The silence returned, but this time it wasn't the heavy, awkward quiet of two strangers fulfilling a duty. It was a stillness charged with a profound, unspoken weight. I felt the sudden, fierce pounding of my own heart as I searched Li Lan's face.
"What do you mean?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper. "Found your fate?"
I watched her, utterly exposed. My brow was furrowed with confusion, yet I couldn't tear my eyes away. I saw her expression shift, and for the first time, I felt seen—not as a prince, not as a husband in an arranged match, but as a man. I knew my vulnerability was hanging between us, the fear I'd held back since our wedding night. But instead of the rejection I'd prepared for, I saw a flicker of something new in her eyes. She wasn't judging me. She saw the genuine love I'd been concealing and, to my astonishment, the immense pride I felt in her display at court.
She realized the truth before I did: I wasn't cold or calculating; I was a good man, as trapped as she was, a victim of my own circumstances.
And in that moment, a truth she hadn't even been able to articulate to herself simply flowed from her lips, giving voice to the seismic shift I had watched happen at court.
"I cannot explain it with words," she began, her voice soft but steady. "But I have been... awakened. I feel a power I didn't know I had."
My breath hitched. A power. I had seen it with my own eyes.
"And I feel that I was destined to be here with you," she finished, her gaze unwavering. "To help you become what you were destined for."
My expression must have shifted from confusion to awe-struck wonder. I felt a surge of adrenaline, not of fear, but of profound relief. I had worried she would sound hungry for power, a schemer like so many others in this palace. But she didn't. Her sincerity was too absolute, her delivery too honest. She wasn't seeking a prince; she was seeking me.
For so long, I had believed my life would be defined by my birth order—to fade into the background, the quiet, unseen son. But here, in this unexpected moment, she was telling me my true place was not in the shadows. Her destiny was not to hide, but to stand beside me—to guide and protect me, not for power's sake, but for a greater good. She had a mission bigger than herself, and she wanted me by her side to fulfill it.
I finally understood the fire I saw in her eyes when she stood next to her sister. She had been awakened to a purpose. And that purpose included me. I felt the walls I had built around my heart crumble entirely. I wouldn't just be her husband; I would be her partner, her strength, her other half in this shared, terrifying destiny.
I leaned forward, the plum wine forgotten. We were going to change everything.