Chapter 11

His body stiffened for a moment, but he endured my affection. Only after I’d hugged him enough and deeply breathed in his scent did I let him go.

With tearful eyes, I looked at him. “Have you missed me? I’ve thought of you every moment of these three years. I even gave you a boy and a girl.”

I pulled the children over to show him.

Both looked very much like him.

I was extremely pleased.

Dadiao froze.

Looking at the two children, he seemed at a loss.

He crouched and poked their cheeks. “You… actually had my children in the Wang household?”

I nudged the children toward him, encouraging them to hug him.

If Dadiao wouldn’t let me into the palace, I’d have to rely on the children.

They hugged him and called him Father.

I crouched too and hugged all three of them.

“Diao’er,” I said lovingly, “we’ve all missed you so much.”

After eating some delicious food, the children fell asleep.

We laid them on a cushioned couch.

Dadiao was about to say something to me.

I immediately threw myself at him, held him down, and kissed him.

I’d gone without for three years.

Everyone I looked at left me cold.

I’d missed Dadiao so much…

My body couldn’t forget him…

After making love with Dadiao, I fell straight asleep.

When I woke, it was already midnight.

Dadiao was handling affairs of state.

The children were still sleeping.

But they had been changed into fresh clothes.

Dadiao would look at a memorial, then look at the children again.

A gentle smile rested on his face.

I went over and hugged his waist. “Diao’er, I want to be your wife. I’m not going back to the Wang family. The children and I will stay with you. Our family should be together.”

Dadiao took a deep breath. “That’s… not quite right, is it? What about Wang Jinbao?”

My husband and I dissolved our marriage by agreement, and he acknowledged me as his younger sister.

I was made noble consort.

For now, I was the only woman in Dadiao’s palace.

Because the late emperor had only just died. Choosing consorts now would be unfilial.

Everyone in the streets knew what a loving father and son he and the late emperor had been.

But I knew that was a lie.

Because he’d exterminated the noble consort’s clan and her son’s, down to nine degrees of kinship.

If his father had really cared about him, how could he have ended up so badly wounded?

He must have hidden in the Wang house dressed as a woman to escape the assassins hunting him.

The louder people proclaim something, the more likely it is to be false.

None of that affected my love for Dadiao.

On the day I left, my husband nearly died of jealousy.

He said he hated not being a woman.

My mother-in-law fainted on the spot from anger.

When she learned the grandchildren weren’t of the Wang family’s blood, she fainted again.

I felt so happy. I’d married the man I loved and had a boy and a girl with him.

But I had a strong sense of danger.

Dadiao was the emperor. He would surely choose more consorts.

I had to make sure he couldn’t.

He was mine.

I was very possessive.

So I pestered him to do it every day.

Whenever I had nothing to do, I wanted to breathe him in, cling to him, kiss him, touch him…

He asked whether I had no bones.

I said yes.

Every day, I drank nourishing soup so I could make love with Dadiao.

As I grew older, my body’s needs grew too.

Being beside Dadiao was wonderful. I could boldly be myself.

If I wanted it, I asked for it.

I didn’t have to feel ashamed.

After a few months, Dadiao began feeling cold and suffering from lower-back pain.

The imperial physician diagnosed kidney deficiency. He said Dadiao needed to strengthen his constitution and restore his vitality, and forbade intercourse.

As it happened, I was pregnant too.

We could rest for a while.

Once we could resume, I planned to drain him dry again.

That would keep him from thinking of choosing consorts.

Dadiao could only ever be mine.

As for my former husband, he was sent away to serve as an official.

I heard that, to please Dadiao, he worked from dawn till late at night, wanting only to achieve something and see him again.

Dadiao was far too captivating. I had to guard against men as well as women.

I was proud of him.

My man really was exceptional.