The morning after our conversation, a quiet storm began to brew within the palace. The news that I had replaced my head maid with a new maid from my hometown, a trusted face from the Huangtu Kingdom, had made its rounds with the speed of a whisper in a marketplace. I had forgotten to mention it to my husband in the wake of our sudden and emotional breakthrough. A knot of worry tightened in my stomach. What would he think? Would he see it as a political move, an act of defiance, or worse—a sign that I still didn't trust him?
I knew I couldn't let rumors define this new beginning. A sudden, bold idea came to me. I had to face him directly. I went to my pantry and found the remaining snacks Li Mei had sent for me, a few famous Huangtu delicacies. I carefully packed them and, with a new sense of purpose, made my way to Prince Wang Cheng's study.
It was the first time I had ever ventured into his private sanctuary. The eunuch at the door looked surprised to see me, but he announced my arrival, and I was quickly let inside. The room was lined with scrolls and books, a quiet, serious space that suited the man I had once thought him to be. He looked up from his desk, a flicker of shock on his face as he saw me standing there, clutching the small box.
The old Prince Wang Cheng would have kept his distance. But this new man, the one who had finally bared his heart to me, didn't hesitate. "Send the eunuch away," he instructed, his voice low and intimate. As the doors closed, he rose and moved toward me, his face softening with a warmth I was now learning to recognize.
"Li Lan," he said, taking the box from my hands. "You are here. And you have brought me something?"
I simply nodded, my voice momentarily lost. He led me to a low table by the window and gestured for me to sit. "I have not had a thing from your hands yet," he said, a playful smile on his lips. "Please, prepare it for me."
As I carefully arranged the sweets on a small tray, he watched me, a look of pure contentment on his face. He made no mention of the new maid or the rumors. He simply sat there, happy to have me in his space, serving him. He took the first piece, his eyes never leaving mine. It was a famous Huangtu delicacy, a taste of my home.
He ate every last one, a small, genuine smile playing on his lips with each bite. "Delicious," he said, finishing the last one with a satisfied sigh. He looked at me, a profound happiness in his gaze. "Of course, anything from your hands was obviously going to be delicious."
At that moment, I knew I had done the right thing. The new maid was a piece of the puzzle, a step in my plan. But the food, the shared moment of trust in his quiet study, was an offering of my heart. It was a language he understood far better than any political intrigue. He was no longer a prince with no future. He was a man who saw me, who trusted me, and who was beginning to build a future with me.
The prince's words hung in the air, a simple, warm statement that settled deep in my heart. He had finished the last of the sweets, and a profound sense of peace and intimacy filled the room. This was it—the moment to tell him everything. To trust him completely with my fears, the same way he had trusted me with his.
I looked at him, and for the first time, the term I had started using for him in my thoughts slipped out, not as a title, but as a truth. "My heart," I began, my voice a soft murmur that made my own heart melt. "I have something I must tell you."
His expression shifted, his gaze growing serious, sensing the weight of my words.
"When my little sister was here, she took me aside on the night of the court banquet," I confessed, my voice barely above a whisper. "She told me of a dream she had, a very specific dream. She said that in it, I was pregnant and I died whilst giving birth because I was poisoned."
The prince's face went pale. His hand, which had been resting on the table, clenched into a fist.
"I know it was only a dream," I continued, "but I felt the truth of it in my heart. A cold certainty, as if it was a memory. That is why I asked her to send me people I can trust. I needed my own guard, my own maid, people from our home kingdom around me. For my own protection, and for the protection of... our future."
The silence that followed was heavy and cold, a stark contrast to the warmth we had shared just moments ago. The lightness of our banter was gone, replaced by a new, chilling reality.
We were no longer two people navigating a romance; we were allies in a fight we hadn't known we were in. The unspoken threats of the palace were no longer a distant fear but a looming shadow. And our shared destiny, once a beautiful, abstract thought, had just become very, very real.