Chapter 2

Chapter 2

That very day, Madame Zhou moved me into another courtyard.

The room I had lived in before was far too plain and simple. It could not possibly be shown to the two senior maids.

Madame Zhou took my hand and apologized in a low voice.

Calmly, I said, “Madame Zhou, I understand. I am not an ungrateful person. You did indeed keep your promise and raise me for three years. I will still be married off from Marquis Manor. Let everything proceed as usual.”

Madame Zhou’s eyes reddened slightly. She kept saying I was a good child, that the Xie Family was simply not blessed enough, that they had failed to recognize a treasure when it was right before them.

There was a faint note of regret in her words.

She had probably realized that Xie Rujue seemed to have feelings for me.

And over the past three years, Xie Rujue had deliberately belittled and humiliated me. She had seen it all, yet she had never stopped him.

Now, she was a little afraid.

If a lowly person was stepped on a few times, it was nothing.

But if that lowly person rose above their station, those few times they had been stepped on would become a serious matter.

By not holding it against her, I was giving her peace of mind.

I also hoped that before I officially married Prince Chen, everything would pass smoothly and nothing would happen.

Madame Zhou said, “I will keep Ah Jue in line.”

I nodded. “I have lived in Marquis Manor for three years. If I were to move out abruptly, it would be disadvantageous to Marquis Manor, and I truly have nowhere else to go. That is why I must borrow Marquis Manor as the place I marry from. But I will not claim kinship with Marquis Manor. That would bring you no benefit.”

In this dynasty, to prevent the relatives of imperial consorts from interfering in court politics, the emperor’s and princes’ consorts were all chosen from commoner families or the households of minor officials, and those families held no real power.

Even the current empress’s father had only been granted an idle marquis title for the sake of appearances after his daughter was chosen as empress. He received a salary, but held no actual post.

If I truly claimed kinship with Marquis Manor, I would only be harming them.

Madame Zhou’s mind settled, and she let out a long breath. “I understand. You have thought this through very carefully. I will give you some dowry, as repayment for your grandmother saving the Marquis’s life back then.”

Back then, the Marquis had fallen on hard times and was saved by my grandmother.

The Marquis had not a coin to his name, so he used a marriage agreement as repayment.

My grandmother was a village healer, and I was a child she had picked up.

She lived past ninety.

Perhaps the old really did grow wise with age; she knew a little about reading faces.

Before she passed away, she said my marriage with Marquis Manor had a murky, uncertain future, and told me to keep my wits about me.

After she died, I came to seek out my relatives as promised, but I really did keep one trick up my sleeve. In the end, that saved my life.

I did not dare imagine what a disastrous mess my days with Xie Rujue would have become if I had truly clutched that marriage contract and demanded that Marquis Manor honor the engagement.

This, now, was very good.

I refused. “There is no need. You kept your promise and supported me for three years. I gave you the marriage contract. The debts and grudges between us are settled. Prince Chen knows I have little dowry. He does not care, and neither do I.”

The Marchioness’s face turned pale.

She likely understood then that I truly had no attachment to Marquis Manor.

It was just that she understood this a little too late.

Her lips trembled.

“How did you and Prince Chen meet?”

The corner of my lips curved in a mocking arc.

“Thanks to Xie Rujue.”