Chapter 2

Chapter 2

No wonder Pei Yan was in such a hurry.

Song Zhiwei had been poisoned long ago, back in the Shu region.

It would not take her life, but it would make it difficult for her to conceive.

Even if she did conceive, she would miscarry.

She had only entered the palace three months ago, and she was already carrying Pei Yan’s child.

How many months along was she?

I feared the two of them had been entangled long before this.

Of course.

I had grown up on an estate since childhood. The one who had truly been Pei Yan’s childhood sweetheart had always been Song Zhiwei.

I wandered aimlessly through the Imperial Garden, my hand drifting unconsciously to my lower abdomen.

I had once had a child too.

But at six months, Pei Yan had forced it from me with a bowl of abortifacient.

Back then, he had held me in his arms and kissed me again and again.

“Yuanyuan, if I don’t use her to draw Imperial Father’s attention, he will forget me entirely.

“It would be one thing if I had to spend the rest of my life as a Deposed Crown Prince, but how could I bear to let you suffer with me for a lifetime?

“Yuanyuan, don’t be afraid. You are my wife. In the future, we will have many, many children.”

But now, his wife was someone else.

The one who would have many, many children with him was someone else too.

When I returned to Chenlu Palace, Linlang was startled.

“Your Highness! Did the Empress torment you again?!”

I shook my head.

I simply was not used to it yet.

Not used to how, in just a few short months, everything around me had changed.

I would sleep.

Once I slept, it would be all right.

I bathed and changed out of my clothes, but in that sleep, I dreamed of many things from the past.

Pei Yan and I had shared far more than ten years of affection.

When I was ten, I had met him once.

He had lost the jade pendant he carried and was searching for it in a panic.

I was the one who found it and returned it to him.

After he went back to the capital, he wrote me a letter especially to express his thanks.

After that, we exchanged letters for five years.

The year I came of age, we confessed our feelings to each other.

That was why I had never once imagined that the one he truly loved would be Song Zhiwei.

That was why, on our wedding night, when I saw the jade pendant on him beneath my bridal veil, I was overwhelmed with joy.

I dreamed that I forgot all about modesty and happily lifted my veil.

The young man stood there in his red wedding robes, undisguised amazement in his eyes.

He stared blankly for a long while, then smiled and bowed with graceful charm.

“It is my fault. I have kept my lady waiting.”

Back then, he said that no matter whether he became Crown Prince or emperor in the future,

he would always be my husband.

My husband alone.

But today, I heard Song Zhiwei call him “husband.”

She said it so sweetly.

A dense, needle-prick ache spread through my heart.

I opened my eyes and saw Pei Yan looking at me.