"What is it you wish to say?"
"Does Your Highness perhaps bear some grudge against me?"
Now standing alone before Yun Shu, with no one left to keep up appearances, Huyan Mingchuan no longer pretended. He regarded Yun Shu with evident interest, as if appraising a rare and peculiar treasure.
"I don't recall ever offending Your Highness."
"Then has This Princess offended you?"
With years of reading palace intrigues and navigating political currents, Yun Shu understood one principle clearly when dealing with lunatics: avoid them if possible. If avoidance failed, one must never show weakness.
Otherwise, they would only push further and become even more insufferable.
She narrowed her eyes in visible displeasure.
"This Princess has no interest in marrying you."
"What if I offer up Bei Xiang as a dowry?"
Huyan Mingchuan raised his brow, a hint of amusement in his gaze.
"Would that not tempt you?"
"Not in the slightest."
Yun Shu's tone remained flat and unyielding, her expression utterly devoid of emotion.
"A trifling Bei Xiang. If This Princess truly wished for it, I would simply conquer it myself. There is no need to sell myself to claim it."
Sell herself?
Huyan Mingchuan chuckled at her phrasing.
"Your Highness truly is amusing. You are right of course, a mere Bei Xiang is hardly worth the price."
He tilted his head slightly, studying her anew.
"But it seems Your Highness truly believes I could offer up Bei Xiang so casually. We have only met twice, yet you already think so highly of me?"
"This Princess has always favored the shameless."
She responded evenly, with no hint of irony.
"After all, there is an old saying. A tree without bark surely dies, and a man without shame is invincible."
"Is that a saying from Tian Sheng?"
Huyan Mingchuan seemed even more entertained now. He studied Yun Shu with curiosity, then let out a soft sigh.
"What a pity. If you had been born into the Bei Xiang royal family, perhaps the past ten years of my life would not have been so dreadfully dull."
"Enough with the nonsense."
The cold wind gnawed at her sleeves, and Yun Shu had long since grown impatient with his meandering.
"If you have something to say, be quick about it. This Princess has no interest in standing around when I could be resting."
"It is no grave matter. I merely wished to propose something to Your Highness. Whether a marriage in name only or a true one, it matters not. The goal is for Your Highness to wed me."
He got the reaction he wanted. Yun Shu rolled her eyes in open disdain. Huoyan Mingchuan smiled, then continued slowly, deliberately.
"However, since Your Highness is unwilling to sell yourself, I shall not press the matter."
He paused, then added, "If Your Highness would simply help me remain in Tian Sheng for one year, I will still offer up Bei Xiang, even if it is a worthless trifle. What do you say?"
"You wish to establish power in Tian Sheng?"
This was not in the original plot, was it?
Then again, it made sense.
Without absolute strength, Huoyan Mingchuan had long been shackled by palace politics in Bei Xiang. Even trying to form a covert network would have been painstakingly difficult.
But if he stayed in Tian Sheng, where the mountains and rivers of Bei Xiang were far beyond reach, then neither the quarreling princes nor even the King of Bei Xiang himself could extend their hands this far.
It was likely this had been his plan all along.
No wonder he had made no attempt to sabotage the diplomatic marriage. He had let the Second Prince and Princess Baza send him off to Tian Sheng as though he were a disposable pawn.
A fine plan indeed.
Yun Shu raised her gaze.
"And how is This Princess to know you do not intend to harm Tian Sheng?"
"Tian Sheng has done me no wrong. Why would I wish it harm?"
Huyan Mingchuan spoke as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
"My aim is only one. I seek to destroy Bei Xiang.
Your Highness is the Crown Princess of Tian Sheng. Surely you too see Bei Xiang as an eyesore?
I have heard that Your Highness possesses quite the mind for business. With hardly any effort, you could claim an entire nation. No matter how one looks at it, this deal hardly warrants rejection, does it?"
Yun Shu fell silent.
So in the original story, ten years later, he had slaughtered his siblings and drained the royal treasury of Bei Xiang to fund endless wars. He had paid no heed to the suffering of soldiers or civilians.
All of it, simply to raze Bei Xiang to the ground.
And in the end, Tian Sheng had been dragged down with it, both nations left battered and bloodied, and somehow, he had nearly won.
When framed this way, it all made grim sense.
...
The conversation between Yun Shu and Huyan Mingchuan did not last long.
From a distance, the Second Prince of Bei Xiang and Princess Baza watched the two exchange a few words. Then they saw the Crown Princess of Tian Sheng leave without so much as a backward glance.
They hurried over to Huyan Mingchuan.
"What did you say to her?" the Second Prince demanded in a low voice. "Did she agree to marry you?"
"No."
"You useless fool!"
The Second Prince instinctively raised a hand to strike him, only for Princess Baza to intercept just in time.
"Second Brother, we are still in the imperial palace of Tian Sheng. Be careful who might be watching."
"Hmph. And what if they are?"
Though he lowered his hand, the Second Prince still barked angrily.
"The Crown Princess has already rejected this worthless dog. He is no longer of any use. Even if we beat him to death, it would change nothing."
"Her Highness has agreed to let me remain in the capital."
Unbothered by such treatment, Huyan Mingchuan lowered his gaze and spoke softly.
"She has given me one year. She said that if, in that time, she comes to like me… then perhaps all is still possible."
There is still a chance?
Hearing this, the Second Prince's fury began to subside.
"Then what's the problem? Just find an opportunity to bed her. Once the rice is cooked, she will have no choice."
"Absolutely not."
Princess Baza objected at once.
"Last year, the Eldest Prince tried to drug the Crown Princess and paid dearly for it. She is not someone easily taken advantage of. If your plan fails, you may lose this final chance altogether."
"That was only because Huyan Xiangyuan is just as useless!"
The Second Prince spat, his eyes sweeping over Huyan Mingchuan with barely veiled disdain.
"All of you are trash. Worthless, every one of you. All you have is that seductive face you inherited from your whore of a mother. You had best hope it still works on that Yun Shu.
"Otherwise…"
He sneered coldly.
"This prince shall peel that pretty face of yours and feed it to the dogs."
"Enough," Princess Baza murmured. "Say what you like once we are back. We are still within palace grounds."
The Second Prince snorted and finally held his tongue, storming off with a dramatic sweep of his robes.
None of them noticed the flicker of malice in Huyan Mingchuan's downturned eyes.
Peel his face?
What a suggestion.
He wondered if the Second Prince's own face, once skinned, would still look so disgustingly smug.
And if it were only a little less repulsive… perhaps it would make a fine gift.
For the Crown Princess of Tian Sheng.
Yes, she was a rare one. The only person in this dull world who had not managed to bore him to death.