Chapter 1

My wedding was arranged in haste.

Barely half a month passed between the betrothal and the ceremony.

It was a modest departure, too. My entire dowry filled just two chests.

The maid who had served me since childhood wore a miserable expression.

She could not help complaining.

“Miss, why couldn’t you have waited? Yes, the Peis sent a letter breaking off the engagement, but when have they ever failed to take it back a few days later?”

“You could have been mistress of the Pei household. Instead, you’ve rushed into this marriage.”

“A captain of a hundred men. Some lowborn peasant.”

“How can he compare to Lord Pei, a noble heir related to the imperial family?”

Of course she would not understand.

To everyone else,

Pei Xuan had shown me extraordinary devotion.

Even after my false identity came to light, he had not canceled our betrothal.

There were occasional difficulties. He often refused to speak to me.

The engagement was broken, then restored, then broken again.

But at least in the eyes of the world, I still had a chance of marrying into the Pei family.

I had yet to recover from my recent illness.

The dull pain rose in my chest again. It was a long while before I had the strength to speak.

“Lord Pei comes from a distinguished family. Talk of marrying me was only a jest.”

“How could someone like me ever aspire to him?”

Before I climbed into the bridal sedan, I slipped a slice of ginseng into my mouth.

Only then did I have the strength to struggle through the elaborate wedding rites.

I had not always been so frail.

But the nurse who had switched the babies was exposed and beaten to death.

As the false daughter who had taken another’s place, I suddenly found myself treated very differently.

The family’s real daughter had died of a heart condition shortly after the switch.

Whatever affection Father felt for the girl he had raised, looking at me reminded him even more painfully of his own daughter’s early death.

His hatred extended beyond the nurse responsible. He hated me, too.

I was sent to the woodshed. My food and clothing were no better than a servant’s.

Without medicinal tonics or a brazier, and devastated by what had happened, I grew weaker by the day.

Then Pei Xuan came to the house with our old marriage contract.

That connection alone restored my life of fine clothes and good food.

But Pei Xuan had a strange temperament.

I was stubborn and clumsy with words. I often made him angry.

Before, he would scold and shout at me. Now he had found a more effective threat.

All it took was a letter breaking off the engagement.

My medicine and food would be withheld, and I would be driven back to the cold, dark woodshed.

That life was too bitter. I did not want it.

So I tried very hard, and very awkwardly, to please Pei Xuan.

But I was too stupid. I could seldom work out what he wanted.

Six times out of ten, my efforts backfired and angered him further.

Living in that constant fear and uncertainty,

I finally fell gravely ill.

When I woke, Pei Xuan’s letter arrived, just as I had expected.

It came with a message from him.

“Think about what you did at the poetry gathering.”

“When you’ve worked it out, come and apologize.”

But I truly did not know what I had done wrong.

Since my identity was exposed, I had lost every scrap of my old confidence.

I only dared agree with the others and add a few words of praise.

Could I anger Pei Xuan even when I was so careful?

The steward arrived and ordered the servants to drive me back to the woodshed.

The lady of the household hurried in and stopped him.

“My daughter was born with a weak heart. Her life would have been short even if she had never been taken from me.”

“But I cannot help blaming you. She was so little. I never even held her before she died.”

Her chest heaved. A long while passed before she looked at me.

“A captain serving under my uncle commands a hundred men.”

“His birth is humble, but he is young and brave. He has distinguished himself in battle again and again.”

Her gaze rested on my pallid face. Slowly, her eyes reddened.

“We were mother and daughter once. I do not want to hate you, but I cannot bring myself to forgive you, either.”

“I have already lost one daughter. I do not want to lose another.”

“The Peis may be an excellent family, but your present standing makes you an unsuitable match. Even if you married him, you would live in fear day and night. It would destroy your health.”

“While Lord Pei is away suppressing bandits in Huaibei, I have found you another husband.”

“In the end, wealth and glory matter less than your life.”

“Do you understand?”

I gathered every last ounce of strength to rise and make a deep, respectful bow.

When I lifted my head, my eyes were full of tears.

I nodded. My voice was hoarse.

“I understand, my lady.”

“I will marry him.”

The Lin family had raised me, and my lady had protected me. Over the years, they had done all they could.

I had no cause left for complaint or resentment.