A Stolen Romance - Chapter 6

Chapter 6: The Agreement

The mountain wind swept through the trees, making the leaves rustle.

After sneezing twice, Prince Yu lost his temper and snapped at the guards beside him.

“You cur! Why didn’t you warn me that it’s cold in the mountains?” Prince Yu pulled his cloak tighter, regretting that he hadn’t worn a heavy coat.

Jiang Tao, Prince Yu’s personal guard, was used to his master’s mercurial moods and immediately began apologizing.

“It was my oversight, Your Highness. I was only thinking how wise and valiant you looked in that outfit and forgot about the low temperature in the mountains. Why don’t you dismount and walk for a bit to warm up?”

Prince Yu’s temper cooled a little when he saw the man’s submissive posture. He looked up at the empty mountain road in the distance, a bit confused. “What time is it? Why are they still not here?”

Just as he spoke, he heard the sound of urgent horse hooves.

Prince Yu quickly opened his cloak and struck what he thought was a handsome pose. But his face fell when the approaching person was not Shi Yuning.

“Your Highness, something is wrong! The Crown Princess was attacked, and the Crown Prince has announced that they are striking camp to return to the palace.”

Prince Yu was highly annoyed by the guard’s frantic look. “What are you so flustered about? The Crown Princess being attacked isn’t the same as your mother being attacked. Where is that Shi Yuning? Why didn’t she come this way?”

The guard quickly explained, “Your Highness, our men… they were all wiped out. Miss Shi returned with the Crown Princess.”

“What? Say that again. What happened to our men?”

The guard’s face was pale. “They’re dead. They’re all dead.”

Prince Yu sucked in a sharp breath. “Useless! They’re all useless trash!”

So many men, and they couldn’t even defeat one Xie Zhaoran. The imperial household has been supporting these good-for-nothings for nothing.

“How badly was Xie Zhaoran injured? And Shi Yuning?”

“This subordinate does not know. After the Crown Princess returned to the camp, the Crown Prince announced they were striking camp. This subordinate was unable to get details on her injuries.”

…

The wheels rolled on, and the long procession seemed to stretch on forever.

Inside the Crown Princess’s four-horse carriage, the medical maid carefully cut away the blood-soaked clothes, revealing a wound where the skin was torn open and turned outward.

Shi Yuning held her breath, her eyebrows furrowed. She looked at the deep red gash against the porcelain-white skin and felt her eyes sting. Guilt flooded her heart.

“I’m so sorry, Crown Princess. This all started because of me, and you’ve been so badly hurt.” Shi Yuning’s eyes were a little red, and she sniffled as she spoke.

Xie Zhaoran’s eyes held a flicker of curiosity as she watched Shi Yuning, taking in her every expression. Her face, however, remained unchanged.

“It’s not your fault. You weren’t the one who sent the assassins.”

“But they were coming for me. You were truly caught in the middle because of me.”

Xie Zhaoran saw that the medical maid had finished bandaging the wound. She waved her hand to dismiss her and waited for her to leave before speaking again. “Miss Shi, you’ve come to that conclusion too quickly. They might have been after me. But who they were after isn’t the most important thing.”

Shi Yuning looked up, curious. “Then what is most important?”

Xie Zhaoran gave a light laugh, returning to her usual commanding and dismissive expression.

“The most important thing is to have the ability to protect yourself.”

Shi Yuning thought about it and realized it was true. No matter who they were after or when they came, only with the ability to protect yourself could you prevent them from succeeding.

Xie Zhaoran saw that Shi Yuning seemed to be taking her words to heart, and a hint of a pleased smile flashed in her eyes.

“If you’re not busy these days, Miss Shi, you can come to the Eastern Palace to find me. Since I’ve also hurt my leg and have nothing to do, I can teach you some riding and archery skills. That way, if you encounter a situation like this again, you will be able to protect yourself.”

Shi Yuning hesitated. “To the Eastern Palace? Wouldn’t that be too much of a bother?”

It was common knowledge that the Crown Prince was in poor health and rarely left the Eastern Palace. What reason could she give for suddenly going there?

