Zi-ning was working on embroidering her wedding robes in her room, having been placed under house arrest by the old madam once her wedding date was fixed. "A bride must know show herself in public until after the wedding ceremony, else there will be bad luck," her grandmother had said.

In her previous life, in the days leading up to her wedding with Ru-wen, she had snuck out of the manor several times to secretly meet Ru-an because of her infatuation with him. Was that why she had been experienced nothing but bad luck after that?

This time around, perhaps it was better to be safe than sorry. Two months was not a long time to wait, especially when there was so much to be done in preparation for the wedding. Embroidering her wedding robes alone would take her at least an entire month.

She ran her fingers over the small section of gold thread against the vibrant red fabric, the beginnings of the tail feathers of a phoenix. She had not even bothered to embroider her robes in her previous wedding, letting Hana and Shujin do the work on her behalf, because she had not cared for marrying the eighth prince. To her, that wedding was a farce, an act that she willingly went through in order to help Ru-an achieve his goals.

This time, it'll all be different, won't it?

The windows of her room suddenly flew open, and a figure cloaked in black came leaping in.

Zi-ning frowned.

"When are you going to kick the habit of climbing in through my window?" she scolded.

Even if they were about to get married, surely Zhenghuan knew that it was highly improper for him to be doing things like these.

"They won't let me in through the front door, so this is the only way I can get to see you before I leave," Zhenghuan said, walking over to her side. He glanced down at her half-completed embroidery, a broad smile stretching across his face. "Looks like I'm interrupting something very important!" he quipped.

Zi-ning blushed. "Don't you know that the bride and groom are not supposed to see each other in the lead-up to the wedding?" she said. Then, something that Zhenghuan just mentioned struck her as odd. "What do you mean 'before you leave'? Where are you going?"

Zhenghuan's smile faded. He sat down beside her, pouring himself a cup of water. "The king has ordered me to accompany the crown prince's entourage to Wulihe for Situ Zhiren's coronation ceremony. The king of Hua has passed on, and Situ Zhiren has succeeded the throne. We leave in four days' time."

Zi-ning remembered this. In her previous life, Situ Zhiren had also inherited the throne after his father passed, although it had been none of her concern then, since she had never met the crown prince of Hua in that life. Timing-wise, it seemed to have had happened at roughly the same time, except that Ru-an had been the one who had attended the coronation since Ru-quan was already deceased.

"The crown prince was the one who engineered this, wasn't he?" she asked.

Previously, Ru-an had not been accompanied by the Shadow Lord when he attended the Hua coronation, so that was another anomaly that had occurred this time around. Considering Ru-quan's intentions towards her, it quickly became clear why Zhenghuan was asked to go along.

Zhenghuan nodded, confirming her suspicions. "Don't worry, I'll be careful," he said. "I won't let him get his way." Turning towards the open window, he snapped his fingers thrice.

Much to Zi-ning's surprise, two other figures leapt in, a pair of twin girls dressed from head to toe in black, with their hair tied in long ponytails at the back of their heads.

"My lord," they greeted, putting palm to fist as they bowed to Zhenghuan.

"Who are they?" Zi-ning asked.

"Lianyue and Lianxin," he replied, pointing to the one of the left and then the right. "They are from my personal guard. I'm assigning them to you."

"To me?"

"Even though this trip to Wulihe should not take more than two weeks, that's still far too long. I'll be less worried with them staying by your side. Who knows what any of those conniving jackals will try to do while I'm away," he snorted. "Lianyue and Lianxin are both highly skilled. They can protect you in the capacity of your personal maidservants."

"There's no need to trouble them. They must have other more important duties to attend to. Like you said, you will only be away for two weeks. Also, I already have Hana and Shujin," she said.

Zhenghuan shook his head. "Very soon you're going to be the mistress of the Shadow Lord's household, which means that you're going to need your own personal guard, whether you like it or not. Unfortunately, I have many enemies, so it's always better to be safe than sorry," he said, with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. If you're worried about what the rest of your family will say, there's no need for that. I've already sent word to the old madam to let her know that I'm sending you two maidservants to help you with the wedding preparations, and she's already agreed."

A warm glow lit up within Zi-ning's heart. In all her two lives, she had never experienced this before—of being so well-protected and taken care of. "Thank you," she said quietly.

Zhenghuan waved his hand and dismissed Lianyue and Lianxin. Then, when they were alone once more, he pulled out a gold hairpin and held it out on the palm of his hand. Zi-ning's gaze traced the intricate curves of the gold filigree as it painted the image of a delicate lotus, pearls trickling down from one of its petals like a string of teardrops.

"It's beautiful," she whispered.

"A lotus remains pure even as it grows from the mud," Zhenghuan replied. Reaching over, he gently pinned it in her hair, then leaned back to admire his handiwork. "It looks good on you."

"Why are you giving me this?"

A shy smile stretched across Zhenghuan's face. "Well, they say that a man should give the girl he likes a gift as a symbol of his love. I've never had the chance to give you anything, because we've always been busy with one thing or the other, so I've been wanting to do this for some time. Do you like it?"

