Year's End - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

After I got drunk at that palace banquet, I spent the night in a side hall of Fengyi Palace.

When I woke the next morning,

my whole body felt sticky. I must have sweated in my drunken sleep last night. My personal maid wasn’t around, so there was no one to help me clean up.

But why did the smell seem so strange?

It didn’t seem like alcohol.

I dabbed a little on my fingertip and brought it to my nose, wanting to figure out what the scent was.

Just then, Crown Prince Brother walked in from outside the hall.

His gaze lingered on me, dark and deep. Then he said gently, “Wanwan, Mother Empress is calling for you.”

I hurried to straighten my dress. “I’ll go right away.”

But he held me down, his gaze sweeping, almost imperceptibly, over my collar. “No hurry. Bathe first.”

Following his line of sight, I noticed a small patch of purplish bruising in an area hidden beneath my clothes.

“Huh? Why is it bruised?”

Xie Jingchu’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “You fell on your way back to the sleeping quarters last night.”

I didn’t think too much of it and went to bathe and change first.

While bathing, I discovered bruises all over my body.

Even the insides of my thighs had apparently been hit in the fall.

I had fallen so badly, yet it didn’t hurt at all.

Even then, I thought it was strange.

So it turns out they weren’t from a fall at all!

But… but even if everyone knew I was going to be his Crown Princess, Crown Prince Brother had never been intimate with me in daily life.

How could he possibly do something like this?

[Why isn’t our good girl moving? Drink it already!]

[Is little sister scared? Don’t be scared, don’t be scared. The male lead will be very gentle.]

[Hahahahaha, exactly, exactly. So gentle, seriously, trust me. If I’m lying, I’ll punish myself with three cups of milk tea today.]

[Are you sure you’re not rewarding yourself, upstairs?]

Ever since my coming-of-age ceremony, the teaching matron had put matters between men and women on the schedule.

I understood what I was supposed to understand. Of course I knew what this shameless group was talking about.

Seven days and seven nights…

My ears burned.

Wouldn’t I break?

Crown Prince Brother was such an upright, proper person. How could he possibly do that?

Couldn’t they see I was already planning to seduce him? He would never be like that!

I decided to treat those words as if they were nothing but wind passing my ears.

Only, as I looked at the remaining aphrodisiac in my hand, I found myself at a loss.

The wine’s fragrance curled up from the cup, making my head feel heavy.

Our engagement had already been delayed for two years!

I was about to become a grown young lady.

If I didn’t take the initiative, what if he changed his mind?

Gritting my teeth, I poured the little bit of medicine left into the cup.

[That’s more like it. Hurry, drink it, drink it. Once you’re done, go find your Crown Prince Brother.]

Looking at the barrage of comments, my rebellious streak kicked in.

I refused to do what they said.