Luna was taken aback by the voice, she hid herself deeper in the apricot flowers and was afraid to be seen.
Noticing Luna did not response, the voice continued, “Your skill was indeed splendid, the tune played gave people an immersive sense, yet the latter half part was the ingenious part of the whole tune, so why did you stop all of a sudden?”
Pausing for a while, the owner of the voice then chuckled, “Right, I’ve been a wet blanket. Why should a sorrowful latter half of the tune be played in front of this magnificent spring view?”
Luna could not endure anymore, she never realized the person underneath the tree actually knew music and was keenly appreciative towards her talent. She then slightly leaned out and replied shyly, “Yes, sir. It was exactly what you had said.”
The person underneath the tree remained silence for a long time until Luna felt impatient waiting for his reply. Her flower shoes were still hidden behind the tree, if they were seen and the fact that she, as the fourth mistress of the regent household, took off her shoes and hid in the trees was found out, she would be in huge disgrace.
While she was planning to sneak down the tree, the person suddenly replied, “Oh so it’s a lady, I’ve been rude.” There were no footsteps which signified that the person was still underneath the tree and did not have the intention to leave.
Luna was a straightforward person, she then said, “The night is dark and has grown colder. It’s been late, sir,” but did not know how to continue further. She could not possibly say ‘please leave first because I haven’t worn my shoes’.
That person fell into silence once more. Luna could not take it anymore and she leaned all out from the apricot flowers. She looked outside and saw a young man sitting on a wheelchair, lowering his head figuring something.
Luna’s eyes lit up, wasn’t it the man she encountered on the road this afternoon? She remembered he had greeted the side consort back then, therefore he must be a son of a family who had a strong friendship with the Debeur family, yet she had no idea which one. And since she had not walked with the side consort before, therefore it was normal that she did not know about it.
Noticing the commotion, the man finally lifted his head and saw a pretty figure with a fair and tender face among the apricot flowers. His expression went blank in a split second and he suddenly smiled. He waved at Luna and whispered, “Come down.”
His voice was enchanting, Luna felt that she was hit by the man’s smile, and she actually climbed down the apricot tree obediently.
Luna slightly regretted when her feet touched the ground. Although she had worn a pair of silk socks, yet without the flower shoes, they were useless during this cold night at early spring. How could she be bewitched by his words and climbed down the tree? Now that she was seen without shoes, it was absolutely embarrassing.
The man seemed to notice Luna’s awkwardness, his voice sounded a bit unnatural when he spoke, “The ground is wet and cold, please wear your shoes.”
Luna randomly bowed and quickly went to the back of the tree. Her face was blushing after she wore her shoes and returned. “Thank you, sir.”
The man was obviously shocked and smiled, “For what do you want to thank me?”
Luna muffled, “For reminding me to wear the shoes.”
The man let out a laugh, “It was me who should thank you.”
Luna lifted her head and startled, “Why do you need to thank me?”
“You were playing flute while enjoying the view alone yet I had interrupted and embarrassed you. Therefore I should thank you for not blaming me.”
Luna’s face burnt with shyness. She did not dare to look at the man and could only lower her head, staring at the flower shoes on her feet. She complained secretly in her heart that her flower shoes looked ugly and that Ruby who took care of her clothes and jewellery had sewn a red peony instead of a butterfly on her shoes.
“Don’t move.”
The man suddenly said, and Luna stood still obediently.
The man moved his wheelchair and came before Luna. He raised his hand and shoved the apricot flowers away from her shoulder. Luna let he be and she felt peace in her heart, as if it was something normal.
After doing that, the man moved his wheelchair slightly away and smiled, “I’ve seen you before, on the carriage of Debeur family. You’re the fourth mistress of the Debeur family, right?”
Luna nodded obediently and replied with a low voice, “I’ve seen you too. You were greeting mother.”
The man nodded, and suddenly took out a square, plain handkerchief out of his sleeve, “This is yours, right?”
Seeing that handkerchief, Luna’s eyes lit up and quickly took it over with both hands. Mr. Booth had always said her sewing skills were bad, yet she had put a lot of effort to make the handkerchief and she would be impatient to make another one. She regretted for losing the handkerchief at first and did not expect it to be found by the man.
Luna quickly bowed at the man and smiled, “Thank you, sir.”
The man waved his hand, as he was trying to say something, a laughing sound came from afar, “Kace, are you in there?” It was the voice of the fourth prince, Sebastian.
Luna was taken aback by the voice, there was a mixture of footsteps outside which meant there must be more than one person coming. She felt annoyed at the same time as that old Damma priest had said that Munashii Temple would only serve the people from the regent household these few days, so how could he still let so many people in? Having thought about this, Luna started to even feel angry at the man before her.
