Chapter 3

Chapter 3

His beloved is named Feng Yu’er, and she was recently recalled from her place of exile.

Feng Yu’er’s husband died of illness, leaving behind a widow and their young child.

Her husband was Tuoba Lu’s elder brother, the former Crown Prince of Northern Liang. He had been deposed and exiled to the borderlands after incurring the wrath of the Northern Liang Emperor.

If not for that sudden turn of events, she would be the Crown Princess today and the Empress in the future.

But fate is a cruel jester; she now has nothing.

Given my status, it should have been difficult for me to even see her, but the Empress summoned me, and I had no choice but to go.

The Empress also commanded me to wear a red dance robe-Feng Yu’er’s former favorite.

And so, I appeared at the palace banquet dressed in vibrant red while Feng Yu’er was clad in pure white.

This was the first time I saw her. We did, indeed, share a certain resemblance.

However, we were also easy to distinguish. She is from Northern Liang and is taller than I am; I am from Southern Tang, and my features are softer than hers.

When Tuoba Lu saw me dressed like this, the coldness in his eyes solidified into a dozen blades that stabbed toward me.

“Imperial Lady Song, perform a dance to liven the mood,” the Empress decreed.

Though I am an Imperial Lady, I am still a member of the harem. To be forced to dance before the court officials was a profound humiliation.

The Empress is Tuoba Lu’s biological mother. She was once a low-ranking Imperial Lady herself and had once sought Feng Yu’er’s hand for Tuoba Lu from the Feng Family. However, the Feng Family had turned around and married Feng Yu’er to the former Crown Prince instead.

The Empress’s intention now was clear: she was insulting Feng Yu’er by proxy through me, since our appearances were so similar.

Feng Yu’er’s face turned pale, her body swaying as if she might collapse.

The Empress urged me to begin. Just as I was about to move my sleeves, Tuoba Lu barked at me, “Leave!”

The ministers had long found me to be an eyesore. Seeing me being harshly dismissed by Tuoba Lu, their eyes filled with mockery.

Immediately after that shout, Feng Yu’er fainted.

Tuoba Lu disregarded everything else, scooping her up from the floor and striding out of the hall.

I was placed under house arrest by Tuoba Lu.

For half a month, Tuoba Lu did not come to my quarters again.

The palace servants were also ill-tempered toward me. The food they gave me was rancid, and they targeted me with sneers and verbal abuse.

This place was just like Southern Tang-everyone fawned over the powerful and trampled on the lowly.

Two Southern Tang tribute maidens came to see me in secret. They told me that ever since Feng Yu’er fainted, she had been staying in Tuoba Lu’s bedchamber. There were rumors that Tuoba Lu intended to make her his Crown Princess.

“Northern Liang truly has no sense of propriety. In our Southern Tang, a younger brother marrying his sister-in-law would be a laughingstock.”

“Yue Niang, what will you do? If Feng Yu’er becomes the Crown Princess, she definitely won’t let you off easy.”

“Indeed. One mountain cannot hold two tigers.”

I managed a small smile. What kind of tiger was I? I was merely a disposable substitute.

But I couldn’t allow myself to be discarded.

There is only one end for a Tribute Maiden abandoned by the Northern Liang elite: becoming a military prostitute.

I didn’t want to go back to that place.

A Tribute Maiden I once knew had died there, her body destroyed by a rectal rupture.

I had seen her corpse. Her slender, pale limbs were snapped like willow branches held together only by skin.

That night, I climbed over the wall to Tuoba Lu’s bedchamber. This was a skill I had learned from Chenglu.

I had inquired around; Feng Yu’er had been cared for by him here for several days, but she had returned to the Feng Family just yesterday.

With a thud, I fell from the wall, and the guards immediately surrounded me.

When Tuoba Lu saw me, his brows knit together tightly. “What are you doing climbing walls?”

I rubbed my aching leg and whispered, “This servant… missed Your Highness.”

I wasn’t lying.

I wanted to see him-I wanted to see him so desperately it felt like madness.

In the end, I couldn’t restrain myself. I threw my arms around him and called out softly, “Ah Lu.”