Phoenix Rising

040

Zhenghuan remained silent, though the furrow between his brows deepened slightly. He had seen Zhiren bothering Zi-ning more than once so the prince's motives were clear to him. Mingshen was right about Zhiren being interested in Zi-ning, likely because the latter wasn't responding to his advances the way he would like. Men like Situ Zhiren enjoyed the process of taming unruly prey, and in his eyes, Zi-ning was one such prey. He doubted that the prince of Hua would ask the king for Zi-ning because that would be a direct insult to the princess and the kingdom of Duan, but he wouldn't put it past the man to just abduct the girl by force.

A loud screech rang out as Zhenghuan's chair scratched against the floorboards.

"Where are you going? I thought we were going to the barracks in a bit?" Mingshen called out when he saw Zhenghuan heading for the door.

"I'll meet you there directly."

"Funny fellow," Mingshen murmured, scratching his head in confusion. Shrugging his shoulders, he bowed his head and continued working on a sketch of his latest jewellery masterpiece, ignoring his friend's odd behaviour.

#

The set of ruby-encrusted jewellery sat in an exquisite wooden box on Zi-ning's dressing table. She ran her fingers over the cold stones, a scornful expression on her face. The gift had arrived at their front door early this morning, brought by one of Prince Zhiren's stewards, dressed in the signature flaming red garments of Hua. By now, the entire capital would probably have heard that the second young miss of the Han family had received a one-of-a-kind gift of rubies from the crown prince of Hua and no doubt all the other young ladies were now gossiping about her behind her back.

"Miss, why did the prince of Hua send you this gift?" Shujin asked, running an ivory comb through Zi-ning's wet hair. The latter had just finished with her bath and it would soon be time for all of them to retire to bed.

Zi-ning shook her head. "The prince is a troublesome man. Who knows what his real motive is?" she replied. His interest in her had obviously not waned since their last meeting and she could only hope that time would pass more quickly so that he would leave the capital and return to Hua. This interest of his was not to her advantage. If the palace got wind of it then it would pose an obstacle to what she hoped to achieve.

"The jewellery is stunning though. It matches your fair skin," her maidservant quipped cheerily.

"You can have it if you want," Zi-ning replied with a smile.

"No, no!" Shujin quickly shook her head. "These jewels are far too precious for someone like me. I would never dare dream of things like these."

"I was only joking, although you deserve these as much as I do. Alright, you can stop now and go back to your own quarters to rest for the night." Zi-ning walked over to her bed and settled down. After Shujin had blown out the lamps and left the room, she shut her eyes gently and tried to get to sleep. Outside, she could hear the thunder rumbling from the skies as the first drops of rain began to fall. Pulling her sheets up to her shoulders, she shuddered—it was going to be a cold night.

All of a sudden, she heard the window creak and a dull thud hit her bedroom floor.

Zi-ning's eyes flew open and she sat right up in her bed. The shadow of a man was standing by the open window, the silver from his mask reflecting what little light there was streaming in from outside.

When she realised who it was, Zi-ning heaved a sigh of relief, though she didn't forget to toss the intruder a scowl of displeasure. "What are you doing in my room at this time of night? And how did you get in?" she demanded. There was no commotion coming from outside, which meant that none of the household's guards had even realised that someone had snuck in.

Zhenghuan walked to the table and poured himself a cup of water from the pot, sitting down as though he was merely returning to his own home. After taking a sip, he took a glance at the open jewellery box lying on the dresser and said, "The prince has spared no expense. That set of jewellery is one of its kind."

"Did you come all the way here just to comment on some jewellery?" Zi-ning pulled her sheets up to her chest, thankful that she had the darkness to shield her. She had gone to bed in only a thin dressing gown and it was hardly appropriate to be speaking to a man in such attire.

Zhenghuan fished out three wooden pendants and threw them onto the bed. "Three of Situ Zhiren's men were lurking around your quarters," he said nonchalantly. "It appears he's more determined to get you than I expected. You should be honoured."

Zi-ning picked up one of the wooden pendants, flipping it back and forth carefully. The character "Hua" was etched into the wood, surrounded by an elaborate border—this was the identity pendant of the Hua royal guards.

"What did you do to them?" she asked with a frown, noticing the drops of blood staining two of the three pendants.

"I thought it was rude for them to be spying on a young lady," Zhenghuan said with a shrug.

"And it's not rude to be climbing in through a young lady's window in the middle of the night?" Zi-ning arched an eyebrow. The Shadow Lord was far too brazen. Although a part of her knew that he meant no harm, it didn't mean she appreciated having a man break into her quarters at night.

Her heart skipped a beat when she heard the low rumble of a chuckle escape from Zhenghuan's lips.

"What's so funny!" she demanded.

"I think the proper response would be a 'thank you', don't you agree? If not for me, you might already have been abducted from your bed and your family would never even know who took you," Zhenghuan replied.

Zi-ning rolled her eyes. It seemed that Zhenghuan had far thicker skin than she expected. "Thank you," she said sarcastically. "Now if there's nothing else, I would like to go back to sleep." The sooner she got rid of this leech the better, else she might actually throw something at his face against her better judgment.

"There's one more thing." Zhenghuan snapped his fingers and the next moment a second figure appeared in the room. From the silhouette, Zi-ning could tell that the newcomer was a woman. "This is Ahri," Zhenghuan said, "and you can use her as one of your maidservants from now on. Ahri was trained as a Shadow, so she'll be able to protect you in case Situ Zhiren tries anything funny."

"A Shadow?"

"They're my personal guard. As the name suggests, they are neither seen nor heard."

"I don't need that," Zi-ning said immediately.

"You won't say that when you're bound and gagged on a carriage to Hua," Zhenghuan replied drily. He waved his hand and Ahri disappeared as silently as she had entered. Getting up to his feet, he headed back towards the window. "Trust me, you'll need her."

And then he was gone.

Trust me. Why should she trust him? She barely knew the man and she didn't even know what he was hiding behind that mask of his. For all she knew there was a hidden agenda behind Zhenghuan's actions, same as all the other men that she had met.