This Highness Cannot Bear to See Ugly Things
The air inside the room seemed frozen.
After a long moment.
“There are more than enough medicinal herbs and rare treasures in the residence. Use them on him.” Lu Ronghuai withdrew his gaze. His long legs stepped forward as he rose and walked out.
Le Shu was still kneeling on the ground. Hearing this, he was overwhelmed with gratitude. Facing the departing back, he kowtowed repeatedly. “Many thanks to the Third Prince. Many thanks to the Third Prince.”
Xian Yu and Xian Shuang hurried after him.
Xian Yu was bursting with curiosity. Not even the severe cold and swirling snow could suppress the excitement in him at this moment.
“My lord, this subordinate has never seen you care about anyone before.” A gossipy smile appeared on his face.
Lu Ronghuai cast him a sideways glance, half-smiling yet not smiling. “This Highness merely does not wish to confirm the name of bringing harm to one’s wife.”
“…Oh.” The same cold-hearted prince he was familiar with.
“That master and servant are still wearing old clothes, and there is not even charcoal in the room. How is Mao Shu handling affairs?” Lu Ronghuai’s eyes turned cold as he looked over.
He had clearly given instructions earlier that nothing belonging to those two was to be withheld, and that everything was to be provided according to proper allotment.
Xian Yu spoke up in Mao Shu’s defense. “My lord’s words, how would Mao Shu dare disobey? Everything was delivered, but those two seem afraid of being connected to us. The items were left untouched.”
Lu Ronghuai’s steps paused.
In his mind flashed Chu Yuan’s frail and slender face, so light in his arms it scarcely seemed real.
“Starting tomorrow, you personally keep watch. Let them be at ease. This Highness will not seek trouble with them.”
“This subordinate understands.”
Lu Ronghuai continued forward.
He had indeed been displeased at being forced into marriage. Yet that person had likewise been forced to wed him. In the end, it was he who had dragged the other into these disputes.
As long as they remained obediently within the residence, he could protect them for a lifetime.
“Xian Shuang, any results?” Lu Ronghuai recalled another matter.
Xian Shuang nodded. “They are being held at Liuyun Pavilion, awaiting Your Highness’s disposal.”
“Let’s go.”
Xian Feng was standing within the pavilion. At his feet knelt two people.
Seeing Lu Ronghuai, Xian Feng bowed. “My lord, the culprits have been captured.”
Lu Ronghuai looked down at the two from above. “Who gave you the courage to plot harm against the Prince Consort, hm?”
Fang Ya and Fang Fei were bound hand and foot. Having been left in the snow and cold, they were already terrified out of their wits. Tears smeared across their faces.
“Your Highness, these servants know we were wrong. Please spare us, Your Highness.”
Lu Ronghuai took a seat upon a stone stool. One arm rested along the table’s edge, his fingers tapping idly. He watched them weep and beg with composed ease.
Xian Feng stepped forward. “These two are sweepers assigned to Baochun Courtyard. They insulted their master and abused fellow servants, acted arrogantly, and repeatedly offended those above them. This evening, they first locked the servant attending the Prince Consort inside the woodshed behind the kitchen, then lured the Prince Consort to the artificial hill in an attempt to harm him.”
“This servant did not attempt to harm the Prince Consort. It was the Prince Consort who lost his way. It has nothing to do with this servant.” Fang Ya shrieked sharply.
She had merely intended to teach him a lesson. She had not meant to kill anyone.
“Slap her.” Lu Ronghuai supported his chin and spoke calmly.
Xian Shuang moved in a flash and struck her twice. Fang Ya’s cheeks swelled high at once.
Xian Yu cursed, “At night the dripping water turns to ice. The Prince Consort does not know the way. Had he remained inside long, could he still have lived?”
The more Xian Yu thought about it, the angrier he became. He went up and added two kicks.
If not for His Highness returning from the training grounds and passing by that place, hearing movement, the Prince Consort might have lost his life there.
The two women shrank their necks and lay crookedly on the ground, eyes full of terror, shaking like sieves.
“These two vile maids, who brought them in?” Lu Ronghuai asked unhurriedly, watching their unsightly state.
Xian Feng replied, “Mao Shu recruited them last year. He said the Marquis of Xuanning personally instructed that two water-attending maids be selected for you. They had been serving outside the study until now.”
Speaking of this, Xian Feng suddenly paused, as if somewhat difficult to express. “Your Highness, these two harbored improper intentions. They have long wished to obtain your… favor.”
Lu Ronghuai gave a cold laugh.
“Truly an eyesore.”
His voice was thin with chill. “Have Mao Shu receive ten military strokes himself. Let him reflect properly on whether he is the steward of the Third Prince’s residence or the steward of the Ning family.”
He rose and walked step by step to stand before the two women. Slowly, he bent down. His cold and severe countenance abruptly changed into a smiling expression. His tone was level, yet inexplicably chilling.
“This Highness cannot bear to see ugly things nor can I tolerate ugly things coveting me.”
“Have you decided how you wish to die?”
Fang Ya and Fang Fei were so frightened their eyes rolled back. Unable to catch their breath, they fainted.
