Chapter 3
In my second month of training the Snow Dragon colt, Yuhe came to the stables again.
By then, she had become Murong Jin’s most favored concubine.
Most Qiangrong women were bold and radiant. Women of Southern Tang, by contrast, were soft and lustrous as jade beneath gauze. Naturally, Murong Jin found the difference alluring.
And Yuhe truly was beautiful. Pampered by the emperor and empress from birth, she had bathed in rosewater every day and perfumed herself with jasmine balm. Her skin was finer than the purest white jade.
Qiangrong slaves hurried to bring her a cushioned stool. Smiling, she sat down before me.
“Come. Massage my feet.”
I hesitated for no more than a heartbeat. Yuhe’s gaze tightened, and the attendant beside her immediately lashed me hard with a riding crop.
A girl who worked with me in the stables rushed over in tears, trying to shield me. “We are all sisters. Why must Princess Yuhe treat her this way—”
Before she could finish, the crop cracked across her back as well.
She was the youngest daughter of an upright civil official and only thirteen. Frail since childhood, she had needed medicine every day even at home. She could not withstand such a blow and fainted at once.
Shielding the unconscious girl, I moved closer to Yuhe.
“If My Lady wishes me to massage her feet, then I will.”
“Is this pressure satisfactory? If not, My Lady may beat or scold me as she pleases. Why take your anger out on someone else?”
Only then did a brilliant smile bloom across Yuhe’s face.
She hooked the toe of her shoe beneath my chin and murmured so softly that only we could hear, “Well, Sister? Even after beginning again, your fate is still to serve me.”
In our previous lives, Murong Jin had ordered the enslaved Yuhe to serve as my mounting block.
Perhaps that had been the deepest wound in her heart.
How could she accept that I, whom she had always despised and trampled beneath her feet, had risen to become her mistress while she remained a slave forever?
Given another life, of course she would make me pay for that humiliation.
Only…
I said quietly, “It is understandable that you resent me and wish for revenge.”
“But a princess is supported by the labor of her people, and in times of peril, she must bear a princess’s duty. Why have you never considered who our true enemy is?”
Yuhe scoffed.
“Of course I know. If Qiangrong had not invaded Southern Tang, how would I have lost my life of silks and delicacies and ended up swallowing dust on this frontier?”
“But Yusu, Father is dead. Our brother the crown prince is dead. The generals are dead, and so is the commander of the Imperial Guard.”
“If all those men could not defend our realm, what can a young princess like me possibly do? Keeping myself safe is hard enough. If Father and Mother were alive, all they would want is for me to be happy.”
“But you… Now that I have stolen your place as secondary consort, don’t you hate me?”
I shook my head.
In truth, I did not hate Yuhe. At least, not for this.
Becoming Murong Jin’s Noble Consort was not necessarily a blessing.
In my previous life, Murong Jin had doted on me alone for three months before marrying daughters from every tribe in the Western Regions.
He was the young lord of Qiangrong. He could never have only one wife.
The noblewomen of Qiangrong fought viciously over the position of principal consort. Behind them stood the tangled powers of the sixteen tribes of the Western Regions, and not one would yield to another.
By comparison, a princess of the fallen Southern Tang had no maternal clan to support her—and yet she alone possessed Murong Jin’s favor.
That made me a thorn in the side of every woman in his household.
In my previous life, even if Yuhe had not killed me, I had already been poisoned by the Cinnabar Tribe and afflicted with a curse from the Kingdom of Guyue. I would not have survived another month.
But Yuhe refused to believe any of that.
She lowered her gaze to my face.
“You little slut. I suppose you inherited a touch of your palace-maid mother’s bewitching looks.”
“Murong Jin may only have eyes for me now, but if he ever takes a fancy to you, I will have a problem.”
Yuhe raised her voice. “Guards!”
“Slash her face. Do not leave a single patch untouched.”
Soon, a cold blade pressed against my cheek.
I closed my eyes and prayed silently.
She should be here soon.
Any moment now.
The first cut was about to fall.
At that very instant, a fierce black horse charged into the stable, carrying a figure dressed in brilliant red.
“Princess Murong Zhu of Qiangrong has arrived!”
At last, the person I had been waiting for was here.