Chapter 2

For three years, I had been a faultless Crown Princess.

I honored the Emperor and Empress and personally attended to their every need.

I showed compassion to the people, setting up soup kitchens and distributing relief to refugees with my own hands.

Everyone praised me as virtuous, gracious, and good.

So when Pei Jin’s decree naming my elder sister empress was announced, it sent shock waves through the court and the realm.

He insisted on it.

Ignoring the protests of his ministers, he forced me to accept the rank of Noble Consort.

I stared at him in disbelief and choked out, “In what way am I inferior to my sister?”

Pei Jin raised his eyes, his expression cold.

“I admire her indifference to worldly ambition.”

“At least she would not marry me only after plotting for years to gain power and position, as you did.”

“I had no choice back then. That is why I favored you for three years. Do not press your luck.”

With those few careless words, he erased all three loving years we had shared in the Eastern Palace.

I refused the decree.

Mother came in person to persuade me. “Noble Consort is an excellent rank too.”

“As long as you know your place, your sister will not make life difficult for you.”

My brother gloated beside her. “Did you think stealing Ah Wu’s husband would make you empress?”

“Everyone has their own fate. Accept yours.”

Only then did I learn that before I was born, an eminent monk had read my elder sister’s destiny.

He declared that she was fated to become empress.

That was why Mother and my brother had spent their lives lifting her toward that throne.

But I could not swallow the insult.

The deadlock continued until my sister died.

She sent away her maid, hanged herself, and left behind a single thin letter.

“This humble woman is unworthy to stand as mother of the realm.”

“In exchange for this worthless life, I beg Your Majesty to treat the Crown Princess kindly and grant her the position of empress that is rightfully hers…”

Who had asked her to trade her life to plead for me?

I hated her for it.

I hated her so much I wanted to drag her out of her grave and beat her senseless.

Pei Jin hated me too.

Though he finally named me empress, he forbade me from living in Fengyi Palace and denied me every honor due my rank. I was an empress in name alone.

He filled the harem with beauties who resembled my sister, each with the same gentle, untainted face, the same air of serenity and tender grace.

Yet he still came to my chambers late at night.

He pinned me beneath him and took me with punishing desperation, deliberately calling my sister’s name.

Eyes burning, I bit him as hard as I could.

He pried my jaws apart without expression. “Use your teeth again, and I will smash them.”

“You stole the position that belonged to someone else. Surely you can endure this much suffering.”

The deep palace was silent, and every day was torment.

I conceived twice, but neither child survived.

Eventually, the fight went out of me.

My health worsened with each passing year.

As I lay dying, Pei Jin came to see me one last time.

Heavy morning dew dampened the hair at his temples.

I studied him for a long while before whispering, “I regret it.”

He stroked my face. After a long silence, he scoffed.

“You got everything you wanted. What could you possibly regret?”

“Because I got it all and discovered it was nothing worth having. That is precisely why I regret it.”

Pei Jin went rigid.

I did not look at him. My gaze rested on the roof beams, withered as dead branches, as I let out the faintest sigh.

“I brought this life upon myself. I made my wager, and I accept the loss.”

“If there is another life… I will never force what was not meant to be mine.”