Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The moment my eyes met Zhao Xun’s, I hurriedly looked away.

Seated before us was Zhao Xun, the eighteen-year-old Prince of Wei.

He wore magnificent robes and had a face as flawless as polished jade, yet his expression held the aloof indifference of someone who had nothing to do with the proceedings.

He had reached marriageable age.

Since there was no woman in his heart, he had left the choice to the Empress.

In this life, the Empress had approached me as well.

I had declined with tact.

And so, after a brief pause and a regretful sigh, her finger moved gently to the next name.

Li Shuanghua.

“On second thought, let us choose Second Miss Li.”

Li Shuanghua rose with delight, knelt, and thanked the Empress for the favor.

Zhao Xun lifted his eyelids. His cool, detached gaze rested on her for a moment.

It was exactly how he had once looked at me.

There was neither admiration nor displeasure in his eyes.

He simply accepted the decision with an expression that said she was adequate enough.

As a matter of formality, the Empress asked casually, “Does the Prince of Wei have any objections?”

He paused. “No.”

If she was not the woman he loved, then it made no difference who she was.

A fine drizzle was falling when I left the hall.

A pool of water on the ground reflected a hazy silhouette.

I raised the edge of my umbrella slightly and met the eyes of my fifteen-year-old self in the reflection. For a moment, it felt as though an entire lifetime lay between us.

Zhao Xun’s word was law.

Now that he had agreed to marry her, he could not go back on it.

I would never again die of illness in the palace.

I remembered the day I died with perfect clarity.

One group after another came to pay their respects.

The court officials knelt outside the hall, while the titled noblewomen knelt within.

Only Consort Chen did not come.

She was delicate and sickly, and feared catching the taint of my illness.

Zhao Xun sat beside me, holding my cool hand beneath the soft silk of his sleeve.

My eyelids drooped. With an effort, I tried to remember what still needed to be said.

“If you intend to appoint another empress, please choose Noble Consort Li.”

“She is steady and dignified. She will not make things difficult for Consort Chen.”

I still had selfish motives of my own.

First, although Li Shuanghua and I had competed for years, I admired her. Her lifelong ambition was to stand above all others, and I was willing to lift her to that height.

Second, deep in my heart, I hated both Consort Chen and Zhao Xun.

Consort Chen had entered the palace as a commoner and been elevated to consort despite bearing him no child.

The decision caused an uproar throughout the court and the realm.

The officials remonstrated with him, and even my father’s confidential letter found its way into my hands.

It was the end of the year. The affairs of the six palaces consumed my every waking moment, and I was pregnant besides. Duty left me no choice but to reason with Zhao Xun.

Snow filled the air outside the hall. He admitted me alone, showing at least some consideration for the child in my womb.

Inside, the hall was warm as spring. He sat high above me with an icy expression, lowered his eyes, and said only two things.

“Empress, even you have come to pressure me.”

“You have spent too long secluded in the inner palace to understand. It is rare for me to meet someone to whom I wish to entrust my true heart.”

I stood frozen, clutching my cuff in humiliation.

I had a true heart too.

I had barely passed my sixteenth birthday when I married Zhao Xun.

When he lifted my crimson bridal veil and my gaze fell into his calm, bright eyes, a soft ripple had spread through my heart.

I later spent three years as Princess Consort of Wei and three years as empress.

We treated each other with the courtesy and respect of an exemplary married couple.

I had believed there was at least some affection between us.

I was so heartsick that I failed to notice the snow clinging to my shoes when I arrived. By the time I took my leave, it had melted and left the floor damp.

I slipped outside the hall and was forced to remain in bed to protect the pregnancy.

For the first time, my fall made Zhao Xun withdraw an imperial order.

The young woman was denied the rank of consort. Unable to contain her anger, she cursed me openly.

“The Empress, is it?”

“I had heard so much about her virtue and meant to pay my respects. Who would have thought she would use even the legitimate heir in her womb just to keep me from becoming a consort? Such methods are contemptible.”

She should never have struck at the most painful wound in my heart.

Though still ill, I summoned her and ordered twenty slaps to her face.

Her cheeks swollen and red, she fled the hall in tears.

When Zhao Xun learned what had happened, he flew into a rage. To lend her his protection, he issued an edict granting her the title of Consort Chen, placing her beyond my easy reach.

That was how the enmity between Consort Chen and me began.

But I had not punished her out of spite. She had insulted me first. If I let such insolence pass, I would never command respect again.

I explained this to Zhao Xun.

When I finished, he merely smiled, a trace of mockery in the curve of his lips.

“If you wanted to establish your authority, you could simply have announced that she had been punished.”

“Why did you have to strike her in truth?”

My heart suddenly shrank in on itself.

Only then did I realize that the man before me was not merely the emperor.

He could also be someone else’s shield.

For someone else’s sake, he was willing to place me in an impossible position.