"Beauty makes people covet you"

He strode toward her, composed and unhurried, aloof in his aristocratic grace.

Xun Yuan abruptly remembered his heavy breathing beside her ear last night, the searing sweat sliding down his sharply sculpted face before dripping onto her fair back.

At the height of their passion, he would coax her, deliberately calling her "Xunxun" over and over. His deep, magnetic voice, hoarse with desire, sent a tingling shiver from her tailbone all the way to her cerebral cortex. He did it on purpose, recklessly squandering his masculine assets.

Yet he had never called her that outside of bed.

In the blink of an eye, they stood face-to-face. A middle-aged man in a suit and polished shoes accompanied Zuo Tingyue.

"Have you eaten?"

Zuo Tingyue came up to her and asked offhandedly.

How funny. She had just come out of the restaurant, and he was asking whether she had eaten.

"Yes," Xun Yuan said coolly.

They had not seen each other all day, and Zuo Tingyue still wore that detached air, as though nothing ever touched his heart. Last night's intimacy had left no trace on it.

Truly the classic case of giving his body, not his heart.

Scumbag.

"I'll be going, then. Don't let me keep you."

Her voice was cool, all the chillier in the night.

Xun Yuan could not quite name what she felt. She simply felt a little distant upon suddenly seeing him. Perhaps it was because, over dinner tonight, she had witnessed the little details of how Mrs. Zhang and her husband treated each other-the unspoken understanding that needed no words, the deep affection between husband and wife expressed without a sound.

Even an outsider like her found the scene sweet. She would not call it envy, but it had certainly touched her for an instant.

Zuo Tingyue's brow shifted, his voice indifferent.

"Eat with me."

Just listen to how overbearing he was.

When other people asked whether you had eaten, they wanted an answer. When he asked, he really was only asking.

A faint breeze stirred in the night. Xun Yuan smoothed the stray hair at her temple with a delicate hand and asked with a faint, ambiguous smile, "Isn't the crown prince busy?"

She had seen the middle-aged man in a suit and polished shoes behind Zuo Tingyue. His expression was deferential, his gaze fixed straight ahead, never once straying their way.

Surely he had come here on business.

Zuo Tingyue smiled, his thin lips moving to deliver an ambiguously intimate line.

"No matter how pressing it is, could it be more important than eating with you?"

His deep, magnetic voice reached her ears on the cool breeze. Xun Yuan felt her ears grow a little hot-not from embarrassment. The crown prince certainly knew how to flirt.

He was like this without putting his heart into it. She truly could not imagine how impossible he would be to resist if he did.

The crown prince knew how to cast a spell, one designed to ensnare women's hearts. A single smile, dashing and debonair, was enough to set a heart fluttering.

Out of the corner of her eye, Xun Yuan caught the middle-aged man's solemn expression. How funny.

Her attention suddenly veered off course. She was simply curious about how the people around the crown prince had trained themselves to remain unshakable even beneath a thunderbolt, calmly listening as their boss toyed with people's hearts.

Her lips curved upward. Without speaking or even looking at Zuo Tingyue, she simply held out a hand.

The middle-aged man standing behind Zuo Tingyue was Chen Shuping. Hearing nothing from the pair for some time, he felt admiration. Someone actually dared ignore the crown prince. That took guts.

Then he heard the crown prince give a low chuckle, his pleasure plain to see. Curious, he looked up, daring only a sidelong glance.

In the night, the hand the beauty held out was fair and coolly translucent, deserving the description "skin of ice, bones of jade." Her five fingers were long and slender, her nails neatly rounded and free of polish, gleaming faintly in the dim light.

Zuo Tingyue reached out, took Xun Yuan's hand, and went to eat.

After coming full circle, Xun Yuan returned to the restaurant. This time, they chose a private room. Zuo Tingyue and Chen Shuping occasionally exchanged a few words about finance, though mostly Chen Shuping spoke and Zuo Tingyue listened.

Xun Yuan did not want to listen. It was just a work report-wasn't that enough of a headache? Once the dishes arrived, she concentrated on eating. Earlier, she had been so occupied talking to Mrs. Zhang that she had barely eaten anything. Now that she had the chance, she might as well take it.

"Hungry?"

Zuo Tingyue asked her. Only now, with a moment to spare, did he remember to ask.

Xun Yuan swallowed a mouthful and looked up at him, noticing that Chen Shuping had already left.

"Not really. Bored," she replied casually.

"Aren't you eating?"

He had barely touched his chopsticks since coming in. He did not look as though he had come here to eat at all.

Then she looked at the empty plates in front of her and had nothing to say.

Zuo Tingyue's lips curved into a smile. "I am."

True to his word, he began eating. The crown prince had excellent table manners, too. He ate at an unhurried pace, his elegance tempered with an easy nonchalance. Getting him to follow every rule to the letter would be rather difficult.

Recalling the few remarks she had overheard, Xun Yuan asked, "You were away on business in Southeast Asia for so long. Is it still not settled?"

Zuo Tingyue raised a brow at her and replied with a smile, "Just a little tidying up."

His voice lifted slightly at the end, carrying a hint of unruliness and lofty disdain.

Oh, tin ore in Southeast Asia worth over ten billion. A small matter.

He really did think highly of his abilities, though admittedly, he had the assets to back it up.

Xun Yuan nodded in understanding, her features charming as she smiled. "Then could I come along next time?"

At that, Zuo Tingyue looked up at her, his gaze sweeping over her face inch by inch as his lips formed a thin smile.

"No."

"I'm not taking you."

It was rare for him to say the same thing twice like that.

Xun Yuan's eyes were clear, the expression in them easy to read. She looked at him, her voice holding a little laughter and softness.

"Why can't you take me?"

Zuo Tingyue set down his chopsticks, a trace of amusement swirling in his eyes, his tone casual.

"You're beautiful."

Xun Yuan smiled. "So you can't take me out because I'm beautiful?"

"No."

"It's chaotic over there. Beauty makes people covet you."

"I can't keep you tethered to my side every moment. What if someone sets their sights on you?"

He still spoke in that lazy drawl, his voice as rich and refined as fine wine sealed away for a century, full-bodied and tantalizing.

Every word sounded like a lover's murmur, settling soundlessly on the very tip of her heart, teasing without taking responsibility.

Just look.

How lovely the crown prince made his sweet nothings sound. Yet the amusement in his eyes was so shallow, and he remained impossible to fathom.

Her expression gentle, Xun Yuan asked a question that could be taken more than one way.

"If someone really did set their sights on me, would you come save me?"

As though his patience had run out, Zuo Tingyue stood and looked down at her, his eyes far too cool and indifferent.

"What foolish things you say."

He really was heartless enough. Sweet nothings one second, a bucket of ice water dumped over you the next. He could turn it on and off at will. Truly remarkable.

Xun Yuan's long lashes trembled. She smiled and said lightly:

"They are foolish."

She had clearly seen more than enough of this sort of thing-the way wealthy young gentlemen played through life. Who was more serious than whom?

It was only an ordinary romantic affair. It just so happened that he and she were its leads, and that they shared a little history, so she had inevitably let her true feelings become involved.

In this romance, she sought only to settle her heart.