Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The guards made a grand spectacle of carrying the pair back to the Lu Mansion.

A palace maid returned to report that Lu Qingshuang had covered her face and wept the entire way back.

Crowds had gathered along the road to witness the bizarre sight, whispering and asking what had happened.

The head maid said, “I did not hide anything and told them the truth.”

I nodded, satisfied.

As it should be.

Since she dared to do it, she should dare to face the consequences.

Just then, Wei Jue rushed in like a whirlwind.

He glared at me with fury, his eyes looking as if they wanted to devour me whole.

“Ying Lingyue! How dare you do this? Do you have any idea that this will ruin Qingshuang’s reputation? How is she supposed to live after this? How is she supposed to marry?”

I had spoiled him too much.

He truly thought that because This Princess loved him so desperately, he could do whatever he pleased to me.

When Lu Qingshuang was flirting and carrying on with him, she should have considered her own reputation.

If she didn’t care about it herself, why should This Princess care for her?

I didn’t even spare him a glance, instead instructing the maid, “Prepare the brush and ink. This Princess wishes to write a letter of divorce.”

The head maid froze for a moment before going to prepare the writing materials.

Wei Jue was stunned.

“You’re divorcing me?”

He couldn’t believe it. After all, he thought he was a treasure in my eyes, believing I would disregard the laws of the land and my own dignity for his sake.

He was certainly overestimating himself!

The head maid couldn’t help but advise as I lifted the brush, “Your Highness, marriage is no trivial matter. Please, think twice.”

I said indifferently, “He is merely a soiled man. Why bother?”

With a few swift strokes, I finished the letter of divorce and ordered someone to deliver it to the Wei Mansion.

“Fine! Ying Lingyue, from now on, we go our separate ways and have nothing more to do with each other!”

Wei Jue’s face turned ashen. He flicked his sleeves and drifted away quickly.

I watched his retreating figure and thought silently to myself.

Now that he was a ghost, he actually looked quite ethereal while drifting.

I returned to the palace and stayed for seven days.

During those seven days, the world outside had been turned upside down.

After Lu Qingshuang returned, she was shut out by Lord Lu, who declared he had no such shameless daughter.

When the Wei Mansion heard of this, they immediately went to the door and took Wei Jue back. Since the two could not be separated, they had no choice but to bring Lu Qingshuang along as well.

Before the gates had even closed after their return, Madam Wei could no longer restrain herself and gave Lu Qingshuang a resounding slap.

“You wretched servant! When the Wei Family was in trouble, you ran so fast. Now that my son has finally married the Princess, you’ve wedged yourself in between them again. Do you know that because of your shamelessness, the Princess has divorced my son? How exactly has my Wei Family wronged you that you must ruin my son time and time again?”

That slap landed hard.

Lu Qingshuang was stunned.

Wei Jue’s soul was also stunned.

Having vented her anger, Madam Wei commanded coldly, “Go fetch a doctor to separate them.”

Batch after batch of doctors came.

Unfortunately, Wei Jue’s hand was rigid. Unless it was sawn off, there was absolutely no way to separate the two.

Madam Wei and Lu Qingshuang were both in despair.

Madam Wei’s despair stemmed from the fact that Lu Qingshuang was living proof of Wei Jue’s infidelity and lack of virtue. Even if she wanted to argue or make excuses, she had no ground to stand on. She could only take Wei Jue’s sister, Wei Huan, to the Princess’s Mansion every day to beg for an audience and apologize for their crimes.

Lu Qingshuang’s despair came from the fact that her daily life was completely restricted. Eating, dressing, washing, and sleeping-even when she went to the latrine, four maids had to carry Wei Jue behind her. She had no privacy or dignity left.

Furthermore, everyone in the Wei household looked down on her with contempt. Even the lowest-ranking maid looked at her as if she were a joke.

Wei Jue comforted her incessantly, saying they would surely find a skilled doctor to separate them.

Unfortunately, Lu Qingshuang couldn’t hear a single word he said.

By the seventh day, Lu Qingshuang had completely snapped.

She found an excuse to send the maids away, her eyes fixed ruthlessly on Wei Jue’s hand. Then, using all her strength, she grabbed Wei Jue’s thumb and wrenched it.

*Crack!*

Wei Jue’s thumb was broken.