“I was injured while we were out together, Miss Shi. Aren’t you going to come and see me?” Xie Zhaoran guessed Shi Yuning’s concerns. “The Eastern Palace is very large. You don’t have to worry about disturbing the Crown Prince’s recovery.”

When Shi Yuning heard Xie Zhaoran mention the injury, her hesitation was put on the back burner. Xie Zhaoran was injured because of her; how could she not go and visit?

Shi Yuning agreed.

After returning to the city, Shi Yuning said her goodbyes and went home. Xie Zhaoran and the Crown Prince had to enter the palace to report the situation, and it was not appropriate to bring Shi Yuning with them.

…

The news of the Crown Princess being attacked at the hunting grounds had long since been relayed back to the capital by various servants.

The Shi family had also received the news early. Tu Chunhua and Shi Minda heard that their daughter was with the Crown Princess at the time and didn’t know if she was hurt. They were so anxious that they waited for her at the gates of their residence.

When they saw Shi Yuning return safe and sound, they finally felt relieved. Tu Chunhua thanked the heavens and all the gods and goddesses and immediately wanted to take Shi Yuning to the Buddhist hall to kowtow.

Shi Minda stopped the two women, saying that his father was waiting in the main hall. Shi Yuning also had some questions she wanted to ask her grandfather.

The family of three hurried toward the main hall.

Shi Yuning gave a detailed account of the assassination attempt in front of her family.

When Tu Chunhua heard that the assassins were actually after Shi Yuning, she couldn’t sit still.

“Which bastard, who deserves to be cut into a thousand pieces, would be so cruel to a young girl? We’ve only been in the capital for half a year, and how could Ningning have such a deadly enemy? This must be an attack against our residence, right?”

Shi Minda quickly nodded. “My wife is right. Our family has been living with our tails between our legs since we came to the capital. We haven’t offended anyone.”

Shi Chao listened to his son and his family. His mind was racing. He had been in the army for many years, so it was impossible for him not to have enemies, but he couldn’t think of anyone who would want to attack the Shi family.

The Shi family had always been low-key in the capital. It was only after Prince Yu’s very public announcement that he had taken a fancy to Shi Yuning that they started to get noticed.

Could it be because of Prince Yu?

Although he had his suspicions, he had no proof, so he didn’t say anything to add to his family’s worries. He simply told Shi Yuning to stay home and not go out for a while.

“Yes, Ningning, let’s not go out for a while. It would be terrible if you ran into danger again.”

Shi Yuning quickly shook her head. “The Crown Princess was injured because of me. It wouldn’t be right for me not to show my appreciation. I’m thinking of visiting her tomorrow. Mom, can you help me prepare some gifts?”

Tu Chunhua nodded eagerly. “That’s right, that’s right. The Crown Princess saved you, so we should give her some gifts. Ningning is becoming more and more sensible.”

Shi Chao suddenly spoke up. “Yuning never had much of a relationship with the Crown Princess before. How is it that, from your story, it sounds like the Crown Princess has become much warmer toward you?”

Before Shi Yuning could answer, Tu Chunhua spoke up first. “I know! It must be because our Ningning is becoming more well-mannered now. They say the Crown Princess dislikes people who have no manners.”

“Ningning was a bit ill-mannered before, so the Crown Princess didn’t like her. But now that the Crown Princess sees our Ningning has become such a well-behaved young lady, she must admire her.”

Shi Yuning thought her mother’s explanation was very logical. “You’re right, Mom. The Crown Princess did say I’m different now.”

“See, I told you! A girl should act like a proper lady. The etiquette lessons weren’t for nothing, were they? Even the Crown Princess is praising our Ningning.”

Shi Chao’s brow furrowed even deeper after hearing this. “It’s best if our family doesn’t get too entangled with the people in the Eastern Palace. The same goes for Prince Yu. Yuning, you must be careful from now on.”

Tu Chunhua didn’t agree. After they left Shi Chao’s courtyard, she took Shi Yuning aside and told her she had to learn from the Crown Princess how to deal with people and be a beautiful and intelligent young lady.

