Chapter 1

I had been raised in silk and splendor from the day I was born.

The one thing I had never seen was my birth father. Whenever I asked Mama about him, she would say I was her child with Her Highness the Princess.

I might have been slow, but even I knew two women could not make a baby together.

Then, when I was six, a beautiful, bewitching woman barged into our residence.

She strode up and slapped Mama across the face. “You bitch! You were nothing but a maid. Just because the Princess dotes on you, you think you can climb over my head?”

The blow left Mama’s cheek red. Without a moment’s hesitation, she struck back even harder.

“I don’t know what Miss Lin is talking about,” Mama said, “but my face isn’t something any piece of trash may touch.”

Miss Lin flushed crimson with rage, tears glistening in her lovely eyes. “You dare hit me? Everyone knows the heir used you until there was nothing left!”

I did not understand what she meant, but I could tell it was nothing kind.

While she was still running her mouth, I stamped hard on her foot. She cried out in pain and kicked me squarely in the chest.

Agony tore through me. My vision went black so fast I even forgot to cry.

The last thing I heard was the sound of a struggle before I lost consciousness.

When I woke, Sister Xiaocui’s eyes widened with delight. She stroked my head tenderly.

Across the room, the Princess cradled Mama’s face and kissed it with the greatest care.

Sister Xiaocui and I watched the two of them murmur sweetly to each other for quite a while. The Princess seemed furious, and Mama seemed to be soothing her. In the end, their lips stuck together.

I had barely gotten a good look when Sister Xiaocui covered my eyes.

“What is improper must not be watched!”

I tried to pry her hand away, but mine were too small.

“Then why are you allowed to watch when I’m not?”

Before she let go, a pair of strong arms swept me up.

“Yue’er, you did well today,” the Princess said. “Tell Mother what reward you want, and it shall be yours.”

The Princess always smelled lovely. For as long as I could remember, she had asked me to call her Mother.

I knew, of course, that I had crawled out of Mama’s belly.

Still, no one besides Mama treated me better than the Princess did. Calling the Princess Mother did not seem like a bad bargain.

I had always been good at acting spoiled. I wrapped my arms around the Princess’s neck and said sweetly, “Yue’er doesn’t want anything. I only want Mother to love Mama forever.”

Everyone around us burst out laughing.

The harmony did not last. A guard came hurrying in with a message. “Your Highness, Minister Lin has arrived and requests an audience.”

The Princess’s voice turned cold. “That old wretch Lin Shuda failed to teach his daughter any manners and let her strike my Lian’er. Now he thinks he can simply take her home?

“Tell him to return tomorrow. Today, this princess intends to teach his daughter properly on his behalf.”

The guard had not gone far when an imposing elderly man strode in.

The moment he saw the Princess, he bowed. “Please forgive us, Your Highness. My daughter was misled by a villain and behaved so rudely only because of that!”

The Princess handed me to Sister Xiaocui and arched one elegant brow. “She injured someone under my protection and stormed through my residence without restraint. Does Minister Lin intend to take her away with nothing but empty words?”

Minister Lin glanced at the surrounding guards.

“Never mind them,” the Princess said, her red lips parting slightly. “They are all our own people. You must show me some sincerity, Minister Lin. If I am pleased, I will naturally release her.”

Minister Lin bent close and whispered a few words in her ear.

The Princess remained perfectly composed. She even smiled faintly. “I hope Minister Lin remembers what he has said today and keeps his promise.”

Mama squeezed the Princess’s hand. Their eyes met, both grave with concern.

Adults were strange. Mama and the Princess were strangest of all.

When Miss Lin was brought out, her expression was vacant, nothing like the arrogant woman who had arrived.

She fell to her knees and began kowtowing mechanically and frantically before the Princess and Mama. “I’m a bitch. It was all my fault. All my fault.”

She did not stop until blood ran from her forehead.

Minister Lin did not seem particularly distressed. He merely watched her with cold eyes.

At last, the Princess spoke. “Enough. We will consider this matter settled. Miss Lin, I suggest you tread carefully in the capital and treat others with kindness. Next time, you may not be so fortunate.”

After the outsiders had left, Sister Xiaocui took me back to my room to rest.

My last glimpse of the Princess, who was always so mindful of appearances, was of her resting limply against Mama’s shoulder.

I could not sleep once we returned to my room.

“Why did that woman come to hit Mama today?” I asked Sister Xiaocui. “And why did she say those awful things?”

Sister Xiaocui’s eyes darted away, and she hurriedly told me not to ask.

But she was no match for my coaxing. I rubbed against her like a kitten and poured out a whole basketful of sweet words.

At last, she relented with a sigh. “What happened today has everything to do with the incident three years ago.”

Three years earlier, the Princess had been summoned to the palace to attend the Empress Dowager. Mama was supposed to accompany her, but I was still very young and happened to catch a chill. I could not be left alone.

That beast took advantage of the Princess’s absence and tried to violate Mama by force.

Fortunately, the Princess returned in time and stopped him.

My eyes went wide. “Who was he?”

He was the Princess’s former husband, Liu Yuhai, heir to Prince Pingnan.

He had supposedly died in a great fire that very night three years ago.

But Sister Xiaocui said he had not died at all. The Princess had castrated him and sent him into the palace to serve one of the Emperor’s favorites.

It had been done in secret, but no wall in the world could keep every whisper in.

The heir’s death had been sudden, and people outside had guessed that something was amiss. Yet out of respect for the Princess, no one dared speak openly.

After all, the Princess was the current Emperor’s only sister by blood and the Empress Dowager’s only biological daughter. Her favor knew no bounds.

I did not understand death.

“Does dying mean someone will never come back?”

Sister Xiaocui nodded. “It means falling asleep forever.”

“Will you die too? Will the Princess and Mama die? If all of you leave, what will I do?” Tears welled in my eyes. The thought alone hurt terribly.

Sister Xiaocui gently wiped them away. “Don’t be afraid, Yue’er. Even if one day all of us die, as long as the sky remains and the stars still shine, we will always be with you.”

“What if it rains and clouds cover the sky? Won’t I be unable to see you then?”

She laughed and tapped the tip of my nose. “What a clever little imp you are. Of course not. Our bodies may decay, but from that day on, every joy you feel, every flower you smell, every breeze against your face, and every birdsong in the trees will be proof that we are still beside you.”

I clung to Sister Xiaocui, terrified she might vanish the next moment.

I thought I finally understood the line I had read that day: Fallen blossoms and spring storms wound the heart; better to cherish the one before you.

If I could have one wish, it would be that no one ever die.

Sister Xiaocui held me just as tightly. Even many years later, I would still long for the warmth of that embrace.

I had cried myself sleepy. Before I could ask how the whole affair had begun, I sank into a deep sleep.