Wei Jue stared at Lu Qingshuang’s face in horror. That once pretty and delicate face no longer held its former gentleness and virtue; there was only the ferocity of achieving a goal and the joy that followed it.

She moved on to the second finger, then the third…

After breaking three of Wei Jue’s fingers in a row, she pulled her arm free with overwhelming joy. She admired her arm for a moment before glancing at Wei Jue and whispering, “Wei Lang, don’t blame me. You’ve always wanted the best for me. If you were awake, you would surely be willing to let me break your fingers, wouldn’t you?”

She leaned down and gave Wei Jue a light kiss on the face.

Then, she quickly went into the inner chamber and climbed out through the window.

Wei Jue’s soul stared blankly at her back, unable to speak for a long time.

Watching this scene through the jade pendant, I also fell silent.

Lu Qingshuang was much more ruthless than I had imagined.

That night.

Wei Jue came to the palace.

He sat silently beside me.

I let out a scoff. Too lazy to let him discover that I could see him, I ordered the head maid to invite the performers from the Pear Garden to sing and dance.

With songs, dances, and the constant sound of flutes and strings, the vigorous dances of the male performers and the supple waists of the female dancers pleased me greatly.

I hummed a tune and tapped out the rhythm, indulging in a night of merriment amidst fine wine and delicacies.

At dawn, Wei Jue said coldly, “Ying Lingyue, you truly have no heart. Are you not even a little sad for me? You used every means possible to get me back then, and now you discard me like a worn-out shoe. If not for you, Qingshuang and I would have been a harmonious couple long ago. You were the one who wronged me first, so what does it matter if I wronged you once?”

I let out a cold sneer.

Life is worth living, but in the end, he simply wasn’t worth it.

Just then, someone came to report that Madam Wei had fainted from kneeling at the Princess’s Mansion, and that Wei Huan was currently in tears.

Hearing this, Wei Jue immediately drifted toward the door.

He floated a short distance before stopping. “Ying Lingyue, my mother has always treated you with such kindness. She has been kneeling at the Princess’s Mansion for seven consecutive days. Aren’t you going to see her?”

Coincidentally, my head maid also asked if I wanted to go take a look.

I let out a lazy yawn.

“This Princess is exhausted. Besides, has the Wei Family died out? If they cannot even look after their own matriarch, what use is there in keeping them around?”

“Understood!”

The head maid understood my meaning and immediately instructed everyone that there was no need to report any further news regarding the Wei Family.

Wei Jue glared at me in fury before sweeping his sleeves and departing.

I slept soundly and deeply, not waking until the sun began to set in the late afternoon.

Ning Sheng asked me if I really wasn’t going to see Madam Wei.

I yawned again.

“Is she that good-looking?”

“No, she is not,”

Ning Sheng replied with absolute certainty.

I couldn’t help but laugh.

In her youth, Madam Wei was known as the greatest beauty in Great Qin, and Duke Wei was the most handsome man in the land. They were a match made in heaven, which was why they were able to produce someone as peerlessly elegant and uniquely striking as Wei Jue.

But if a beauty is arrogant and looks down on others, she no longer seems beautiful.

Wei Jue claimed his mother had always been kind to me. In his eyes, his mother was naturally perfect in every way, but in my eyes, she was merely a beautiful shell wrapped in greed.

Sure enough, within three days…

Rumors were spreading throughout the capital that the Wei Family was sincerely repentant. It was said that Madam Wei had collapsed from exhaustion and that Wei Huan was serving at her bedside every day, growing as thin as a withered flower-a truly pitiful sight.

The implication was that if I continued to hold onto this matter, I would truly be lacking in grace.

Upon hearing this, a murderous glint flashed in Ning Sheng’s eyes.

I thought for a moment and then requested Father Emperor to issue an imperial decree stripping Madam Wei of her title as a First-Rank Lady of Honor.

Wei Jue’s father was a fourth-rank official. Normally, given Lord Wei’s contributions, Madam Wei would have been entitled to a fourth-rank title.

However, to make Wei Jue a suitable match for me, Father Emperor had elevated the Wei Family, promoting Lord Wei to a third-rank official and making an exception to grant Madam Wei the title of First-Rank Lady of Honor.

A First-Rank Lady of Honor held a prominent status; she could enter and exit the palace freely, did not have to bow to officials, and could not be tried or sentenced by lower-ranking officials. In life, she could wear phoenix-patterned robes, and after death, she could be enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple. Her stipend and land holdings were also quite substantial.

