Chapter 2
Gu Zheng’s eyes were bloodshot. Even his contorted expression could not conceal his good looks.
He stared at me for a long moment, then turned away.
“Concubine Man is vicious and depraved. She has harmed my unborn child and murdered my secondary consort.
“Drag her out and beat her to death. At once.”
I jerked up my head and shuffled forward on my knees to catch his trouser leg.
“Your Highness, before I die, may I see my mother?”
Before he could answer, Shen Qingyue covered her face with a handkerchief and began to weep softly.
“Your Highness, do let her see her mother.
“Concubine Man is my younger sister, after all—even if she was born to a concubine!”
Yes. Born to a concubine.
That distinction alone put heaven between us.
She was Shen Qingyue, pure and elegant as the moon.
I was Shen Ruman.
Lowly as the weeds and creeping vines.
Gu Zheng gave a cold laugh. His voice was low and hoarse.
“Your sister?
“Two sisters, yet one is gracious as an orchid, pure as ice and jade,
“while the other is vicious and full of schemes.
“Shen Ruman, if I were you, I’d die of shame!
“You’ve disgraced your sister and the whole Shen family!
“For my wife’s sake, I’ll spare your body further indignity.
“The beating is commuted to poisoned wine. Give her a quarter of an hour. As soon as she has seen her mother, carry out the sentence.”
I changed into the dress I had worn when I first entered the prince’s household.
Mother had made it especially for me. Every stitch of its embroidery was her own work.
She was not particularly kind to me in everyday life.
But whenever the first wife scolded me and made me kneel,
Mother would rub medicinal wine into my knees. When I shivered with cold, she would secretly tuck a hot-water warmer into my arms.
It was among the few small kindnesses I knew in the Shen household.
Besides, giving birth to me had damaged her health. She could never bear another child.
I was all she had to depend on. I ought to care for her for the rest of her life.
I stroked the dusky pink skirt, where a hundred flowers had been painstakingly stitched in silver thread.
They were so lifelike, so exquisitely made.
How lovely the skirt would have been in true scarlet.
But a concubine would never be entitled to wear that color.
The dress hung loose on me.
I had to wind the sash tightly around my waist twice before it would stay in place.
I had worn this when I entered the household at fifteen.
To think I was now too thin even to fill out the clothes I wore then.
As a child, I had always wished I could grow up quickly, marry, and leave the Shen household.
How laughably naive I had been.
The Shen residence was a cage.
But the prince’s residence was my true hell.
Living was exhausting.
I would leave that exhausting business to Mother.
Surely, if I went to my death obediently, the first wife would stop mistreating her.
“Mother, don’t you think I’ve grown thinner?
“Hee-hee. His Highness likes a slender waist. He’s always praising my figure these days.”
I covered half my face with a handkerchief, doing my best to hide the swelling.
Mother said nothing. She merely watched me with a complicated expression.
I took her hand and played the innocent, coaxing daughter.
“Mother, why won’t you speak?”
If she said nothing now, her daughter would never hear her voice again in this life.
“I begged His Highness for ages before he’d let you come and see me.
“Who knows when we’ll meet again?”
May we never meet again.
I hoped she would live for many, many years. A hundred years.
“But don’t miss me too much. I’m doing wonderfully here!”
All that suffering was over now.
Once I closed my eyes, I would never have to do those disgusting things again.
“His Highness is very kind to me, and so is my sister.
“Aren’t my rooms beautiful? Only my sister’s rooms can compare with them!”
Mother, you must live well.
Live in peace. Be happy.
I would watch over her from beneath the earth.
“Don’t call me Mother.
“I’m not your mother.”