On the day my only daughter was born, the Marchioness of Zhenbei gave birth to a son in the Hall of Mental Cultivation.
At dawn, Shen Chizhou brought me her child and exchanged him for mine.
When I caught him, he merely raised his eyes and said, “The child born of Wan and me must be raised in the palace.”
Song Wan was the great love he had lost in his youth.
Now that she had borne him a child, he meant to make amends to mother and son at any cost.
The cost was my daughter becoming the young lady of the Marquis of Zhenbei’s household.
She went from an exalted imperial princess to the daughter of a mere court official.
After a long silence, I neither wept nor protested.
Instead, I lifted my face and smiled in approval.
“As it should be.”
After all, a child ought to be raised beside her real father.
