Chapter 16

Chapter 16

While Xiao Qibai was meeting with Lu Jin’an, I was back at the courier station, staring blankly at three other women.

It wasn’t until this moment that I realized how vast the Nine Provinces were; I wasn’t the only one with a Lotus Birthmark.

Xie Rushu, the concubine-born daughter of the Guangyang County Governor, was sixteen years old. She was intelligent and well-read.

Her Lotus Birthmark was on the back of her neck.

Zhan Mingyue, the fourteen-year-old daughter of a Vice-Millurion in the Liangcheng City Defense Army, had striking, vivid features and a sharp, heroic air.

Her Lotus Birthmark was on her wrist.

The youngest and most low-born among us was Li Jiuniang. She was only ten years old, and her father was a hunter.

However, her Lotus Birthmark was the most peculiar of all. It was located right between her eyebrows, looking like a third eye from a distance.

Then there was me, Song Fei, the legitimate daughter of the Song Family. My Lotus Birthmark was the largest of the group, located on my back.

Outside, the eunuchs were already placing bets, gambling on which of the four of us was the true Demon Consort-the disaster who would bring ruin to the realm.

The one with the most bets on her was Zhan Mingyue.

The reason was simple.

Every palace servant who had ever seen the Imperial Consort said that Zhan Mingyue bore a striking resemblance to the Imperial Consort in her youth.

The Imperial Consort hailed from the Jiang Clan, the head of the great noble families. She possessed peerless beauty, an exquisite loveliness tempered by a spirited, heroic grace.

The Emperor doted on her, granting her the exclusive favors of the Pepper Chamber for ten years without fail.

But even an Imperial Consort must eventually grow old.

Once she aged, wouldn’t Zhan Mingyue-who shared her looks and bore a Lotus Mark-become the next great beauty to bring disaster?

Because of this, Zhan Mingyue’s mood was exceptionally foul.

In our current situation, being the most likely candidate for the “disaster” meant being the most likely to die.

She took her anger out on me, the newcomer.

“Look at her, acting like some seductive fox. And she calls herself a legitimate daughter of the Song Manor?”

“She can’t even stand or sit properly. Look at the way her eyes wander-she’s more flirtatious than a common actress on a stage!”

Her rage reached its peak when she discovered that the little dog on my wrist had been given to me by Lu Jin’an.

“Impossible! How could Lord Lu ever fall for her tricks!”