Shen Yinning, her clothes disheveled, straddled Lu Ying. Though she was now a married woman, she had been trapped in Shen Garden by the Crown Prince for three days.
Lu Ying nonchalantly flipped through a calligraphy book: "You spent three years in Gan State, and your skills in serving men have clearly improved. But your handwriting—it's still as atrocious as it was three years ago. Where's the grace of a daughter of the Duke Mansion?"
Shen Yinning mocked herself inwardly. Once a proud and privileged daughter of the Duke Mansion, she was now the fallen daughter of a criminal, the wife of a low-ranking official, and entirely reduced to being the Crown Prince Lu Ying's beck-and-call plaything.
She spoke in a soft voice: "Your servant and her family were ruined, exiled to Gan State that year. I was wed to a local Eighth Rank officer, while Your Highness married my cousin as the Crown Princess Consort. I've heard that the two of you have been deeply affectionate and harmonious these past three years. Yet here Your Highness is, not in the Eastern Palace accompanying my sister, but secretly meeting me in Shen Garden. If my sister finds out, won't she be angry?"
"I'm asking you about your calligraphy practice."
Lu Ying wore an impassive expression: "I told you to practice calligraphy properly in Gan State, but you treated my advice as nothing but wind past your ears?"
Shen Yinning, soft and pliant, clung to his shoulders and lightly kissed his ear and neck: "Then what punishment does Your Highness deem appropriate for your servant?"
The storm outside raged on.
Under the corridor outside, two young eunuchs overheard the faint sounds of tender moans emanating from the study. Unable to help themselves, their ears flushed red.
Gui Quan sighed: "You have to admit, Madam Shen does have her ways! A convicted criminal's daughter, her parents dead, her family confiscated—yet she still managed to climb into His Highness's bed the night before her exile, leaving him obsessed with her for three years! Look here—His Highness arranged for her to marry a local minor official, then quietly transferred that official to be a Capital Official, bringing her back to the Capital without anyone realizing!"
De Sun shook his head: "The Crown Princess Consort is fiercely jealous. If she discovers His Highness's affair with Madam Shen, there'll definitely be a huge commotion, and we won't escape trouble either. Gui Quan, we need to keep our mouths tightly shut."
Just as fears played on their minds, rushing footsteps echoed down the corridor.
A group of older maids and palace maids surrounded the Crown Princess Consort Shen Yunxi, who had somehow caught wind of the scandal and was now storming toward them in force.
De Sun's eyes widened in alarm as he frantically motioned for Gui Quan to go warn them.
He himself fell to his knees and raised his voice: "Wishing Your Grace prosperity and peace!"
"You wretched servants!" Shen Yunxi furiously kicked him. "I hear His Highness is sheltering a vixen in Shen Garden. Where is that wench? Is His Highness with her right now?!"
"Your Grace, there's no such thing!" De Sun, teary-eyed, clung to her foot. "The Crown Prince has been deeply devoted to Your Grace. How could he have an affair with some vixen?"
"Get off me!"
Shen Yunxi viciously kicked him off, storming quickly into the depths of Shen Garden.
The news of the Crown Princess Consort arriving to catch her husband in the act was quickly relayed by Gui Quan to Lu Ying.
"Oh, my sister's here?" Shen Yinning, soft and languid, curled up in Lu Ying's embrace, her hoarse voice tinged with an alluring playfulness. "She's now the Crown Princess Consort, while I'm merely the wife of an Eighth Rank officer. By protocol, I should go kneel before her and pay my respects, shouldn't I? Your Highness, what do you think?"
Gui Quan knelt under the corridor, too afraid to lift his head to glance in the direction of the study.
Yet inwardly, he mused on how Madam Shen had once been the legitimate daughter of the Duke Mansion and the acknowledged Capital's greatest beauty, even engaged to the Crown Prince Himself. What an image it had been—beauty like a flower seen from afar, full of lofty prestige!
By contrast, the Crown Princess Consort of today had once been merely a daughter from a minor branch of the Shen Family. At galas, whether in the palace or among the officials' families, she had followed behind Madam Shen like a tagalong, respectfully calling her "elder sister" at every turn.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say she had been no more than Madam Shen's shoe-bearer.
But then, Shen Yunxi's father, Shen Yan—a younger half-brother to Duke Shen—reported to His Majesty that Duke Shen was plotting rebellion. Furious, His Majesty confiscated the Shen Family's holdings and bestowed the Duke title upon Shen Yan.
Shen Yinning, from heaven's favored daughter, was reduced overnight to the disgraced daughter of a criminal. Shen Yunxi, who had always been inferior and obsequious to her, soared into prominence as the Duke Mansion's favored daughter!
Even the Crown Princess Consort's title was transferred from Shen Yinning to Shen Yunxi.
Now, Shen Yinning had to kneel and bow before Shen Yunxi to show respect.
In a mere three years, the fates of the two sisters had reversed so drastically—it truly made one sigh.
Lu Ying maintained a blank expression, patting Shen Yinning on her backside: "Why would you meet her? Put your clothes on and leave via the back door."
Shen Yinning's legs were still weak, her body aching in certain places.
She braced herself to stand, laughing as she picked up the scattered clothes strewn across the ground: "Am I some shameful figure who can't see the light of day? She's just my cousin—what's wrong with meeting her?"
Lu Ying calmly reminded her: "You're a married woman now. What we're doing is adultery. Do you think that's something to be proud of?"
Shen Yinning shot him a teasing, sidelong glance with her striking almond-shaped eyes.
The Crown Prince Lu Ying—high-born and radiant, flawless like pristine jade, glowing like the moon in the heavens, pure like snow in the mountains.
Under heaven, perhaps no one else could utter the word "adultery" with such an elegant and composed demeanor.
Faint footsteps could already be heard outside the room.
Shen Yinning glanced toward the door, casually kissed Lu Ying's cheek, and spoke softly: "Lu Ying, my dear, I'll be good and practice my calligraphy. You must remember to visit me again."
As she left through the back door with Gui Quan escorting her, Shen Yunxi barged into the study.
Shen Yunxi frantically scanned the room but found Lu Ying seated alone, immaculate in his robes, holding a scroll. There wasn't a single trace of the "vixen."
She immediately bowed to offer her respects: "Your servant greets His Highness!"
Lu Ying didn't even lift his eyelids: "Why are you here?"
Shen Yunxi dared not admit that she had come to catch him in the act. Nervously, she stammered: "I… I…"
At a loss for words, her gaze fell on a faint red mark on Lu Ying's cheek.
Her eyes widened in fury, jealousy flaring in her chest like a raging inferno: "Your Highness, your face…"
Lu Ying glanced at the mark in the bronze mirror.
It must have been intentionally left by Shen Yinning as she departed.
Shen Yinning...
She really is a witch.