Chapter Fifteen: Does This Have Anything to Do with Me?

“Qin Wanru, are you going out to fetch the Phoenix Glazed Lamp?” The Prince of Chen raised an elegant brow, his ink-black eyes warm and genteel, his tone mild, but then he turned his head and coughed weakly, betraying his frailty.

A single day had been enough for him to learn Qin Wanru’s name.

Of course, Qin Wanru knew that this so-called gentleness was merely a façade.

“Yes, I hope Your Highness will assist me!” Although Qin Wanru was nervous, she still made her request sincerely. In this residence, if there was anyone who could persuade her father to let her leave, it was this Prince of Chen.

“What does this matter have to do with me?” The young man arched his handsome brow, looking her up and down with a sidelong glance, his smile refined, but his tone carried a trace of mockery.

“It is the Phoenix Glazed Lamp that Your Highness requested.” Qin Wanru seemed not to notice the ridicule in his eyes, clutching her fists and remaining respectful as she spoke.

“I want to see whether you have the means to leave this house yourself!” The prince’s expression did not change as he narrowed his eyes, and his usually pale face, because of this look, suddenly gained an air of mischievous wickedness—no longer just a handsome youth. “If you can’t even get out of your own home, you might as well forget about fetching the Phoenix Glazed Lamp!”

“Then… does Your Highness no longer hold a grudge over what happened before?” Qin Wanru was overjoyed and asked cautiously.

“How could that be! Do I look like someone so easy to deal with?” The Prince of Chen sneered, his gaze turning sharp and cold, so intense that Qin Wanru could only bow her head even lower.

“Go, bring the Phoenix Glazed Lamp to me, Qin Wanru, and I will grant you another reward!” The prince spoke lazily.

“Your Highness…”

“What, are you not satisfied?” That handsome face seemed to darken again.

“Yes, I await Your Highness’s command!” Qin Wanru bit her lip and replied.

In this, he was right—this was the place where she had grown up. If she could not leave through the front, she could always sneak out, couldn’t she?

And with his status, any favor he granted her was worth looking forward to.

“Hurry back!” The prince waved his hand. Qin Wanru glanced at him, and his expression could almost be described as cheerful. The change was so sudden it left her bewildered.

She clenched her fists tightly, made a respectful bow, and withdrew. Standing outside the door, she frowned, and heard the sound of the young man’s irritating, triumphant laughter from within. She pressed her thin lips together.

The Prince of Chen was doing this on purpose.

“Miss, how will we get out?” Qingyue, who had just entered, did not dare raise her head. Now outside the door, she breathed a sigh of relief but was still anxious.

“To the old place!” Qin Wanru steadied herself and let out a long breath.

“But… but the Dowager Madam forbade you from ever going there again!” Hearing this, Qingyue grew nervous.

“What’s there to fear? If you don’t tell and I don’t tell, who will know? Go prepare the carriage, and once I leave the courtyard, we’ll head to Tranquil Heart Nunnery,” Qin Wanru instructed. At present, this was her only option.

“Yes, I’ll go at once. Miss, please be careful!” Qingyue urged anxiously before they each took a different route away from the prince’s courtyard.

“Your Highness… it’s really just a small favor,” inside the room, after the prince had finished laughing, his personal attendant Xiao Xuanzi whispered carefully. He had felt sorry for the young lady, watching her brows knot together in distress.

“I’m ill, I can’t even lift my hand!” The beautiful youth in his fur robe replied carelessly, then rose to his feet with interest. “Come, let’s go out for a look. Staying inside all the time is exhausting.”

“Your Highness, you should rest! This visit is to seek out that famous physician—if you can be treated, perhaps your illness will finally be cured!” Hearing his master’s intention to go out, Xiao Xuanzi hurried to dissuade him. His master’s health was not like others’—he could not simply wander about as he pleased.

If he fell ill again, no amount of sacrifice on Xiao Xuanzi’s part could make up for it.

“I just want to see some excitement, find a little amusement!” the youth said indifferently, ignoring Xiao Xuanzi and stepping outside.

Seeing him already out the door, Xiao Xuanzi dared not stop him. He grabbed the prince’s cloak from the screen and hurried after him. By the door, two guards fell in behind them.

In one corner of the garden stood a swing set hanging from a large tree. Beside it grew a vine of green morning glories, their verdant tendrils dotted with small purple blossoms—beautiful, with the breeze flipping the green leaves and buds ready to bloom.

This was once Qin Wanru’s favorite place. She had ordered the swing to be built and had planted the morning glories with her own hands. This little corner of the garden was almost her private domain. But ever since she’d fallen from the swing, the Dowager Madam had forbidden her from coming here.

And this was the “old place” that she and Qingyue referred to.