Princess Chang’s Peony Banquet was a dazzling affair, a sea of elegant guests in fine attire.

Most of the guests gathered in the East Garden, their laughter like the tinkling of silver bells, echoing from behind the profusion of blooming peonies.

Yu Zhiguang sat beneath the west corridor, her legs demurely crossed.

Her moon-white, upturned shoes were adorned with several smooth pink pearls. Her sister-in-law, with skillful hands, had embroidered winding branches and green leaves onto them, making them look like spring blossoms twining around delicate footwear.

Beautiful, she thought, curving her lips into a smile, her shoe tips lightly tapping together.

From the corner of her eye, she noticed a pair of light blue cloth shoes, moving with a soft tap-tap-tap along the corridor. It was Yuanbao, her maid, defending her—the ladies in the East Garden had been gossiping about her.

“Goodness! Those young ladies, pretending to be refined and proper, yet their words are so sharp and spiteful. Don’t they worry about ruining their reputations?”

“Such a tumultuous love life, destined to be alone.”

“Nineteen and unmarried, destined to become a nun.”

“I think they’re just jealous of Miss’s beauty, jealous that she’s already betrothed to the Earl’s son. Sour grapes.”

Yuanbao muttered, changing direction.

To Yu Zhiguang, she looked like a tiny figure in a shadow puppet show. Yu Zhiguang slowly said, “My love life has been quite tumultuous…”

“Miss, why would you say such things?” Yuanbao stamped her foot.

Yu Zhiguang turned her head, her clear, bright almond-shaped eyes full of innocence.

She held up a slender, white finger, counting the evidence.

“See, although I’m betrothed to the Earl’s son, the year after I came of age, he had to observe a mourning period for his grandfather.”

“They say life and death are predetermined. Who could have predicted that?”

“After his mourning period ended, I rushed back from the ancestral home in Yun City for the engagement, only to encounter bandits. I almost didn’t make it back alive.”

“But Miss, you were incredibly fortunate to survive!”

“Then Mother thought something was wrong and took my birth chart and the Earl’s son’s to a new fortune teller, who said our birth charts clashed.”

“That…”

Yuanbao, a devout Buddhist, was speechless.

At the other end of the corridor, someone approached gracefully. Yu Zhiguang sat up straighter.

A young man, dressed in a lavender-colored round-necked robe with a carp jade pendant at his waist, approached, his voice preceding him, “Yu Meimei.” In the entire imperial capital, only Zhang Anrong, her fiancé, would call her that.

They had known each other since childhood, reuniting only recently. While technically engaged, their familiarity was no more than that of distant cousins.

Yu Zhiguang rose to greet him. “Third Brother, are you well?”

Zhang Anrong nodded, his gaze lingering on her beautiful face.

The gentle breeze of late summer and early autumn blew softly.

Sunlight streamed through the gaps in the leaves, casting dappled shadows on her oval face.

Yu Zhiguang’s eyes were a light color, her almond-shaped eyes round and clear, like amber. Yet, the corners of her eyes were slightly upturned, and her gaze, as it moved, held an unintentional allure.

Zhang Anrong was momentarily lost in thought.

What was he going to say… right, to break off the engagement.

Yu Zhiguang’s encounter with bandits on her way back to the capital from Yun City, and her subsequent rescue by Xue Shen, the Right General of the Imperial Guards, who was tasked with suppressing the bandits, was known throughout the city.

The day after her return, the Yu family sent someone to the Zhang family to report her safe arrival, explicitly stating, “Thanks to General Xue’s timely rescue and his escorting our Miss all the way, our Miss is unharmed, only having experienced a fright.”