Chapter 5

On one side stood a domineering wife whose relationship with another man was suspect.

On the other, a gentle confidante who cared for him, cherished him and looked up to him as though he were her own brother.

The moment He Yan saw the princess knock me to the ground, he had taken my side. He shielded me behind him, his face full of anger and disappointment.

“What are you doing, Pingyao? You know our problems have nothing to do with Yan. Why hit her?”

Tears streaming, the princess pointed furiously at me. “If she hasn’t been turning you against me, why haven’t you set foot in my courtyard for half a month?”

“Chunyun told me everything. She’s always bringing soup to your study and staying for hours. She’s adopted, not your real sister. Who knows what you’re doing in there?”

The more she said, the more convinced she became. Jealousy and hatred filled her gaze. She failed to notice He Yan’s face darkening.

“No wonder your mother hasn’t been satisfied with any of the eligible young men she’s found. So she’s seduced someone in her own family instead! How convenient, using brother and sister as a cover—ah!”

A hand flashed through the air. The princess’s head snapped to one side. Half her face rapidly swelled and reddened, and blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.

She stared at He Yan in disbelief. “…You hit me? You dared to hit me?”

He, too, was shocked by what he had done. He frowned, his expression wavering. I immediately gave a sob. “Sister-in-law, you’ve misunderstood. There’s nothing improper between my brother and me. I—”

The princess looked ready to tear me apart. “Bitch! Shut up!”

He Yan’s face hardened. “You’re the one who should shut up!”

“You’ve done filthy things yourself, so you imagine everyone else is just as foul. Listen to me, Wei Ling. Yan may not be my sister by blood, but once she entered the He family, she became one of us. She is the duke’s third daughter. I will not let you hurt her again!”

With that, he took my hand and led me away.

I looked frantic. “Brother, she only lost her temper for a moment. Don’t do this.”

“She hit you, and you’re still defending her?”

Exasperated by my supposed weakness, he pulled me away without looking back.

I wore an anxious expression. But when I glanced over my shoulder, I smiled faintly at the princess’s livid face.

Even from far away, I could still hear her screaming.

“Bitch! Bitch!”

The conflict between He Yan and Princess Pingyao had not arisen overnight. It was the eruption of resentment that had built over time.

Before their marriage, He Yan had taken the princess traveling. Together they had rescued Xu Qing from people pursuing him.

Xu Qing fell in love at first sight with the innocent, kindhearted princess. She, in turn, had saved him because he was strikingly handsome.

At first, He Yan had valued Xu Qing’s fighting skills. He was happy to befriend a formidable man of the martial world who might prove useful later, or even recruit him.

But once he learned Xu Qing was a rapist, his first thought was to take the princess away from him.

She refused. Her sympathy and tolerance for Xu Qing seemed limitless. She defended him, insisting he had not meant it, that he had reasons of his own.

So Xu Qing told them his past.

He had once been the young master of a wealthy household. When he was a boy, his father often went away on business for three or six months at a time. His mother, unable to endure the loneliness, brought men home.

He discovered the affair and resented the injustice to his father. Angry and frightened, his mother abused him and threatened him into silence.

But his father eventually found out anyway. His mother and her lover murdered him, then tried to kill Xu Qing so they could take all the property.

Luckily, a kind stranger happened to pass and rescued him.

Xu Qing accepted the stranger as his master and learned martial arts. But his childhood left lasting scars.

He believed all women were like his mother—faithless and fickle. So he would punish them on Heaven’s behalf.

And Princess Pingyao?

He said she was the sweetest, most innocent girl he had ever met. Pure, good and noble, she was someone he wanted only to serve as a guard, protecting her with his life.

To stay at her side, he was even willing to acknowledge He Yan as his lord and do his bidding.

He Yan found it absurd. But Xu Qing preyed on women, not men. He had not harmed He Yan’s interests, and he was an exceptionally able fighter, a man of promise.

So although He Yan knew Xu Qing loved his fiancée, he agreed, wanting to keep such talent under his control.

After the wedding, Xu Qing stayed in the duke’s residence and worked for him.

The princess seemed unable to see Xu Qing’s feelings for her, forever calling him her dearest friend.