Madam Wei wanted to use the court of public opinion to make things difficult for me, but she had miscalculated.

Even if I am criticized by the whole world, as long as justice is on my side, no one should dream of making me back down an inch.

Not long after Father Emperor’s decree reached the Wei household, Wei Jue drifted into my bedchamber.

He questioned me in a rage, “My mother is bedridden and hasn’t even regained consciousness. Even if you hate me and want to revoke her title, couldn’t you have waited a little longer?”

Before he could get close to me, he was blasted back by a flash of light from a talisman.

This was a talisman I had asked a Taoist priest to draw. With these, Wei Jue could forget about ever approaching me again.

Even a ghost must follow the rules of This Princess: No spying on the Princess’s bedchamber.

Ignoring Wei Jue’s shocked expression, I calmly gave my orders: “Post talismans all over the bedchamber. Ensure that not even a single wandering ghost can enter.”

“Yes!”

The maids hurried off to carry out the order.

Standing far away from me, Wei Jue murmured in confusion, “You can see me, and you can feel me, can’t you?”

I closed my eyes and made a gesture. Ning Sheng drifted down from the shadows and knelt to receive his orders.

“Tell me a story!”

Ning Sheng: “…”

I opened my eyes and glanced at him.

Ning Sheng began reluctantly, “Once upon a time, there was a mountain. In the mountain, there was a temple. In the temple, there was a monk…”

I glared at him.

He gave a light cough and cleared his throat.

“Once upon a time, there was a princess. She was high-spirited and peerlessly beautiful, the most stunning princess in the world. One day, her heart began to stir with love, and she decided to find the most handsome man in the world to be her Prince Consort…”

I slowly closed my eyes and listened to him weave the tale.

The story was, of course, a good one-the princess and the Prince Consort lived happily ever after after overcoming a thousand hardships.

But in reality, our life was a mess of trivialities.

On Madam Wei’s birthday, he wanted me to pay my respects with the etiquette of a daughter-in-law. I knew well that if I bowed, I would never be able to maintain my royal dignity again; the Wei Family would inevitably use it to manipulate me. So, after sending gifts, I remained seated in my high position.

That day, Wei Jue and I had a massive argument. He stormed off, and I couldn’t help but feel heartbroken.

His sister, Wei Huan, conceited about her beauty, publicly mocked someone she deemed ugly. Who could have known that the person was the Prime Minister, whom Father Emperor had invited from afar and who was currently traveling incognito among the people? After the Prime Minister’s identity was revealed, Wei Huan left in shame.

Yet, he claimed I hadn’t treated Wei Huan as family at all; otherwise, how would the Prime Minister have dared to humiliate her in public?

There were countless other instances like these.

Our feelings were worn away just like that.

Afterward, the great road stretched toward the horizon, and we each took our own path.

As husband and wife, we truly achieved the state of “treating each other with the respect due to a guest” by simply never seeing one another.

In my heart, he was a calamity, a trial I had to endure.

In his heart, I must have been the tribulation he had to cross in the mortal realm.

When a marriage reaches the state ours did, perhaps it should have ended long ago.

His infidelity was simply the opportunity for us both to be free.

I think this is for the best.

By the time Ning Sheng finished speaking, the palace maids had already finished placing the talismans. Wei Jue had long since been blasted away by the talismans’ power, and the surroundings were suddenly peaceful.

Bored, I took out my jade pendant to see where Wei Jue had gone.

He had fled the palace in a panic and drifted back home, where he now hovered despondently before Madam Wei.

On her sickbed, Madam Wei suddenly opened her eyes. She looked at Wei Huan, who was weeping at her side, and said coldly, “What are you crying for? Your mother isn’t dead yet.”

“Mother, you’re better?” Wei Huan asked joyfully.

Madam Wei sat up slowly, her voice icy. “I only wanted to see how the Princess would react. I didn’t expect her to be so ruthless. Sigh, in the end, it was your brother who failed her.”

Wei Huan said resentfully, “What did Brother do wrong? It was clearly that bitch who deliberately framed our family just to get him. She forced Brother to bow his head and submit himself to her. If not for that, how could Sister Qingshuang and Brother have been driven apart…”

*Slap!*

Madam Wei gave Wei Huan a harsh slap across the face.

