"Lead the way."
A teasing smile curled at Lin Xuan's lips. He naturally liked that princess of Dali Kingdom, delicate yet stubborn.
From their first encounter, when she had disguised herself as a man, to that unusual "treatment" later on, and then his perilous rescue at Tianlong Temple today—fate truly worked in mysterious ways.
The maid led Lin Xuan to the door, then blushed and withdrew, gently pulling the courtyard gate shut behind her.
Lin Xuan pushed open the door, and a rich yet non-cloying warm fragrance washed over him.
No bright lamps were lit inside. Only a few palace lanterns draped in pink gauze stood by the bed and on the table.
The dim, suggestive light cast the entire room in a dreamlike haze.
Through the layers upon layers of sheer gauze curtains, Lin Xuan saw the slender figure seated before the dressing table.
Princess Qingxiang had clearly dressed herself with great care today.
Rather than her usual elaborate and dignified court robes, she wore only an exceedingly thin outer robe of sharkskin silk.
The silk was light as air, gleaming with a faint watery sheen beneath the candlelight as it vaguely outlined her exquisite figure.
Beneath it was a peach-pink bandeau that barely covered the curves of her chest, leaving broad stretches of her snow-white shoulders and back exposed to the air, smooth and delicate as the finest white jade.
At the sound of the door opening, that lovely figure trembled slightly before slowly turning around.
"Lin... Young Master Lin."
Princess Qingxiang rose to her feet, her voice as soft as a feather.
The instant he saw her face clearly, even Lin Xuan, who had seen countless beauties, felt his eyes brighten and his breath catch slightly.
Beautiful. Beautiful beyond measure.
She had just bathed. Her cascade of