“Cut out their tongues and throw them out,” Lu Ronghuai said, turning away.
“Yes!”
Once he had gone far, Xian Yu clicked his tongue and shook his head. “His Highness’s standards are so high. What kind of beauty could possibly enter his eyes?”
Xian Shuang thought seriously for a moment. “Someone like the Prince Consort.”
The Prince Consort was the most beautiful person he had ever seen. If His Highness were to favor someone, it would surely be such a beauty.
Xian Yu shuddered. “The Prince Consort is very beautiful truthfully speaking, but I don’t dare imagine what it would look like for His Highness to like someone. It would be terrifying.”
Xian Shuang: “…”
Lu Ronghuai returned to Fuqu Courtyard with Xian Feng.
Before sleeping, Xian Feng asked whether incense should be lit.
Emerging from the bath chamber, Lu Ronghuai waved a hand. “The headache did not flare today. Withdraw.”
His headaches had plagued him for many years. The imperial physicians could not find the root cause. After trying various prescriptions, they finally devised incense to burn at bedtime, which could somewhat ease the pain.
Lu Ronghuai disliked the incense. The medicinal scent was too strong. Only when the headache was severe would he allow it to be burned once or twice.
He closed his eyes.
After noon today, a faint ache had begun in his head. At the training grounds that afternoon, the pain had intensified, though it remained within tolerable bounds.
By past experience, once night fell the pain would grow worse and prevent him from sleeping.
Yet tonight was strange.
The headache that had troubled him for so long had inexplicably vanished.
With the persistent pain gone, Lu Ronghuai felt a long-absent lightness. His mind relaxed. Before long, his breathing grew even, and he fell into slumber.
Lu Ronghuai dreamed.
Perhaps because of tonight’s events, he dreamed of Chu Yuan.
In the dream, he seemed a transparent observer, standing to one side, watching himself and Chu Yuan dressed in imperial court attire, walking side by side along the palace avenue.
It appeared they were entering the palace to pay respects to the Emperor and Empress.
Chu Yuan walked at his side. His chin was sharp, his complexion pale with illness, and his brows shadowed by gloom.
He was slender, a head shorter than Lu Ronghuai. His steps were smaller as well. Biting down in effort, he struggled to keep pace.
The two had nothing to say. Neither looked at the other. They walked forward in silence.
Watching, Lu Ronghuai slowly furrowed his brows.
The two paid respects to the Hongjia Emperor in Qianzheng Hall.
Afterward, he remained to speak with the Hongjia Emperor, while Chu Yuan was led by a eunuch to the inner palace to pay respects to the Empress.
Lu Ronghuai glanced at his other self in the great hall, then turned and followed Chu Yuan.
Upon arriving at Fengqi Palace, the Empress was receiving the concubines. Chu Yuan therefore stood outside the palace gate waiting.
Lu Ronghuai walked over. His gaze fell upon Chu Yuan’s face. In the dream, he saw clearly for the first time the features of this wife of his.
A palm-sized face. Clear, pure eyes. A clean temperament. He should have been a graceful young gentleman.
Yet there was not a trace of youthful vitality on his face. Dark circles shadowed his eyes. Bloodshot lines spread through those clear and beautiful pupils.
A cutting wind swept past. Chu Yuan shivered.
Half a shichen later, the Empress finally summoned him inside.
The Empress regarded him as a thorn in her side. Naturally, she would not treat kindly the man who was his wife.
Lu Ronghuai followed throughout, watching Chu Yuan be humiliated and mocked. In the end, under the pretense of play, the Third Princess pushed him into the freezing imperial pond.
In winter, the ice over the imperial pond was thick. Palace consorts occasionally played atop the frozen surface. Yet the spot where Chu Yuan fell had thin ice. The moment he stepped there, he plunged into the freezing water below.
By the time Lu Ronghuai arrived from Qianzheng Hall, Chu Yuan had already been rescued by palace attendants. The Third Princess ordered a set of ruqun A traditional Han Chinese women’s outfit consisting of a short upper jacket (ru) worn over a long skirt (qun). It is a two-piece garment, not a single-piece dress. brought for him.
An undisguised humiliation. Chu Yuan did not accept it.
Lu Ronghuai did not know what had occurred. Seeing Chu Yuan standing soaked, head lowered and silent, for some reason an inexplicable irritation arose in his heart.
He loudly summoned a eunuch and ordered him to take Chu Yuan to change clothes.
Once Chu Yuan left, the Empress reversed black and white in a few words, turning the matter of Chu Yuan being pushed into the water into an incident of ignorance and impropriety, claiming he had shamed the imperial family.
After that, Lu Ronghuai never again brought him into the palace.
Lu Ronghuai abruptly opened his eyes.
He flipped over and sat up, one hand pressing tightly against his chest. Veins stood out along his neck. His entire body tensed.
At his heart, it felt as if a dull knife had been inserted, cutting with lingering cruelty. The pain left him drenched in sweat.
✧ A Word from the Author ✧
Lu Ronghuai: Yuan Yuan, rest assured. I am an outstanding graduate of the Male Virtue Academy!
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