Su Jingyuan’s room was simple and elegant.
One bed, one desk, one table, and four chairs.
The bed was behind a screen in the inner chamber, while the table and chairs were in the outer area.
The window faced east, right next to the desk.
On the left side of the desk were brushes and ink, while a small pot of asparagus fern sat on the right.
Yun Chaorong and Su Jingyuan sat facing each other at the tea table.
“Princess, please have some tea.” Su Jingyuan personally brewed the tea and pushed a cup of clear, fragrant tea toward Yun Chaorong.
Yun Chaorong picked up the teacup but noticed a faint medicinal scent.
“Is there medicine added to this tea?”
Su Jingyuan shook his head and explained, “Due to my frail health, I have been taking medicine for years, so I carry the scent of medicine with me. I apologize if it offends you, Princess.”
“It’s not offensive at all. This medicinal scent is quite pleasant.” Yun Chaorong brought the tea to her lips. “The tea itself is also excellent.”
Su Jingyuan gazed thoughtfully at the tea in his cup.
The bitter taste of medicine lingered on him no matter what, yet she called it a pleasant scent?
Yun Chaorong asked, “How is your health? I heard you’ve been seriously ill lately.”
“Thank you for your concern, Princess. My illness often fluctuates—sometimes better, sometimes worse.”
Su Jingyuan’s slender fingers gently traced the rim of his teacup.
The princess was genuinely concerned about his condition.
“If you’re unwell, why did the people in your residence prevent Imperial Physician Li from entering?”
Su Jingyuan replied modestly, “My mother and elder brother were merely worried about my health and acted rashly. I hope the Princess can forgive them.”
The unsavory affairs of the household should not taint the princess’s ears.
But to Yun Chaorong, his words sounded like those of a frail and gentle soul, unaware of his mother and brother’s ill intentions.
“Do you truly believe that?”
“Yes.”
Yun Chaorong observed Su Jingyuan’s complexion. It didn’t seem too poor—in fact, it looked much better than the last time she saw him.
He seemed to have just bathed, with his hair still slightly damp at the ends. His skin was pale and delicate, like jade and ice, and the corners of his eyes were faintly reddened from the afternoon heat.
Yun Chaorong swallowed.
This… this was simply too tempting to resist!
Who could withstand such a sight?
Yun Chaorong thought: This poor soul, if he knew the truth, would he be able to endure it?
No, she would have to be the one to protect him.
“Hmm.” Su Jingyuan felt Yun Chaorong’s unwavering gaze. “Princess, why do you keep looking at me?”
“Naturally, because you’re beautiful.” Yun Chaorong removed the veil from her head, revealing her charming face. “If you think it’s unfair, you can keep looking at me too.”
Su Jingyuan recalled the scene from his dream where Yun Chaorong whispered softly. His throat tightened, and he instinctively averted his gaze.
“I dare not.”
But he couldn’t hold back for more than a breath before his eyes returned to her.
The young woman across from him had bright, captivating eyes. When she smiled at him, she was even more enchanting than in his dreams.
Her beauty, now fully revealed before him, felt more real than the fleeting glimpse he had caught of her in the twilight during their first meeting.
Yun Chaorong teased him, “Didn’t you say you didn’t dare to look?”
Su Jingyuan fell silent for a moment before replying, “Since the Princess has permitted me to look, I shall look.”
“…?”
Yun Chaorong sensed something intriguing. It seemed this Young Master Su wasn’t entirely indifferent to her.
But Su Jingyuan’s gaze didn’t linger for long.
He stood up, walked to the desk, and pulled open the bottom drawer. Inside, he opened a hidden compartment.
Within the compartment lay a silk handkerchief, edged with gold thread and embroidered with a blooming peony in one corner.
Su Jingyuan gently retrieved the handkerchief, turned around, and handed it to Yun Chaorong.
“Thank you for saving my life that day, Princess. This is something you left behind that day. I dared not keep it for myself, so I return it to you today.”
He had always wanted to ask why the princess showed him such special care, but standing before her now, the words wouldn’t come out. All he could think of was returning the handkerchief she had dropped that day.
He had kept the handkerchief hidden in a secret compartment, never once taking it out, fearing that someone with ill intentions might see it and use it to fabricate stories that could damage the princess’s reputation.
Yun Chaorong didn’t take the handkerchief, instead focusing on the hands offering it—knuckles distinct, fingers slender yet strong.
They were too beautiful to belong to someone who had been ill for a long time.
“You know it was me who saved you that day, not my royal brother?”
“Yes.”
“Did you receive the things I sent?”
“Thank you for your gifts, Princess.”
Yun Chaorong raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you going to ask me why?”
“Why?”
“Because I thought of you, so I sent them, of course.”
Yun Chaorong’s tone was casual, but Su Jingyuan keenly caught the word “thought.”
His ears flushed slightly red.
Seeing him fall silent, Yun Chaorong continued teasing him. “Then tell me, how will you repay the debt of saving your life?”
Under Yun Chaorong’s gaze, Su Jingyuan felt his chest grow warm, his entire body heating up.
Fresh from his bath, a fine layer of sweat broke out on his skin again.
Yun Chaorong pushed the handkerchief in Su Jingyuan’s hand back toward him.
“Wipe your sweat first.”
Su Jingyuan stared at the handkerchief in his hand, hesitating, when suddenly, without warning, he began to cough.
Once it started, he couldn’t stop.
He quickly took two steps back, covering his mouth with his sleeve.
“Cough… I… cough… apologize…”
For the first time, he felt such hatred toward his own frail body, which had made him appear so pitiful and vulnerable in front of her.
Any woman would look down on someone like him.
He sneered inwardly, his chest heaving with even more violent coughs.
But Yun Chaorong’s thoughts were completely different!
Seeing Su Jingyuan cough until the corners of his eyes grew redder, she felt less distance and more tenderness.
She was utterly captivated by the sight.
It was so similar, too similar!
This was exactly like the beauty she had envisioned in her mind!
No, it was even more moving, more mesmerizing than the image in her mind.
“Let me wipe your sweat for you.” Without waiting for a response, Yun Chaorong stepped forward and took action.
A fair, delicate hand grabbed the handkerchief and wiped it haphazardly across Su Jingyuan’s forehead.
Su Jingyuan didn’t dodge or retreat, standing still as Yun Chaorong moved.
Surprise flickered in his eyes.
The princess had only pushed the handkerchief toward him earlier, but seeing him cough, she had stepped forward to wipe his sweat herself.
Her eyes were filled with concern, even a hint of… excitement.
Excitement?
Recalling how she had sighed “so beautiful” outside the carriage when he was coughing up blood and confined to his bed.
Beautiful.
What exactly was beautiful?
In a flash of insight, Su Jingyuan seemed to understand something.
He lowered his gaze, catching a glimpse of her flushed cheeks out of the corner of his eye. Her eyes sparkled like a sky full of stars, brimming with joy and delight.
Not a trace of disgust could be seen.
“Princess, you asked earlier how I would repay the debt of saving my life.”
Su Jingyuan finally managed to calm his coughing.
His voice was hoarse now, each word spoken slowly, stirring a certain desire in those who heard it.
“I… can offer myself in return.”