Page 38 of The Scholar's Improper Wife

Yun-si’s fingers tightened on her own cup so hard she was surprised it didn’t shatter.

“I knew it,” Maiden Chen breathed beside her. “Oh, Maiden Shen, youarewatching him.”

“Research,” Yun-si managed, voice strangled. “It’s purely for research purposes.”

Maiden Chen laughed, bright and delighted. “What kind of research requires staring at a man like he’s your last breath of air?”

The kind where I might be in love with him,Yun-si thought wildly.

THE IMPERIAL ATTENDANTSannounced the imperial family’s arrival before they were seen.

Yun-si felt the shift in the atmosphere before she saw it. The conversations had died mid-sentence even before the announcement. Then there was a rustle of silk as everyone sank to their knees. She dropped with them, forehead low, hands pressed to the cold stone slabs.

The Emperor entered. Princess Ming-Yue followed three steps behind.

Even with her eyes down, Yun-si could track their progress by the hush that followed them across the hall. The Emperor’s footsteps, measured and unhurried. The Princess’s lighter tread. The faint whisper of gold-threaded robes.

“Rise.”

They rose.

Yun-si kept her gaze carefully lowered as she returned to her seat, but she couldn’t help stealing a glance at the dais. The Princess sat to the Emperor’s left, posture perfect, expressionserene. Beautiful in the way imperial women were beautiful—untouchable, composed, like a painting come to life.

Her eyes, though, were moving.

Yun-si watched them sweep across the huge garden with the methodical precision of someone taking inventory. They lingered on the scholars’ tables—the top three seated closest to the dais in positions of honor.

And stopped.

On Ting-zhi.

Something cold settled in Yun-si’s stomach.

The Emperor rose to make his toast. Yun-si barely heard the words. She was too busy watching the Princess watch Ting-zhi.

It wasn’t obvious. Nothing about the Princess was obvious. But there was something in the way her gaze rested on him—not curious, not admiring. Calculating.

No,Yun-si thought, fingers tightening around her cup.No, please no.

The toast concluded. Cups were raised, wine was drunk, and attention fragmented back into smaller conversations. Yun-si tried to look away from the dais. Failed.

The Princess leaned slightly toward her lady-in-waiting and seemed to murmur something.

The lady-in-waiting’s expression didn’t change. She bowed. Took up a tray from somewhere and crossed the hall.

Yun-si’s heart began to hammer.

The lady-in-waiting moved with the practiced grace of someone who belonged in palaces, her steps measured, her tray held at the perfect height. She stopped at the scholars’ table. Offered congratulations on behalf of the princess. Presented cups—one to the first place, one to the second place, the third to—

Ting-zhi.

He accepted it with a slight bow and that easy smile he always wore in public. The lady-in-waiting murmured something. He laughed. Raised the cup.

Drank.

Yun-si’s hands went cold.

It’s nothing,she told herself.Just palace hospitality. Standard ceremony. There’s no reason to suspect anything.