Xu Qing had once known his place, and He Yan had trusted his wife. But after finding them in each other’s arms that day, he was no longer sure.

That was only what he had happened to see. What about the times he had not been there? Had his wife and Xu Qing already done something more intimate?

Then the princess, believing he had killed Xu Qing, spent her days weeping for him and refused to share her husband’s bed. He Yan grew even more certain they had long been lovers.

And now she had turned the accusation on him, claiming that he and I were committing incest.

It was oil on the fire. He might not truly love me as an adopted sister, but he had already lost all trust in his wife. He was coming to loathe her.

“Brother, you shouldn’t quarrel with her because of me.”

I sat crying beside the window, a hand over my swollen cheek, my head bowed miserably. “If my mistakes break up such a perfect couple, I’ll never forgive myself.”

“Don’t mention her to me! A perfect couple? I have been faithful to her. And what is she? A faithless slut!”

When he looked at me, his eyes softened. “Yan, you’re too kind. You’ve said so much in her defense and sincerely respected her as your sister-in-law. What has it brought you?”

“Don’t worry. I won’t let her get away with hitting you.”

He spoke firmly. “I’ll get you justice.”

I smiled and looked up at him with fond, dependent admiration. “Yes. I believe you, Brother.”

For a moment his gaze drifted, then grew more tender still. “Rest well. I’ll go now.”

He kept looking back as he left.

The moment he was gone, my expression turned cold.

Princess Pingyao was right. I was indeed drawing He Yan in.

More precisely, I was tempting him.

From beginning to end, I had done nothing intimate with him. I merely made him soup, worried over his health, eased his troubles and played the understanding confidante.

Then I looked at him with admiration, making him the great hero of my world.

Compared with the wife of three years who might already have betrayed him, who grew more unreasonable and domineering by the day, I was a welcome spring rain, soothing his troubled heart.

Besides, our status as adoptive siblings gave him a boundary within which he felt safe. Once his feelings stirred, it added the attraction of something forbidden.

He did not love me. But he liked me—and his affection lay somewhere between what a man feels for a lover and for a sister. Of that I was certain.

Apart from me, Princess Pingyao was the first to realize it.

After He Yan hit her for my sake and forced her to apologize to me, she began targeting me like a madwoman.

She complained about me to my adoptive parents, cut my courtyard’s allowances and spread rumors outside the house.

She did not realize how clumsy her schemes were. He Yan saw through them at once.

The more trouble she caused, the more he despised her, and the more pity and affection he felt for me.

Driven to desperation, she told my adoptive parents outright that I remained unmarried because He Yan and I were having an affair.

The accusation struck like a thunderclap. Enraged, my adoptive mother hurled a teacup at her forehead.

Blood poured down the princess’s face. He Yan did not even blink. He knelt before his parents and denounced her ravings.

I knelt too, addressing her in despair and humiliation. “Sister-in-law, what have I done to offend you so badly that you would say this? Do you want to drive me to my death?”

Her eyes were sunken and poisonous. “Dare you deny it? You’re in his study doing it every day. Adoptive siblings? I spit on that!”

I sobbed until I almost fainted. Cuiyu and He Yan’s personal attendant also knelt, testifying that whenever I visited the study, both of them were present. He Yan and I had always behaved as brother and sister, never crossing any line.

Princess Pingyao was confined to her rooms.

Strangely, she did not scream and shout as she once would have. As she was dragged away, her venomous eyes remained fixed on my face. She even curled her lips into a smile.

He Yan saw it too. “She’s mad!”

Then he turned and held out his hand to me, speaking soothingly. “Yan, are you all right?”

I shrank back. Instead of taking his hand as before, I hid behind my adoptive mother, not daring to raise my head. “I’m fine.”

Then I left with her.

As we went, I looked back. He Yan was still staring at me, his eyes wounded. As though frightened, I quickly turned away.

His gaze burned all the hotter against me.

The princess’s smile left me with a bad feeling.

And the people I had sent to search for my sister reported that, once again this year, they had found no trace of her.

Driven by anxiety and resentment, I decided to move my plans forward.

But events overtook my plans. On the third day of her confinement, Princess Pingyao was found to be pregnant.