Chapter 2
When I opened my eyes again, my personal maid Chuntao was wiping my face.
Seeing me awake, she said softly, “After His Highness saw you strike the pillar, he learned what happened from the ladies. Then the Eldest Young Miss made another scene, insisting she would wait for you to wake before continuing the wedding. His Highness flew into a rage and left.”
Chuntao helped me sit up with the utmost care, afraid she might brush against my wound.
She continued, “The master and the Eldest Young Master came to see you once. They ordered me to send you to apologize as soon as you woke…”
Toward the end, Chuntao turned away to wipe her eyes.
Her voice choked with tears. “Young Miss, the Eldest Young Miss is always the one who makes the mess, yet every time they push you out to take the blame! This time she called off a marriage with the bridal sedan already at our gates—and a royal marriage at that. How can this possibly be settled?”
I took Chuntao’s hand and walked toward the main courtyard.
My steps were steady.
My voice was calm. “Don’t be afraid, Chuntao. The good days are almost here.”
To prepare for the wedding, the marquis’s household had long ago purchased the finest red silk.
All that remained was to hang it throughout the estate on the wedding day, proclaiming the imperial family’s favor.
The grounds should have been thronged with guests.
Now only two or three servants remained, idly swinging their brooms.
As I approached the main hall,
I could hear my elder sister’s tearful complaints from far away.
Her story was muddled. Fragments such as “First-Rank Lady Defender of the Realm,” “a study filled with portraits,” and “showered with favor without entering the palace” drifted to my ears.
Beside my elder sister stood her childhood sweetheart.
He was also the man to whom she had originally been betrothed: Ji Qinglin, heir to the House of Marquis Jingyuan.
Ji Qinglin frowned slightly as he comforted her. “At worst, I’ll marry Shen Zhi. Surely the title of wife to a marquis’s heir will satisfy her. You can be the Crown Princess without worry. I’ll send a matchmaker to propose tomorrow.”
“No!”
My elder sister pressed her handkerchief over Ji Qinglin’s mouth and hurriedly rejected the suggestion.
When asked why, she hemmed and hawed, refusing to give a direct answer.
I covered my lips and chuckled.
Of course my elder sister did not dare let me marry Ji Qinglin.
Because in my previous life, Ji Qinglin had been my husband.
Born into a military family, Ji Qinglin excelled at riding and archery.
Yet he had entered officialdom through the civil path and could write magnificent essays.
A gentleman so accomplished in both letters and arms naturally inspired the secret admiration of many sheltered young women.
But his entire heart belonged to my elder sister.
In my previous life,
Ji Qinglin had taken the initiative to request an imperial marriage decree and wed me, all to relieve my elder sister of her worries.
People said the two beauties of the House of Marquis Yongning had been blessed by the god of marriage and secured perfect matches.
Both our husbands were noblemen of the highest rank.
Only I knew the truth.
Beside the dragon-and-phoenix wedding candles, Ji Qinglin’s gaze had been unfathomably distant.
So distant it seemed to pass through me and drift into the depths of the palace.
His smile never reached his eyes.
“Sister Shen Zhi, now that I have married you, I will treat you as my lawful wife.”
“This marriage will settle the guilt your elder sister feels toward you.”
“I hope you will bear her no further resentment.”
The moment he said it,
every trace of affection I had accumulated for him since childhood vanished.
Our eyes met.
In the candlelight, the arrogance hidden beneath Ji Qinglin’s modest exterior came sharply into view.
He bedded me as though he were conferring a favor from on high.
Afterward, he even watched to make sure I drank a contraceptive decoction.
Ji Qinglin said solemnly, “You are too steeped in vanity to become the mother of the future heir to this house.”
“Learn proper conduct from Mother. Once you have mastered it, I will give you the chance to bear a child.”