“Is this how I taught you to speak? As a lady from a prestigious family, to have such a foul mouth-I have spoiled you too much. Furthermore, do not mention Lu Qingshuang again. For her own sake, she was willing to break your brother’s fingers. She is not worthy of being part of our Wei Family.”

Wei Huan’s eyes reddened.

Madam Wei sighed softly and stroked her hair tenderly.

“Silly child, I didn’t explain things clearly to you before, so I might as well tell you everything today. Your father indeed had dealings with Prince Xin; the Princess did not interfere or frame him. It was I who pushed for the marriage with the Princess. The Lu Family is full of social climbers who kick people when they’re down; they aren’t worthy of an alliance with our family. I was the one who persuaded your brother to use the Grand Princess’s connections to win the Princess’s heart. The matter with Prince Xin made me realize that only by clinging to the most powerful people in the world can I ensure our family’s safety for generations. The Princess was the best path. Unfortunately, your brother is useless; he actually destroyed his own future for the sake of Lu Qingshuang.”

Her voice grew hateful as she spoke, her expression twisting into something hideous.

Wei Huan was terrified.

She whispered, “Brother and I always thought it was the Princess acting willfully… but Mother, why didn’t you tell him clearly? If you had, perhaps things wouldn’t have come to this.”

“A real man should focus on building his career and legacy. How can he be bogged down by petty love? I didn’t expect him to be so worthless. If I had known he was so obsessed with romance, I would have rather he lived in harmony with the Princess. Sigh! It’s all Lu Qingshuang’s fault! And you, egging him on from the sidelines-do you think I didn’t know? If you hadn’t been passing messages between your brother and Lu Qingshuang, how could they have stayed entangled? Go to your room and reflect on your actions. You are not to come out!”

Wei Huan shut her mouth, wiped her tears, and turned to leave.

Madam Wei lay back down resentfully, still sighing with a heavy heart.

Wei Jue was devastated.

He looked at his own mother in disbelief, his very soul trembling and unstable.

He stared blankly in the direction of the imperial palace. Later, he left the Wei Mansion and went to the Princess’s Mansion, where he sat in a daze.

“Lingyue, was I… was I that far off the mark? I always thought you used underhanded means to force me to marry you. I…”

I lowered my eyes slightly.

So what if he was far off the mark?

It’s too late!

His retribution is still to come.

A few days passed.

Once the matters regarding the Wei Family had settled down a bit, another piece of bad news arrived.

The Third Son of the Zhou Family, who was engaged to Wei Huan, had come to break off the engagement.

That day, Wei Huan had just been released from her confinement, and the Wei Family was preparing to open their doors to guests.

They never expected to be greeted by a letter of annulment from the Third Son of the Zhou Family.

The Zhou Family had been a family of officials for generations, boasting two Dukes within a single house-an immense honor.

Normally, a girl from a third-rank official’s family like Wei Huan would never have been able to climb high enough for such a match. However, during a flower-viewing banquet, Third Son Zhou and Wei Huan had fallen into the water together. Having had physical contact in full view of everyone, the marriage had been forced into place.

Once the engagement was set, the Wei Family’s status soared like oil added to a fire.

Everyone envied the Wei Family: the brother had married the Princess, and the sister was to be a future Duchess. Their prosperity and wealth seemed guaranteed.

At the time, I felt something was off and specifically ordered someone to investigate. What they found was scandalous.

I intended to tell Wei Jue, but the moment I opened my mouth, he cut me off.

“You just can’t stand to see my sister doing well, can you? Is the Imperial Family the only ‘good’ thing in this world?”

I had sneered, losing all interest. However, from then on, I used excuses to keep Wei Huan confined for half a year. That must have been why she hated me so thoroughly.

But when someone does something wrong, retribution eventually comes.

And now, that retribution has arrived.

Did she really think the Zhou Family was someone a petty girl like Wei Huan could scheme against?

At the Wei residence, upon hearing the news, Wei Huan disregarded all lady-like etiquette and rushed to the front hall to demand why the Third Son of the Zhou Family was breaking the engagement.

Third Son Zhou gave her a deep look but did not answer. Instead, he bowed to Lord Wei, turned around, and strode away.

In a fit of rage, Wei Huan pulled the hairpin from her head and pointed it at her own throat.

“Third Son Zhou, if you don’t give me a clear explanation today, I will stab myself to death right here!”