Chapter 3

The sachet at my waist released a faint, delicate scent.

I had learned many things in the past two years. Apart from dancing, which I had mastered, my finest skill was blending incense.

It was time for that scent to take effect.

Zhou Mu held my hand, kneading it over and over.

He had already drunk too much, and his eyes had lost their clarity.

He even reached out to tilt my chin. “Shen Qingrong. A beautiful name.”

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

I remained docile, making no move too soon. Only when the drug in the sachet had taken full effect, and the man before me began to drift into a daze, did I push him back onto the bed.

“Qingxue, stop making trouble, will you?

“You’re the only one in my heart. But when I become emperor, the court and the inner palace will inevitably be connected. Marrying those women will only be a way of keeping the realm stable. Nothing but a performance.

“You will always be the one I love most. The position of empress will be yours alone. Be good, won’t you?

“Qingxue, my heart has long been yours…”

He was already confused, yet still he thought of Gu Qingxue, murmuring on and on, helplessness and devotion mingling in his eyes.

A crown prince who had taken neither a bedchamber maid nor a secondary consort seemed devoted enough to anyone outside their marriage.

But Gu Qingxue wanted too much.

She wanted all the love of a man destined to become emperor.

She had known from the start that Zhou Mu could never have her alone. He had never promised her lifelong exclusivity, either. Yet she married him anyway.

She had only herself to blame.

Nothing in this world wounded like love.

She treasured it. I would destroy it with my own hands.

I stood beside the bed, listening to Zhou Mu murmur.

Had my parents still been alive, their love would have been deeper than anything Gu Qingxue and Zhou Mu shared. Father never upset Mother, and Mother was always gentle—the finest woman in the world.

They would have been the most loving of couples.

But all of it was gone.

I slowly sat on the bed and leaned over Zhou Mu. His mind was no longer clear; in his growing confusion, he mistook me for Gu Qingxue.

Expressionless, I bent down and began undoing his clothes, bit by bit, without a trace of maidenly shyness in my eyes.

There were a thousand ways to take revenge.

Simply killing them with a knife would be too quick.

I had a better way, one that would hurt them both far more, to offer to my parents’ spirits.