"What is Your Highness up to now?" Shen Yuan's body went rigid, the memory of that ambush kiss still burning on his lips.
"Relax. Come here—I need to tell you a secret." Su Jing waved him closer.
What mischief could a little princess possibly be plotting?
Shen Yuan straightened and leaned in her direction.
"Too far. I'll come to you." Before he could react, Su Jing pressed her lips close to his ear, her soft arm draped across his shoulder. His face reddened on cue.
"Remember the other day when I had that nightmare during my nap? It was actually a very, very long dream…"
She told him everything.
"So—because of a dream, you want to switch places with Princess Sheng'an at the temple on the day of prayers? That's why you gave her the gown today?"
Su Jing nodded.
"But it was only a dream. What if nothing plays out the way it did in your sleep? If General Wu doesn't show, all of this will have been for nothing." Shen Yuan frowned.
"No—listen to me. Everything in that dream happened exactly as it should. Sheng'an throwing wine on me at the banquet. The encounter with Wu Qi by the lake. Every detail matched."
His brow deepened. "In this dream—was Wu Qi unkind to you?"
* * *
"He married me only to use my blood ties to the Southern Border King in his rebellion. Once I was no longer useful, he locked me away. In the end, he drugged me unconscious and burned me alive…" Her voice fractured.
Something pierced through Shen Yuan's chest like an arrow. His fists clenched until the knuckles went white, and the corners of his eyes flared red.
Su Jing noticed the shift at once. She reached for calm. "It's alright—it was just a dream. None of it was real."
But it wasn't a dream. It was our last life, soaked in blood and suffering.
"Besides, you avenged me. In the dream, you became the Grand Supervisor. You were extraordinary." She poked his ice-cold cheek. "You had Wu Qi's entire house executed. Then you served the next emperor and held the court together with an iron hand."
"Is that really what happened?" He lifted his head and looked at her.
Something felt wrong. That wasn't him.
If the princess had died like that, would he have carried on living with a clear conscience?
No. He wouldn't.
* * *
If the light inside him went out, he would not go searching for another. He would not spare a thought for the people or the realm.
He would drag the darkness down with him—and they would die together.
Yes. That was the real him.
Obsessive. Dark. Selfish.
"Yes. That's exactly what happened." Su Jing nodded.
"Then—will you be my accomplice?"
"With my life, Your Highness. I will not let the dream come true." Shen Yuan dropped to one knee and made his vow.
"Don't talk about dying. We are both going to live."
We will. I promise.
* * *
The eighth day of the next month. Jiayuan Temple.
"Why on earth did the General choose this place? It's in the middle of nowhere—what scenery is there to see?" Sheng'an grumbled, swaying with the rocking carriage.
"That's the point, Sister. No one will notice you here. You should appreciate the General's thoughtfulness." Su Jing smiled from across the seat. The butterfly hairpin Sheng'an had given her glinted in her hair.
"And you do look utterly divine in that blue gown, Sister. Like an immortal descended to earth."
"Obviously. But what about you? Why are you wearing a veil?" Sheng'an eyed her.
"I went walking in the imperial garden a few days ago and some insect bit me. My face has been a mess of little bumps ever since." Su Jing lifted her veil to reveal faint red marks dotted across her cheeks.
Sheng'an glanced at them without comment, but her mood soared. She had been dreading the veil forced by her own lingering rash, terrified Su Jing might outshine her. Now the heavens themselves were on her side.
She closed her eyes, leaned back, and hummed a tune.
Not once did she notice that their outfits had been reversed from the usual—Su Jing veiled in plain colors, Sheng'an blazing in blue.
Su Jing's nerves, meanwhile, were drawn tight as bowstrings. She sat upright, watching every movement beyond the curtain.
Almost there. This is the spot.
* * *
Halfway up the mountain, a horse screamed. The carriage lurched to a halt. Sheng'an flung back the curtain and found seventeen or eighteen bandits closing in from every direction.
"Protect the princess!" The guards drew their swords and clashed with the attackers.
But the bandits were ferocious—skilled, relentless. The guards faltered. Bamboo arrows thudded into the side of the carriage.
"Help! Somebody—!" Sheng'an collapsed onto the seat, white as paper.
"They're after us. I'll jump out and draw them away. Sister, stay inside and tell the driver to run!" Su Jing ordered the coachman to flee, then leaped from the carriage.
The bandits saw the veiled girl's plain dress and exchanged glances—but did not give chase. Their attention locked harder onto the fleeing carriage.
