Consort of a Thousand Faces

“No matter which girl, regardless of whether she is proud and noble or petty and lowly, would care about her appearance. Her face, arms, waist, and her whole body from top to bottom,” Situ Li slowly said while looking at her.

“This servant’s arms are indeed full of welts. In order to not suffer from whipping again, this servant requests that you leave as soon as possible, Third Imperial Prince.”

To put it frankly, she was chasing Situ Li away. Su Xi-er didn’t want to stay with him any longer.

His reply was full of profound meaning, the expression in his eyes vaguely sounding her out.  

“I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you. Not only am I not leaving, but I’m also going to rest here.” Right afterwards, Situ Li sat on the wooden stool and took out a pearl hairpin from his sleeve.

Su Xi-er recognised this pearl hairpin. It’s the deposed Empress’ jewellery.

Su Xi-er was tactful enough to know that Situ Li was reminiscing about the owner of the hairpin and that she mustn’t disrupt him. As a result, she wiped off a stool and prepared to move it to the corner of the room.

Before she could do so, however, Situ Li raised his hand to stop her. “Sit here.”

Su Xi-er glanced at him and noticed that his expression was calm. There were neither ripples nor waves of emotions in his eyes as his gaze remained on the pearl hairpin.

“I searched about in the repose palace. Other than this pearl hairpin, there was no other jewellery,” Situ Li slowly recounted, his right hand beginning to stroke the pearl hairpin.

Su Xi-er understood. The repose palace he mentioned is the place the deposed Empress stayed.

Since only a pearl hairpin was left behind, it must indicate that the deposed Empress was the most reluctant to part with this object.

“Su Xi-er, sleep if you’re tired. Since I’m here, incidents like someone setting the shed on fire won’t occur.” Situ Li’s attention didn’t deviate from the pearl hairpin even as he addressed her.

I have just met him, yet he treats me like this? No one treats someone well for no reason. What exactly does he want to do? 

Su Xi-er observed him secretly and realised that he was already immersed in his thoughts.

He had mentioned that they were fellow travellers on the same path. Are our circumstances very similar?

I’m a servant girl from the Palace Side Quarters while no matter how incapable he is, he is still an imperial prince. How can our circumstances be the same?

Su Xi-er pursed her lips. Despite being in Beimin’s imperial palace, she didn’t understand the people here.

With her lack of understanding of the situation, it felt as if she was walking in the dark where she could only blindly grope around and personally explore by relying on her own hands.

She needed to be extra cautious and not lower her guard. I definitely won’t bear the pain from my previous lifetime again. 

I will repay that pain hundreds upon thousands of times. When this thought crossed her mind, the expression in Su Xi-er’s eyes changed.

In the end, she brushed away the dust on the wooden table, placed her right hand down, set her head upon it as a pillow, and closed her eyes.

Situ Li shifted his gaze and looked from her face down to her cheeks, then finally her left wrist.

This type of injury is definitely not the result of spraining it on her own, but someone forcefully breaking and injuring her.

Don’t tell me that the person who ambushed Prince Hao was her? Prince Hao sprained her wrist?

This woman is really bold to have plucked hair from the tiger’s head. What’s even more interesting is that Prince Hao doesn’t know who it was.

Currently, there’s a palace maid from the Palace Side Quarters who admitted that she attacked Prince Hao. However, after she declared that, she died, leaving no testimony.

There was a sudden development in the situation.The person who attacked Prince Hao is like a riddle, making people curious yet afraid.

Situ Li’s gaze moved back and forth on Su Xi-er emotionlessly. After confirming that she was asleep, he took out a white porcelain bottle from his sleeve and poured out some green powder.

This is a high-quality medicine for sprains. One will recover after applying it for three days.

He poured some of the powder on her wrist. After smearing it evenly, he kept the white porcelain bottle back into his sleeve.

It was unclear how much time had passed when Situ Li stood up and walked out from the woodhouse.

Outside the shed, a man clad in black clothes bowed deferentially. “Your Highness.”

“Watch her,” Situ Li ordered him expressionlessly before leaving.

The man in black looked at the woodhouse with a complicated expression.