Chapter 1

I had transmigrated into the heroine of a redemption novel and saved its beautiful, tragic, formidable yandere boy.

I stayed beside him as he rose from obscurity to become the chief minister of the imperial court.

He called me the bright moonlight that would shine in his heart forever.

But later, he reached the very pinnacle of power, where temptations crowded around him every day.

I became a woman confined to the inner household, buried every day beneath countless petty domestic affairs.

In the seventh year of our marriage, he began carousing with the sons of powerful families and frequenting one gathering after another.

“Every beauty in the capital is here tonight. Has any caught your eye?” a friend teased.

“Your taste has always been impeccable. Every one of them is exquisite.” He sighed softly. “I truly envy you for still being unmarried. You have a few more years to enjoy yourself…”

At that moment, I stood outside a private room in Wangxian Tower, holding a bowl of hangover soup.

Women’s delicate laughter rang out from inside.

His friend burst out laughing. “Even after I marry, I’ll still indulge whenever I please. I’m not like you, Brother Shi’an, keeping yourself to one woman. Regretting it now, are you?”

“Not quite.” Xie Shi’an chuckled. “It’s only that I spent all those years climbing the mountain. Now that I’ve reached the summit and looked around, it seems life amounts to nothing more than this.”

“You insist on being a saint, so of course you’ve never known the pleasure of an arm around each beauty—” His friend kissed the woman on his left.

“Or a lovely lady adding fragrance to a scholar’s study—” He squeezed the woman on his right.

The room filled at once with coy giggles and breathy moans.

“A human life barely lasts a hundred years. The sooner you understand that, Brother Shi’an, the sooner you can enjoy yourself,” his friend continued.

“Is that so?” Xie Shi’an asked quietly, sounding strangely lost.

I understood that bewilderment. He had climbed from the lowest rung of society to the apex of power.

Power, wealth, women—he had already tasted the delights of the first two.

As for the third, the powerful colleagues around him haunted pleasure houses day after day. Immersed in their world, how could he not begin to feel tempted?

Unfortunately, when we married, I had made him swear that we would be one couple for one lifetime, with no one else between us.

I shook off the memory just as his friend said, “You’ve remained faithful to Sister-in-law all these years. You’ve done more than enough—especially when she can’t bear children. A great estate like yours needs an heir.”

“Three wives and four concubines are perfectly ordinary. With your rank and power, countless families are eager to marry their daughters to you. Just tell Sister-in-law that a man in your position has no choice. Promise that her place as your lawful wife will never be shaken. What objection could she possibly raise?”

Xie Shi’an was silent for a moment before shaking his head. “You don’t understand. She gave up far too much for me.”