Chapter 3
Chapter 3
The Princess Consort was so infuriated that she suffered a bout of migraine that night.
I rose in the middle of the night, threw on my clothes, and applied ointment to my fingertips to massage her temples, easing her pain slightly.
She began to ramble, pouring out her heart.
“I didn’t recover properly after my confinement, and now my head aches terribly. I’ve heard that if one undergoes another period of confinement after giving birth again, these lingering ailments can be cured. I wonder if it’s true.”
The Mammy chimed in, “Why not adopt one? An adopted child might ‘bring’ a biological child along with them. Your Highness, would you consider…”
The Princess Consort remained silent.
She was likely at her wit’s end; otherwise, she wouldn’t have refrained from rebuking such a folk superstition.
After a long silence, she said helplessly, “It’s no use. They wouldn’t be on the Jade Register.”
The Mammy’s eyes darted around. “What does the Jade Register matter? We would just be using the child for a while. Once you are pregnant, you can simply return the child.”
The Princess Consort opened her eyes. “Where would such a child come from?”
The Mammy smiled. “My daughter-in-law just gave birth to a boy; he’s already eight months old. If Your Highness likes, I shall bring the child for you to see tomorrow.”
The Princess Consort had me bring her jewelry box. She opened it and handed the Mammy a jade bracelet.
That bracelet was worth several hundred taels, yet it was the most ordinary piece in her collection.
The Mammy’s eyes lit up. She took it with both hands and kowtowed in gratitude.
A slow smile spread across the Princess Consort’s face.
I felt a sense of dread.
Every time the Princess Consort intended to punish a servant, she wore that exact smile.
But the Mammy, her head bowed, did not see it.
And I did not warn her.
Years ago, when I was driven to the stables and when the stables caught fire-how much of that had been the Mammy’s idea?
The next day.
The Mammy brought the child over.
The Princess Consort played with the boy for a short while before a look of loathing appeared between her brows.
Children inevitably cry, fuss, and soil themselves. The Princess Consort had never bothered with such things even for Yujie; now, she was even more repulsed by someone else’s child.
The Mammy had to do everything herself, which led her to neglect the Princess Consort.
Three days later, the Princess Consort claimed she had lost something and ordered a search.
The bracelet wasn’t found, but the Mammy was-at the bottom of a well in the backyard.
By the time they hauled her out, her body was bloated from the water, and she was wearing the Princess Consort’s bracelet.
Everyone said she had stolen the item and, fearing discovery, committed suicide out of shame.
My face turned pale.
That bracelet had clearly been a gift from the Princess Consort.
Yet now, it had become stolen goods.
When the Princess Consort wanted to destroy someone, she never needed blades or spears.
Framing them and borrowing a knife to kill was enough.
When no one else was around, the Princess Consort pinched the child’s fair, tender cheek and said with a beaming smile, “A mere servant, yet you dared to think I would pave the way for this little thing? You even dared to brag about having a grandson to me. Ha! Look at what you are. You deserved to die!”
The child cried from the pinching, nearly fainting from the distress.
Without the Mammy’s meticulous care, the child soon became sickly.
The child’s mother knelt outside the prince’s manor, weeping and begging the Princess Consort to return her son.
The Princess Consort invited her in and said coldly, “The child is yours, so of course he should be returned. However, this child has cost me a great deal of time and energy during his stay. How shall we settle that account?”
“I will pay! This commoner will compensate Your Highness! It was my family’s audacity to try and climb social ranks through Your Highness. It was my fault. I will surely pay.”
“I brought him into the manor to be raised in hopes that he would bring me a child of my own. Unfortunately, he has yet to do so. I am quite loath to let him go.”
“It is because he lacks the fortune. He is fated to have no siblings, and thus he has delayed Your Highness. It is all my fault. I beg for your magnanimity. I will pray for you; you will surely have a house full of children and grandchildren, blessed with many sons.”
“Heh. Fated to have no siblings?”
The Princess Consort looked at the woman with a half-smile and signaled a maid to bring a bowl of Sterility Potion.
“If you drink this, I will believe he is truly fated to have no siblings. Otherwise, you are lying to me, which is the crime of deceiving a superior.”
The mother’s face turned white with horror. But hearing her child’s cries, she picked up the potion with the resolve of one facing death and drained it in one gulp.
She left the manor, her every step trembling.
Three days later, she sold her house and everything of value, scraping together two hundred taels of silver to give to the Princess Consort. She took back her dying child, and the family of three vanished from the capital forever.
The Princess Consort barely spared a glance at the two hundred taels before awarding it to the manor’s servants.
She said sharply, “From now on, let this be the fate of anyone who dares to be a traitor or harbor designs against me.”
The servants were too terrified to speak.
The entire manor became much quieter.
I continued my daily duties of serving the Princess Consort and caring for Yujie.
I worked with utmost devotion, and soon, I replaced the former Mammy as the Princess Consort’s right-hand woman.
Before long, the day of the Emperor’s hunt arrived.
The princes, high officials, and their families joined the procession.
The Princess Consort took me along.
At the hunting grounds, she saw the horses scrubbed to a brilliant white, and a hint of nostalgia appeared in her eyes.
She was likely remembering the days she spent galloping across the frontier with Prince Zhao. Those were among the few times in her life when she had been bold and unrestrained.
She flipped onto her horse and rode through the meadows.
Prince Zhao grew spirited and gave chase on his own horse.
The two chased each other like a pair of flirting mandarin ducks.
I followed them, trailing further and further away from the main group.
Finding a moment when no one was around, I quietly pulled out the Sleeve Arrow I had made and prepared to fire without hesitation.
However, a rustling sound came from the nearby woods.
I quickly lowered my hand and walked over, only to find a woman lying in the forest, covered in blood.
Her face was as pale as paper and her eyes were tightly shut; she looked as if she was at death’s door.
I hesitated.
To save her? Or not?
My mother’s fate had taught me that a small kindness can lead to great resentment.
But before my mother left this world, she had also whispered in my ear: “Good child, Mother is going now!”
She had called me a good child.