Chapter 2

I was destined to marry a son of the emperor.

Father commanded a powerful army. Naturally, the empress wanted me to marry the crown prince.

But the crown prince already loved someone else, and a girl who spoke and acted more slowly than everyone else could hardly become the next empress. Marrying him would end badly.

Prince Qin already knew Father well. After several victories in battle, he had aroused the suspicion of the crown prince and empress. Marrying him would probably bring all sorts of trouble.

The gentle, refined Prince Rui really was the best choice.

He was kind and never competed with anyone. The ideal candidate.

That was what Father and Mother had told me.

But Prince Yan, Shen Yi, was so… rather pitiful.

“Pitiful? Have you lost your mind?” My close friend, Princess Lingyue, poked my forehead furiously. “Do you know what they’re saying in the capital?”

She knew I spoke slowly, and usually waited for me to finish before saying anything else.

Today, she was too angry.

Before I could answer, she went on. “They’re calling you a bodhisattva for subduing that demon Prince Yan. Every noble girl in the capital can finally stop living in fear.”

I looked up at her.

By the time I spoke, half her anger had already subsided. “Prince Yan is actually quite a good person.”

Her eyes widened. She put a hand to my forehead.

“I knew you were slow to speak and act. I didn’t realize there was something wrong with your head, too.”

But I hadn’t lied.

I had never believed a word of those rumors.

Our wedding was set for the eighteenth day of the sixth month, two months away.

The emperor said the Imperial Astronomical Bureau had chosen it especially for us.

Such an auspicious day came only once in a hundred years.

Still, two months was very little time to prepare a prince’s wedding.

I barely had time to embroider a bridal veil with a pair of mandarin ducks.

The day before the wedding, Mother came to my room. She held my hand and cried for a long time.

At last she said, “Ah Shu, your father and I have ruined your life. If you had been born into an ordinary family, we could have found you a husband who would make you happy.”

I wiped away her tears and tilted my head, trying to tease her. “Mother, who says Prince Yan won’t make me happy?”

She thought I was only trying to comfort her, and cried harder.

In the end, her attendant had to coax her for a long while before persuading her to leave.

The wedding rituals were elaborate.

I had rehearsed them at home again and again, and so managed not to disgrace myself in front of everyone.

By the time Cuixi helped me into the room, my clenched palms were slick with sweat.

“My lady, is anything wrong?”

I shook my head.

By the time Shen Yi finished entertaining the guests and returned, I had secretly drunk an entire pot of wine.

Cuixi hastily covered my face with the veil and carried out the empty pot of ceremonial wedding wine.

I sat obediently on the edge of the bed, listening to the approaching footsteps.

The veil blocked my view. I could see nothing.

Only beneath its hem did I glimpse a pair of boots embroidered with auspicious clouds stop in front of me.

Perhaps it was the wine. Perhaps the ornaments on my head were too heavy.

My head felt muzzy, and I couldn’t help shaking it.

The ornaments clattered against one another.

Then the veil slipped off my head.

The wedding candle beside the bed flickered twice.

At last I saw Shen Yi in his scarlet wedding robes.

He really was beautiful.

Like an immortal stepping out of a painting. More beautiful even than Prince Rui, whose looks were famous throughout the capital.

“Why?”

He bent a little and gripped my chin with cold fingers. His lovely eyes were icy.

“Why did you want to marry me?”

By the time I caught up with what was happening, his face was inches from mine.

In his eyes, I could almost see my own blank expression amid the coldness.

Startled, I instinctively leaned back, but could not escape his hand.

“Afraid of me?” His eyes narrowed slightly. His fingers tightened on my chin and drew me back. “Then why marry me? Haven’t you heard that even the mosquitoes in this house are male?”

“Or are you and that father of yours plotting something?”

“Or perhaps the empress sent you?”

So many questions at once, his voice growing colder with each one.

I did my best to listen to them all. Then I blinked and began answering his first question.

“Because I didn’t like hearing them say that no one in the world would ever want to marry you.”