“Why are you crying?”
She could not explain it.
Countless scenes gathered in her mind—things that had really happened, things that existed only in her imagination, things she missed, and things that frightened her. They slowly twisted together into a tangled mess, pressing so heavily on her that she could hardly breathe.
The soft white rabbit fur trembled in the wind. Jiaojiao covered her face with both hands and sobbed quietly.
Tears quickly filled her palms. They flowed over the edges of her hands and gathered beneath her delicate chin into a large, crystal-clear drop before falling like a pearl.
Gui Heng froze.
He had only asked an ordinary question. How had that made her cry even harder?
Fortunately, even her sobs were soft and gentle. They were not unpleasant to hear.
Seeing this, A-Li secretly signaled to Yuqiu and Cuixue.
He did not know how things had turned out like this, but when the Emperor’s children were speaking privately, servants should not stay and listen.
Jiaojiao did not notice that the palace servants had left.
All she could feel was a dull ache in her heart, as though something heavy was pressing on it. No matter how much she cried, her tears would not stop.
The future tyrant—who was not yet the tyrant—was standing right in front of her.
But she could not care about that anymore.
She gave up trying to hold herself together and cried for who knew how long. Her whole face was wet with tears. Suddenly, a cold wind swept past, making her entire face sting with icy pain.
Jiaojiao continued crying as she shivered from the cold.
Suddenly, someone took hold of both her wrists.
Feeling the strength of those hands, the little princess let out a sad hiccup and timidly raised her eyes.
Gui Heng gently pulled her hands away from her face. He seemed to sigh as he wiped the tears from her palms, then removed his own cloak and draped it over her shoulders.
Only after doing all this did he look up and meet her tear-filled, round eyes.
He paused slightly.
“Are you done crying?”
Jiaojiao nodded, then quickly shook her head.
Gui Heng raised an eyebrow.
“No.” Jiaojiao became a little anxious and spoke in a tiny voice. “I didn’t want to cry either…”
She simply could not stop.
Gui Heng studied her for a moment before suddenly saying, “It’s because of me.”
Jiaojiao slowly pressed her lips together.
He waited patiently for a while.
Finally, the little princess answered timidly, “…I didn’t mean to.”
“What?”
His question sounded rather forceful.
Jiaojiao’s tears welled up again. She bit her lip hard to keep herself from crying aloud.
“Isn’t it because Noble Consort Yan was willing to see me but not you?”
Gui Heng frowned.
“Mother had her reasons for refusing to see me.”
What did that have to do with her crying?
Jiaojiao whispered, “…Then why were you angry?”
She had run around helping him so much. Even a stone should have warmed up by now.
Yet he still called her by her title and asked why she was crying. His voice had been so cold, even colder than the wind.
Gui Heng opened his mouth.
He wanted to say, “I wasn’t angry.”
But somehow, that sounded a little foolish.
Was this little princess really so spoiled that even an ordinary question from him sounded like he was scolding her?
He looked at the little princess, who had lowered her head and was muttering unhappily to herself.
He sighed.
“You’re overthinking it. Princess Jiaoran, I have you to thank today. Otherwise, Mother would have suffered much more.”
He tried his best to keep his voice gentle.
But the moment Jiaojiao heard this, her lips turned downward again, looking as if she were about to cry.
Gui Heng frowned.
His eyes passed over her pink lips, which had been bitten and were now marked with tiny teeth marks.
After a pause, he reached out and held her wet cheeks in his hands.
Jiaojiao did not have time to dodge. Her small face was completely enclosed in his palms.
His slightly cool fingertips brushed against her hot ears, and the sensation spread down to a small patch of skin along her neck, making it strangely ticklish.
Gui Heng rubbed his thumb beneath her eye.
“Don’t cry anymore.”
Jiaojiao’s vision was blurred with tears.
Above her head, she heard his voice, almost like a sigh.
“I just don’t know… how to thank you.”
“Th-thank me?”
Gui Heng raised an eyebrow.
“Yes. Shouldn’t I thank you?”
Jiaojiao was immediately at a loss for words.
Saving his mother was certainly something worth thanking her for. But somehow, hearing him say it so directly felt strange.
Fortunately, Gui Heng did not seem to mind.
Instead, he asked her gently, “Princess, how do you think I should thank you?”
His voice was calm and patient. His dark eyes remained fixed on her, waiting for her answer.
Ever since the Chrysanthemum Banquet, when she had stood in front of him and protected him, she had gone out of her way to show him kindness again and again.
What exactly did she want?
He had wanted to know for a long time.
Seeing how serious he looked, Jiaojiao’s heart began pounding.
She almost blurted out, “A pardon from death!”
But she barely managed to swallow the words.
The tyrant was not a tyrant yet, after all.
Several thoughts raced through her mind.
Jiaojiao slowly lifted her face and forced herself to look directly at him.
Then, carefully, she called, “Fifth Brother.”
Gui Heng nodded.
The little princess seemed encouraged by this.
Her voice became a little clearer.
“I… I just want to be closer to you… You… please don’t reject me.”
The moment she finished speaking, silence fell.
A breeze suddenly passed by and blew the hood from Jiaojiao’s head.
Under the palace lanterns, a strand of red tassels about half a foot long floated gently through her hair.
The little princess did not notice.
She only stared at him with those round, tear-filled eyes, looking at him as if pleading for his answer.
