My Savior, My Second Chance - Chapter 2

When I woke again, my entire view was filled with pale, firm muscle covered in bite marks and scratches.

As if possessed, I reached out and stroked it, savoring the memory.

To my surprise, the muscle let out an outraged cry.

“How dare you!”

I came fully awake and looked up. The crown prince wore the horrified, furious expression of a man who had been thoroughly taken advantage of.

I reacted at once, beating him to the accusation.

“Who are you? What did you do to me?”

He frowned.

“You don’t recognize me? Liar! We met at the palace banquet!”

Of course I recognized the crown prince.

In my previous life, it had been long after my marriage before I learned that, at the banquet preceding the selection, Pei Yuan had looked twice at me and no one else.

Those two glances must have drawn Princess Huayin’s attention to me.

Mother had told me that Immortal’s Lust was a bedchamber drug sent as tribute from the Western Regions, for the emperor to use in training his consorts.

Only the princess could have obtained such a drug.

There had to have been something in the wine she gave me.

Duan Ming was merely one of our guards. Without the princess directing things behind the scenes, who would dare assault a young lady of status in the shadow of the imperial palace?

My greatest enemy might be inside that palace. In this life, attaching myself to the Eastern Palace was my only chance of survival.

Last night, I had taken the first step. Now I needed to dispel the crown prince’s suspicions.

At the banquet, the other young ladies and I had sat at the lower tables, our eyes downcast throughout, not daring to offend imperial dignity.

It was perfectly plausible for me to deny recognizing him now. It would even make me seem exceptionally innocent and pure.

“Where did a villain like you come from? You even dare impersonate the crown prince!”

I curled up, wiped at my eyes, and burst into sobs.

“It wasn’t enough to violate me? You had to do it in His Highness’s name? He’s the one I love most! Now I haven’t a chance—not a single chance!”

I wept so piteously I nearly shook the roof off that wretched woodshed.

Several tall guards rushed in. Their uniforms marked them as men of the Eastern Palace.

“Your Highness! We’ve finally found you!”

Pei Yuan was already floundering beneath my flood of tears.

“Hey! Stop crying! I really am the crown prince! They can vouch for me!”

I wailed louder.

“You are not! His Highness is wise and mighty! He wouldn’t bite people like a dog!”

“His Highness is handsome and noble! He wouldn’t look like a lecher like you!”

“His Highness is my peerless hero! He could never be a scoundrel like you!”

The guards watched their formerly furious prince begin to smile under the barrage of “wise and mighty,” “handsome and noble,” and “peerless hero.”

“This is the Eastern Palace token.”

A gleaming gold plaque loomed before my tear-filled eyes.

Pei Yuan could hardly suppress his grin. “Do you believe me now?”

His guards chimed in. “This is the wise, mighty, handsome, noble, peerless hero you spoke of, miss—His Highness the Crown Prince!”

My sobbing stopped at once. I reached for the gold token, but Pei Yuan drew his hand back, leaving me grasping at air.

Then he suddenly took my pulse. After a moment, his brows knitted.

“You were drugged too?”

The crown prince was a valiant warrior and a skilled physician. The people praised his compassion for treating nameless wounded foot soldiers on the battlefield.

All I had to do was let him take my pulse, then feign terror.

“Are you going to kill me, Your Highness?”

Pei Yuan released my wrist. With his medical skill, he must have identified the drug in me.

And that drug had almost certainly come from the palace.

He would realize I was another wretched pawn of someone powerful there.

Now I could take a step back.

“Please rest easy, Your Highness. I may admire you, but I would never presume to seek a place in the Eastern Palace.”

Gathering my robes around me, I struggled stubbornly to my feet.

“I will tell no one about last night. You need not trouble yourself.”

With that, I walked unsteadily toward the door.

The crown prince actually made no move to stop me. The bastard!

I deliberately tugged my sleeve and dropped a jade pendant where he could see it.

It bore the Shen family crest.

And, more importantly, my private childhood name.

I left without looking back.

I could not let him see even a trace of reluctance to leave him. Otherwise, I would become just another predictable conquest in his eyes.

I stumbled out of the alley, my skirts stained with blood and the wounds in my legs throbbing.

Duan Ming was waiting at its end.

When he spotted me, he was visibly ecstatic and immediately ran toward me.

Weakened by blood loss and the previous night’s exhaustion, I fainted into his arms before I could resist.

When I next woke, I was lying in my own bedchamber.

Father’s face was livid. Mother’s eyes were red from crying.

Duan Ming was slapping his own face as he spoke.

“Last night, I saw that the young lady had been poisoned with an aphrodisiac. Without a union of yin and yang, she would have died! That was the only reason I overstepped!”

“I truly love her and wanted to protect her. If she does not despise me, I am willing to ask for her hand as my lawful wife!”

He thought the drug had wiped away my memory. He lied with utter conviction.

“What did you say?” I asked weakly.

Duan Ming tightened his grip on my hand.

“Have you forgotten, miss? You were drugged. The moment you saw me, you burrowed into my arms. I had no choice but to help you find that union!”

His gaze clung to me, oily and insistent. It was less a reminder than a warning.

“There is a red mole on your right shoulder, isn’t there, miss?

“I saw it clearly when we lay together last night. I will never forget your beauty.”