Hibiscus as a Painting

Chapter 52

With a slight smile, I got up and walked towards the most secluded garden. The setting sun seemed to gild the earth with a layer of golden light. The person I had been longing for was sleeping peacefully by the lake, a faint smile on his lips.

I quietly walked over and lay down beside her, my unease and anxiety instantly vanishing. Gazing at her sleeping face, a smile involuntarily crept onto my lips… It's so good… It's so good to see her…

As I was immersed in the sunset, forgetting my worries, forgetting myself, forgetting everything, the beautiful scene was interrupted by a familiar yet sharp voice.

Seeing her slightly furrowed brow as her peaceful dream was disturbed, I was instantly enraged. I usually don't bother with palace affairs, but now she's come here to embarrass me!

But what I'm more curious about is her reaction when she learns of my favor towards that beauty.

But to my disappointment, her eyes were filled with the curiosity of someone watching a good show and the excitement of prying into someone else's privacy. She listened intently, completely ignoring the fact that I was right next to her.

I lay there silently beside her, listening to the same old palace drama—the struggle for favor.

Her expression changed little by little; the dazzling brilliance disappeared, and the curiosity and excitement in her eyes vanished, replaced by shock and fear.

I didn't want her to see such an ugly scene, and I didn't want to see her clear, watery eyes tainted with worldly dust.

The sharp, piercing voice continued to echo around His Highness the Crown Prince... His Highness the Crown Prince... His Highness the Crown Prince... incessantly.

Haha, how ridiculous... how ridiculous... In the eyes of others, I am not a living person, but merely a title, a status, and a glory.

She turned her head and saw me lying there. The fear in her eyes slowly intensified as she stared at me in terror.

The meaning in her eyes made me feel incredibly helpless and sad. A chill ran through me from the deepest part of my heart, making my limbs stiff and my hands and feet icy cold.

I leaned gently against her shoulder to ease the suffocating pain in my heart, my eyes slightly warm.

Her body was unusually stiff yet unusually warm, carrying a faint scent of fresh grass. After what seemed like an eternity, her body softened, and she gently stroked my back. Her touch ached, and the grievances in my heart deepened. An indescribable, strange feeling welled up within me, a mixture of satisfaction and bitterness.

Not enough... not enough... I want so much more than this. I tried to get closer to her, but I was so afraid... so afraid that she would disappear the next moment. I held her tightly in my arms, searching for safety and venting my grievances.

Of all these people, she was the only one who didn't treat me as a title, a status, or an honor. She only saw me as a person, a person with flesh and blood, with joy and anger.

But... but I'm still so afraid, so very afraid that one day she'll treat me like the Crown Prince. I shook her frantically, needing her reassurance and compromise, but all I saw was a surge of pity welling up in her clear, watery eyes.

My heart felt as if it had been ripped open in an instant, filled with shame and indignation. My face felt as if it had been slapped across the face, wracked with pain.

I am the most esteemed Crown Prince. I allow her to hit me, allow her to be angry with me, allow her to hate me, but I will absolutely not allow her to pity me, I will absolutely not allow her to pity me!

I fled again in a disheveled state, running away without daring to look back.

I sat down in the head seat, but didn't see her return, and a growing anxiety filled me. Had she lost her way back? Or had she encountered something she shouldn't have?

When I saw her sneaking around in the corner, furtively looking for a seat, glancing at me every now and then, my mood instantly brightened, and a faint joy welled up inside me.

Jun Chi meticulously tidied her disheveled clothes and hair, his tenderness like water. But that scene was like a poisonous thorn, piercing the softest part of my heart.

She stole glances at me, and I glared at her fiercely. She hurriedly dodged away like a thief, her uneasy appearance like a frightened rabbit, fearful and timid, making one feel sorry for her.

After a while, her gaze passed over me and began to scrutinize my beauty. I deliberately acted intimately with her, but dared not turn around to meet her eyes. Out of the corner of my eye, I glanced over and saw her drinking one glass of wine after another as if it were water.

Was she... concerned?

She didn't know what Jun Chi said to her, but she irritably pushed away Jun Chi's hand that was trying to take the wine glass away, and drank on her own, with worry gradually appearing in her eyes.

I feared that she would be unhappy about this and would no longer dare to be intimate with that beauty, but then I saw Jun Chi go up on stage and play the zither.

In the main hall, all the civil and military officials were completely captivated by Jun Chi's zither music. She gazed at Jun Chi with fascination, smiling blankly.

Jun Chi turned to look at her, his eyes filled with intimacy, indulgence, and a hint of shyness.

I was both disgusted and terrified by the music. Her world with Jun Chi was something I longed for but could never reach.

At that time, I began to envy Jun Chi, the prince who had never been valued since birth.

As the song ended, she gave Jun Chi a smile as bright as the morning sun and swayed as she walked towards him. To avoid losing my composure, I clenched my fists tightly and lowered my head.

In an instant, the noisy hall fell into an eerie silence. I looked up sharply and saw her kissing Jun Chi sweetly. One scene... just one scene shattered all my pretense, and all my suppressed anger surged into my heart. I wanted nothing more than to destroy everything.

I roughly dragged her into the car, intending to give her a good beating. She seemed to catch my anger, and with a drunken, silly smile, she snuggled into my arms and rubbed against my chest.

In an instant, the earth-shattering rage vanished without a trace, leaving only a heart full of love and indulgence.

I gently kissed her forehead, her brows, her eyes, and her sweet lips. She seemed uncomfortable and rubbed against my chest. I don't know how to describe the feeling at that moment; happiness—the word jumped into my mind without warning.

I held her tightly, my desire burning like fire, yet I dared not defile her. Gazing at her peaceful sleeping face, I quietly made a vow for life, silently praying that the road back to the palace would be longer, much longer, and that the carriage would move more slowly, much slower.

But even the longest road has an end, and even the slowest carriage keeps moving. After placing her in Taiping Pavilion, I turned and left, not daring to look at her for another second, afraid that if I looked at her for another second, I would never want to let go of her hand that I had once held.

Back in my palace, I took the beauty roughly again and again until I was so exhausted that I could no longer remember her face, and then I turned and left.

My father intended for me to rule in my own right, and I began to get busy in the days that followed.

No matter how busy I am, I always wait on her way back to Taiping Pavilion from the Imperial Study, and catch a glimpse of her from afar. If she smiles and her eyebrows dance with joy, I will be exceptionally happy and radiant all day; if she is listless, I will be restless and have all sorts of wild thoughts all day.

I looked enviously at Xile, who was with her every day, and resentfully at Junchi, who was inseparable from her.

Before I knew it, I had become obsessed...

Winter has passed and spring has arrived; a year has flown by, and the great victory on the border is a cause for celebration throughout the land.

The news that Zi Yingfeng was on her way back kept me awake day and night, fearing that she would return to the capital the next day and take her out of the palace.

My father seemed to see my worry, but misunderstood and thought that I was reluctant to part with Xile. He comforted me and said: "If my son likes her so much, I will use the power of the whole country to keep Princess Xile here."

I smiled bitterly and helplessly. If she were west Le, I wouldn't need to tolerate it. If she were west Le, I wouldn't have to secretly watch her go.

Father, she is Zi Yinfeng's only daughter, a malignant tumor in your heart that you want to get rid of as soon as possible. How could you tolerate her? How could you possibly tolerate her? In your heart, your hatred for Zi Yinfeng is far more important than my own.