Chapter 34

Tang Kexin's was greatly surprised that she staggered. If she wasn't leaning against a tree trunk, she might have fallen over.

When Tang Kexin saw that he had no intention of leaving, she could only straighten her back and walk over.

"This humble girl pays her respects to the Third Prince." No matter what, she had to pay her respects first.

The two concubines who were engaged in an intense battle for quite sometime also came to a stop when they saw Ye Lanjue. They hurriedly stepped forward to pay their respects. "Paying respects to the Third Prince."

Ye Lanjue didn't move nor say anything, but only continued to stare at Tang Kexin.

He had completely ignored the two women.

Tang Kexin felt her scalp tingled and her stomach clenched as Ye Lanjue continued to stare at her. Seeing that the third prince won't be responding to the greetings, she automatically straightened her body and greeted him with a cheerful voice, being the senseless girl once again, "What a coincidence. Third Prince came for a walk so early in the morning?"

No matter what, it was good to ease up the atmosphere.

Upon hearing Tang Kexin's words, the corner of everyone's lips twitched. Coming down to take a leisure walk? What did she think the Third Prince is, a prince who waste his precious time? And what early in the morning? It was almost high noon!

He continued to stare at Tang Kexin, his expression unreadable. It was as if he hadn't heard her words, and that his gaze was too indifferent. However, it was enough to make one feel cold.

"Your Highness, this concubine will take leave first." The two women who were just in each other's throat were pretty smart to take notice of the situation. It could be seen that the third prince was targeting Tang Kexin, so it had nothing to do with them. Thus, they quickly took their leave.

Ye Lanjue didn't say anything but motioned his finger to his men to withdraw, too.

For a time, there was only Tang Kexin and Ye Lanjue in the courtyard.

"This humble girl will also take her leave then." Seeing that everyone had left, Tang Kexin tried to open her mouth as well. Although she knew that the chances of him letting her to leave were very small, she still tried.

Life is about trying, they say. Although not all attempts were fated to be successful...

Ye Lanjue still didn't say anything, he only looked at her with narrowed eyes.

Seeing that he didn't make a sound, Tang Kexin's eyes blinked as she tried moving her feet.

"Do you believe that this Prince will cripple your foot?" However, just as she lifted her foot to take a step Ye Lanjue's cold voice was heard. The voice wasn't loud, but it was enough to instantly turn her into a block of ice.

Tang Kexin's foot forcibly returned to its original position. She secretly let out a breath and raised her head to look at him, trying her best to calm her heart down. "Your Highness, we have no enmity nor grudges to one another. But why is His Highness scaring this humble daughter...?"

Why would he cripple her foot for? What had she done? What hatred was this? Was this hatred?

However, no matter how unwilling she was, she didn't dare to act rashly.

Therefore, she lowered her head and stood there quietly. In an instant, she had transformed into a well-behaved girl.

"You had made the two concubines, who were known to be best of friends, fight to their death in this palace ground. You have quite a skill...!" Seeing her current appearance, the corner of Ye Lanjue's lips twitched suspiciously. Only, his voice had become even deeper.

"This humble daughter doesn't know what the Third Prince meant..." The corner of Tang Kexin's mouth twitched slightly. She had only said a few words just now and hadn't done anything else.

She wasn't sure when Ye Lanjue had arrived. She had always been very vigilant, but she actually hadn't noticed anything just now.

But she might had a bit of a fluke, and perhaps, the Ye Lanjue hadn't been here for that long, and just arrived. He might not have heard all her words.

"This Prince said that he realises that you have quite the guts." Ye Lanjue smiled coldly, his words slowly spreading out word by word. They were deathly still and icy cold, yet they were filled with unfathomable feeling.

Hearing his words, Tang Kexin was inwardly shocked. She didn't know if he was just discussing this current matter, or if he was implying something else.

But the thing was, she was afraid that he might be the man from that night. Otherwise, with his personality, he wouldn't have paid so much attention to her.