The man was also panicking at that time, yet seeing Luna’s adorable face when she bulged her pink cheeks, he then smiled, “Go hide behind the tree, I’ll shove them off.”
Luna never expected this man to know his etiquette that well and felt ashamed for her irrational anger towards him, she even felt grateful for him to help her out. Seeing him moving his wheelchair about to leave, Luna whispered, “I still haven’t known your name.”
He stopped for a second, and continued to move his wheelchair towards the outside after saying a few words lightly, “Kace Gladstone.”
Luna was shocked, she had heard this name before, wasn’t that the paralyzed son of the Minister family? She never knew he had this high moral quality! Luna felt sorry for him all of a sudden having needed to marry Amy. It was indeed a waste.
Voices came closer and closer from the outside, Luna immediately hid herself behind an apricot tree and listened quietly to the conversation of the people outside.
“Kace, who were you talking to inside?”
Sebastian had heard Kace talking to somebody and wanted to have a look at the inside of the forest. Luna was so scared that she dared not to let out a breath.
Luckily Kace had stopped him, “It was just a priest, nothing special.”
Sebastian was an expert when it came to romantic relationships, how could he not know when he saw the blush on Kace’s face? He insisted to see which lady he was talking to and wanted to release his anger on Kace which was due to Mary just now.
“Kace, it’s not good of you. We’re still brothers that had played together since we’re children, how could you hide anything from us? And how could there be any priest inside the forest when it’s this late? Don’t tell me it was some apricot blossom fairy.”
Sebastian giggled, Jared also sided with him and said, “Kace is such a great man that even the apricot fairies have been worldly-minded from falling in love when he walks into the apricot blossom forest.”
Kace panicked, if the princes had seen Luna, her reputation would be gone completely. Dating with a man in the apricot blossom forest in the middle of the night, and that man was even her future brother-in-law, if this was spread out, Luna could not dare to live anymore.
“Please stay, your Highness,” Kace was so anxious that he did not know what to say, he was already a talented scholar, yet in front of Sebastian who was talented in terms of romantic relationship, he was still no match towards him.
Kace was so talented that he wrote an excellent semi-cursive script. The script and Ralph’s cursive script were together called the ‘two treasures of the Cynthian Empire’, and were also called the world’s ‘four greatest books’ together with the regular script by the crown prince of the Cotera Kingdom, Leviathan Valencia and the clerical script by Lord Mathilda from the Rustica Kingdom. Iago was always a person who cherished talents; therefore he stood forward to help Kace out.
“The apricot blossom was pleasant to look at, yet there’s no wine. I remembered there’s a small hut nearby, so why don’t we go there and have a bottle of hot wine first before continuing to have a view at the apricot blossoms?”
Sebastian had never cared about Iago. His mother, Concubine Gerita was much loved and had huge power in the palace, even the formal queen had fear on her, not to mention Concubine Marilyn who had passed away for a long time. Also, the brothers, Iago and Ivo did not have a loving personality. Ivo took charge of the prison of Marbulo Temple and it was said that the people who died in his hands were too many to be counted; therefore Sebastian had been disdained towards him for being callous.
“Second brother, you can go alone if you really want to drink, it’s normal that a high-hearted person like you would not want to hang out with vulgar people like us,” Sebastian gave Iago a dig, “Perhaps to second brother we brothers are the most vulgar people ever?”
Jared also laughed, “Second brother is arrogant, he certainly does not want to spare a glance for us.”
No matter how good was Iago’s temper, he had almost failed to endure it.
Suddenly, James who had been silent said, “I’ve forgotten to bring my cape along the way. It’s indeed freezing here.”
James’ biological mother was the imperial consort in her past. She had excellent temper, a divine beauty and got along well with the queen and Concubine Marilyn. The emperor was only interested towards Sebastian’s biological mother, Concubine Gerita because she looked a bit like the imperial consort. Unfortunately, the imperial consort died of hard labor, therefore the emperor vented his anger towards James. Moreover, he was physically weak which made him less noticeable in the palace.
Yet the emperor did not give James a cold shoulder, he still thought of him from time to time.
Hence the brothers still took care of him, after all the oversensitive emperor loved to see them displaying peaceful brotherhood. It was Henry that asked to invite the brothers to celebrate Cold Food Festival at Munashii Temple this time and the emperor had lauded him, feeling satisfied to see him caring for his younger brothers as the eldest brother and possessed the quality of benevolence. He even bestowed him an outstanding khotan jade.
The rest of the princes had felt envy and jealous about it. At this moment, taking care of a physically weak and insignificant younger brother would not only not affect their chance to compete for the throne, but would also get them benefits from the emperor, so what would be the concern?
Henry, who was good at acting, quickly responded, “Since James is not feeling well, let’s follow what Iago has said and have a rest at the hut.”