After Qian Fangxue had left, Ye Xi lightly beckoned to Qingyuan.
“Qingyuan, come here.”
She hid the sting on her face and took the maid’s hand as if nothing were wrong. Her voice was soft, grateful.
“You’ve looked after me for as long as I can remember. Thank you.”
Qingyuan, flattered, hurriedly waved it off with the practiced humility of a lifelong retainer. “Second Miss, you flatter me. I’m only too happy to serve.”
Then, as if from nowhere, a huff of thought slipped into Ye Xi’s mind — not spoken aloud, but unbearably clear.
Humph. Good. If it weren’t for Madam and the eldest miss telling me to watch you, I’d never bother with a stupid, pig-headed child like her.
Ye Xi’s fingers trembled in the maid’s palm.
No wonder. No wonder someone always seemed to know the slightest breeze that stirred her. No wonder when trouble came she had felt her parents and eldest sister indifferent while Qingyuan always found a convincing lie to make Ye Xi believe she was loved and protected.
So every display of care had been arranged.
Betrayal tasted bitter on the tongue. Ye Xi let go and closed her eyes, exhausted.
“Go on downstairs. I’m tired — I’ll sleep a while.”
“Yes, Second Miss.” Qingyuan obediently smoothed the covers over Ye Xi and withdrew, leaving the room as quietly as she always had.
Ye Xi realized, with a small, resentful clarity, why she could hear thoughts only when she had physical contact. The mind‑reading flared only through touch.
She tossed and turned on the bed, sleep reluctant. She felt like raw meat on a chopping block — somebody had bound her fate with an enchantment; she had to find a way to break it and escape before they tightened the noose.
But the world beyond her courtyard was sealed to her. As the legitimate second daughter of the Deputy Minister of Rites, she wasn’t allowed to wander freely to seek out wandering monks or miracle-workers. The only person likely to dissolve such a curse was Grandmaster Hunyuan — and he lived in the palace.
The palace itself was hard enough to enter. Grandmaster Hunyuan was notoriously eccentric and reserved his arts for the imperial family. With Ye Xi’s current status, he probably wouldn’t glance her way even if she knelt at the palace gate.
She thought briefly of Cao Sheng. He was the eldest son of the Queen’s brother — well placed at court and someone the Empress kept on favorable terms, if only out of respect for family ties. If she could get Cao Sheng to escort her into the palace, he might open a path to Hunyuan.
But no. After seeing Cao Sheng’s two-faced nature, Ye Xi had no desire to entangle herself with him. Worse, his dalliance with her eldest sister Ye Jueyao had exposed him as a man who gave sweets to two mouths. If she confided in him about a curse, it would be the talk of the house by sundown.
She clenched her fist against the bed, anger and pain tucking her into a drowsy, sick stupor.
In the morning the corridor outside her room filled with lively chatter and the clink of women's laughter. The previous day’s sharpness had not dulled; she shook her head to clear it and called out.
“Qingyuan.”
Qingyuan appeared at once. “Second Miss is awake. Do you still feel unwell? Shall I fetch the physician?”
The offer was rehearsed, automatic. Since seeing the true faces around her, Ye Xi could taste the performative sweetness in every petty courtesy.
“No need. Help me wash.” She swung her feet out of bed and paused. “What’s all the celebration about? It sounds like good news out there.”
Qingyuan’s face lit up with the kind of glee that smelled of ambition. “You wouldn’t know, Second Miss. The palace sent a notice at dawn — in three days they’re holding the Four Seasons Flower Banquet and have invited the ministers and their families.”
Ye Xi’s heart jumped. An invitation into the palace — that was the opening she needed.
“That’s wonderful,” she said, smiling faintly. “Has Mother gone to pick out dresses with my eldest sister?”
“They left first thing,” Qingyuan said, unable to hide her excitement. “Each family may bring one personal attendant, you know. I— I certainly hope I’ll be chosen as your attendant, Second Miss.”
“Your eldest sister said she’d bring your gown back as usual,” Qingyuan added, and the smile broadened.
Ye Xi let a small, mocking curl touch her lips. Ye Jueyao’s choices for her had always been staid, antiquated gowns passed off as flattering. In the past, Ye Xi had swallowed her taste to spare her eldest sister’s feelings; now it looked cruelly ironic.
Qingyuan, oblivious to the edge in her mistress’s tone, kept chattering. “Will you do your makeup the same way this time, Second Miss? Or try something new?”
“Try something new.” Ye Xi smoothed the hair at her forehead with a practiced hand. “Send Saixing here. I want to see what she can do with hair and makeup.”
Qingyuan stared, incredulous. “Saixing?”
She hadn’t expected Ye Xi to call for a lowly servant girl for styling. To a maid like Qingyuan, being chosen to accompany the family to the palace was a rare honor — many well-born girls had never seen the imperial court. Qingyuan’s eyes reddened and she dropped to her knees with a thud. “Second Miss, surely you don’t think me incompetent. It’s my fault if you are displeased — beat me, punish me, anything, but please don’t cast me aside.”
In the old days, that display would have softened Ye Xi. But not now.
Ye Xi rolled her eyes inwardly and feigned surprise. “Where was your head? Saixing is the one I must favor. Do you forget how, when I stumbled and nearly fell from the cliff, Saixing threw herself forward and hauled me back? She saved me in front of everyone.”
Qingyuan blinked. The room stilled around that single image — Saixing lunging between Ye Xi and certain doom, fingers closing on Ye Xi’s sleeve.
“That’s why,” Ye Xi continued plainly, “whether now or later, I must publicly show kindness to Saixing. Do you understand?”
Qingyuan opened her mouth to object, to plead her case, but Ye Xi cut her off. With a voice that could be honey or ice, she added, “Come to think of it, you were the one closest to me then… what were you doing?”
Qingyuan’s face flushed. Caught off guard, she stammered, “I… I—”
Ye Xi smiled benignly. “You must have been frightened, right? You love me and you don’t want our house disgraced. I know your loyalty.”
There was nowhere for Qingyuan to go but to accept it. “You’re right, Second Miss. It was thoughtless of me.”
Qingyuan forced herself to stand, and yet a small doubt had taken root in her mind; Second Miss felt…different today, though she couldn’t say how. Ye Xi watched her bow and leave, then sat a long, cold minute in the room that had once felt like a home. The palace invitation burned bright in her thoughts — the only opening she had to the man who might undo the thread around her life.