Chapter 1

The day I gave birth to my daughter, I had stayed up all night reading a tale about a prince switched at birth. I was so fired up by the story that I could not put it down—and then my water broke.

Trembling, I told my maid Yuanbao, who was attending me, “Keep your eyes on the baby! Don’t let anyone switch her!”

The birth went badly. The entire courtyard descended into chaos, and the pain finally knocked me unconscious. Even then, I heard a maid calling out beside me.

“Young Master! Young Master, your cousin has gone into labor too! You must go and see her!”

I reached for him. “Husband, don’t go…”

I clung to his sleeve with all my strength. He peeled my fingers away one by one, his voice gentle but leaving no room for argument.

“I have to check on my cousin. She is delicate, not strong like you.”

The pain dragged me under.

When I opened my eyes again, Yuanbao was kneeling before me in tears.

“Madam, someone switched the young miss!”

“What?!”

I whipped my head around to stare at the storybook beside my bed.

Had the tale I had just read really come to life in my own house?

Between sobs, Yuanbao told me what had happened. I had already delivered the baby when I lost consciousness, but my husband, Song Qian, had taken every maid, matron, and midwife in the room away with him. Yuanbao alone had remained to care for me.

Remembering my warning, she had dabbed a tiny spot of rouge on my daughter’s sole before going to fetch hot water. When she returned, the mark was gone.

The room had been so frantic that she had never gotten a clear look at the baby’s face. She had only thought to mark the sole. Without that mark, she feared she might mistake one child for another.

“Did anyone come into the room?”

“Xiangyue, Miss Liu’s senior maid. She brought a basket and said it held food for you. When she saw how desperate I was to fetch hot water, she offered to watch over you and the young miss, so I…”

Yuanbao dropped to her knees and knocked her forehead against the floor. “This servant deserves ten thousand deaths!”

My voice was raw. “No. You did well. Now I need you to do something for me and make up for the rest.”

“Yes, Madam! I would die ten thousand deaths for you!”

“Guard this room. Let no one enter, and make sure no one notices I am gone.”

“Madam, what are you going to do?”

“Switch my daughter back.”

I lifted the girl someone had placed in the cradle. She wore the soft satin I had prepared for my child, but her face was deathly pale, her breaths faint, and her cries no louder than a kitten’s.

She was not mine. My daughter had come into the world with such powerful lungs that her first wail had roused me from unconsciousness.

Someone had taken my baby.

Fortunately, Xiangyue had left only moments earlier.

I gave Yuanbao careful instructions. “No one should come for a while. If she dared switch the children, she must already have bribed everyone who mattered and cleared the path outside.”

“Madam, let me go instead.”

“The courtyard cannot be left empty. You need to cover for me. I will only trust this if I do it myself.”

Cradling the infant, I forced my newly delivered, weakened body to follow.

I met no one along the way, as though someone had deliberately cleared the path. In the distance, I spotted Xiangyue and followed her in silence.

She must have been nervous. With her head down and the baby clutched to her chest, she never realized anyone was behind her. She went straight into Liu Ning’er’s courtyard.

Outside Liu Ning’er’s door sat a shabby cradle, stained with grime and buzzing with flies.

Xiangyue placed my daughter inside it, then pushed open the door and went in.

I lunged forward at once and switched the children back.

The reassuring weight of my daughter settled into my arms. I was about to turn away when voices drifted from the room.

Liu Ning’er’s voice quivered with tears. “Cousin, I had no choice. Our daughter is too frail. If she stayed in my courtyard, she would never receive the care the principal wife could give her. Shen Youqing is far more accomplished than I am, whether in scholarship or household management.”

My husband, Song Qian, gave a cold laugh. “She is the principal wife only because she was born into a powerful family. If she had not stolen your place, our daughter would be the legitimate eldest daughter of this house.”

Liu Ning’er hurried to soothe him. “Don’t be angry, Cousin. Our daughter can still be raised as a legitimate daughter. At least this way, I can prove how much I love you.”

“Don’t worry. Shen Youqing will never have another child. I put a sterilizing drug in her water. From now on, she will have no choice but to devote herself to raising our daughter.”

“Won’t she suspect something?”

“No. I have always told her that this child belonged to your former husband, and that after your divorce you had nowhere to go but to me. She will never suspect us. With me here, you have nothing to fear.”

“Cousin, after everything I have endured, I finally understand that you are the only real man…”

Inside the room, the man and woman murmured sweetly to each other. Outside, mosquitoes had already begun settling on their newborn daughter.

I carried my child away without a word. Only when I reached my own courtyard did I realize how cold my entire body had become.