Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I was confined to the Star-Gazing Pavilion for two days, and Pei Yuheng did not visit once.

On the evening of the third day, an imperial decree suddenly arrived from the palace.

I was summoned to Zichen Hall to divine an auspicious date for the Emperor and Empress’s wedding.

The young eunuch who delivered the decree dared not look me in the eye. He held the scroll high, his voice trembling as he spoke. “Lady Fate-Scribe, His Majesty says that since the Heaven Worship Ceremony is approaching and you are still able to stand, you should attend to your duties first.”

An old palace maid hissed in anger, “Isn’t he just trying to drive a knife into your heart on purpose?”

I merely smiled.

Over the past two years, I had endured far too many such knives.

Inside Zichen Hall, the charcoal fires burned brightly. When I entered, Pei Yuheng was discussing wedding protocols with the Minister of Rites. Another woman stood in the hall, dressed in pale green palace robes with a quiet, composed expression. She was Duan Mingyi, the legitimate daughter of the Duan Family.

She was currently the most suitable candidate for Empress in the imperial court.

She came from a noble and prestigious background, her father and brother held military power, and her temperament was dignified. Rumors of the imperial wedding had been circulating for half a month already. Calling me here today was nothing more than a demand for me to personally select a propitious date.

It was quite laughable.

He had once said he would marry me.

Now, he was making me calculate the wedding date for another woman.

I knelt to pay my respects. Pei Yuheng didn’t even lift his gaze, saying coldly, “Rise. Choose the date.”

An almanac and an astrolabe were laid out on the desk. I stood before them, and the moment my fingertips touched the bronze needle of the astrolabe, a faint pain bloomed in my chest. It was a sign that my Heart Lamp was about to flicker out.

Over these past three years-through the droughts in the northwest, the border rebellions, and the numerous assassination attempts in the palace-Pei Yuheng had not survived to take the throne because of Heaven’s favor. It was because I had shielded him from disaster time and time after again in the shadows.

Now, the final great tribulation was approaching.

If I did not perform the Heaven Worship Ceremony soon, his Imperial Fate would shatter completely.

“Lady Fate-Scribe?” the Minister of Rites prompted.

I snapped back to reality, suppressed the metallic taste of blood in my throat, and lowered my head to begin the calculations.

In truth, any day would have sufficed.

No matter whom he married or when the ceremony took place, the bride would never be me.

Yet, I still wrote down the date, stroke by stroke, on the marriage document.

“The ninth day of next month. Auspicious for a wedding, auspicious for the investiture of an Empress.”

Pei Yuheng finally looked up at me.

His gaze bore down heavily, as if trying to discern any hint of abnormality on my face. But my writing was steady; I thought my hand hadn’t trembled once.

He likely failed to find what he wanted to see, for his expression grew even colder.

“Fate-Scribe Ye is quite magnanimous.”

I pushed the marriage document back and replied calmly, “It is my duty, Your Majesty.”

“Your duty,” he repeated softly, suddenly laughing, though the mirth did not reach his eyes. “True. What you have always been best at is doing your duty.”

His words sounded like a sneer.

I didn’t defend myself, merely lowering my head and responding with a quiet, “Yes.”

Duan Mingyi, however, watched me quietly for a moment before suddenly speaking. “Your Majesty, I have a few words I wish to speak to Lady Fate-Scribe in private.”

Pei Yuheng frowned.

Duan Mingyi remained poised and respectful. “I only wish to ask about any celestial omens that must be avoided during the wedding ceremony. It won’t take long.”

He remained silent for a moment but ultimately did not stop her.

When only Duan Mingyi and I were left in the side hall, she first poured me a cup of hot tea.

“Your hands are very cold, Lady Fate-Scribe.” She looked at the red marks on my wrists and said softly, “It isn’t from the cold, is it?”

I said nothing.

She didn’t press me, only pushing the tea a little closer. “I was standing in the hall today, and I saw very clearly. When His Majesty asked you to choose the wedding date, your fingertips were trembling the entire time.”

I froze.

“It wasn’t you shaking,” Duan Mingyi said, her voice calm. “It was His Majesty.”

I lowered my eyes. The steam rising from the teacup clouded my vision, making my eyes sting and well with a bitter ache.

Suddenly, she added, “I won’t marry him.”

I snapped my head up.

Duan Mingyi offered a faint smile. “I could marry an Emperor, but I have no desire to marry a man who has someone else in his heart and refuses to admit it.”

“You’ve misunderstood,” I said instinctively.

“Whether I’ve misunderstood or not isn’t important.” She gently set down her teacup. “What matters is that you look like you’re about to break, Fate-Scribe Ye.”

My fingers tightened.

“I don’t know what exactly happened between you and His Majesty.” Duan Mingyi watched me with a steady gaze. “But if you truly are suffering in silence, it’s best not to carry it all alone anymore.”

I remained silent for a long time before letting out a low, hollow laugh.

“Some things… speaking of them doesn’t change anything.”

She looked at me for a moment and didn’t press further. Instead, she took a protective talisman from her sleeve and placed it in my palm.

“Then at least stay alive,” she said. “Only by living can there be a future.”

I clutched the warm talisman, and for a moment, it felt as though something had gently knocked against my heart.

It had been a long time since anyone in this palace had spoken to me like that.

As I stepped out of the hall, Pei Yuheng was waiting outside.

I didn’t know how long he had been standing there.

His gaze fell on the corner of the talisman peeking out from my palm, and his expression instantly darkened.

“Are you finished talking?”

Duan Mingyi nodded naturally. “We are finished.”

He didn’t look at her again, his eyes fixed solely on me. “Fate-Scribe Ye, stay behind.”

Once the doors to the side hall were closed, he approached me step by step until my back hit a pillar, leaving me with nowhere to retreat.

“What are you trying to do now?” he demanded.

I was stunned. “I do not understand Your Majesty’s meaning.”

“Duan Mingyi has always been cautious, yet today she spoke up for you.” His voice was low, vibrating with restrained fury. “Ye Wentang, do you think that no matter who stands by my side, you can just meddle as you please?”

I looked at him, feeling nothing but exhaustion.

“If Your Majesty truly wishes to marry her, I will not stop you.”

He suddenly let out a cold sneer. “Of course you wouldn’t.”

“Years ago, you were even willing to discard me. What’s a mere Empress’s throne to you?”

Those words landed like a heavy blow to an old wound.

My lips turned pale, yet I could only stand there in silence.

Seeing that I didn’t defend myself, the spark of anger in Pei Yuheng’s eyes flared into a blaze. Seemingly pushed to his limit, he suddenly reached out and gripped my shoulders with staggering force.

“Ye Wentang, do you even have a heart?”

I do.

But that heart had already stopped being whole the moment I lit the first lamp for you.

I wanted to say that, but in the end, I only looked at him and said softly, “If I had no heart, the Heaven Worship Ceremony in three days would be a much simpler affair.”

His body stiffened violently.

In the next heartbeat, he released me as if he had been burned, his face deathly pale.

I took the opportunity to step back, performed a formal bow, and turned to leave.

As I walked out of the side hall, a surge of pain suddenly boiled up in my chest. I leaned against a corridor pillar and coughed up a mouthful of blood.

The blood splattered onto the snow, a piercing, vivid red.

Behind me, the doors of Zichen Hall were thrown open with a resounding crash.