After moving to the capital, Shi Yuning had grown numb to these lectures. She simply agreed to everything and asked Tu Chunhua to help her prepare the gifts, as she was going to visit the Crown Princess tomorrow.

…

After returning to her room, Shi Yuning collapsed onto her soft, carved canopy bed. So many things had happened today that she felt completely exhausted.

She rolled over to get more comfortable, but her waist was suddenly jabbed by something. Shi Yuning sat up a little and saw that she had been lying on her sachet.

For no reason, Shi Yuning thought of Xie Zhaoran and the image of her lowering her head to smell the sachet.

She untied the sachet from her waist, lay back on the bed, and held the sachet under her nose, taking a deep sniff.

After more than half a year, the scent had faded quite a bit. Shi Yuning remembered that Xie Zhaoran seemed to like the scent a lot.

She thought that while her mother’s gifts were appropriate for their status, a personal thank you should come from her heart.

She scrambled out of bed and went to the writing desk by the window. She pulled out a sheet of paper.

She picked up her brush and wrote a letter to her grandmother, asking her to prepare another batch of the same spices and herbs and have someone bring them to the capital. She wanted to personally sew a sachet for Xie Zhaoran as a token of her thanks.

…

Deep inside the prison of the Eastern Palace, in the innermost cell, a large charcoal brazier was lit.

The scarlet flames rose a foot high. As the flames died down, the deep black charcoal began to glow with a crimson light.

Xie Zhaoran, dressed in dark robes, sat elegantly in a spacious carved rosewood chair. Her injured leg was casually propped up on a stool.

“Splash him awake.”

She casually lifted her slender chin, looking at the bloody, unrecognizable man on the rack ten paces away.

“He’s a stubborn one. They say stubborn ducks are the best to eat. Today, we can finally test that theory.”

As she spoke, the maid Qin Xiao had already placed a metal rack over the brazier, just as Xie Zhaoran had instructed. She took meat skewers from a nearby platter and placed them on the rack.

In no time, the sizzling sound of roasting meat filled the prison cell, along with the tantalizing aroma.

The man who had been woken up by the splash of water seemed to have smelled the scent, and his empty stomach couldn’t control its gurgling reaction.

Xie Zhaoran watched the meat on the skewers gradually shrink and turn from a vibrant red to a dark brown. She picked up a skewer and then took a dagger from a nearby tool stand.

With slow and graceful movements, she sliced the meat off the skewer, piece by piece, and placed it on a metal tray next to her.

She then tossed the dagger to Qin Xiao. “Go on and cut a piece of meat from this brave man’s right leg. We’ll see if there’s a difference between a man’s leg and a pig’s.”

She even gave a special instruction: “Be careful. This blade is a bit dull. Don’t let it get nicked.”

Qin Xiao took the dagger and said with a smile, “Don’t worry, Mistress. This servant learned from the kitchen how to slice meat along the grain. I guarantee the slices will be of an even thickness and the texture will be exquisite.”

Xie Zhaoran’s lips curved into a mesmerizing, devilish smile. But it sent a bone-deep chill through the man on the rack. His entire body trembled, and a wave of nausea surged from his stomach to his throat.

He had originally thought it would just be a matter of death, but he never expected that the young lady who appeared so poised and dignified in public would be so perverse in private.

She actually wanted to slice his flesh off to roast and eat!

Thinking of this, he could no longer hold back the metallic taste in his throat. A mouthful of fresh blood sprayed out.

The red droplets bloomed like winter plums, splattering on the stone floor of the dungeon.

“I’ll talk! I’ll talk! Don’t come any closer, aahhhh!”

The man on the rack, as Qin Xiao approached with the dagger raised, finally couldn’t hold back and screamed. His voice was wretched and hoarse.

Xie Zhaoran paid no attention to him. She thoughtfully watched the fresh blood on the ground.

She slowly rose, leaving the matter to Qin Xiao. She walked out of the dungeon and instructed Qiangdi, who was waiting at the door.

“Tell the Imperial Garment Bureau to make several red outfits for me.”

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