The Lady with the three Daggers- II

"You look as though you expected someone else," she said, her voice low, smooth, and edged with authority. 

I struggled to respond momentarily, caught off guard by her youth. In my mind, I imagined Lady Zhao to be an elderly woman, a dense woman with years of living in this mirth of politics etched into her face. But instead, she was barely in her thirties, at her peak.

"I... I thought you would be—" I stopped myself, choosing my words carefully. "Different."

"Different?" she echoed, one of her elegant eyebrows arching. Her lips curled into a faint smile, though whether it was amusement or suspicion I couldn't tell. "Perhaps I should be flattered. Or should I be concerned?"

Her gaze immediately swept over me, assessing, as though she were piecing together a puzzle I hadn't even realized I was part of. I straightened myself up, forcing calm into my demeanour. I was reminded that in this world, I was Prince Ruoyun. I had to Be him, not myself.

"Umm... Neither, Ma'am," I said, injecting what I believed to be an appropriate mix of warmth and deference into my tone.

I pieced up my words to make up something that made sense, "It is only that..." I paused searching for the right word, but rather got fumbled as I noticed that She had stepped closer, and was now sitting next to me. The faint scent of her perfume filled my nose, very subtly but surely.

"...You look very young, Ma'am!"

Yep, I said it. So much for "Be him, not myself", What followed in the carriage was a deep awkward silence as I struggled to keep a straight face outside, while I just died inside with what I had blabbered outside. 

"Young, You say?" she said at last, her tone light, yet her words carried the weight of steel wrapped in silk. "...I wonder if that word even suits me anymore."

Her gaze didn't falter, and I felt it probing beneath the surface, peeling away layers I didn't know I had. I scrambled to recover, my hands fidgeting before I forced them to still.

"Forgive me, Ma'am..." I said quickly, attempting to sound measured, though the tremor in my voice betrayed me. "...I meant it as a compliment."

She tilted her head ever so slightly, her lips curling into a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "While you were in the north fighting your battles, I had plentiful of them here to face on my own." she mused, her fingers lightly tracing the edge of the seat beside her. "Tell me, Prince Yun, do you often stumble through your compliments like a man groping in the dark?"

I felt my face red with embarrassment, the heat rising to my ears. "I... That is to say... No, Ma'am!"

Her soft laugh returned, brushing against me like a feather and a blade at once. "Relax, young prince. I am merely teasing."

Though her words were meant to disarm me, her gaze still remained as sharp as a drawn dagger. I tried to breathe evenly, willing myself to regain some semblance of composure.

She leaned back slightly, the sharp angles of her gaze softening just enough to be unsettling. "It's been years, Young Prince," she said, her voice almost conversational now, though there was an undercurrent of something I couldn't quite place. "The North is a whole different world, isn't it? Brutal, straightforward... predictable in its savagery."

She paused, as though waiting for me to contradict her, but I didn't dare. Instead, I nodded stiffly, unsure whether my silence would be taken as agreement or cowardice. 

"And yet," she continued, her fingers now idly tracing a pattern on the polished wood of the seat, "...You are here now, thrown back to this city, which is anything but straightforward."