The eldest prince didn't notice this. He just nodded at the second prince, his voice a bit hesitant. "Thank you, second brother, for this."
The second prince gave a faint smile and then turned to leave the room. The eldest prince walked up to Ji Feiyu and looked at her with concern. Ji Feiyu felt quite uncomfortable under his gaze and turned her head away. He looked at the bandaged wound on her arm, placed his hand on her shoulder, and said softly, "Don't worry. The woman who hurt you is already dead. No one will ever hurt you again."
Ji Feiyu nodded and then removed his hand from her shoulder. She stood up and said, "Your Highness, I'm a bit tired. I'd like to go back and rest first."
The eldest prince immediately said, "You should really get some good rest. I'll walk you back!"
"No need." Ji Feiyu said and then walked towards the door. The eldest prince followed behind her and said, "Feiyu, are you angry again? Because of my women?"
Ji Feiyu thought that the eldest prince was really pushing his luck. So she went along with him and said, "So what if I am? I don't think Your Highness has any true feelings for me. Sooner or later, you'll trade me for some benefits."
The eldest prince said, "Hey, didn't I say today that I won't trade you?"
Ji Feiyu opened the door with her uninjured hand. "Not even in the future?"
"Never! Never!" The eldest prince was eager to show his true feelings.
"Fine. I'll see if you can keep your word." Ji Feiyu walked out through the open door.
The eldest prince was about to follow her out, but Ji Feiyu stopped him. "There are guards outside. They can walk me back. Your Highness doesn't need to accompany me."
The eldest prince glanced at his trusted subordinate outside the door and then retreated back into the room. "Alright! Alright!"
Ji Feiyu then returned to the room prepared for her by the eldest prince under the escort of the guards outside.
...
The autumn hunting event, of course, didn't last just one day. There were many more activities later. But because of her injury, Ji Feiyu made an excuse to rest and didn't participate in any of them. As a result, she saw the eldest prince less often. The eldest prince invited a female doctor who specialized in treating female archers' wounds to change Ji Feiyu's dressing. The second prince and Yong Yaxuan also came to see Ji Feiyu from time to time to inquire about her condition, but not too frequently. Days passed by in a daze like this.
During the period of recuperating from her injury, since she didn't have to deal with others and Yong Yaxuan had sent her quite a few storybooks, Ji Feiyu had a rather carefree time. So she didn't want to recover quickly. However, one day when the second prince noticed that Ji Feiyu had secretly poured out the medicine she was supposed to drink, he started to urge his elder brother to come and feed Ji Feiyu the medicine in person. As a result, Ji Feiyu's injury, which had been slow to heal, quickly got better under such "torture". Because Ji Feiyu really didn't want to see the gentle look on the eldest prince's rather rough face.
Because of recuperating from her injury, Ji Feiyu basically missed the entire autumn hunting. But she was quite happy because she had become addicted to reading the storybooks and enjoyed them immensely. After finishing all the storybooks that were sent to her, she couldn't help but send someone to ask Yong Yaxuan where he had found these storybooks.
Yong Yaxuan knew that she didn't want to see him. So except for the visits to show his concern, he rarely bothered her. But he was afraid that she would be bored, so he ordered people to collect storybooks from all over the Northern Cold Imperial City and send them to the Western Desert. Unexpectedly, it just happened to catch Ji Feiyu's eye. When he heard that she was asking about it, he sent someone to tell her the truth and also said that the folk storybooks had rich materials and were different in each country and region. They were really worth reading.
Ji Feiyu saw that Yong Yaxuan didn't rush over immediately when he heard that she had taken the initiative to ask him something. He was much more sensible than before. Coupled with the kindness of sending the storybooks, her dislike for him lessened a bit.
In these few days, the grand autumn hunting in the Northern Cold was about to come to an end. As the organizer of the autumn hunting, the eldest prince entered the final busy stage.
The second prince took the opportunity to come and see Ji Feiyu. He said that he would take her for a stroll nearby to enjoy the surrounding scenery because they would be returning to the Northern Cold Imperial City in a few days.
The second prince had informed the eldest prince about this and had received his consent. So when he took Ji Feiyu out, there was no one following them from the eldest prince's side.
To show his kindness, the second prince lent his horse, Jingyun, to Ji Feiyu and changed to another horse himself.
The two of them took a ride around the grassland outside the hunting ground. Ji Feiyu saw that the scenery of this grassland was different from others. There was actually a winding small river that ran through the entire grassland. The river water was so clear that one could see the water plants underwater. The two of them dismounted to rest and let the horses drink water here. At this time, the river reflected the blue sky, looking like a beautiful blue ribbon inlaid on the grassland. Ji Feiyu found a place to sit down and couldn't help but sigh at such a magical place on the grassland.
The grassland wasn't just a vast expanse of grass. In the distance, there were rolling mountains as a backdrop. The grassland rose and fell, with patches of different colors. Up close, there were a few scattered dwarf trees. In autumn, the colors were even more abundant, with orange, red, and green intertwined, like a forest dyed with colors. There was also the wetland grassland in front of them, with a river running through it. Because of the abundant water source, there was a dense forest not far away.
Ji Feiyu sighed at the beauty of nature's creation. The second prince lay down beside her with a blade of grass in his mouth, looking up at the sky.
"When I was a child, I often lay alone in a place on the grassland, looking at the sky. Sometimes it was to avoid the punishment from my riding and archery teacher, and sometimes I just had nothing to do. The sky on the grassland is really clear and vast. No matter how bad my mood was, it would naturally get better after lying down for a while. I like this feeling of openness and vastness."
The second prince's deep voice came slowly, as if he was telling someone else's story.
Ji Feiyu imitated him and lay down too. At this moment, the sky was like a quilt and the ground was like a mat. The boundless sky was completely within her sight. For a moment, she seemed to see a bigger world. The white clouds in the sky formed different shapes, making people daydream. And the pure blue was endless, washing away the dust in people's hearts.
"How beautiful!" Ji Feiyu couldn't help but sigh.
The second prince said, "The beauty of the grassland is far more than what you've seen. If there were no mundane affairs, if you came to live here for a while, you would fall in love with it completely."
Mundane affairs. Sigh. Wasn't she trapped in them now? And wasn't it him who had drawn her into this situation?
Ji Feiyu let out a laugh and said, "I've always been curious. How did you find such a master of disguise to draw me into this situation? Now that there's no one else around, can you tell me the real identity of that person? I always feel that she should be related to an old acquaintance of mine."
The second prince's long and narrow eyes reflected the clouds in the sky. He gave a faint smile, turned his head to look at her, and said, "Why don't you take a guess?"
Guess? This really stumped her. She wasn't someone who hadn't guessed before. But all she could think of was that she might know the Butterfly Lady. But it was strange how she could disguise herself as her so meticulously.