“Madam, I’m planning to take a concubine.”
When Duan Qing said that, I was ironing the ceremonial robes he would wear to the palace tomorrow.
At his words, I nearly knocked over the iron brazier full of burning charcoal.
He sat there with one leg crossed over the other and went on as if it had nothing to do with me. “I’m bringing Miss Zhou into the household. A noblewoman from the former dynasty. You’ve met her.”
“Back when I followed the Emperor to fight for this empire, I lived with my head tied to my belt. Now that I’ve been made a duke, what’s wrong with taking the legitimate daughter of a marquis’s household as a concubine?”
“Old Han’s family are illiterate peasants, and even he married a girl from an earl’s household as his second wife!”
I looked at the utter entitlement on his face.
Then I took a deep breath. What was meant to come had come at last.
At thirty-eight, after spending half my life enduring hardship with him, it was time I enjoyed some peace and comfort.
And so, in the year I turned thirty-nine,
I decided to become a happy widow and savor the good life.
