A Stolen Romance - Chapter 9

Chapter 9: The Story

In the quiet room, Xie Zhaoran’s icy voice broke the silence, speaking of the assassination from the day before.

“You saw the assassin’s confession, and you saw the man yourself. He told you to your face that Prince Yu was the one who orchestrated it. What do you want to do about it?”

The curve of the Crown Prince’s lips gradually faded. In a flash, his smile was gone.

He hadn’t wanted to believe that his own brother had such wolfish ambition. He had been half-believing and half-doubting the confession.

Xie Zhaoran must have known his nature, which was why she brought the living evidence directly to him.

She put an end to his self-deception.

The Crown Prince’s face instantly turned pale, like an old man on his last legs. The pain and weariness in his eyes were as deep as the sea.

This time, it was his turn to be silent for a long while.

Finally, he sighed.

“I will leave it to you, Zhaoran. Since he wanted to kill you, I will not object to whatever you choose to do.”

Xie Zhaoran had been waiting for these words. The Crown Prince was too sentimental. He had forgiven Prince Yu’s countless schemes in the past. The fact that his health had deteriorated to this extent was also partly due to Prince Yu’s machinations.

She had long wanted to teach Prince Yu a harsh lesson, but she had always been stopped by the Crown Prince and their Aunt, the Empress.

Xie Zhaoran knew that even if this matter reached the Emperor’s ears, the result would likely be the same as before—the issue would be swept under the rug.

She figured that in the end, the Emperor would just say that no serious consequences had occurred, and he would make a big show of a punishment, but then let it go lightly.

But this time, Prince Yu’s target was not just her. Xie Zhaoran thought of the innocent Shi Yuning who had also been part of the plot, and the anger in her heart was impossible to suppress.

“Someone come in.”

Qin Xiao heard the order and hurried into the room, waiting for instructions.

“Find a suitable chest and put the assassin in it. On my behalf, deliver him to Prince Yu as a gift.”

Qin Xiao paused slightly. The assassin’s face was mutilated beyond recognition and was horrifying to look at.

“Yes.”

Qin Xiao took the order and went to find a large enough chest to hold a person.

…

The next morning, as Shi Yuning headed to the Eastern Palace, she noticed that the streets were unusually lively.

Early in the morning, the Jing Sheng teahouse she frequented was already full of people. The place was a clamor of voices, and they were all passionately discussing something. She had her carriage stop and listened for a moment at the entrance.

The rumors were all about Prince Yu.

“Last night, there were reports of a group of assassins at Prince Yu’s residence. It seems he was quite frightened.”

“I heard he was badly injured. The palace gates were opened late last night, and all the imperial doctors were sent to Prince Yu’s mansion.”

“What brazen assassins! Not only did they attempt an assassination at the hunting grounds, but now they’re audacious enough to commit murder right under the Emperor’s nose.”

“Exactly! No one knows where these assassins came from.”

After listening for a while, Shi Yuning quickly told the driver to continue. She was baffled. Why would those assassins also go after Prince Yu?

The group at the hunting grounds had been targeting her. Now assassins had gone to Prince Yu’s residence. Could it be that because Prince Yu had been loudly proclaiming his intention to marry a daughter of the Shi family, the assassins had also targeted him?

But that was Prince Yu! No matter how much Shi family’s enemies hated them, they wouldn’t dare to assassinate a prince, would they?

She couldn’t make sense of the connection all the way to the Eastern Palace. The first thing she did upon seeing Xie Zhaoran was to ask her about it.

After hearing what Shi Yuning said, Xie Zhaoran chuckled lightly. “They’re just rumors. Prince Yu is perfectly fine.”

He had only been frightened a little.

The “gift” she had sent him yesterday had simply scared him, and what a coward he was to have fainted.

This ultimately led to the palace sending imperial doctors to his mansion.

It was probably because of this incident that the common people started guessing Prince Yu had also encountered assassins. The rumors were passed on by word of mouth, becoming more and more distorted until they were unrecognizable.

