That Elusive, Mysterious Male Lead (37)

His head swam more and more. After he had gone only a short distance from the banquet hall, the strength in his legs began to drain away, soft and wavering beneath him. A faint, sharp pain rose from the pit of his chest. Zi Jiu stumbled, then felt a hand seize her arm with brutal force.

She turned and saw an old acquaintance.

The triangular-eyed man whose teeth she had kicked out.

“Hey, Your Highness, why are you so careless? You nearly fell. What would you do if you smashed your chin?”

The foul reek of tobacco and sweat on the man’s body turned Zi Jiu’s stomach. She held her breath and tried to speak, only to find her tongue stiff, as though numb.

“What’s wrong with Your Highness? Have you had too much to drink? Then allow me to be of service.”

With a vicious grin, Dela supported Zi Jiu and said to the maid, “I can manage here alone. Go bring Charles here in a moment.”

“Yes.”

Dela hurried Zi Jiu away. He knew the palace grounds well, and as a guard he understood the patrol routes of the palace watch. Along the way he avoided everyone, taking Zi Jiu farther and farther from the banquet hall.

In the banquet hall, Charles exchanged a few polite words with his colleagues, then turned around and discovered that Zi Jiu was already gone.

She must have gone back to her room to rest.

Yet for some reason, he felt uneasy.

He was still hesitating over whether to go look for her when Princess Dia came over with a wineglass in hand.

“Lord Charles.”

“Your Highness.” Charles bowed slightly.

“Why are you here all alone? Not going to dance?” Dia’s lovely eyes glimmered. “And where is the princess you keep in the palm of your hand? Since she is not here with you, could it be that she has gone somewhere with that other handsome gentleman?”

“If Your Highness has no orders for me, please excuse me.”

“Stop.”

Charles’s expression did not change. “Please command me, Your Highness.”

So obedient before that wretched woman, yet so proud before me. Dia looked at Charles with hatred, then suddenly smiled again. “Charles, you know, don’t you?”

She leaned in abruptly. The pungent scent of perfume flooded Charles’s nose, and he almost instantly sidestepped, making Dia lunge into empty space. She stumbled and nearly fell.

Ignoring Dia’s resentful glare, Charles said coolly, “I do not know what Your Highness is talking about.”

“You do know. You know I like you, that I would do anything for you. And yet you cast me aside without a second thought.”

“Your Highness has drunk too much. Have a maid escort you to rest.”

“Heh. Charles, you really are always this cold.

But that is also what makes you so irresistible.

It’s a pity, though. Why must you give your tenderness to someone else?”

Charles turned to leave, but Dia seized his sleeve.

Tugging and struggling was hardly graceful. Moreover, she was a member of the royal family to whom he had sworn allegiance. So Charles stopped.

“I know you don’t like me.” Dia put on a weak, pitiful expression. “Dance one waltz with me, will you? Please, Charles?”

Charles answered with silence.

“Even such a humble request, and you still refuse?”

Charles turned his face away, only to see a maid hurrying in from outside.

He recognized her at once as the girl who had led Zi Jiu earlier. Her face was full of anxiety, and Charles’s eyelid twitched for no reason at all. Without even thinking, he brushed away Dia’s fingers and went to meet the maid.

“What happened?”

When the maid saw Charles, relief washed over her face. She lowered her voice and spoke quickly. “My lord, please come at once. The princess has had too much to drink and a terrible headache. She keeps asking for you.”

“Where is she? Lead the way.”

Watching Charles cast her off without a shred of mercy, and seeing the eager way he hurried out the moment he heard Zi Jiu was looking for him, as though he could hardly wait to run to her side, Dia drained the crimson liquor in her glass in one swallow. A cold, twisted smile spread across her lips.

“Charles, you’ve forced my hand.”

After tonight, I will make you crawl at my feet like a dog.