Zi-ning nodded, a slight blush appearing across her cheeks as she raised her fingers to the string of pearls now pinned to her head. After a brief pause, she looked at him and said, "Come back safely."

Three simple words, yet she meant every one of them.

At the back of her mind, there still existed that niggling fear about what had happened to Zhenghuan in the previous version of her life. Betrayed by Ru-an, the Shadow Army had fallen to Situ Zhiren's Hua army—and Zhenghuan had never returned from that battlefield. There was still some time before that tragic event would occur, yet every passing day meant that they were creeping closer and closer toward it.

Zhenghuan pulled Zi-ning into his arms, and she rested her head against his chest, listening to his steady heartbeat.

I'm not going to let anything happen to you this time, she vowed.

#

The crown prince's entourage trundled through the streets of Wulihe, the capital of the Hua kingdom, with Zhenghuan and a handful of his men riding alongside. It had been nothing short of a torturous journey, and each day felt like it dragged on forever. Whatever Mingshen had been saying about absence making the heart grow fonder was utter nonsense. A single day away from Zi-ning was far too long, what more two whole weeks. At that thought, Zhenghuan's resentment towards Ru-quan grew a little more.

Throughout the journey, the only words that passed between him and the crown prince were a few perfunctory sentences. The moment they had left the Duan palace, the charade was off. Ru-quan did not bother to disguise his animosity towards Zhenghuan because of the impending wedding, and Zhenghuan couldn't care less. He did not want to waste any energy comforting sore losers.

Ahead, the dusty red walls of the Hua palace loomed, its gates already opened in wait. A small group of officials and ladies stood by to receive them.

"Your Highness, I trust you've had a safe journey from Duan?" the leader of the receiving entourage said, bowing respectfully. "I am Huwen Kang, the Minister for Protocol, and our king has sent me to receive you and lead you to your quarters. There shall be a welcome banquet thrown in your honour later tonight."

Ru-quan lifted the curtain of the carriage and nodded. "Please convey my thanks to His Majesty for the hospitality."

Welcome banquet? What a waste of time, Zhenghuan thought. He had better things to do, like write to Zi-ning to let her know that he had arrived in Wulihe safely.

One of the palace ladies stepped forward, bowing to the prince. "Your Highness, Her Majesty the queen would like to request an audience with you, once you have settled in at your guest quarters," she said. Then, she turned towards Zhenghuan. "She has also asked that the Shadow Lord be present as well."

Ru-quan glanced at Zhenghuan, his thin lips curling upwards in a smile. "Of course. I'm sure the Shadow Lord will be more than willing to oblige," he said. "After all, it has been a long time since we've seen Xuan-er. It would be good to have a catch-up before the banquet."

Beneath his mask, Zhenghuan glowered.

Thankfully, he had just about enough time to write his brief message to Zi-ning and send it off by carrier pigeon before he was summoned for the audience with the queen—or the former princess of Duan, Hong Xuan.

Following behind the lady-in-waiting, he was led down the winding passages until they arrived at the queen's quarters. Once the doors were opened, a slight figure immediately barreled itself into his arms. Had he not realised who it was in a split second, he might have taken her for an assassin and thrown a blade through her chest.

"Zhenghuan! You're finally here! What took you so long? Don't you know how long I've waited for you?" the princess—queen—cried.

Zhenghuan frowned, quickly pushing her away and taking two steps back. "Your Majesty," he greeted with a bow. The doors to the queen's quarters had already been shut, and a quick survey of the surroundings showed that there was no one else around, not even the crown prince, who was supposed to have arrived before him.

"Zhenghuan, I've missed you so much," the queen said, rushing forward to grab hold of Zhenghuan's arm. When he pulled it away immediately, her face fell. "What's the matter? Do you not recognise me anymore? Is it because of these Hua clothing? I'm Xuan-er! Your Xuan-er."

The hairs on the back of Zhenghuan's neck were standing on ends. His Xuan-er? He had hardly been closely acquainted with the princess even when she had been back in Duan, despite the latter's best efforts.

"Your Majesty," he said, emphasising each word to remind her of her current position, "please do not speak so casually. This is the Hua palace." Taking another look around, he asked, "Where is the crown prince? Should he not already be here?"

"Ru-quan sent word to say that he's feeling a little under the weather because of the long journey, so he'll be staying behind at his quarters to rest," Queen Xuan replied.

Liar, Zhenghuan thought. Ru-quan had not looked to be the slightest bit unwell when they had parted ways at the palace gates, so the crown prince's absence was clearly intentional.

To his horror, tears began streaming down the girl's cheeks like an incessant waterfall.

Then, ignoring his obvious attempt to put distance between them, Queen Xuan dashed toward him and threw her arms around his waist yet again, this time clinging on even tighter than before. "Zhenghuan, please take me away from here, I'm begging you. This place is hell! I can't stay here anymore," she cried. "You have to take me away!"