"Granted in marriage to the First Imperial Daughter." She slowly spat out the words, each one seeming to be ground out from between clenched teeth, tinged with the scent of blood. "What a fine 'imperial will.' What a fine open stratagem."
She suddenly laughed. The smile was icy, dazzling, and agonizing all at once—like flames exploding beneath a sheet of ice. "Do they all think that this is enough to pin you down? To take you… right out from under my eyes?"
"Your Highness…" I tried to speak, but she cut me off.
"Su Yuzhi." She called my name, her gaze like molten iron poured straight onto my face. "Look at me."
I was forced to raise my eyes and meet hers. In those burning pupils, I saw surging unwillingness, a fury that scorched the heart, and… a focus so absolute and unquestionable that it made my very soul tremble.
"I ask you," her voice dropped even lower, yet every word struck like a hammer against my heart, "do you want to marry her? Marry Xiao Lintian, become the most lavish of the countless gilded canaries in the Eastern Palace, spending your days facing a woman you might not love at all—one you may even have to guard against at every moment—playing the role of the virtuous consort, and wasting away your entire life?"
Did I want to?
The answer was almost bursting through my throat—no!
But reality was this: did I even have a choice?
My silence seemed to be the answer she wanted. The fire in her eyes burned even fiercer.
"Since you don't want to, then don't marry." Her words were decisive.
"Your Highness," I said bitterly, "the imperial will cannot be defied. The Su family—"
"The Su family, and the imperial will—so what?" She suddenly stepped forward, so close she was nearly pressed against me. Her overwhelming presence enveloped me completely. "In this world, there is no such thing as 'cannot be defied.' There is only whether you want it badly enough, whether you dare to fight for it!"
Her gaze was sharp as a blade, slicing apart all my hesitation and pretense. "That day in the rain, when you danced, what was burning in your eyes? It was unwillingness! A fire that wanted to break free of every shackle, that wanted to truly live! And now—where is that fire? Is it going to be doused by nothing more than a rumor of an arranged marriage?"
My whole body shuddered. She had seen straight through me—so thoroughly, all along.
"Su Yuzhi," her voice suddenly softened, yet carried an even more lethal weight, every word crashing heavily into my heart. "I don't want to hide anymore, and I can't hide anymore. From the moment you grabbed my hand at the ice lake, from when you covered for me at the banquet, from the rainy night when I saw you dance… no, perhaps even earlier—you were already mine."
Her confession was so direct, so domineering, leaving no room for retreat.
"I want that position." She raised her hand. Her fingertips did not touch me, yet it felt as though an invisible force traced the contours of my body in the air. Unconcealed ambition and desire burned in her eyes. "The supreme throne, the vast rivers and mountains—I want them all. But—"
She paused. Her gaze became a deepest whirlpool, dragging me completely under.
"I also want you."
"I want you standing at my side—not as an accessory, not as decoration. I want you to watch me seize this world in my hands. I want you to share with me the solitude and the glory of these boundless lands. Su Yuzhi, do you hear me? I want you—only you, nothing but you."
The night wind was biting cold; the plum branches rustled softly. Yet her words were sharper than the wind, colder than ice, and hotter than fire.
I looked at her—at this woman who had endured in silence for so many years within the palace, and who now laid all her ambition and desire bare before me. Her gaze was frighteningly obsessive, and yet… frighteningly real.
"Your Highness," my voice trembled slightly, "this path… is too difficult, too dangerous. You, as you are now—"
"I know." She cut me off, her gaze firm as bedrock. "I am weak now. I have no maternal clan to support me, no foundation at court. I am not even equal to Eighth Imperial Sister, who holds military power. Eldest Sister treats me as nothing; the other sisters see me as transparent. But—" the corner of her lips curved into a cold, proud arc, "so what? What they have, I may not lack. What they do not have, I may not be unable to seize. This game of chess—until the very end, who can say who will win or lose?"
Her confidence was not arrogance, but conviction forged from countless late-night calculations and countless assessments of timing and circumstance. I could feel the long-suppressed edge, now breaking through the ice.
"And you," her gaze locked onto me once more, carrying a tenderness that was almost greedy, "are the only uncertainty in my plans, and also my only… indulgence. I don't need you to do anything for me. You only need to live well, and watch—watch as I take each step, until I reach the position where I can openly and honorably claim you."
She slowly extended her hand. This time, her fingertips truly brushed my ice-cold cheek. The touch was cool, yet carried a scorching heat.
"Trust me once, Su Yuzhi." Her voice was low as a whisper, yet heavy as a thousand weights. "Give yourself to me. I will show you that the cage you resent, I can break for you; the life you want to truly live, I can walk it with you."
Trust her?
This imperial daughter struggling to survive amid palace intrigues, deep in schemes? This woman who possessed an almost obsessive desire to claim me?
Reason told me this was madness—far too dangerous. To wager my fate on her was to step onto a thorn-covered path that could lead to utter ruin at any moment.
But… looking into her eyes, what burned there was not only ambition and desire, but also a sincerity I had never seen before—a sincerity of staking everything on a single throw. She laid bare before me her truest, most vulnerable, and sharpest ambition, without holding anything back.
More importantly, in her, I saw another possibility. A possibility different from submitting to an arranged marriage and being imprisoned in the Eastern Palace—a path that might be just as difficult, but one chosen by my own will.
Even if the road ahead was an abyss, even if it meant dancing with a tiger—at least… it would be my own choice.
The cold wind swept through, and a few early-fallen plum petals drifted down, brushing past her shoulder and my hair.
I closed my eyes, drew in a deep breath of the freezing air, then slowly exhaled.
Then I opened my eyes, met her waiting, blazing gaze, and gently nodded.
"Alright."
Just one word, yet it felt as though it drained me of a lifetime's worth of courage.
Xiao Yuhuang's pupils contracted sharply. In the next instant, a world-shaking surge rose within them. She did not smile, but the tension in her jaw eased, and the fire burning in her eyes seemed to withdraw at once, settling into something deeper, more solid—something with the weight of a promise.
She said nothing more. She only looked at me, long and deeply, as if to carve this moment—along with the cold wind, the plum branches, and the night itself—into the depths of her soul.
Then she raised her hand again and removed something from around her neck—a piece of warm, translucent mutton-fat white jade tied with a red cord. Faintly visible upon it was an intricate, ancient phoenix pattern.
She placed the jade pendant into my palm. My fingers brushed against the coolness of her fingertips and the warmth of the jade.
"Take this as my pledge," she said softly. "Wait for me."
With that, she did not hesitate. She pulled the hood back up, obscuring her face, cast one last look at me, then turned away. Her figure, just like when she came, silently melted into the darkness deep within the plum grove, disappearing into the cutting night wind.
As though she had never been there at all.
Only the jade pendant in my palm, still carrying her body heat, and a faint trace of cold fragrance lingering in the air, proved that the heart-stopping events just now had not been a dream.
I clenched the jade pendant tightly. Its smooth warmth pressed against my palm, as if still holding the strength of her fingertips—and her heartbeat.