Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The Ninth Prince broke off our engagement.

Gong Qiuyue’s engagement was also called off.

The difference was that the Ninth Prince told the world I was consumed by jealousy and unfit to be his consort.

Gong Qiuyue, on the other hand, was supposedly ending her engagement temporarily because she needed to be free of worldly attachments to accompany the Empress Dowager to Guiyun Temple to pray to Buddha.

On the day the engagement was dissolved, the Sixth Prince stood before the gates of the Grand Preceptor’s Mansion and swore a vow of three lifetimes to her. He declared his heart would never change and that he was willing to wait for her for three years, five years, ten years-even a lifetime.

The way she was treated was worlds apart from my own experience.

My reputation was ruined, and I was flooded with scathing criticism.

She was envied by everyone and admired by thousands.

Countless young ladies from noble households didn’t shun her; instead, they flocked to her to ask how she had been personally chosen by the Empress Dowager to accompany her for the prayers.

Everyone knew the Empress Dowager never mistreated those who served her. There would surely be rewards upon her return. More importantly, having the Empress Dowager’s favor was equivalent to having a protective talisman; her life was effectively secured.

Gong Qiuyue was busy with endless social invitations.

I was left alone to face my father’s fury.

“If you had even a ten-thousandth of your sister’s wit, you wouldn’t have ended up in this state! You were already unworthy of the Sixth Prince, and now you couldn’t even hold onto the Ninth Prince. What was the point of even siring you?”

His heart was full of resentment, and he poured it all out on me.

I listened quietly, but my mind was wandering.

In my first life, I married the Ninth Prince and became the Empress, while Gong Qiuyue married the Sixth Prince.

When the Sixth Prince failed in his bid for the throne and was imprisoned in a desolate alley, my father demanded that I release Gong Qiuyue.

That wasn’t much of an issue; in that first life, the hatred between us wasn’t that deep.

But after I released her, Father shouldn’t have arranged for Gong Qiuyue to seduce the Ninth Prince. He claimed they should follow the ancient example of the sister-consorts Ehuang and Nüying to preserve the prosperity of the Grand Preceptor’s Mansion.

The Ninth Prince did not care for beauties. Not only did he humiliate Gong Qiuyue, but he also mocked me mercilessly, saying my family was blinded by greed and their heads were filled with nothing but filth.

The little affection we originally had was ground away, bit by bit, by incidents like that.

Later, my father’s arrogance led him to commit crimes, and I was deposed and reinstated three times.

Yet, Father only begged me to save him. He never once considered my situation or whether I even had the power to save him…

Gong Qiuyue returned.

My father’s rage finally ceased.

He kindly instructed Gong Qiuyue that she must put the Empress Dowager first in everything at the temple, and that serving her well would be a great achievement.

Gong Qiuyue obediently agreed.

She said she was tired, and Father compassionately told her to go rest.

Turning back to me, he irritably ordered me to go transcribe Buddhist scriptures.

On the way to the ancestral hall, Gong Qiuyue was waiting for me.

“Sister, I am the one who will be by the Empress Dowager’s side. I wonder how you feel about that?”

“I even told the Sixth Prince that the reason I wanted to break the engagement was so that you wouldn’t have to be sad alone. I want to share your joys and sorrows. Sister, are you happy?”

She was certain I understood nothing, and her eyes even flickered with pity.

I watched her walk away, shaking my head, and couldn’t help but smile.

She was likely going for the Empress Dowager’s secret.

But there is no need to listen to a secret a second time when you already know it, is there?

As for the Sixth Prince…

He is nothing at all.