Shi Yuning felt a little relieved that it wasn’t assassins. “What about the captured assassin? Has he confessed yet?”

Xie Zhaoran looked at Shi Yuning and shook her head.

With only one assassin’s testimony, Xie Zhaoran wasn’t sure if Shi Yuning would believe her story. She worried that even if the Shi family found out, they might not completely trust her word.

Shi Yuning was a little disappointed, but seeing Xie Zhaoran’s worried expression, she quickly offered words of comfort. “Assassins like them are desperate and have very hard mouths. It’s not the Crown Princess’s fault if you can’t get anything out of them.”

Xie Zhaoran looked at Shi Yuning’s serious expression, and her mood brightened a little. She nodded, putting the matter to rest, and led Shi Yuning to the training grounds.

Today, unlike yesterday’s stationary archery, they were learning how to shoot from horseback.

Shi Yuning was full of excitement and was completely engrossed in her studies. Time flew by when she was learning, and soon, a whole month had passed in the blink of an eye.

…

Over the past month, Shi Yuning had entered the Eastern Palace with the morning sun and left with the evening sun.

She hadn’t missed a single day. This overly frequent presence in the palace had caused a lot of gossip and rumors.

There were two main topics of conversation in the capital now:

First, Prince Yu. It was rumored that he had been seriously injured by assassins and had been bedridden for nearly a month. He used to be a regular at wine shops and brothels, but he hadn’t shown his face in a month. The rumors were now beginning to suggest that he had suffered an unspeakable injury.

Second, the Crown Princess’s assassination attempt at the hunting grounds and the fact that the daughter of the Marquis, Miss Shi, had been visiting her for a whole month. There were many speculations about this in the capital.

Some said that the Crown Princess was injured while protecting Miss Shi, so Miss Shi was visiting her out of gratitude.

This theory didn’t hold up, though, since no one visits a sick person every single day for a month.

So, the most popular rumor was that Shi Yuning had an ulterior motive. It was said that she was visiting the Eastern Palace so frequently to seduce the Crown Prince.

People also said that no one had ever seen Shi Yuning and the Crown Princess’s relationship be this close before. Now that the Crown Princess was injured and had difficulty moving, she had suddenly become so attentive. It was like “a weasel paying a New Year’s call to the chicken—she has no good intentions.”

These rumors spread like wildfire. The Shi family’s servants overheard them while shopping and reported the matter to Tu Chunhua as soon as they got home.

Tu Chunhua was a simple country woman and had no idea about all the twists and turns in the capital. How could simply visiting frequently lead to so much gossip?

When had her daughter ever tried to seduce the Crown Prince?!

Was the Crown Prince really that great that every girl had to rush to try and seduce him?!

Tu Chunhua was furious. If her servants hadn’t stopped her, she would have gone out to argue with the gossips.

Shi Yuning had just finished getting ready to leave when a maid came to tell her that Tu Chunhua wanted her to stay home today and not go anywhere.

She asked for details, and her mother’s maid stammered out all the gossip.

“The Madam is just worried about you, Miss. It’s not that we feel guilty, it’s just that the rumors outside are too unpleasant.”

Shi Yuning was also very surprised to hear this. What on earth was going on?

When did she ever try to seduce the Crown Prince? The Crown Prince was Xie Zhaoran’s husband. She and Xie Zhaoran were friends now. How could she ever covet her friend’s husband?

Shi Yuning thought about how her mother had already heard the rumors, which meant that Xie Zhaoran probably knew too. She hoped Xie Zhaoran wouldn’t misunderstand. She was only going to the Eastern Palace every day to learn riding and archery.

But on second thought, Xie Zhaoran probably wouldn’t misunderstand. After all, in the Eastern Palace, they were always together. Xie Zhaoran would know whether she was trying to seduce the Crown Prince or not.

