Hearing her steady breathing, Xi Linxuan opened his eyes, momentarily emitting a cold light. But as he looked down at her sleeping face, the coldness softened into warmth.
“I didn’t want to marry you—that was a lie. Before, I wasn’t worthy of you; now, I’m afraid of implicating you… Heaven has not been unkind to me but does not favor you. Wei Linxia, Wei Linxia…”
He laughed softly, his eyes cold behind the warm smile, “We will be fine, for a lifetime, until we’re old! No one can destroy this, no one!”
Wei Linxia was exhausted and slept deeply. When she stirred, her body ached. She opened her eyes to blinding red, memories slowly returning, her face burning. Her bedmate was already gone. Hastily wrapping herself in blankets, she searched for clothes when two palace maids suddenly entered, startling her.
“Crown Princess, please change,” one maid said, laying out clothes and efficiently helping her dress in an inner garment, outer robe, and skirt, finally adding white socks and silk shoes embroidered with a phoenix and large pearls.
“Where is the Prince?” Wei Linxia asked.
“Your Highness is waiting for you to have breakfast and then to meet His Majesty,” the maid replied.
Realizing she had overslept, Wei Linxia felt annoyed and embarrassed for causing her husband’s family to lose face. She hurriedly washed her face and was pressed by the maid to put on powder and rouge, draw her eyebrows, apply flower yellow makeup, and style her hair in a high updo with various pins before being led away from the mirror to meet Xi Linxuan.
On this journey, Wei Linxia finally got to know the Eastern Palace, though they would probably only stay for a few days, like a fleeting dream that would leave no trace.
Along the way, only the rustling of her skirt could be heard. When she saw Xi Linxuan, Wei Linxia was too embarrassed to raise her head, her mind filled with thoughts from the previous night, her face growing redder, like the crimson juice of a touch-me-not flower.
“There are a few peonies in the Eastern Garden. Go, pick the one I left behind,” Xi Linxuan ordered the palace maid, who immediately complied.
