Chapter 5

For the next two years, I played the part of his adoring young wife. I still thought of him in everything, cared about everything that concerned him. How much real feeling remained in it, even I couldn’t say.

I only thought that his life was already so wretched, and I had come here to send him down that miserable road. It was hard not to ache for him.

A great deal happened in those two years. The old emperor of Cang had become muddleheaded, listening to eunuchs and indulging in women. His sons were all stirring. A change of ruler was only a matter of time. Qi Huaixu abandoned the crown prince’s faction for the hero’s, serving as strategist to the fourth prince.

Working with my father, he overturned the old charge that the Qi clan had colluded with an enemy state. Many members of the family had died during their exile. Now, vindicated, the survivors could return to the capital, and a Qi once again held the chancellorship. The name of their sole son, Qi Huaixu, rang through the city. So did increasingly persistent rumors of discord between him and his first wife.

Though I spent most of my time in my courtyard, Danjiang and the system kept me informed of nearly all the gossip. Besides, the heroine came by every few days with a booklet, urging me to take more concubines into the villain’s household.

With such a generous heart, I couldn’t imagine why she would later insist on the hero’s promise that they would be each other’s only love for life.

At least she had made Danjiang so angry that her face was turning the very pink her name meant.

When I mentioned it to Qi Huaixu as though it were a joke, he merely glanced at me. “I won’t take concubines. But Ah Huan means well. Don’t hold it against her.”

I smiled, and never mentioned it again.

Just as, soon after our wedding, I had seen him eat osmanthus cakes Yu Huan gave him. Thinking he liked them, I made some myself. They sat untouched until they were cold. After that, I never made them for him again.

Again and again, I tried to sound him out, understand him, offer him warmth. But whenever he resisted, I stopped trying that particular way.

Heaven’s appointed plot reached its climax.

The old emperor of Cang died in a favored consort’s bed.

The rival factions dropped their disguises and took up arms against one another. In the end, some died and others were exiled. The least conspicuous of the princes, the fourth, won the throne. No one contributed more to his victory than Qi Huaixu.

They had achieved glory and power—and made plenty of enemies.

By rights, I should never have been drawn into their feuds. But the heroine needed a decoy, and I was the perfect one.

Those few months were the gentlest, most patient he had ever been with me. Yet the more he pampered me, the colder I felt toward him. Disappointment, I suppose.

The new emperor was enthroned, but the remnants of his enemies had not been eliminated. The most powerful was Right Chancellor Xiao Zhongxian, a member of the crown prince’s faction. He had once helped the old emperor send the Qi clan into exile, only to have his own household confiscated through the villain’s schemes.

If he wanted revenge on the new emperor Fu Qi and the villain Qi Huaixu, while also gaining leverage over Yan Yi, whose military victories had helped secure the throne…the heroine, Yu Huan, was his ideal hostage.

You see, anyone who paid the slightest attention could tell what Yu Huan meant to those men.

They had anticipated the danger. Fu Qi secretly brought her into the palace, protecting her under his own watchful eye. Yan Yi gave her a concealed weapon he had made himself. And Qi Huaixu fashioned a shield to draw attention away from her.

That shield was his lawfully wedded wife, the woman who had spent six years trying to bring him warmth.

I had always known he was a villain: ruthless, calculating at every turn. It still hurt when those calculations were turned on me.

During that time, I kept asking him, “Husband, why are you suddenly so good to me?”

His brows would crease slightly, his voice low. “…We’re husband and wife. This is how it should be.”

I hooked my little finger around his and looked up. “Then…Ah Zhi hopes you’ll always be like this. Will you?”

It was laughable. News of our marriage spread through the capital as though someone had paid every street storyteller to talk about it. Everyone knew Chancellor Qi was madly in love with his wife.

“I wonder what tricks his wife used. Not long ago, everyone said they didn’t get along. Now he’s utterly devoted to her.”

“I heard Lord Qi said himself that she would be the only woman in his life. How I envy her, with all the squabbling in households like ours.”

“If only his wife would write a book on managing husbands. I’d memorize every word.”

“I’ve seen Chancellor Qi’s wife. To be honest, with a face like hers, she deserves to be adored. I heard he even set off fireworks for her in their courtyard recently.”

…

But even the most careful plans had a flaw. Or perhaps they simply couldn’t escape the plot. That day, he was leaving in a great hurry. I deliberately intercepted him in the corridor. The system had told me that it was Cang’s Flower Festival. Yu Huan had slipped out to enjoy herself and disappeared.

I called to him, gently catching his sleeve in a plea to stay that no one could understand. “Husband, I chose those plain indigo brocade robes for you this morning. You’re always dressed in black. I thought you didn’t like them!

“You’re so handsome, husband. Let me choose your clothes from now on, and you’ll look finer still.”

I couldn’t remember his reaction. Perhaps he hadn’t answered at all. He swept his sleeve away without caring whether I could keep hold of it.

He didn’t like the clothes I chose. In his haste, he had simply grabbed the outer robe I had laid ready for him. He liked black because Yu Huan had once said he looked especially handsome in it.

After he left, all that remained was to wait quietly for my ending. Yet I still harbored one foolish thread of hope for him. Only one.

To keep my innocent little maid Danjiang from being dragged into this, I sent her to the east of the city for my favorite perilla peaches. Our improved relationship had made her so happy lately that she skipped away.

Silly girl.

Kidnapping an official’s entirely unguarded wife was far easier than abducting the real target from the safety of the imperial palace.

After a spell of dizziness and confusion, I awoke tied beside the heroine. A coarse cloth gagged her mouth. She made muffled cries, on the verge of tears.

Compared with her, I was frighteningly calm.

Life on the run didn’t seem to have treated Xiao Zhongxian well. From the sounds in the distance, his men were losing too. He looked quite mad now, yet his eyes were still shrewd as he tipped up my chin with a dagger. “Tsk. What a lovely face. I think I’ll make a wager today. Let’s see whether our brilliant Chancellor Qi can tell a fish’s eye from a pearl.”

I still said nothing. Quietly, I watched Qi Huaixu fight his way to us first. I watched Xiao Zhongxian pull the rough cloth from our mouths. I watched Fu Qi and Yan Yi arrive with reinforcements. I watched him choose Yu Huan. I watched the bright red blood surge from my body, and his figure blur.

Well…I had failed.

I should never have pitied him.