Thinking of all the southern dishes she had eaten at the Eastern Palace for the past month, Shi Yuning sighed heavily. It seemed she wouldn’t get to eat them today.

She had her maid return to Tu Chunhua to tell her that she wouldn’t be leaving.

Shi Yuning lay back on her bed, closed her eyes in frustration, and rolled back and forth a few times. Her hair was loosened from its bun, and a few strands fell gently onto her forehead.

Suddenly, Shi Yuning remembered something. She quickly sat up straight, blew the stray hair from her face, and walked to the desk by the moon-gate window. She pulled out a piece of paper and began to write in her messy handwriting.

After she finished, Shi Yuning blew on the ink to dry it, sealed it in an envelope, and wrote “To the Crown Princess” on the outside. She then handed it to the maid and asked her to send a page boy to the Eastern Palace.

Xie Zhaoran received the letter after she had been practicing with a meteor hammer for over an hour on the training grounds.

A few days ago, Duke Xie had a messenger deliver some new and interesting things for Xie Zhaoran, and among them were many weapons. Xie Zhaoran immediately took a liking to the legendary “king of hidden weapons”—the meteor hammer.

The meteor hammer her father sent her was made of cast iron. The weight of the hammer was about five pounds, based on her strength and habits, and the chain had a ring at the end that could be looped around her hand.

It was easy to carry and not easy to detect, but it was very difficult to master.

Xie Zhaoran had spent the last two days studying the secret techniques her father had sent along with it. Today was her first time practicing.

This hidden weapon had been brought from the Northern Deserts and was rarely seen in the Great Xia Dynasty. She figured Shi Yuning had never seen one either.

Xie Zhaoran had even thought that once she mastered it, she could teach it to Shi Yuning. It would be excellent for self-defense.

After practicing for over an hour, she had already gained a basic grasp of the technique, but there was still no sign of Shi Yuning.

When Qiangdi brought Shi Yuning’s letter, Xie Zhaoran, who was warm and sweating from her practice, suddenly froze. She had a bad feeling.

In the letter, Shi Yuning thanked her for her month of tutelage and gave a long list of reasons why she would no longer be coming. In summary, she wasn’t coming back.

Xie Zhaoran gave a self-deprecating smirk. With a sudden burst of force, she threw the meteor hammer in her hand straight at the weapon rack in front of her. With a pull, the hammer’s chain wrapped around a spear with a red tassel, and she swept it sideways.

The weapons on that side of the training ground all clattered to the ground in a heap.

Xie Zhaoran didn’t even glance at them. She walked straight out of the training grounds and ordered someone to seal the area off.

She had a private training ground in her own courtyard. But since her courtyard was close to the Crown Prince’s, she had set up this area so Shi Yuning wouldn’t feel uncomfortable. It seemed she wouldn’t need it anymore.

After Shi Yuning stopped coming to the Eastern Palace, the lunch menu returned to bland food.

After a week of eating only boiled vegetables, the Crown Prince threw down his chopsticks in protest.

“Xie Zhaoran, you’re going too far!”

“Now that Miss Shi isn’t coming, you’ve even given the chef a holiday. Is she the only one who gets to eat in this Eastern Palace?!”

Xie Zhaoran didn’t even look up. She picked up a stalk of boiled greens and chewed it carefully.

After finishing the last vegetable on her plate, Xie Zhaoran finally looked up and said calmly, “This is how we’ve always eaten. You know your own health. You need to have less salt and less oil.”

The Crown Prince angrily slapped the table. “I didn’t have to eat this bland food when Miss Shi was here!”

“That’s because you were shamelessly mooching off our meals. They weren’t prepared for you. Now you’re just eating the food you’re supposed to eat.”

“You! Xie Zhaoran! You have no humanity! After eating all that delicious food, who can stomach this tasteless stuff anymore?!”

Xie Zhaoran raised her hand and pointed to the empty bowls on the table. “As you can see, I finished it.”

“You!”