Su Jing exhaled and bolted down the predetermined path.
On the other side of the mountain, the driver veered wildly until the road ended at the edge of Li Lake. Nowhere left to run. The bandits closed in from every side.
Sheng'an's consciousness flickered. In the instant before she fainted, a clear, commanding voice rang out:
"Forgive my tardiness! Rescue the princess, now!"
Wu Qi thundered in on horseback, clad in black riding leather, cutting through the bandits like a blade through reeds—one man against a dozen, scattering them all.
* * *
General Wu—he came for me!
Sheng'an's heart hammered. The world shrank to the breadth of his shoulders and the scent of iron on his skin.
Wu Qi vaulted from the saddle and lifted the princess from the carriage. A second wave of bandits surged from the trees—twice as many as before.
"Do you trust me, Your Highness?" He whispered against her ear, intimate as a lover's sigh.
Sheng'an nodded shyly, unable to speak.
Wu Qi's mouth curved. Without hesitation, he gathered her in his arms and leaped into the lake.
"Ahhh—!"
Her scream drowned beneath the surface. When she surfaced, half-conscious, Wu Qi was already pulling her toward the opposite bank.
He stared at the blue gown he had sent to "Su Jing"—now soaked through, clinging to the girl's every curve. Heat stirred in his belly.
In the water, their bodies had pressed together in ways that could never be taken back. That had been the entire point.
She belonged to him now.
"I deserve death for what happened—the contact between us was unforgivable. But if Your Highness would have me, I will petition His Majesty for a marriage decree the moment we return." Wu Qi spoke with fervent sincerity. His eyes held nothing but greed.
"I am willing, General. Please don't blame yourself." Sheng'an lowered her gaze and smiled, every inch the bashful maiden.
Sheng'an?!
Wu Qi's blood went cold. He ripped the veil from the girl's face.
It was not Su Jing. It was Princess Sheng'an—wearing the blue gown he had sent. How? How had this happened?
He stood paralyzed, thunderstruck, finally understanding he had walked into a trap.
The imperial guards arrived, fashionably late, and bore witness to the General's passionate vow to Princess Sheng'an.
There was no undoing it. He had fallen into his own snare.
* * *
Within a single day, the tale of a dashing general rescuing a princess—and the princess pledging herself to him on the spot—swept through every corner of the imperial city.
Although the princess turned out to be a different one.
Meanwhile, Shen Yuan crouched beside Su Jing, dabbing a damp cloth over her cheeks, gently erasing the specially crafted red marks.
Su Jing sat with her eyes closed, her lashes trembling, her pink lips curved into a faint pout. Shen Yuan caught himself staring.
"Everything happened exactly as I said it would. Do you believe me now?"
She opened her eyes and tugged his sleeve, her gaze glittering like twin stars.
The corner of Shen Yuan's mouth rose. She looked, at this moment, exactly like a kitten presenting a dead mouse with supreme pride. If she'd had a tail, it would have been vertical.
He reached out, unable to resist, and ruffled the top of her head.
"That was brilliant, Your Highness. Everything went exactly as you predicted. We dodged disaster. Now let's head back—the palace gates will close once it's dark."
"But if we go back this early, won't it look suspicious? Let's stay outside for a day! We can say we hid in a cave to escape the bandits and didn't come out until the next morning…"
Su Jing gazed up at him, eyes full of hope. He didn't have the heart to refuse.
"Fine. I brought enough silver. But we go back tomorrow—no arguments. It isn't safe out here." Shen Yuan sighed in surrender.
"Brother Shen, you're the best!" Su Jing beamed, rose on tiptoe, and planted a loud kiss on his cheek. His face turned crimson.
"Your Highness!!!"
"What? It's not like I haven't kissed you before. Last time it was on the lips, and I even—mmph!" Shen Yuan clapped a hand over her mouth before the sentence could do any more damage.
* * *
Su Jing, undeterred, flicked her tongue against his palm.
"Your Highness!!!" Shen Yuan snatched his hand back and retreated several strides, his ears burning scarlet.
"What?" Innocence incarnate.
"You know what!" He was a rabbit with every hair standing on end.
"Do you really want me to spell it out?"
Shen Yuan: …never mind. It's not that serious.
"So—can we do that more often?"
"Would Your Highness prefer to return to the palace tonight?"
Shen Yuan regarded her with a smile that did not reach his eyes.
"Sorry. I'll behave…"
Su Jing hung her head, the picture of chastened innocence.
Shen Yuan let out a sigh. What evil could this little princess possibly harbor?