Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I had been reborn-sent back to the seventh year of my marriage to Qi Yuanhuai.

He brought home a little boy and said to me, “Ruoruo, his parents died on the battlefield. Since we have no children of our own, why don’t we adopt him?”

In my last life, I pitied the child for having no one to care for him and readily agreed.

But now that I looked closely, though the boy was only six, his features already bore a faint resemblance to Qi Yuanhuai.

What battlefield orphan? He was clearly Qi Yuanhuai’s illegitimate son with the maid I had brought with me as part of my dowry!

I pretended not to know. Bending down, I rubbed his little cheek.

“All right. From now on, he will be my own son.”

“Child, what is your name?”

He was still a little afraid of me at this point and answered in a low voice, “Qi Jin.”

Qi Yuanhuai deliberately explained, “I gave him the name on the road. Since he’ll be raised in our manor from now on, I thought he should take the surname Qi.”

I smiled. “Of course.”

I was the only mistress in charge of the household. Qi Yuanhuai had taken no concubines, and he was often away at war, so the heavy responsibility of raising and caring for the child fell entirely on me.

I remembered that in my previous life, Qi Yuanhuai would come by every few days to see Qi Jin. Sometimes he would even speak to him alone, asking if he had enough to eat, if he was warmly dressed, and if anyone had bullied him.

I had only thought he was worried the servants might mistreat Qi Jin. I had never imagined that the person Qi Yuanhuai had truly been guarding against was me.

Yet in this life, he trusted me to a surprising degree.

As before, I took meticulous care of Qi Jin. I had new clothes rushed for him from the finest fabrics, and I invited a tutor to the manor to teach him to read and write.

Qi Yuanhuai was moved. Perhaps Qi Jin’s arrival had made him feel like he had a family again. As night deepened, he chatted with me about household matters and, unexpectedly, lingered instead of leaving.

In seven years of marriage, the moments of intimacy between us had been few and far between.

The last time had been more than two years ago. For some reason, he had suddenly lost his mind and pinned me beneath him, thrusting recklessly. I could not fight him off, and the next day I was in so much pain that I could not get out of bed.

More painful than that night was the miscarriage that followed.

That had already been the second child I had carelessly lost.

Because of that, I felt I had failed the Qi family. Thinking that I would have no fate with descendants in this life, I treated Qi Jin, whom he had brought home, as my own child. I poured my heart into loving and cherishing him, wishing I could give him everything best in the world.

But all the love I gave would one day turn into the blade that killed me.

I would never, ever have any physical intimacy with Qi Yuanhuai again.

Qi Yuanhuai’s desire was plain, the chest drawing close to me radiating scorching heat.

He stroked my hair, his breathing low and heavy. “Ruoruo, I want…”

“The lamp is too bright.”

I pushed him away with a show of shy embarrassment, then took a pair of scissors from the drawer and trimmed the candle wick.

Qi Yuanhuai’s gaze fell to the floor, and his expression changed drastically.

The sachet that had fallen out of the drawer had belonged to Xiao Shuang before her death.