The Crown Prince frustratingly tried to break his chopsticks, but alas, he didn’t have the strength.

Xie Zhaoran was unmoved, slowly sipping her fragrant tea.

The Crown Prince saw her pretending to be calm but actually looking listless and dejected. He slammed his chopsticks down on the table again.

“You can’t go on like this!”

Xie Zhaoran finished her cup of tea, set it down, and closed her eyes as if resting.

“You, you always want to plan for a surefire outcome. That might be right for other things, but it’s definitely not right for matters of the heart!”

Xie Zhaoran opened her eyes and looked at the Crown Prince. She remained silent, but her silence was enough to encourage him to continue.

“Look at you now. You’re listless, like a soulless husk. My imperial sister has written to me and will be coming back early. When she sees you like this, she’ll surely beat you up.”

The Crown Prince thought to himself, I can’t beat Xie Zhaoran, but my imperial sister has some serious skills. When Xie Zhaoran made a mistake as a child, it was always my sister who taught her a lesson.

“You’re only making things more complicated,” Xie Zhaoran said, leaning against the chair listlessly.

She knew that if her imperial sister was coming back early, it was probably because the Crown Prince had told her what was going on.

“If you miss her so much, why don’t you go find her?”

Xie Zhaoran didn’t say anything. She had thought about it, but she couldn’t find a good enough reason.

She wasn’t even sure if Shi Yuning wanted to see her.

“My imperial sister used to always say you were the bravest child in the Xie family. If she saw you now, she’d definitely take that back.”

Xie Zhaoran was a little displeased. “What do you know?” she wanted to say. You’ve never liked someone before, so how could you understand a heart with so many twists and turns?

“I know more than you do. I told you to read other things besides military books. Don’t you think there are lessons to be learned there too?!”

Seeing Xie Zhaoran look at him with a puzzled expression, the Crown Prince waved his hand and gave her a secretive smile. “Never mind, never mind. I’ll have someone send some to you.”

He then stood up, glanced at the boiled vegetables on the table, and snorted. “Just remember, after you’ve finished reading, you owe me some southern snacks as a reward!”

In the afternoon, Xie Zhaoran received a chest of books.

They were all supposedly popular storybooks from the capital.

There were titles like A Night Visit to the Spring Boudoir, The General’s Two or Three Attempts to Woo His Wife, The Overbearing Young Lady and the Fair-Faced Gentleman, and The Marquis’s Spoiled Wife Runs Away with a Child…

Xie Zhaoran’s brow was furrowed, and her face was tightly set. She picked up each book one by one, read the title, and put it back down.

What were these books?! The Crown Prince was too much. He had been secretly reading these scandalous, romantic, and utterly ridiculous storybooks behind her back.

Xie Zhaoran’s face was cold. After looking through all the books, she picked up one with a more restrained title, The Tale of the Jade Beauty, and thought to herself, I’ll see what’s in this one.

She opened the first chapter and saw that the heroine, a girl named Yu’er, was learning how to climb walls in order to pursue her true love. She wanted to climb over the high wall to confess her feelings to her beloved.

Xie Zhaoran frowned and flipped through the pages. After about seven or eight pages, she abruptly closed the book, lost in thought.

…

That night, the bright moon was faintly hidden behind the clouds. The gentle breeze rustled the leaves, making a soft, whispering sound, like intimate lovers’ secrets in the night.

Shi Yuning had just finished her bath and came out of the bathing room to find a person sitting on her pink gauze-covered platform bed.

Xie Zhaoran was dressed in black. Her long, ink-black hair was tied up high. She wore no makeup or ornaments.

Moonlight filtered through the moon-gate window and the gauze screen, enveloping her face and illuminating the slight curve of her lips. Her eyes sparkled in the moonlight, as if scattered with stars.

She smiled and waved at Shi Yuning. In her hand was a bronze mask in the shape of a fierce beast, which shone with a cold, chilling silver light under the moon.

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