Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Lin Yue was pregnant.

When I heard the news, I had just finished digging up a wine jar from beneath a peach blossom tree. It slipped from my hands, shattering against the soil, and I stood there for a long time, unable to process it.

Chu Jue came over to help me up. He carefully brushed the mud off my clothes, his face unnaturally calm.

“Your Majesty, Consort Xian is pregnant. You should be happy.”

“What?” I slapped him in a fit of rage. “You lowly dog! How dare you take her side! If you want to find a new master, then get the hell out of here right now!”

I abandoned the wine jar and ran back to my room, throwing myself onto the bed and sobbing.

I shouldn’t have taken my resentment out on Chu Jue, but he was the only person I could lash out at back then.

By the time Chi Yan arrived, I hadn’t eaten or slept for three days. Perhaps the palace maids were afraid I would die an unexplained death, so they had rushed to inform him.

“The position of Empress is the Mother of the Nation, the very foundation of the state. I must appoint one.”

He maintained his imperial poise, showing no cracks in his facade, acting as if he were merely a good emperor appointing an Empress for the sake of the country.

I stood up and walked toward him. “Then why won’t you appoint me? Didn’t you say you loved me? Didn’t you say I was the only one in your heart? Didn’t you personally promise me the title of Empress all those years ago!”

As I drew closer, he instinctively stepped back. I stopped in my tracks, softening my voice. “Chi Yan… is there truly not a shred of affection left for me?”

He silently turned his head away. Having heard me ask this same question time and again, his initial guilt and pity had long since curdled into annoyance and exhaustion.

Now, he wouldn’t even look at me. “Jinrong, we have known each other for many years, so of course there is affection. But I cannot give you the position of Empress.”

How did Chi Yan and I end up like this? The position of Empress belonged to me, yet he wanted to give it to someone else!

This was all because of Lin Yue!

“It’s because of Lin Yue, isn’t it? I’ll kill her. I’m going to kill her!”

I had to kill her! Once she was dead, Chi Yan would be mine again.

He blocked my path and suddenly grabbed my wrist, his eyes darkening. He spoke each word with cold precision: “If you ever dare to harm Yue’er again, then whatever affection remains between us will be gone forever!”

He glared at me with fierce wariness.

He would do anything for Lin Yue. Perhaps one day, he would even depose me or kill me for her sake…

A sense of dread washed over me. I wasn’t afraid of dying; I was only afraid of dying at his hands.

I wept as I threw my arms around him. “Chi Yan, I was wrong. I won’t hurt Lin Yue. I won’t kill her.”

In the past, as long as I cried, he would forgive me for anything.

Though Chi Yan kept his hands at his sides and refused to touch me, his tone finally softened. “As long as you behave yourself, I will do everything in my power to grant you a peaceful life.”

I nodded obediently.

I didn’t know how he spoke to Lin Yue in private. Perhaps these ambiguous sweet nothings he told me-the ones that pulled me deeper and deeper into despair-were nothing more than a joke to her.

But I had to force myself to believe that he wouldn’t be that heartless.