Winter Sun - Chapter 2

4.

Ignoring He Yan, I left the palace with Shen Huai’an.

He had seemed pleased inside the palace, yet on the way home his spirits were low.

He lifted the carriage curtain and stared outside. Even when we reached my residence, his face revealed nothing.

I made no effort to guess why he was unhappy.

Taking a cup of hot tea, I settled into a cushioned chair and looked up lazily.

“A green snake? Are you venomous?”

He lowered his eyes without looking at me.

“I used to be. Before I came, they pulled out my fangs and removed my venom glands. Not anymore.”

His voice was not exactly cold.

But it was less pleasant than the way he had called me “Your Highness” in the palace.

I frowned slightly.

“Does it hurt?”

It was only a casual question, but he froze for a moment.

Then his expression softened.

“It did before. It doesn’t now.”

The smile at his lips was faint, almost imperceptible.

For a moment, I was distracted.

I seemed to remember seeing him smile like that before.

In my previous life, I had seen him twice after my ninth sister took him away.

Once was at Father’s birthday celebration, when she brought him to the palace.

For some reason, he had become distracted and spilled wine on her clothes while pouring it. She punished him by making him kneel outside the hall.

It rained heavily that night.

Unable to bear the sight, I sent him an umbrella.

He came early the next morning.

I didn’t know how long he had been standing outside my door.

He was still wearing the sodden clothes from the night before.

The rain had reopened the whip wounds on his back, staining a large patch red.

But he seemed oblivious to the pain.

Just as now, his expression had softened, a faint smile touching his lips.

“Your Highness, I’ve come to return the umbrella.”

“Your Highness, back at the palace…why did you choose me?”

His hesitant voice drew me out of my memories.

I looked up and met eyes of dark, inky green, like a deep spring.

The tea in my hand smelled intoxicating.

I narrowed my eyes.

“You want to know?”

“Show me your animal form.”

5.

“Your Highness…do you mean it?”

His voice trembled.

He seemed disbelieving, yet delighted too.

Color spread from his ears to his cheeks. His hands moved awkwardly behind his back.

His reaction was rather strange.

I only wanted to see his animal form. It was hardly an unreasonable request.

My voice cooled without my meaning it to.

“You don’t want to?”

“I do. Of course I do.”

He spoke as unhurriedly as ever, but now there was a new firmness in his tone.

A long emerald tail appeared.

His upper body remained unchanged, apart from a few green scales on his cheeks and neck.

“My mother is human. My bloodline is mixed, so I can’t take a complete animal form.”

“Please…don’t despise me for it.”

I had never seen He Yan’s animal form in my previous life.

Seeing a man transform for the first time, I felt nothing but wonder.

Marveling that Dongyu had truly managed to find beastfolk, I couldn’t resist getting up to touch him.

He was cool beneath my fingers.

His skin felt like a piece of exquisite cold jade.

“Beautiful.”

I meant it.

As I withdrew my hand, I noticed a slightly darker scale.

“What’s this?”

I reached out and touched it lightly.

At that faint contact, Shen Huai’an made a muffled sound.

The green tail beneath my hand shrank away and curled tightly upon itself.

“Your Highness.”

His voice had suddenly grown husky.

When I looked up, his face was flushed, his eyes filled with desire.

“Don’t touch there. Please…”

6.

Even inexperienced as I was, under the circumstances I immediately understood what lay beneath that scale.

I withdrew my hand with a small cough and looked away.

“You may go.”

Plainly, he had never encountered a situation like this either.

His long green tail became legs again. He stepped back twice.

The blush had not faded from his usually cool face. His eyes were full of chagrin and confusion.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

His lashes trembled. He discreetly tugged at the hem of his loose robe, bowed, and took his leave.

By the time he left, his expression was composed again.

But the slight haste in his footsteps betrayed his disquiet.

Only when those footsteps had faded completely did I look away.

I glanced down at my fingertips, still faintly warm, and schooled my expression.

“Take a few people and watch his courtyard.”

After a pause, I let my lips curve slightly.

“I hear snakes are very perceptive. Hide well. Don’t let him notice.”

A concealed guard acknowledged the order softly and departed without a sound.

The room remained quiet for a long while before He-niang, my steward, entered carrying the account books.

“Third Princess, our shops took in a total of one hundred and seven thousand, three, twenty-eight taels of silver this month.”

“Shall we send five thousand taels to the Second Prince as usual?”

As always, she delivered her report without expression.

I did not answer at once.

Lowering my eyes, I recalled the fire in my previous life and everything that had happened at today’s palace banquet after my rebirth.

When I looked up again, my decision was made.

“Send it.”

“And leave a small opening. There’s no need to conceal it quite so carefully this time.”

Pinglan had been quiet for too long.

It was time to liven things up.