Chapter 4

I knew the fate of everyone in this world. I had also witnessed every misery inflicted on Qi Huaixu, its villain: humiliation after humiliation, abandonment after abandonment, tormenting him toward that path.

I was the only person in this world who understood his suffering.

And so I made a mistake. I pitied him. That pity ripened into a feeling I couldn’t name, and in the end, it became the blade across my throat.

I couldn’t bear the disappointment in his eyes when Yu Huan ignored him, or how he would go to any lengths to fulfill a wish she happened to mention. So I changed my plan.

I knew how dangerous that was.

I knew his ending wouldn’t change. I only wanted him to have a little more warmth in his life.

Unlike those earlier years, when I had kept out of sight, I began appearing openly in his life, making my presence impossible to ignore. I did everything I could for him. I wanted someone to value him. I wanted him to have everything other young men took for granted.

I worried over him, attended to his smallest needs, and even risked my life to save him during the autumn hunt. I watched him use his cunning to win the trust of that fool of a crown prince. I watched him emerge from adversity, step by step, and gradually take hold of power…

Only his impatience with me—sometimes outright disgust—remained as unyielding as it had been when he pushed me down all those years ago.

Perhaps he thought my kindness was nothing but an attempt to use him. Perhaps he considered me no different from the shallow women who coveted his beauty. In truth, he didn’t care why I approached him. Whenever Yu Huan was present, I was never the one his gaze followed.

“Zhizhi, is it worth it?” the system asked me then.

I stared at my father’s reply for a long time before shaking my head. “I don’t know.”

We would marry after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. My dowry and every arrangement for the wedding were left to the mistress of Prince Xuan’s household—Yu Huan’s mother.

She couldn’t have been more pleased with my match. The son of a traitor could never compare with her own prospective prince of a son-in-law, even if he did manage to obtain some minor office. Besides, unless I married soon, I would delay her daughter’s marriage prospects.

As for Qi Huaixu…my father was an influential official entrusted with guarding the western frontier, and his fondness for me was common knowledge. Qi Huaixu had agreed to marry me only to help clear his family’s name later.

The wedding did me no particular disservice. Still, “respectable” was about all one could say for it.

Of course. A marriage built on calculation needed no grand extravagance. It only had to placate a bride they thought knew nothing, when in fact she knew everything.

On my wedding night, I knew Qi Huaixu wouldn’t come. What I hadn’t expected was a visit from the heroine, Yu Huan.

How ironic: a bridal chamber any outsider could enter at will.

“Sister, hasn’t Brother Qi come yet?

“Don’t worry. He’s probably still busy in his study. You must be understanding.”

My bridal veil was still in place. Beside me, my maid Danjiang frowned and said as tactfully as she could, “Second Miss, this is your elder sister’s wedding night. It isn’t proper for you to be here. Please return home.”

The reply sounded deeply aggrieved. “Sister, am I not even allowed to congratulate you? I’ve always come to Brother Qi’s residence whenever I pleased. I know better than you how far this bedchamber is from the study and which rockery is the most unusual. He’s always treated me wonderfully. Even the hairpin I’m wearing today was a gift from him. Why should I have to leave when I’ve only come to put in a good word for him?”

She spoke as though she were entirely in the right. This heroine, who had known very little disappointment, considered Qi Huaixu one of her own. Now he was suddenly marrying her legitimate elder sister. She felt betrayed and had rushed over to make her importance felt.

She had a little cunning, but not much.

I said nothing. In the silence, she began to look unreasonable. Only Danjiang and I were there. No one would ache for her hurt feelings; no one would find her innocent and charming. Finding no satisfaction, she gave an aggrieved huff and left.

Once she was gone, I lifted off my veil myself, making Danjiang gasp.

I smiled at her. “It’s all right. If I waited for someone else to lift it, I’d be waiting until the seas ran dry.”

The villain’s power was expanding rapidly now. He wasn’t going to waste time on a dispensable tool.

Danjiang muttered, “Second Miss isn’t nearly as innocent, charming, and well-mannered as the princess says!”

Inside my head, the system was clamoring too: Qi Huaixu was a scoundrel, and he wasn’t worth it.

I tuned out both voices. I understood perfectly well.

How could someone be so artlessly innocent and yet observe every social nicety? It was simply that a daughter-in-law of the imperial house was required to know her manners.

And Qi Huaixu wasn’t exactly a faithless lover. We had each wanted something from the marriage. He simply didn’t love me.