The word “Slave” was clearly printed on her collarbone. Fortunately, the dress she was wearing didn’t show much of it.
And despite being properly branded, her chains had not been untied.
In the embroidering room, Shu Nuan had met a young girl of her age named Xue Ying. Xue Ying told her that she could never take off the chains throughout her life, because her identity was that of a slave of a vanquished kingdom.
Have you ever seen a slave of a vanquished kingdom walking the streets of Beiguo like a common person?
Xue Ying had said.
Shu Nuan looked down with a chain attached on and continue to walk on the pebble path in the garden. Shu Nuan looked down at the shackles on her limbs and continued to walk on the pebble path. While thinking about such things, she reached the embroidery room in the backyard.
And then, she suddenly halted as if she had walked into a wall, and stepped back… Her vision had abruptly been met by a shimmering wall of white inlaid with light blue ink.
In a panic, Shu Nuan had quickly knelt down, her view changing to a pair of straight and long legs for a moment, before her head bumped on the man’s boot by accident. She instinctively stretched out her hand and wiped his boots. But the manner in which she withdrew her shaking hand betrayed how anxious she was.
“Look up.” A low voice calmly sounded out above her. A voice she had heard before.
Shu Nuan raised her head and saw a familiar yet different man.
During their previous encounter, he had been wearing a fierce armor and had sat on top of his red horse; his face colder than the snowstorm raging around him. Now, he was wearing clothes of white and sky blue, his tall body exuding the aura of an infinitely rich person.
Following the man were two subordinates, who felt displeasure upon seeing a slave run into the prince. However, before they could reprimand Shu Nuan, Sheng Qianmo raised his eyebrows gently, and said, “You…”
The girl who had knelt beneath his horse in the cold and asked for shelter.
Sheng Qianmo didn’t really remember what the girl looked like, apart from the tear mole under the corner of her right eye. Now that he saw her looking clean and exquisite – but still shackled – he had been reminded of her existence.
Sheng Qianmo began to ponder. That day, he had taken a sip of liquor as he had looked at the delicate little girl begging pitifully. He had teased the young girl casually. But now that she looked much different, his heart felt a little soft as he looked at her petite frame kneeling in front of him. For the briefest of moments, his heart had felt a little fluttery.
“Don’t you know to greet him when you see Prince Sheng?” One of the subordinates couldn’t help but reprimand her.
Shu Nuan’s greeting was a kowtow.
“Your humble slave greets Your Highness, Prince Sheng.”
Sheng Qianmo looked down at her kowtowing, acknowledging her with a rare “En,” but still left without saying a full word.
Shu Nuan kept kneeling until the prince had left, before getting up and leaving herself.
“Prince, your subordinate thinks that the Emperor is very displeased right now. It is inappropriate for you to intervene in the matter of the Seventh Prince,” Li Ming mentioned.
The other subordinate, Li Yuan, voiced his agreement as they walked.
Sheng Qianmo had not spoken all this time, only speaking when he reached the door of the library. He remembered something before glancing at Li Yuan, and said, “The slave girl. Let her wait for me in my personal chambers.”
Li Yuan paused for a moment, then subconsciously looked behind him. When he turned back again, Sheng Qianmo had already entered the Shu Pavilion. Li Yuan and Li Ming looked at each other for a moment, before Li Ming finally waved at him, “Go.”
When Shu Nuan walked into the embroidery room, she happened to hear someone from Sheng He Palace who was looking for a slave.
The person had not spoken a name, and only pointed at her before she was taken away.
Shu Nuan was taken to the Tangquan Palace to bathe and after being washed clean, she was dressed by a maid into a nightgown made of a thin, nearly transparent, soft gauze.