Chapter 2
On the day I left to marry beyond the frontier,
for the first time, I felt everyone’s eyes fixed on me alone.
I liked that feeling.
Zhou Xiyue came to me in her dragon robes and lowered the red bridal veil over my face herself. “You are my own sister, after all. May you live out your days safely beyond the frontier.”
Live out my days safely?
I laughed.
Who said my fate had to end there?
I lacked her good fortune, the auspicious snow lotus between her brows. But I, Zhou Xiyu, would never admit defeat so easily.
I caught her wrist instead, each word resolute. “We don’t yet know who will win.”
Father was still in good health. Many years would pass before she could take the throne without impediment.
And who could say I would not return from beyond the frontier?
She understood. Her gaze chilled as she looked at me.
“Zhou Xiyu, you’re welcome to try.”
As a child, I had read storybooks.
They said every story must have a protagonist. I had once considered it seriously: if the world I lived in were a story, its heroine would surely be Zhou Xiyue.
She possessed extraordinary luck and talent. That was why she had become heir so easily.
I had expected to struggle through countless obstacles before finding my way home to challenge her for the throne again.
What I had never expected
was that in just three years, the Zhou Xiyue whose heart and eyes had once burned with ambition, who had wanted to contest the realm with me,
would willingly renounce the dignity of Crown Princess and marry Gu Yuan, a marquis’s heir, as an ordinary princess.
“Zhou Xiyue, have you lost your mind?”
Those were the first words I said when we met again after three years.
The Huijue traveled to the capital to pay their respects once every three years.
After learning of Zhou Xiyue’s marriage, I volunteered to lead their delegation to the emperor as Queen of the Huijue.
Once inside the palace, I paid my respects to Father first, then went to Mother’s palace to greet her.
In Phoenix Hall, Mother sat high upon her throne.
Zhou Xiyue, dressed in splendid court attire, sat beside Gu Yuan.
She rested her hands gently on her belly. At the sight of me, a soft smile touched her face.
“Ah Yu. It’s been three years.”
My gaze stayed fixed on her face.
Three years ago, she had been unable to hide the pride and ambition in her eyes. Now those eyes held only tenderness. That hollow love had worn away every sharp edge, until she was no different from all the women in the imperial harem who begged for Father’s favor.
“I never imagined you would be content to remain in a husband’s household.”
I did hate her.
Her extra measure of good fortune had trampled all my hard work into the dust.
But I admired her as a rival, too.
Even without that luck, she was an exceptional woman, capable of becoming one of the wisest sovereigns in history.
So even if I ultimately lost,
I would never fear for Great Zhou’s future. With Zhou Xiyue there, it could only grow stronger and more prosperous.
Yet I had never dreamed she would abandon all her glory to marry Gu Yuan.
Abandon the dream she had once held.
Willingly imprison herself within the four walls of a husband’s household.
And quarrel with concubines over a man’s affections.
That should never have been Zhou Xiyue’s ending.
She brushed off my questions. She even tried to persuade me in that gentle voice.
“Ah Yu, the pleasures of love are beyond words. In those earlier years, all I knew was the struggle for power. Only now do I understand that love is what I want from life.”
I shook my head, still certain of my own path.
“I’m different from you. Love is only an embellishment. What I want could never be so small as a romance.”
Perhaps my contempt was a little too plain.
She lost her temper. “Xiyu, one day you’ll regret this!”
I laughed.
Which of us would regret it remained to be seen.
But a phoenix that willingly broke its own wings to shut itself away with domestic love
was truly… a fool beyond saving.