After Zhao Yuanjing had pulled her face out of the water one last time, he let go of her.
Yun Dai had drunk a lot of the water inadvertently. She was panting heavily as she clutched the sides of the bathing tub tightly. Her entire body was drenched, and water was dripping off her hair.
Even though she hadn’t been drowned, the feeling of water in her mouth and nose was extremely uncomfortable.
Zhao Yuanjing looked at her quietly.
After this woman had had all that stuff washed off her face, a clean, fair, and beautiful face appeared before him.
She looked very young, and her brows were straight. There was a mole on one of her snow-white cheeks, which seemed to emphasize her babyish looks. Her lips were full and red.
The first things that popped up in Zhao Yuanjing’s head was a poem about a woman with bright eyes, beautiful teeth, and a mesmerizing smile.
She was like a peach blossom flower that bloomed on the highest branch of the peach tree in the spring.
It was a beauty that could not be overlooked.
It seemed to sway in a warm, gentle spring breeze. It made one want to come closer to have a look and also to take in its fragrance. However, it also made one fear ruining its petals if one held it too hard.
After Zhao Yuanjing was finished looking at her, he looked away and went back to sitting on his chair. He said flatly, “Even though you’re not a stunning beauty, you’re still rather refreshing to look at.”
He had seen so many beautiful women ever since he’d been a child. There were beautiful women in his father’s harem all the year round. All of them had above-average looks and were definitely the type of women able to mesmerize thousands with their faces.
When he first looked at Yun Dai, he felt as if she was like the peach blossom petals that came out on the peach tree in the spring. But with water streaming down her face like that, she also looked like an all-white gardenia that was blooming by itself in the dark of the night.
Zhao Yuanjing leaned back in his chair and continued, “I thought that the second daughter of Minister Gu must be some rare, stunning beauty, but you turn out to be nothing to write home about. Why do you bother drawing those things on your face?”
His words were dripping with sarcasm.
Yun Dai was put on the spot. She hated him to death now.
She glared fiercely at him.
Her pretty eyes were so clouded over with anger that it was impossible to tell what color her pupils were.
She looked as if she was going to gobble him up whole in the next second.
This was the first time Zhao Yuanjing had ever seen someone look like that, and it was a woman no less.
“Why do you want to kill me?” He lifted his chin a little bit. “If you don’t intend to kill me, then get out of here. However, if you really want to bathe, then remove your clothes and wash yourself properly.”
The water was warm, but Yun Dai felt an iciness in her heart.
She quietly pulled herself out of the bathing tub.
The water flowed from her hair and her clothes and drenched the thick, luxurious carpet on the floor.
Since it was late spring, her dress was rather thin. The well-washed thin fabric of her green dress stuck to her body and completely revealed her petite, slim figure.
She didn’t look like someone who had given birth at all. Instead, she looked like a young girl who had had to go without food and shelter for a long time.
Zhao Yuanjing looked her up and down and suddenly felt an urge arise from nowhere.
This was something that had never happened to him before.
Even when he was faced with the gorgeously made-up Consort Chen, he had never been the least bit interested.
He used to think that he wasn’t able to feel anything for women anymore.
When he felt this urge in the Duke’s residence’s kitchen, he had been drunk, and when he felt this urge in the small kitchen, he had been drugged. Even though it had happened with the same woman, Zhao Yuanjing wasn’t able to confirm if he was cured.
He had ordered all his servants to retire for the night and called Yun Dai to his room not just because he was curious about what she really looked like, but also to test and confirm his feelings.
And now, he had proven to himself that he really did feel something.
He felt something even though the woman in front of him had been drenched in water, looked a complete mess, and didn’t have any makeup at all on her.
And, yes, he had still felt that change in himself despite all this.
He wanted to further confirm this.
With that on his mind, Zhao Yuanjing stood up and walked over to Yun Dai. He wrapped an arm around her waist to pull her toward himself and rolled onto the couch with her.
Yun Dai was both shocked and furious, so she instinctively gave Zhao Yuanjing’s face a quick slap.
The crisp sound of the slap echoed around the room.
Zhao Yuanjing was stunned.
Yun Dai was stunned too.