Lonely Star Accompanying the Full Moon - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The journey from the Lin Kingdom to the Song Kingdom was long and distant. As a princess, as a woman waiting to be married off, I remained inside the carriage from beginning to end.

Not a single person had seen my face.

Now and then, I would hear passersby mention a thing or two about the Song Kingdom, but most of what I knew came from Chuyi.

Chuyi set out my meal for me, then knelt properly below me.

I looked at the slightly open collar of her robes and narrowed my eyes. With a turn of the chopsticks in my hand, I hooked her collar wide open.

Before she could even cry out, I had already fished out the unfamiliar jade pendant from her robes.

Was there any part of her I was not familiar with?

Yet today, there was an unfamiliar jade pendant on her.

When Chuyi saw the pendant in my hand, she hurriedly set down her chopsticks and prostrated herself on the floor.

“Princess…” Her voice trembled slightly.

I leaned down and used the jade pendant in my hand to gently lift Chuyi’s chin. “Chuyi, I treat you so well. Yet you fear me, but not the owner of this pendant.”

She shook her head, about to explain.

But what I hated most was hearing people explain themselves. I raised my index finger and pressed it against her lips.

Her lips were just like her-delicate and soft.

“Chuyi, I told you before. Men outside are used to lying. I did not raise you into what you are today so that a man could ruin you.”

My finger lightly brushed over her pink lips, and with my other hand, I tossed the jade pendant out of the carriage.

When I straightened and looked again at the dishes on the table, I found I had no appetite at all.

“Princess, this servant knows she was wrong.” Chuyi carefully shuffled forward on her knees and lay at my feet.

I did not look at her. Instead, I turned my head toward the tassels hanging along one side of the carriage and flicked them lightly. “You said you would never leave me.”

My voice was hoarse. Perhaps it sounded a little frightening.

Otherwise, why would Chuyi start weeping in that tiny voice of hers?

“Princess, this servant will never dare again…”

I sighed before finally turning back to look at her.

With one hand, I gripped her chin; with the other, I gently wiped the tears from her face. “Chuyi, if there is a next time…”

I did not finish the sentence. I believed she already understood.

Because just as I understood her, she understood me very well too.

“How is Lin Shuang’er?” I picked up a bite of the food Chuyi had arranged for me and put it in my mouth.

“She was sent back. Gu Yu said she had already been defiled.” Chuyi placed another dish into my bowl.

She knew me best. She knew what news would anger me and what news would please me.

By now, she was no longer as cautious as she had been at the start. Her entire person had grown much livelier.

This news did, in fact, satisfy me greatly.

Lin Shuang’er was my third imperial sister, the one whose whereabouts had been unknown. The princess originally chosen for the marriage alliance had been her.

The thing I had wanted with all my heart had fallen so easily into her hands. If she had not provoked me again and again, perhaps I might even have thought of a perfect solution for her.

One that would keep her from going to the marriage alliance and fulfill her wish as well, letting her marry the man she loved.

What a pity…

She just had to provoke me.

“Once this princess goes to act spoiled before Imperial Father, I’ll have you made a side consort to that useless Crown Prince. He is just like you-both of you are useless creatures whose mothers are dead and who are wanted by no one. I imagine the two of you will make an excellent match.” Those were the words Lin Shuang’er had spoken in my palace that day.

As I stroked the cat in my arms, I felt that her final sentence made a great deal of sense.

But there was no need for her to go act spoiled.

I naturally had my own ways of obtaining everything I wanted.

It was only that she would probably… never be able to act spoiled before Imperial Father again.

By the time I heard that Lin Shuang’er had taken her own life, I had already reached the border of the Song Kingdom.

The news had been brought by Gu Yu.

Gu Yu was a dying eunuch I had picked up in the palace. I had forgotten what had made me happy that day, but in passing, I saved him.

I had not expected him to be a eunuch of exceptional skill. From then on, he obediently became my shadow.

He did everything I wanted to do.

“I gave him a chance. If he comes with me to the Song Kingdom this time, I will never grant him freedom again.” I turned a page of the book in my hand and spoke carelessly.

Chuyi trimmed the lamp wick. “This servant already passed the princess’s words on to him. He chose to stay of his own accord.”

I nodded and said no more.

Our party traveled for another two months before finally arriving outside the capital of the Song Kingdom.

The envoy sent to receive the bride told me that tomorrow, the eighth day of the eighth month, was an exceptionally auspicious date, so I was to rest outside the city for one day and enter the city tomorrow.

When Chuyi helped me lie down to sleep, there was still a smile on her lips. “He must remember you, Princess, to have put in such care. You and he are certain to live long and happily together, in harmony and love.”

After hearing her words, the gloom Lin Shuang’er had left behind instantly vanished like smoke in the wind.

Even the corners of my mouth rose without my realizing it.

I had waited far, far too long, and used far, far too many dishonorable methods.

All for this day.