Back at He's Jewellery, Mingshen was staring smugly across the table at his best friend and superior, Zhenghuan, waiting for a reaction towards the news that he had just brought back. His spy in the palace had just relayed the message about Prince Zhiren's choice of bride, and also the not-so-secret revelation that Princess Xuan had thrown a temper tantrum because of it, confessing her affections for Zhenghuan instead. After he had shown Zhenghuan the message, the latter's expression had darkened considerably.
"Looks like that icy face of yours still has its admirers!" Mingshen quipped, trying to provoke a response. "You might get a princess wife tomorrow!"
"Shut up."
"What? Aren't you the least bit touched that the princess fancies you? Many people would kill to marry a princess."
"That's their business. Whether she fancies me or the beggar outside is none of my concern," Zhenghuan snapped, scowling at his friend. He had always known that Princess Xuan liked him—she had been trailing behind him like a little puppy ever since they were children—although he had conveniently forgotten the fact because he had been away from the capital for so long. Now that the prince of Hua had indicated his wish to marry the princess, this long-forgotten matter had resurfaced, much to his chagrin.
Mingshen laughed in amusement. "The king seems adamant about sending the princess to Hua though, so I don't think you have anything to be worried about," he said. Mingshen was one of the rare few people who knew the truth behind Zhenghuan's birthright, so they both knew that there was no way the king would agree to Xuan's request. "You were right about Situ Zhiren choosing her though. The princess is naïve enough to be manipulated easily by him."
Zhenghuan slowly rotated the teacup he was holding between his fingers, deep in thought. Situ Zhiren's little marriage plan was simply a ruse to cover up for the real reason he was lingering behind in Duan and till now they still had no clue who it was that the prince was in cahoots with. If they couldn't uncover the turncoat then they would always be on the reactive end of things and that wasn't a position that Zhenghuan liked being in.
"What has he been up to lately?" he asked.
"Nothing out of the ordinary. He's mostly been staying at the ambassador's quarters, only occasionally leaving for meals at one of the restaurants. Even then, he goes alone and doesn't meet with anyone," Yixing replied. After a moment's thought, he added, "He did get his steward to send a gift to Minister Han's household just this morning though."
"Minister Han?" Zhenghuan frowned.
"Yes. And that gift happened to be something purchased from my shop—a necklace and earring set made out of rubies. Quite an expensive set, but not something that a prince wouldn't be able to afford."
"For Han Zi-ning?"
Mingshen nodded. "It seems like the girl is attracting all sorts of attention to herself these days. The crown prince is obviously interested, and now Situ Zhiren too. My men say that Queen Ci tried to push Han Zi-ning to Situ Zhiren by sending him a flattering portrait and description of her—she obviously doesn't want the girl as the crown princess. Too bad he didn't fall for her ruse... Or maybe he did?"
Zhenghuan shot Mingshen a stern glare and the latter immediately threw his hands up in the air in mock surrender.
"Hey I'm just speaking the truth here. If Situ Zhiren wasn't interested in Han Zi-ning, why would he bother sending her jewellery? Sure, he might not take her as his chief consort because she isn't more useful to him than Princess Xuan is, but the future king of Hua has plenty of space in his harem for another girl."
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.