"Bao Wen, stop!" Leena screamed, stumbling as his grip tightened around her wrist.
The sari swirled around her legs, nearly tripping her as he dragged her toward the side gate of the banquet hall.
"Let me go!" she yanked, breathless.
But Bao Wen's jaw was set.
"You don't understand, Leena. This place is dangerous. That… disease, whatever it is—this palace will be chaos by dawn. I'm getting you out before it's too late!"
"And where would you take her?"
The voice cut through the clamor like a blade.
Leena froze.
Bao Wen stiffened.
The Seventh Prince strode toward them, black-and-gold robes flowing, eyes like a storm.
Behind him, guards and courtiers parted like the sea.
"Your Highness—" Bao Wen began, his usual calm cracking.
"I only wanted to protect her—"
"By stealing her from under my nose?" Li Wei's voice was soft but deadly.
He closed the distance in three long strides, his hand gripping Bao Wen's collar and yanking him forward.
"She is mine to protect."
The two men glared at each other, the air between them thick with tension.
Leena's heart pounded.
She wrenched her hand free and stepped back.
"I don't want to leave. I want to help."
Both men turned to her, stunned.
She squared her shoulders despite her trembling hands.
"I'm a physician. Those dancers—those people—need me. I can't run away while they're suffering."
The words hit the hall like a dropped stone.
Gasps. Whispered disbelief.
"Leena," Bao Wen said sharply, "it's too dangerous—"
"You can't risk your life!" Li Wei snapped at the same time, his voice echoing off the pillars.
"I decide that for myself!" she fired back, her chest heaving.
But then—his tone shifted, low and cutting, brooking no argument.
"Royal physicians are already on their way," he said.
"You will not touch the infected. You will stay here—alive."
Leena bit her lip, torn between duty and the iron in his gaze.
She nodded, reluctantly.
And then—
A delicate hand slid around the prince's arm.
Leena blinked.
"Your Highness," said Lady Jiang Ruolan, her voice trembling with rehearsed fragility.
"I'm so scared… Please, don't leave my side."
Li Wei stiffened, glancing down at the hand clutching him—then his eyes flicked to Leena.
For a moment, he looked almost guilty.
But to Leena, watching him with another woman on his arm, it felt like a blade twisting in her chest.
To be continued...