Gui Heng hesitated.
The lantern shadows swayed. The surroundings were frighteningly quiet.
In front of him was the tiny face of a young girl, still marked with tears.
After looking at her for a long while, he slowly said, “Could it be—”
He stopped halfway.
Jiaojiao asked, “What?”
He had wanted to ask whether the Empress or Third Brother had sent her.
Other than the Empress, who wished for every imperial prince to depend on the Crown Prince, he truly could not think of anything about himself that would be worth someone else going to such lengths for.
Especially not this spoiled little princess…
Gui Heng lowered his eyes.
When he saw the remaining tears in her eyes, something in his heart shifted slightly.
Perhaps she was not as spoiled and unreasonable as he had thought.
Jiaojiao looked at his unreadable expression and tilted her head in confusion.
Gui Heng narrowed his eyes slightly.
Then he suddenly reached toward her.
Jiaojiao’s shoulders tensed in fright.
Fortunately, his movement was quick. He touched something and immediately pulled his hand back, opening his palm toward her.
Jiaojiao stared at the object in his hand.
She froze.
It was a gold hairpin decorated with colorful gemstones, carved in the shape of a divine bird holding a pearl.
Several strands of red thread had become tangled around the shining beads.
The red tassels from the palace lantern had caught on her hairpin.
Before they could pull painfully at her hair, Gui Heng had quickly reached out and snapped the threads.
Jiaojiao’s cold face suddenly felt hot.
She unconsciously held her breath as she looked at Gui Heng’s hand.
His hand was beautiful.
The fingers holding the hairpin were long and well-defined. He slowly untangled the tassels from it.
“It’s nothing.”
The next day.
Cuixue and several young palace maids had prepared breakfast. When Cuixue entered the inner room to invite Jiaojiao to eat, she found the little princess sitting on a small embroidered stool, staring blankly into space.
She unconsciously bit her lip slightly.
Her bangs rested neatly against her forehead, while her brows were furrowed with worry.
What had he been about to say?
Gui Heng had never finished his sentence.
Instead, he had patiently untangled the tassels and placed the hairpin in her palm.
“Then… about what we were talking about just now…”
She had gathered all her courage before reminding him in a tiny voice.
What matter?
Gui Heng’s eyes seemed to ask that question.
Jiaojiao became even more flustered and helpless. She bit her lip as she looked at him, and tears quickly began gathering in her eyes again.
This time, Gui Heng quickly spoke.
“I know.”
What did “I know” mean?
Jiaojiao still had no idea what he meant.
So she changed her approach.
“Fifth Brother… can Jiaojiao come visit you often and play with you? Of course, only when you’re free…”
Gui Heng still did not answer.
He simply looked deeply at her for a while before giving a noncommittal nod.
A nod meant yes, it was fine, there was no problem…
Right?
Hopefully, the future tyrant’s body language was not completely different from everyone else’s.
Jiaojiao ate breakfast absentmindedly.
A few days earlier, there had been some brown sugar tapioca pearls that she had found especially delicious.
Today, Yuqiu had specifically asked the kitchen to make them with richer dark brown sugar.
Lost in thought, Jiaojiao unknowingly ate four bowls in a row.
Yuqiu looked away for only a moment.
When she looked back, the large bowl containing the tapioca pearls was already empty.
“Your Highness, how did you eat so much? Tapioca pearls are hard to digest. Be careful not to upset your stomach!”
Only then did Jiaojiao realize what she had done.
She stared at the few tapioca pearls remaining at the bottom of her bowl for a moment.
Then she suddenly let out a loud burp.
And once it started, it would not stop.
Jiaojiao put down her spoon and helplessly looked at Yuqiu, her eyes full of tears.
The palace maid was startled.
She quickly brought Jiaojiao some hawthorn and green tea to help with digestion. After coaxing her to drink a cup, she helped her lie down on the couch to rest.
By then, Jiaojiao’s clothes were already stretched tight around her stomach, which had become slightly round.
She lay alone on the couch.
She could not even turn over anymore.
…
While Jiaojiao was miserably trying to digest her food, the Empress was sitting in front of a table filled with exquisite dishes, unable to eat a single bite.
According to palace tradition, the Emperor should have spent the previous night in Kunhe Palace.
But the Empress had waited until evening before receiving the message that the Emperor would not be coming that night.
Of course, he had gone to Ganlu Palace to see Noble Consort Roujia.
In front of the young eunuch who had delivered the message, Empress Wen had no choice but to maintain a calm and dignified expression.
The moment the eunuch stepped outside the courtyard of Kunhe Palace, she smashed every dish on the table.
“Noble Consort Roujia. Again, her! Always her!”
Fortunately, that seductive consort had been unable to give birth to a son.
Otherwise, with the Emperor so completely under her spell, would the Crown Prince still belong to her own son, Gui Yan?
Thinking of Noble Consort Roujia and her children naturally reminded the Empress of that woman’s only daughter.
After beating and scolding several servants to vent her anger, the Empress finally asked her chief lady-in-waiting, Liuyun,
“You said Noble Consort Yan was sick yesterday. Was it Princess Jiaoran who called for the imperial physician?”
“Yes,” Liuyun replied quietly. “Not only did she call for the imperial physician, she even took Fifth Prince inside to see her.”
Empress Wen was surprised.
“Fifth Brother?”