Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Under the collective gaze of those six eyes, I felt as if six Mount Tais were pressing down on me simultaneously.

The intricate web of court politics, the conflicts of serving different masters, and the long-standing grudges from years of rivalry all weighed heavily.

And, further back, there was that impeachment memorial-the one that had fueled my resentment and fury to this day…

“Pei Jingcheng and I-”

Inside my wide sleeves, I clenched my fists until my knuckles cracked. “Because of my memory loss, he and I were mistakenly involved. Now that my mind is clear…”

I closed my eyes for a moment, then slowly opened them to look at him.

Our eyes met. I spoke each word with deliberate precision: “You and I have absolutely nothing to do with each other.”

The surroundings fell into a dead silence; even the sound of breathing seemed to vanish.

When I spoke those words, I expected Pei Jingcheng to be infuriated or to turn hostile, but he did neither.

He looked at me, watching me quietly for a long time.

It was as if he were trying to confirm something from my face, searching for something, but in the end, he found nothing.

He let out a laugh.

After that first sound, he couldn’t stop.

Pei Jingcheng, who was usually as steady as a mountain and as cold and aloof as a distant peak, laughed like a drunken madman.

Between laughs, he murmured, “Of course… I should have known long ago…”

“Jingcheng,” Yue Chiyan said, frowning.

Ignoring Yue Chiyan, Pei Jingcheng looked at me and asked with a smile, “But we bowed to Heaven and Earth, we exchanged betrothal contracts, we entered the bridal chamber, and we lived as husband and wife. You say it doesn’t count, but what about her? What about my wife? Where is she?”

I couldn’t bear those three questions. I stood up abruptly, strode to the door, and said coldly:

“Just consider her dead.”

That night was the final night before the arrival of autumn, and the last summer night of that year.

On the way back to the Imperial Capital City after leaving the village, I showed no signs of anything being amiss.

However, Yue Tingyuan, who was sharing the carriage with me, hesitated several times before asking, “When you said those things to Pei Jingcheng, were they from the heart?”

“Naturally,” I said with a stony face. “Your Highness knows me. I strive for loyalty and sincerity; I have no wish to lie.”

“But the way I saw you looking at Pei Jingcheng…”

Yue Tingyuan scratched her head. “Oh, Ni Luo, it looked to me like you had actually fallen for him.”

She dropped her formal self-address, and I abandoned my submissiveness. Fiddling with the bright yellow tassels hanging from her belt, I said in a muffled voice:

“I will never forget why my eldest sister died. Third Sister, there is absolutely no possibility between him and me.”

Years ago, when the Crown Princess was convicted following an impeachment, the final blow that pushed His Majesty to make his decision was a memorial from the Pei Clan Head.

It was the blade used to execute the Crown Princess.

Pei Jingcheng had relied on that very impeachment memorial to trade for the status he held today.

He and I shared old feuds, long-standing hatred, and deep-seated grudges.

In this life, we will never be a couple.