The next second, he felt a tug at his trouser leg.
“Is Your Highness going to find a doctor? By the time one arrives, I’ll have bled to death. Do you have any medicine here to stop the bleeding?”
Prince Yu looked at the location of her wound, his brow knitting tighter. He had medicine, but treating her meant touching her…
“Your Highness, ‘saving a life is better than building a seven-storied pagoda.’ Please, save me. Besides, since your heart is firm in the Buddha and you have no worldly desires, I am no different from a pile of dry bones in your eyes. What are you afraid of? Or is it… that you actually feel desire for me?”
Impossible!
Prince Yu turned back into his room, returning moments later with hemostatic powder. Meanwhile, Lin Yao had already found a comfortable position to lie down. Prince Yu knelt before her, looking utterly at a loss as to where to begin.
“Your Highness, first… undo my sash,” the stunning woman whispered, her eyes brimming with a seductive mist. She looked like a succubus intent on tempting a high monk into breaking his vows.
Prince Yu undid her sash. Lin Yao shifted as if uncomfortable. His hand brushed against a patch of soft skin. Had he reached out to grasp her…
The sudden, intimate thought bloomed in his mind, making his brain feel like it was about to explode. His ears turned crimson as he suppressed the strange impulse, silently reciting the Heart Sutra. He applied the medicine quickly; the wound was small and the bleeding stopped soon after.
Guards rushed into the courtyard to clear away the body. One of the guards looked at Lin Yao with concern. “Lady Yao, are you alright?”
Lin Yao didn’t know his name, but she recognized his voice. On her first day at the estate, he had been the one reporting to the Princess Consort.
“Thank you, I’m fine.”
The guard knew he should leave—she wasn’t someone he could ever hope for—but his gaze lingered uncontrollably. He just wanted one more look. Suddenly, he felt a bone-chilling stare land on him. He followed the gaze and saw… the Prince? Terribly shaken, the guard turned and fled, his steps stumbling.
Once the guards were gone, Lin Yao continued her performance. “Your Highness, my injury is light. It’s no trouble at all. Don’t worry about me; just focus on your meditation.” She then winced in “pain.”
In the past, Prince Yu would have dismissed her words as nonsense. But after seeing her risk her life, he found himself starting to believe her.
Lin Yao eventually left the courtyard. Before reaching her own quarters, she ran into Xu Yanshu, who had come to gloat, and a worried Lin Siyuan.
“Yao’er, are you okay?” Lin Siyuan asked anxiously.
Lin Yao shook her head.
“What a useless assassin,” Xu Yanshu snapped. “Why didn’t he just run you through?”
“I took that blade for the Prince. Are you implying, Side Consort Xu, that you wished it had hit him instead?” Lin Yao shot back.
Xu Yanshu’s face went cold, unable to find a comeback.
“The Prince isn’t physically hurt, but his heart is,” Lin Yao added in a classic “Green Tea” tone. “You should have seen how panicked he was when I got hurt. He looked like he wished the wound was on his own body.”
Xu Yanshu was livid. A vixen! This woman is a total vixen!
Back in her own courtyard, Xu Yanshu walked straight to her jars of venomous insects. Gritting her teeth, she thrust her hand inside.
“Using your blood to feed the Gu consumes your life force! Once a day is the limit!” her old nanny warned.
“I have to get the Prince to be with me soon. I won’t let anyone else beat me to it!” Xu Yanshu hissed. She was going mad; she had to destroy that bitch Lin Yao!
Back in her room, Lin Yao’s wound was treated and bandaged by a doctor sent by the Princess Consort. Her maid, Xiao Ju, was diligently brewing medicine and wiping her down.
“Xiao Ju, look at you working so hard. Are you really treating her like a proper master?”
Lin Yao was drifting in and out of sleep when she heard voices outside. It was the other maid, Xiao Tao, who was far lazier.
“We are servants,” Xiao Ju replied. “We only have a good life if we serve a good master. If our master gains power, we can stand tall.”
“You have to pick the right master. You really think she can do it?”
“I think Lady Yao is different.”
“Fine, suit yourself. Just don’t end up with nothing after all this work. I’m going back to the latrine.”
Lin Yao fell back asleep and didn’t wake until dawn. She saw Lin Siyuan sitting by her bed, looking extremely troubled.
“Does the wound still hurt?” Lin Siyuan asked.
“Much better, don’t worry.” Lin Yao studied her sister’s face. “Sister, has something happened?”
“A mysterious guest has arrived at the estate,” Lin Siyuan said nervously, wringing her hands. “It’s… the one from the Palace. I don’t know if she will summon me later.”
The only person from the Palace who could make Lin Siyuan this nervous was the Empress.
Lin Yao lay perfectly still, as stiff as if she were in a coffin. She had been going around telling everyone the Prince adored her, counting on the fact that no one could verify it with him. But now, the Empress was here. If she spoke to Prince Yu for even a moment, she would realize he didn’t care about Lin Yao at all.
She was doomed. Her lie was about to be exposed.