Princess In The Palace

11. Those Horrible People

Chapter 11.

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recap: when Yì Rán visited Physician Lǐ, Astronomer Wèi could not stop staring at her, as he sensed an aura that should not belong to her. He also felt extreme sadness coming out of her despite her cheerful appearance, as if her soul was asking him to save her. During the summer feast held by Empress Dowager, First Prince stopped Yì Rán when the latter was bringing dirty dishes to the kitchen. They talked for a while before the little girl left. When First Prince walked back to the pavilion, Second Prince emerged from behind a tree, looking at the two of them.

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Go to Phoenix Garden and pick any pink-coloured flowers that are still blooming.

That was what Jǐng Er told her earlier, as the little girl carried a bamboo basket in her hand, in it was a white piece of silk to cover up the flowers she had picked earlier. They were to be placed in vases around Her Highness' palace, hence she picked them from their stems, leaving a few pieces of leaves on the stalks. As she walked past a pebbly path, she heard the singing of a voice that perhaps could have been the singing of fairies from Heaven. The singing was not accompanied by any musical instruments, yet it sounded so much better than any other performances. Though she was not able to recognise the lyrics or even understand them, she was drawn by that voice and trailed off her original path. She hid behind a tree and peeked out, seeing a beautiful woman accompanied by two servants singing between the green bushes that had stopped flowering. She stood there, admiring her heavenly voice together with the birds which stopped to sing with her. Halfway through, she noticed a shadow behind a tree right across her. The man seemed to be admiring that beautiful woman as well. Of course, who could even walk pass after listening to just one verse she sang?

However, the more she looked at the man, the more her heart beat, rapidly. She recognised that face, the very same face she had talked to several times before.

All of a sudden, her ears blocked out the woman's voice and instead, her eyes were locked on the person hiding right across her. She was curious, she was confused but most importantly, she felt her heart beating a thousand times faster as if she had sinned. She gripped her sleeves tightly and dazed for a moment before she came to her senses. When she looked at him again, he was already gone.

Immediately she turned her head around, searching for him before she felt a hand grabbing tightly on her arm, pulling her in between trees, with the low branches of thick leaves as a canopy hiding them.

"What are you doing here?" His voice sounded agitated as his grip on her tightened. Her fear crystallised and she did not even notice the pain caused by his strong hold on her.

"Yo-Your Highness..." The evident trembling in her voice indicated to him that she knew what was going on, or precisely, what was going on in his heart. When he sensed the unusual increasing fear within her, he knew that he was busted. He himself felt his own fear crawling up his body as well but he stood still on his standing and managed to push his feelings down.

"Listen, you saw nothing today. You did not see me today nor Concubine Hūa. Understand?!"

"I-I..."

"Understand?!" Second Prince tightened his grip on her, completely unforgiving of the fact that she was simply a young girl.

"Yes!" He only loosened his grip and let go of her when he heard the answer he wanted. Yì Rán saw her wrist growing red but she brushed off that thought as her mind was filled with something else. She looked down on her feet, her eyes blinking as she pondered in fear. As he looked at her, he saw her uneasiness and he was just reminded of the scene he saw before and he felt a portion of his fear was lifted.