Princess In The Palace

6. A Sinful Existence

Chapter 6.

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Recap: In the previous chapter, Yì Rán met both First Prince and Second Prince at the graveyard. They both found her familiar but could not recall anyone who looked like her. At the palace, when First Prince was thinking of a gift to give to Empress Dowager Xīn, he remembered the paintings of the Dowager that he had seen before and realised something. Then, he asked his servant to fetch Yì Rán because he wanted to paint her.

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I want to paint you. Those words were ringing in her ears and echoing in her brain. Why would First Prince paint me?

However, she realised that she had just collected water from the well and walked a long path earlier. She was sweating profusely and was sure that she had not wiped any of her sweat off. Her hair was also falling out of its place, she thought that she looked like a poor commoner. Then she remembered that she was. Discreetly, when he was not looking, she lifted her hand and wiped her swear off on her sleeves, then brushed strands of her hair back and tucked them behind her ears.

"I have not painted your hair yet, you can just leave it like that."

So it was indeed messy, otherwise he would not say anything, would he? She paid attention to his fingers, it was making slow and gentle strokes that formed the shape of her face, so far. She was amazed, extremely amazed by his talent of drawing. Her eyes sparkled at the thought of her being able to see the finished painting.

"Can you read and write?" He asked.

"Um...no."

"What about painting?" Because some people had talent in painting, but they just could not produce beautiful calligraphy.

"Your servant...has never touched a brush before." Speaking the truth had him thinking back on his choice of words. True enough, for commoners rarely had the chance to learn how to read and write. They simply existed as a driving power to keep the Empire alive. He thus halted his fingers, thinking that maybe he could change that, literally.

"Here." He stretched out his arm, on his hand is the brush he was holding. She stared at the thin piece of wooden tool, confused, not knowing what to do with it.

"For you." He continued, just placing it right in front of her. She still stared at it, and made no effort to even touch it. She did not even know how to read nor write, she definitely did not need to possess any study materials.

"Why not you tell me about yourself?" First Prince repositioned himself on the cushion more comfortably, his eyes scanned the features of her face meticulously, not leaving a single detail. The more he looked at her, the more she looked like her. He wondered, how could someone look so much like another person, when they were not even related? They were just like twins, separated by age.

"Yo-your servant...has nothing notable to tell Your Highness." He raised an eyebrow at the reply, which sounded sincere but at the same time, mysteriously secretive.

"Maybe about your parents?" He wanted to know about the parents who gave birth to her. He could not deny her beauty, but the similarity was too much that he could not look past it.

"Um, your servant is an orphan." She was not wrong, she was definitely not mistaken when she said that. It was her life, it was her destiny.

"Then...the one that was with you the other day is..?"

"That was my sister."

"You two sure do not look alike."

"Yes, we are not related. Aunt adopted us."