Chapter 5 — Once reborn, I will no longer marry the wrong person

Those words sent a chill down my spine. What he said was "she needs a prince". But not...

"I need the support of the Tham family."

He said this as if he was just doing me a favor. Not planning anything.

"How did you know I needed a prince?"

He finally took his eyes off the book and looked up at me. Under candlelight. His facial features were extremely clear. High brow bones. Eye sockets are a bit deep. Deep black pupils. Every time I look at people. It's like a deep well with no bottom.

"The day Miss Tham refused to marry at Tu An palace, after she left the Queen Mother's place, she met the Eighth Emperor, and then saw me."

His voice was calm as if he was reading a history book.

"After getting on the carriage, she turned her head to look at me once."

"In those eyes."

"No curiosity."

"There is no coincidence."

"Only confirmation."

"She is confirming."

"Am I the person you're looking for?"

My hand tightened the blanket under me. Previous life. When our soul wanders. I once saw him outside the royal study room in the middle of the night. He came out from inside. Holding a list in hand. Moonlight covered his face. Making that person completely different from the lonely prince who only knows how to sit at the foot of the palace wall and read books. The eyes in that moment. Sharp as a blade. Completely opposite to the appearance he always presented to the world. After I die. The soul wandered for three days. Saw a lot of secrets. But there is only this person. Makes me feel... He could become a blade. One blade was strong enough to tear through all layers of Ly Thua Trach's disguise.

"You know what I'm looking at."

I said softly. He didn't deny it. Don't even admit it. Just quietly lowered my eyes and looked back at the book page. The candlelight cast flickering shadows on his face. Leaving half of the face in darkness.

"Your Highness Ten."

"You lived in this palace for three years."

"Every day I just read books and write."

"Don't go out."

"No socializing."

"Let everyone think that you are just a bookish scholar with no great ambition."

I lifted the blanket and got out of bed. Bare feet stepped on the cold tile floor. Step by step, I walked towards him.

"You can't fool me."

He raised his head. There is only a book between the two of them. The candlelight in the middle swayed slightly. His eyes in the light appeared dark brown, almost amber. There was no embarrassment or anger at being exposed by me. There is only calm.

"Tham Uan Ninh."

He called my name. Slow voice. It was like reading the title of a chapter of a book that had just opened.

"She just got married to the palace on the first day."

"Told me everything."

"Not afraid..."

"Did I kill her to silence her?"

"You won't."

I calmly replied.

"Because you need to continue playing the role of a lonely scholar in front of everyone."

"It's your best defense."

"The 10th prince married the daughter of the Tham palace."

"In the eyes of outsiders."

"There will no longer be an invisible man who poses no threat."

"They'll just think."

"You are nothing more than a tool chosen by the Tham family to avoid disaster."

"It's an excuse for the Tham family to withdraw from the competition for the Crown Prince position."

"It's even more considered a merit uncle."

"Then no one will really pay attention to you."

He was silent for a moment. Do something completely beyond my expectations. He smiled. That smile was very faint, the corners of the lips only curled slightly. If it weren't for the candlelight illuminating his face, we might have thought it was just an illusion created by the darkness. But it was really a smile, not a gentle look that he deliberately created like Ly Thua Trach, but an unconscious reaction when he really found it interesting, like an ice surface suddenly cracked a small crack, revealing a part of the truth that only appeared in the blink of an eye.

"She's smarter than I thought."

He closed the book and placed it on the table.

"If that's the case, we can skip a lot of unnecessary probing between us."

He stood up. Taller than me by a head. He walked around the desk, walked in front of me and lowered his head to look down. The distance between the two people was now so close that it was no longer polite. But we don't back down.

"Tham Uan Ninh."

"What do you want?"

"I want the Eighth Prince to never be able to sit on that position."

The expression on his face did not change. As if what I just said was not a great crime. But I just want to eat cinnamon flower cake tomorrow.

"What about you?"

"What do you want?"

He looked at me for a long time.