Seeing him, Pei Yunting smiled faintly.
“Brother Aze.”
The newcomer was none other than the First Prince, Yan Huaize.
“I stepped out to get some fresh air. I didn’t expect to run into you here.” Yan Huaize returned her smile. “It must have been a month since we last met. Why haven’t you come to see me? You used to sneak over to my place all the time to play chess. Now you’re becoming harder and harder to find.”
“Brother Aze is busy with countless affairs every day. How could I disturb you so casually?” Pei Yunting stood about two arm’s lengths away from him, her gaze still fixed on the gentle lights beyond the palace walls.
Although her form of address hadn’t changed, Yan Huaize still detected the distance hidden within her words. A trace of confusion crossed his heart, but he tactfully chose not to ask about it.
Pei Yunting was much the same.
After learning about Li Rao, and realizing the connection between the man beside her and Li Rao, she could not help but develop a slight reservation toward him.
She understood that, as a prince, competing for power and laying the groundwork for his own future was perfectly normal.
Even so, an invisible barrier had quietly formed between them.
Once, they had shared the same aspirations.
Now that they had both grown up, they carried entirely different burdens.
Though they still walked the same road, their destinations were no longer the same.
It was a rather bittersweet realization.
As silence settled between them, another set of footsteps approached.
Judging from the sound alone, whoever it was seemed to be arriving with considerable momentum.
Without even turning around, Pei Yunting already knew who it was.
Yan Huaijin.
She rubbed her forehead helplessly.
The old saying was true—misfortune was impossible to avoid.
The Third Prince had evidently received word from his shadow guards that she and Yan Huaize were talking beneath the corridor, and had rushed over in a blaze of urgency.
Ever since the brothers had fallen out, every time she met Yan Huaize, Yan Huaijin would inevitably appear and throw a few sarcastic remarks their way.
Tonight, it seemed she wouldn’t escape another interrogation.
The two of you are the ones competing with each other. Why do you always drag me into it?
Every time she thought of it, she couldn’t help but feel sorry for herself.
And naturally, Yan Huaijin received none of her good graces.
Completely unaware of the whirlwind of thoughts inside his childhood sweetheart’s head, Yan Huaijin noticed her hesitant expression and her obvious lack of enthusiasm upon seeing him.
His steps slowed.
Then, with barely concealed sarcasm, he asked,
“What? Did I interrupt the perfect picture of a handsome gentleman and a beautiful lady enjoying the moon together?”
Pei Yunting frowned.
“What exactly is wrong with you today? Stop talking nonsense.”
“Oh? Then what are the two of you doing here all alone, after dismissing your attendants?”
“Talking,” she replied impatiently. “What else would we be doing?”
“…”
Yan Huaijin’s teeth itched with irritation.
Yet in front of Yan Huaize, he couldn’t very well lose his temper.
Instead, he laughed.
“Pei Wanwan… you’re really something.”
Pei Yunting answered him with a completely unapologetic eye roll.
Everything had been fine before he arrived.
The moment he appeared, however, the atmosphere became even more awkward.
The two brothers, who had once been so close they wore the same clothes and slept in the same bed, now treated each other like complete strangers.
Caught between them, Pei Yunting felt that standing beside either one was equally uncomfortable.
“I should head back.”
Yan Huaize looked at her gently.
“The night wind is strong. Go on.”
She smiled, though her feelings had only grown more complicated.
“You too, Brother Aze. If we get another chance, let’s play chess together.”
“Of course.”
Watching them exchange words so naturally, Yan Huaijin felt increasingly uncomfortable.
“I was just about to see Mother anyway. I’ll walk back with you.”
“No.”
Pei Yunting looked up at him.
The tassels on the hairpin adorning her coiffure brushed lightly against her earlobe.
“If we leave together and someone sees us, there’ll be no explaining it. If people start saying an unmarried man and woman secretly met in private, the gossip alone would drown you.”
Yan Huaijin clicked his tongue.
“What a hassle.”
Even so, he obediently remained where he stood.
Yan Huaize quietly took in the entire scene.
The girl’s natural sweetness…
The boy’s unquestioning indulgence…
His heart slowly sank.
In the end, he merely laughed at himself, clasped his hands behind his back, and left.
Pei Yunting had told everyone she was stepping out to freshen up, so she hadn’t gone far.
When she returned, no one paid her any special attention.
She had barely exchanged a few words with Pei Yaosheng before a eunuch announced,
“His Highness the Third Prince has arrived.”
At those words, everyone’s eyes instinctively shifted toward the entrance.
A young man slowly walked in from the darkness.
