Chapter 5

As soon as I entered the bedchamber,

Gu Qingxue had me seized and forced to my knees, my face tilted up toward her.

“You filthy little thing! Is this what your parents raised you for? To shamelessly seduce men?”

Before coming, I had made up my mind.

Whatever Gu Qingxue did to torment me, I would endure it meekly.

But she had to—

she had to mention my parents.

I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth and spoke each word distinctly. “I have not been as fortunate as Your Highness. Wicked people killed my parents. I have no one to depend on, and naturally no one to teach me how to behave fairly in the world.”

If my parents were still alive, Father would protect me, and Mother would teach me to read and write.

I would not be the ill-bred woman she called me.

But all of that—

had she not destroyed it with her own hands?

Then she could hardly blame me for becoming the person she would hate most in her life.

Perhaps Gu Qingxue had not expected me to answer back. She froze for a moment, then drew a dagger from inside her robe and tossed it at my feet.

“I meant only to have you driven out of the capital. I never imagined you would be so unrepentant. Still, I won’t take your life. Cut up that face and go live in the Cold Palace.”

She sounded so righteous, as though granting me an enormous favor.

This was the crown princess who went about the Eastern Palace saying everyone was equal, that there was no distinction between master and servant. Now she assumed the air of a ruler and passed judgment on me.

I picked up the dagger and glanced at Zhou Mu, silent in the seat above.

Something complicated moved in his eyes.

He seemed to pity me and was about to speak, but Gu Qingxue immediately began wiping away tears. “Zhou Mu, will you go on betraying me for a shameless woman?” she asked accusingly.

The moment she said it,

Zhou Mu turned away and stopped looking at me.

“Shen Qingrong, you offended the crown princess. When you’ve done wrong, you must admit it.”

When you’ve done wrong, you must admit it. What fine words!

“Shen Qingrong, what are you waiting for? Do you want me to order you to take your own life?”

Gu Qingxue urged me on.

The hatred in her stare was naked. She looked ready to claw my face apart herself, yet still wanted to preserve her dignity as crown princess. It made for a remarkably tangled expression.

“If you won’t cut your own face, I don’t mind doing it for you.”

Still furious, perhaps, she snatched the dagger away and tried to slash my face herself.

They pinned me firmly to the floor. I could not move.

But before she could strike,

the empress hurried in and had the dagger knocked from her hand.

“The legitimate daughter of the imperial preceptor, jealous to such a degree! You truly have opened my eyes.”

The empress had never liked Gu Qingxue. She lacked the gentleness and virtue expected of a noble family’s daughter, and was forever talking of one man and one woman for life. In the imperial family, such words were a joke.

Had Zhou Mu not insisted, the empress would have chosen the chancellor’s daughter as crown princess.

Worse, Gu Qingxue would not let Zhou Mu take concubines, yet had borne no child in two years. To the imperial family, obstructing the line of descent was an enormous offense.

Now the crown prince had finally favored another woman. I might be a lowly dancing girl, but once I conceived, my child’s standing could raise my own.

At least this quiet Eastern Palace would no longer belong to Gu Qingxue alone.

“Mother, what brings you here?”

Zhou Mu immediately bowed to her.

The Great Zhou dynasty governed through filial devotion. However he favored Gu Qingxue in his heart, he had to listen respectfully when the empress rebuked him.

“If I hadn’t arrived in time, were you planning to dispose of her too?”

The empress drew me behind her.

She gave Gu Qingxue a cold glance. Before Gu Qingxue could protest, she gestured toward the door, and a beauty who looked remarkably like her entered with lowered head.

“Since this girl has shared your bed, you should give her a title. A dancing girl’s birth is too low for Senior Consort, but Lady of Precious Service will do.”

The empress pointed to the graceful beauty behind her.

“And since we are granting titles, let good fortune come in pairs. Make this one Lady of Talent Xu.”