Chapter 1

“Yunniang, this is Su Zhirou, the woman Mother insisted on giving me.”

“You needn’t trouble yourself over her. You are my wife. One lifetime, one pair of lovers—I love only you.”

I opened my eyes to find my husband, Yuan Shaoxuan, holding my hand affectionately and murmuring words in my ear that were at once devoted and heartless.

A woman in plain clothes knelt below us, her head lowered, her expression unreadable. Both hands held a teacup high, waiting for me to accept it.

I understood at once. I had been reborn.

It was the second day of my marriage.

His concubine, Su Zhirou, was offering me the ceremonial tea.

In my previous life, unsuspecting, I had taken it without hesitation. The tea was scalding. My grip faltered, and the cup shattered across the floor.

Su Zhirou had been so frightened that she bowed to the ground again and again. Spilled tea clung to her hair, mingling with the tears that dripped from it.

Her pitiful, tear-stained beauty could have moved anyone.

Meanwhile, Yuan Shaoxuan’s repeated cries of “Where did it burn you?” “Does it hurt?” and “Let me blow on it—it won’t hurt once I blow on it” had left me flustered.

One woman was being coaxed and cherished by her husband; the other knelt on the floor, weeping.

That stark contrast made the onlookers assume I had deliberately thrown the cup.

From then on, I had a reputation for jealousy, competing for his affection, and mistreating concubines.

But I had been so absorbed in Yuan Shaoxuan’s favoritism that I never bothered to defend myself. I was secretly delighted, convinced I had found a good man who truly loved and respected me.

I never noticed that the tenderness in his eyes was not for me.

At the thought, I could almost feel the scalding heat on my fingertips again.

I withdrew my hand from Yuan Shaoxuan’s, laid an embroidered handkerchief over my knees, and looked at the seemingly frail, harmless Su Zhirou kneeling in the hall.

“The tea is too hot. I’ll drink it when it cools.”

As long as I did not accept it, she had to keep holding it up.

Su Zhirou had not expected me to see through her. She raised her head instinctively.

Finding a faint, ambiguous smile on my face, she hurriedly looked toward Yuan Shaoxuan, secretly shifting the fingers supporting the cup as she did.

She must have reached the limit of how much heat her hands could bear.

At his beauty’s appeal for help, Yuan Shaoxuan cleared his throat.

“Ahem. Since it’s hot, bring another cup for her to offer.”

I raised a hand to stop the servant who was about to step forward.

“Husband, His Majesty advocates thrift. This is a large and prosperous household, with considerable expenses. We should be all the more careful to save.

“Wasting a cup of tea would hardly be proper. There’s no harm in waiting until it cools.”

Then I closed my eyes and paid no further attention to their frozen expressions, letting the maid behind me massage my shoulders.

The room fell silent.

In my previous life, they had accused me of jealousy and mistreating concubines. If I did not make those accusations true this time, I would feel rather cheated.

After a while, the pressure on my shoulders changed. Yuan Shaoxuan must have taken over.

The marquis himself was massaging his wife’s shoulders.

Such a picture of devotion. Had my soul not wandered after my death in my previous life, I might still have believed he loved me with all his heart.