He wore a dark crimson robe.
His tall figure was straight as a pine tree.
Unmatched in beauty.
Peerless beneath heaven.
In an instant, every gaze in the hall settled upon him.
The air seemed to freeze.
The conversations ceased.
One could almost hear a pin drop.
Only the sound of his footsteps crossing the carpet remained.
Without sparing anyone a glance, he walked directly toward the Empress’s seat.
Having drunk quite a bit that evening, the Empress’s golden hairpins swayed gently.
Seeing Yan Huaijin approach, she laughed softly.
“You rascal. What favor are you asking from me this time?”
Without answering immediately, Yan Huaijin picked up the teapot beside the table and poured her a cup of tea.
Using a voice only the two of them could hear, he said,
“Mother, I want to take her out of the palace for a while. Could you cover for us?”
There was no need to explain who “her” referred to.
The Empress took a sip of tea without answering immediately.
Below them, conversations had already resumed.
Still, from time to time, several pairs of eyes drifted toward the sharply featured young prince.
Princess Nanping, in particular, had completely forgotten her usual restraint.
Ever since Yan Huaijin entered, she had stared at him without blinking, her eyes overflowing with affection.
Pei Yaosheng sensed the unusual atmosphere.
While speaking with someone nearby, she discreetly glanced at Pei Yunting.
To her surprise, her younger sister appeared perfectly calm.
She wasn’t affected in the slightest.
She didn’t even spare the man seated above a single glance.
Pei Yaosheng couldn’t help finding it amusing.
What a pair of little adversaries.
Meanwhile, Yan Huaijin finally received the answer he wanted.
“I’m not worried about you,” the Empress said softly. “Just remember to protect her well. Otherwise—”
“Otherwise, both you and Madam Pei will skin me alive.”
He casually flicked the crimson ribbon hanging over his shoulder behind him.
“Mother, couldn’t you threaten me with something different for once? I’ve heard that line so many times since childhood that I could recite it backward.”
“Go on.”
Watching him disappear behind the screen, the Empress laughed and scolded,
“My son has truly grown up. I can’t keep him by my side anymore.”
Beside her, Aunt Jing refilled her wine.
“Your Majesty, His Highness and Second Miss Pei have always been close. Since Your Majesty is so fond of them both, why not simply arrange a marriage between them?”
The Empress smiled wistfully.
“If only it were that simple.
“My son has always had a mind of his own.
“He wants Wanwan to marry him because they truly love one another, because she willingly chooses him—not because of a single imperial decree that would only make the two of them uncomfortable.
“Wanwan is exceptionally perceptive in most matters, but when it comes to matters of the heart… she’s a little slow.
“Still, Huailin has his own methods.
“As his mother, all I need to do is trust him.”
“Your Majesty has thought everything through.”
Aunt Jing smiled.
“Then this old servant shall simply wait for the day His Highness finally wins the heart of the beauty.”
Not long after Yan Huaijin left, Aunt Jing descended from the main hall.
“The Empress heard that Second Miss Pei isn’t holding her liquor well and is feeling unwell. She requests that you rest in the rear hall.”
Pei Yunting rose without hesitation.
She gave Pei Yaosheng a reassuring look, signaled to her mother that she was perfectly fine, and quietly followed Aunt Jing away.
Before she had even reached the room, she saw Yan Huaijin reclining lazily against a couch.
Outside the window, the bright moonlight shone upon a luminous pearl, whose reflected beam stretched like the edge of a sword across his open palm.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed her arrival.
Closing his fingers, he stood.
“Come on.”
“I’m taking you out of the palace.”
“Out of the palace?”
She blinked her beautiful peach blossom eyes in confusion.
“For what?”
Yan Huaijin shot her a sideways glance.
“Didn’t you want to see the long streets?”
“You—”
Pei Yunting stared at him in astonishment, instinctively taking half a step backward.
She raised a finger and pointed at him.
“Yan Huaijin, tell me honestly—when exactly did you bribe the worm living inside my stomach?”
“…”
Seeing her exaggerated reaction, Yan Huaijin reached out, gently wrapping her pointing hand within his own.
His eyelashes trembled ever so slightly.
“We’ve known each other for more than ten years.”
“I’m afraid I can guess what even a single strand of your hair is thinking… eight or nine times out of ten.”
His hand was a full size larger than hers.
Her fingertips rested within the warmth of his palm.
It was… a strangely unfamiliar feeling.
Pei Yunting’s heart skipped a beat.
Meeting his dark, shining eyes, she suddenly felt as though something deep within her heart was quietly beginning to break free from its shell.