Chapter 38: Your Highness Touched Me, Won’t You Take Responsibility?

Xiao Ji: “…”

At times he truly wondered, how could a person be as warm and passionate as Xie Yao?

He believed he had already shown her enough cold indifference, yet Xie Yao seemed completely unaffected by his distance, always radiant and enthusiastic.

That was what Xiao Ji thought in his heart. But when his eyes met Xie Yao’s sparkling gaze, he could not stop himself from murmuring, “…The Crown Princess is very capable.”

Xie Yao’s lips curved upward, her eyes brimming with laughter.

Her bright smile dazzled his vision. Xiao Ji glanced at it once, then quickly averted his eyes, not daring to look further.

“Your Highness.”

Xie Yao shifted closer toward him, but as soon as she moved, Xiao Ji raised his hand to stop her….

In that instant, both of them froze.

When Xiao Ji reached out, he hadn’t looked at her. His hand, once extended… was full of softness.

Large, soft, the sensation exquisite. Even through layers of fabric, it made his heart sway. But reason swiftly snapped him back, and he jerked his hand away.

Yet in his haste, his fingers brushed upward as they withdrew…

He distinctly felt the bounce of a curve.

“…”

Inside the carriage, one could hear a pin drop.

Xie Yao’s cheeks burned scarlet, and she stared straight at Xiao Ji.

The heat at the tips of his ears spread gradually down his neck and across his cheeks…

“Your Highness,” Xie Yao’s soft, slightly aggrieved voice broke the silence, “Your Highness touched me. Do you not intend to take responsibility?”

Cough, cough!

Xiao Ji choked at her words, coughing outright. He widened his eyes at her. What did she mean… touched her?

Strictly speaking… she was not wrong. But still….That touch was not that kind of touch.

And yet…

“My apologies, it was my impropriety.” Xiao Ji lowered his gaze, the fingers hidden in his sleeve curling slightly. At his fingertips still lingered a memory of that softness.

Xie Yao’s eyes gleamed. She suddenly leaned closer toward him.

Xiao Ji’s body instinctively tilted back, keeping his distance.

“If Your Highness says it was impropriety, then I do not accept that,” Xie Yao said firmly, her gaze drifting deliberately across his chest. “Unless Your Highness allows me to act improperly in turn. Fairness demands reciprocity so that would be reasonable.”

Xiao Ji frowned, locking eyes with her.

But Xie Yao did not flinch in the slightest. “Surely Your Highness does not fear that I might force myself upon you?”

“Do not worry, Your Highness. I could never overpower you.”

And if she could?

Xiao Ji: “…Very well.”

He answered quickly. If the Crown Princess demanded fairness, then he would grant it. No matter the cause, in the end, he had indeed been the one to overstep.

Xie Yao’s eyes lit up. She reached her hand directly toward his chest—

Only to have it caught midair.

Xiao Ji cleared his throat. “Return to the manor.”

He had no taste for making a fool of himself in public.

Very well.

Xie Yao lowered her hand, then lifted the carriage curtain and cast a glance back toward the Song residence.

Today’s chaos at the Song family had borne her careful planning.

Xiao Ning’s arrival had been unexpected, but Xie Yao had acted accordingly, having Zhuqing contact her spy planted beside Madam Song Li. With just a few words of provocation, the woman had rushed out and spoken those damning things.

After all, the lure of becoming “mother-in-law to a princess” was far too great for Madam Song Li to resist.

This gift…she hoped Princess He Yi and Song Wenbo would enjoy it.

…

After Xie Yujiao had been knocked down, Song Wenbo set about tidying the wreckage at home.

“Second Young Lady.”

Yinxing reached out to help Xie Yujiao, but she shook her off and stormed quickly toward the entrance.

The Crown Prince’s carriage was already gone.

But at a glance, she saw the black figure astride a horse beside it; Si-nan, the Crown Prince’s personal gaurd.

The Crown Prince had come. For Xie Yao?

Why?

A flood of bitter unwillingness surged in Xie Yujiao’s heart. The Crown Prince had never treated her this way!

And Song Wenbo… he was not treating her as he had treated Xie Yao in her previous life, either.

What did she lack compared to Xie Yao?

Was it only because Xie Yao’s sultry manner and alluring body bewitched men?

“A homewrecker! That homewrecker!” Behind her came Madam Song Li’s half-mad voice. “Son, Wenbo! Xie Yujiao just watched as I was beaten!”

“You married such a wife, do you want me dead?”

“Send her away! Drive her out!” Madam Song Li wailed again and again.

Xie Yujiao’s anger boiled up. She was about to retort when Madam Song Li’s voice rose once more: “Wasn’t it supposed to be the elder daughter marrying in the first place?”

“How good it would have been if it had been the elder daughter…”

She had seen it clearly, that elder daughter, slim-waisted, wide-hipped, looking fit for childbearing was always smiling, seemingly with such a good temper.

At these words, Xie Yujiao snapped her head around, her eyes toward Madam Song Li filled with hatred and loathing.

Xie Yao. Again Xie Yao… Just you wait!

Madam Song Li faltered at the sight of that glare, momentarily stunned, and then screamed for her son again. “Son..!”

“Enough.” Song Wenbo cut off their quarrel impatiently, flicked his sleeve, and turned away in haste.

…

At Xie Yao’s insistence, when they returned to the Crown Prince’s residence, Xiao Ji accompanied her to the main quarters.

She pulled him straight inside. Xiao Ji sat at the table, watching as she bustled about closing all the doors and windows, and he could not help but feel a peculiar sense of unease.

In broad daylight…

Originally it was nothing, yet her flurry of actions made it seem as though they were doing something shameful.

After shutting the final window, Xie Yao turned back to him. “Your Highness, then I am coming.”

Xiao Ji: “…” Even stranger.

Suppressing his discomfort, he gave a quiet “mm,” watching as she approached him with joyful steps, giving him the feeling of prey awaiting capture.

Xie Yao stopped in front of him, bent slightly, hands clasped behind her back, her slender neck pale and delicate, her smile sweet, her voice soft. “Your Highness, are you nervous?”

Xiao Ji instinctively leaned back, pressing against the edge of the table, with nowhere left to retreat.

It was clearly a trivial matter, yet because of her question, he truly did feel a hint of nervousness…

“Xie Yao.” Seeing the teasing in her eyes, he could only speak helplessly. “Do not make trouble.”

“Fine.” She straightened her posture. “I was only teasing Your Highness.”

Xiao Ji froze, caught off guard.

So all that effort just now… had been intentional?

The room fell silent for a moment. Xiao Ji’s mood was complicated. He could tell that since leaving the Song residence, Xie Yao’s spirits had been uncommonly high.

He himself had seen everything that had happened there.

“Does the Crown Princess dislike Princess He Yi?” Xiao Ji suddenly asked.

Xie Yao looked at him in surprise. “Your Highness only realizes this now? I thought it was obvious.”

After all, she had even given him the dossier of He Yi’s “bedchamber guests.”

“Why?” Xiao Ji frowned. As far as he knew, before marrying him, Xie Yao had never had any contact with Xiao Ning.

Her eyes flickered, but she replied as if it were natural, “Because I am one with Your Highness. Your enemies are my enemies.”

Xiao Ji pressed his lips together. In a low voice he said, “Do not meddle in such matters again.” For Xiao Ning to scheme as she had today, she was no ordinary person.

“Is Your Highness worried for me?” Xie Yao tilted her head slightly. She lifted a delicate hand and gently laid it upon his left chest.

Xiao Ji’s body stiffened.

She paused a moment, then looked up with a light laugh. “Your Highness’s heart is beating very fast.”