Jade Still Cold, Crimson Strings Run Deep - Chapter 2

I dismissed the others and kept only Zhuxian.

“Didn’t I tell you to leave the capital and go as far away as you could?”

She lowered her head and knelt with measured grace. “This common woman greets Your Highness.”

“Answer my question.”

“I know my strength is too slight to contend with the Crown Prince,” she said in a low voice. “I happened to hear that Your Highness was looking for a maid who suited your wishes. Though I have little to recommend me, I know a little poetry and prose. I would like to serve you.”

The corner of my mouth lifted. “A little poetry and prose…”

I pressed a hand to my forehead and laughed for a long time. Zhuxian pursed her lips. At last I cleared my throat and stopped smiling.

“Wen Zhuxian, you’re clever enough to know I’m not looking for an ordinary maid.”

“…I know.”

“Do you think you meet my requirements?”

She was silent for a long while. Then she said, “I…am passably attractive. I should be of use to Your Highness.”

I studied her quietly. “Passably attractive” was as much an understatement as “a little poetry and prose.”

The emperor had once praised her beauty in verse: a full, stately figure and a face as warm and luminous as jade. Radiant, graceful, and strikingly lovely, she had a beauty all her own, born of her deep learning. She was the living image of the saying that books lend a person an inner elegance.

Now, though, a black fissure seemed to have appeared in that fine piece of jade. I could see the hatred churning in her eyes, too fierce to suppress. She yearned for revenge. It had cast a shadow over her, and made her more elusive, with the dangerous allure of a poppy.

“Wen Zhuxian, your grandfather didn’t raise you to trade on your looks.”

I waved her away. “Go. I can have someone take you somewhere safe. Study there, and never return to the capital.”

She clenched her teeth. Suddenly she lunged forward and fell at my knees. I looked down at her in surprise.

She raised her face to mine. Her fair skin filled my vision; her dark eyes were brimming with rage. The reddened corners of those eyes looked like spider lilies in full bloom.

…Breathtaking.

The force of her beauty caught me unprepared.

“Your Highness, all I ask is to avenge myself with my own hands, and avenge the Wen family and my grandfather! Use any part of me you wish: my learning, my looks, anything. I beg you, grant me this chance!”

We held each other’s gaze for a long time. I closed my eyes briefly and sighed.

“Why put yourself through this? Many of your grandfather’s closest friends would shelter you. His former students still hope you’ll restore his good name. Yet you come here, ready to throw yourself away as a hidden agent. Do you know how few agents have ever met a good end? Who would choose such work unless they had no other way? You still have so many choices. Why insist on walking into this danger?”

Her answer was stiff. “How could one feel no resentment when loyalty is met with suspicion and devotion with slander?”

“…”

I blinked, drew a deep breath, and turned toward the courtyard. Spring was lovely there.

“…Very well. If you refuse to be dissuaded, I won’t argue anymore.” I bent my head to look at her. “Once you take this path, though, you cannot turn back or call a halt halfway through. Even if knives fall ahead of you, you’ll have to charge through them. Can you do that?”

“I will obey Your Highness!”

“…Stop calling yourself a common woman. From today on, you’re my personal lady official.”

“…This subject thanks Your Highness for your favor.”

She bowed until her forehead nearly touched the floor. I leaned languidly against my couch.

“Now let’s discuss what you must do.”

“Please instruct me, Your Highness.”

“As far as your looks go, there’s nothing lacking. But your identity…” I gave a soft laugh. “Everyone in the capital knows the Crown Prince loathes you. Forget seducing him: the sight of your back alone would make him want to kill you.”

Zhuxian kept her head bowed and said nothing.

“On the other hand, if you show him you might be conquered, he may bring you into the Eastern Palace simply for the pleasure of trampling you.”

Still she said nothing. I reached out with one finger and gently tipped up her chin. There was unease in her eyes as I looked into them.

“Wen Zhuxian, you must learn how to seduce someone. The Crown Prince wants a beauty who stirs his urge to conquer, not an old scholar who lectures him.”

Her lashes would not stop trembling. “Your Highness, I…I can learn.”

“Then try seducing me.”

At my words, Zhuxian’s eyes nearly popped out of her head.