However, if he was indeed that man at the temple, then…

Tang Kexin gulped, small beads of sweats slid from her temple. She fervently hope though that it wasn't him. He was too dangerous and too frightening to mess with!

"Did the emperor really plan of going to the Pingyi Courtyard last night?" At this moment, Ye Lanjue didn't mention anything else at all. He only opened his mouth to probe Tang Kexin's earlier statement, seemingly to focus on the matter at hand.

"…" Of course not. She was the one who made it up, so Tang Kexin didn't say anything. She lowered her head and decided to play dumb.

However, after hearing his words, Tang Kexin completely gave up. It seemed that the Third Prince had been in the area from the start that he saw and heard everything.

Since he had seen it all, it was useless to make up something now.

In this situation, she deemed that the best thing she could do was to admit her mistakes. The more sincere she was, the better it would be for her.

Seeing that she had kept her head down and had only used her eyes to intermittently look at him, Ye Lanjue didn't say anything. He let out a soft sigh, "You even dare to lie to me like this. Just how many heads do you think you have?"

Perhaps the third prince had been staring at her forehead for too long, and then suddenly said something like that.

At first, Tang Kexin thought that in this situation, there could only two possible scenario. One was for her to act scared to death, and the other was to be stunned cold to death, but after hearing this sudden last words, Tang Kexin's eyes flickered. Perhaps, she might be able to come up with a third scenario.

"One? Could it be that there are more?" Tang Kexin raised her head and asked with a blank and innocent expression. Her lips curved up in a bright smile.

Ye Lanjue's eyes flashed. This time, the smirk on his face froze. This woman was really something.

Under such circumstances, how could she still smile carelessly? And that smile...was too dazzling.

He stared at her deeply, saying nothing.

Seeing that he was silent once again for a long time, Tang Kexin couldn't figure out what he was thinking, but his current expression didn't seem as cold as before.

"Nowadays, it's so hot that people could die from the sun's heat. Maybe we could go to the front yard and take advantage of the shade?" Tang Kexin tried to lift her foot and move forward.

However, before she could take a step back, he suddenly shot a cold beam of light straight at her raised foot.

Tang Kexin's heart skipped a beat. She had the feeling that if she were to take that step forward, just with his gaze, it would be enough to freeze her feet.

"<Cough!>" Tang Ke coughed lightly and retracted her foot. However, she did not give up in the end and once again tried to make another step. Similarly, before she could completely move, his ice-cold gaze once again shot over.

"About this... we couldn't just stand here at the middle of the heat. Is it feasible for us to move to the side, to the shade at least?" Tang Kexin felt extremely frustrated at the moment, so frustrated that she wanted to slap him flying. It was a pity that she couldn't dare and didn't have the ability to do so.

However, would this prince be able to live or die happily? It's not good to always use your eyes to scare people, was it?

What was even more depressing was that under his gaze, she was actually forced to retreat.

"Why don't you try moving then?" Ye Lanjue's solemn voice was clearly threatening, but it seemed to contain a trace of other emotions.

When Tang Kexin heard this, her temper immediately rose. Was he trying to force her to her death? What could he possibly do? Would he really dare to do something with her at the palace ground, in an open space? Does he really dare?

Besides, there was still the empress in the palace. It was known that empress truly cared about her. She was her biological niece! Would he really dare?

However, just as she lifted her foot and about to move, Ye Lanjue suddenly extended his hand and grabbed her shoulder. Before she could collect her senses from the sudden movement of the man, he had already brought her to a place so close that she couldn't get any closer.

His hand was still on her shoulder. It was unknown whether it was a coincidence or a deliberate action, but the place where he was holding onto right now was exactly the place where the man from that night had bitten her.

At this moment, she was almost in his embrace. Her head was slightly raised with her mouth agape, and his head was slightly lowered. The angle, the posture, the distance…

It was almost perfect!

If he lowered his head even just for a little, or if she accidentally budge a little, it would highly likely that her and his lips would pressed together.