Chapter 1

Chapter 1

For the first time, I learned that Glass Slippers could burn.

It wasn’t a gentle warmth; it was the kind of searing heat that felt like bones being roasted in a fire until they turned white and brittle, only to be forced into one’s flesh.

When the shoes were fitted onto my feet, I was in the wedding chamber of the Royal Palace. Li Xinglan sat on a high seat, draped in a silver-white gown brighter than snow, looking like a meticulously enshrined corpse. She raised her hand, signaling the palace servants to press down on the backs of my knees.

“The shoes recognize their master, but they must drink blood first,” she said.

I fell to my knees, my ankles gripped tightly by two matrons. The rims of the shoes ground slowly into the wounds that had only split open last night. Beads of blood seeped out and were quickly absorbed by the soles. The shoes were transparent, yet I could clearly see a layer of grayish-white powder floating inside the heels. Once soaked in blood, the powder swirled slowly as if coming to life.

Everyone in the hall was laughing, praising my good fortune. A girl who had crawled out of the cinder piles had actually become a Princess Consort overnight.

Only my new husband did not laugh.

Su Zhichuan stood beside me, his face so pale it was almost translucent. Even his black ceremonial robes embroidered with gold could not suppress the sickly aura surrounding him. He looked down at my feet, his Adam’s apple bobbing slightly as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he simply hid his hands back in his sleeves.

When the twelfth bell tolled, Li Xinglan slowly rose and walked over to me.

“Good girl.” She bent down to wipe the blood from the top of my foot, her fingertips as cold as ice. “As long as you endure until tomorrow night, you can stay in the Royal Palace forever. You’ll never have to sleep in hearth ashes again.”

Having said that, she turned to look at Su Zhichuan. “Crown Prince, when you perform the ceremony tomorrow night, remember to personally lead her into the Mirror Hall. Your Mother Queen has been waiting for this one for a very long time.”

The Mirror Hall.

In the three days since entering the palace, I had heard that name countless times. Everyone who mentioned it would instinctively lower their voice. The Palace Maid said it housed the most precious Ancient Mirror in the entire kingdom, which was also the secret behind the Queen’s eternal youth. However, the six previous “girls chosen by the Glass Slippers” had all vanished before they could formally enter the Mirror Hall.

Some said Su Zhichuan had killed them.

Enduring the agonizing pain in my feet, I was helped back to the wedding bed. After the doors were closed, the room became so quiet that the only sound was the crackling of the candlelight.

I leaned down to take off the shoes, but a pale, slender hand pressed down on me first.

“Don’t take them off,” Su Zhichuan said in a low voice. “She will have people watching.”

I looked up and saw his features inches away from mine. Rumors outside said the Crown Prince was cold and heartless; when his six previous fiancées died in the palace, he hadn’t shed a single tear. But at this moment, as he looked at me, his eyes were filled with a dark, suppressed exhaustion and a pity that bordered on despair.

I suddenly felt a chill. “Those girls… did you really kill them?”

He remained silent for a long time.

It lasted so long that I thought he wouldn’t answer, but then he suddenly leaned forward, resting his forehead gently against mine.

“Zhu Jiangxue,” he said, calling my name for the first time, his voice incredibly hoarse. “Don’t believe in fairy tales. Before dawn, if you can find a knife, kill me.”