chapter 3
With Susu making pastries for me, my appetite improved. My morning sickness gradually faded, and I slept much more soundly at night.
Before the assassination attempt, I had always visited the ancestral hall before bed to pay my respects. Now the hall was a heap of rubble, so I had no choice but to use a cramped side room off my bedchamber as a temporary shrine.
The moment I entered, the glittering memorial tablets nearly blinded me.
I had not shown favoritism to the young marquis. Every member of the Pei family had received a tablet plated with gold on the inside. The ancestral hall might have collapsed, but the tablets had survived.
I knelt on a cushion and pressed my palms together.
“Ancestors of the Pei family, please bless this child and see that the baby is born safely.
“Husband, if your spirit watches from above, please look after our child.
“Mother, didn’t you love children more than anything…”
By the time I finished murmuring my prayers, the candles had burned down by nearly half.
I started to rise and accidentally knocked my arm against a cabinet.
“Ow.” It did not hurt much, but it irritated me. Rubbing my elbow, I muttered, “I need to rebuild the ancestral hall quickly. Everyone is squeezed into this tiny room. Even as ghosts, you probably don’t have space to straighten your backs.”
A scoff came from above my head.
I looked up in surprise and met a beautiful pair of peach-blossom eyes.
A masked man sat on the ceiling beam, watching me.
It was the assassin from that night!
I spun around in terror.
At the very least, I had to take my husband’s memorial tablet with me.
“Your first thought is still the tablet?” the assassin roared as he leaped down and seized my shoulder.
There was no escape.
“W-who hired you?” I wiped away trembling tears. “How much did they pay? I’ll double it!”
He smiled. “My apologies, but I am an assassin with professional ethics. Once I accept a contract, I do not betray my employer. Besides…”
His gaze drifted toward the tablets.
“There is more than enough gold here.”
How could this be?
My eyes widened. Yet the more I thought about it, the more reasonable he sounded.
I curled into a ball and whimpered, “What will it take for you not to kill me? Also, robbing the dead is wrong.”
He said nothing, merely studying me for a long moment.
Just as I began to think he had drifted off, he spoke.
“You needn’t worry. I accepted the contract, but I have principles. I do not kill women or children.”
I blinked. “You tried to kill me two weeks ago.”
What did he mean? I might be careless about appearances, but surely I did not look that unfeminine.
“Because only now are you a woman with a child,” he said solemnly. “Not a woman—and a child.”
I stared blankly for a moment, then touched my belly in realization.
How could this be?
My eyes widened. Yet the more I thought about it, the more reasonable he sounded.
Seeing that I genuinely believed him, the assassin fell silent. Then he turned his back and punched the wall.
“I can’t believe I suspected someone this dim of being a spy…”
“What pie?” I asked cautiously. “If you’re not here to kill me, why did you come tonight?”
He turned and cleared his throat. “Since I refuse to kill you, the contract has failed and I cannot go back. You look rich, so I thought I might work for you instead.”
Work… for me?
“Think carefully. You won’t easily find a guard as skilled as I am,” he said in a deep voice, with what sounded suspiciously like nerves.
I blinked, then brightened.
He was telling the truth. I had seen him fight. Where else could I find a bodyguard of his ability? More importantly, everyone in the capital avoided me like a venomous snake. Who else would willingly stay at my side?
I had no desire to endure another assassination attempt.
“All right.” I nodded eagerly. “Protect me well and you can name your price. By the way, what should I call you?”
The assassin seemed to relax. Even the tension surrounding him eased.
He leaned against the wall. The mask hid his face, but it could not conceal the natural grace in his every movement.
“Call me Li Chun, my lady.”
Li… Chun?
I froze and turned to look at the young marquis’s memorial tablet.
The inscription stood out with remarkable clarity:
Memorial Tablet of Pei Linchun, Third Marquis of Dingyuan.