Chapter 5
When the palace banquet ended, Wen Shuyi returned home carrying Sea-Moon Radiance.
Father had the servants form orderly lines at the main gate to welcome her. They surrounded her and escorted her inside.
I entered alone through the rear gate and returned to my courtyard.
That night, I dreamed of being driven from the dais beneath the eyes of the entire court, my reputation destroyed forever.
I woke drenched in cold sweat.
Rumors churned through the residence. Grandmother and Father’s treatment of Wen Shuyi changed overnight. They gave her an elegant new courtyard and assigned a host of maids to serve her.
Shuyi drove them all out and mocked Grandmother and Father to their faces.
No one in the residence dared look down on her again.
In the days that followed, she often left the house. Sometimes she competed in poetry at a tavern. Sometimes she punished arrogant young wastrels in the street.
Good fortune followed her everywhere. Every person she befriended was prominent in the world.
They admired her bold, free-spirited nature and lack of concern for rigid etiquette. They willingly helped her and became her closest friends.
People throughout the residence whispered that the family’s fortunes were changing and Third Miss would now be the most valued daughter.
My young maid grumbled on my behalf.
“My lady has worked for years without a moment’s idleness, all so she would never disappoint the family. Can Third Miss’s success in a single day erase everything you have done?”
I continued practicing calligraphy.
“This is only the beginning. The Wen family is too small to hold a phoenix once it spreads its wings. Her life is destined to be extraordinary.”
The girl frowned, unable to understand.
I smiled and studied the characters beneath my brush.
Those days of rest had finally quieted my heart.
At this point in my previous life, nightmares tormented me and jealousy clouded my mind.
I had not wanted to envy Shuyi, but I could not stop myself. I watched her effortlessly take everything I had spent years building. It was as though an unseen voice kept feeding the darkness inside me, driving me farther down that path.
But I had returned after wandering through an entire lifetime.
The past would not be allowed to imprison my future.
Soon it was Wen Shuyi’s birthday. I prepared a gift and sent it to her in advance.
No one in the residence mentioned the occasion that morning. Outside our gates, however, distinguished guests arrived one after another to offer their felicitations.
Their rank and the power behind them were enough to astonish even Father.
Every one of them had come for Wen Shuyi.
They were people Father himself had failed to befriend.
Even the Prince of Qi’an appeared to have sent a gift.
I was not surprised.
He was the hero of this world, the man destined to stand beside Wen Shuyi.
Then I noticed Lin Shaobai in the crowd. His gaze rested on the transformed, radiant woman she had become.
For one instant, my mind drifted.
He and I had grown up together. There had once been a time when our hearts understood each other.
Later, he would deny everything between us with his own lips and chase the glittering pearl in his eyes.
Not in this life.
I would not give him my heart. I would not care whom he loved.
His affection was his to bestow on anyone he pleased.
I turned away and returned to my quiet courtyard.