Chapter 6
After recovering those memories, I decided that my husband must be serving under Liu Liang, working for the sake of the people. His duties were dangerous, so he had placed me in the emperor’s palace for protection.
He had kept the truth from me only because he did not want me to worry.
Then I had to behave and not cause trouble for him.
I would wait quietly for him to come and take me home.
No one at court dared criticize the ruthless and decisive emperor over the bloodshed on the white jade terrace. Instead, they turned their attacks on me.
They actually spread the rumor that His Majesty had gone mad and killed so many people because of me. Numerous ministers submitted joint memorials demanding the death of this “demon consort.”
What utter nonsense. In private, I clutched Ah Ruo’s sleeve and cursed them eight hundred times over. What did His Majesty’s madness have to do with me?
Only Ah Ruo saw how frightened I was. Again and again, she reassured me, “Everything will be all right, my lady.”
Sure enough, His Majesty ignored the ministers. He had enough conscience to protect me.
He even continued sharing his meals and residence with me, with Jinwu Guards escorting me wherever I went.
Rumor called His Majesty cold and unfeeling, but that was not entirely true. His phoenix eyes did not look aloof when they rested on me.
He did behave strangely at times.
Once, while he practiced calligraphy, I leaned over to watch. An inexplicable feeling of familiarity came over me. I studied his features again—he had the same phoenix eyes—and smiled. “Your Majesty, you look a little like my husband.”
His Majesty knocked over the inkstone in his dismay, spilling ink all over his imperial robes.
He stood there without a word.
Lost and grief-stricken.
While Ah Ruo applied medicine to the scar tissue on my legs, I thought for a while and told her, “His Majesty does not seem as terrible as everyone says.”
Every servant in the palace had been replaced. Ah Ruo alone remained familiar to me.
She said nothing, merely raising her head to look at me with unbearable sorrow.
At last, Ah Ruo said,
“My lady, do not remember anymore.”
The palace held a banquet to celebrate His Majesty’s victory after a three-month campaign to suppress the rebellion.
For once, I was allowed to attend. Empress Xie and I sat on either side of His Majesty. Scions of the great clans and officials of humble birth filled the hall, seated in two sharply divided camps.
The empress’s younger full brother, General Xie, performed a sword dance. As expected of a son of the Xie clan, his blade flashed with startling grace.
The entire hall burst into applause.
I turned and noticed that the collar of the empress’s splendid robes rose high enough to cover her neck. Remembering the terrible sight of His Majesty choking her in the spring rain, I supposed the bruises still had not faded.
I felt a little sorry for her. If my husband bullied me that way, I would hate him forever.
I had heard that Empress Xie and His Majesty were childhood sweethearts reunited in marriage after many years. Surely some misunderstanding had arisen between such a well-matched pair.
Leaning toward His Majesty, I whispered, “Your Majesty, you must apologize to the empress.”
Liu Liang held his wine cup and turned his head to listen.
Growing anxious, I tugged his sleeve. “You choked her that night. If you do not hurry to apologize and make amends, soon there will be no winning her back at all.”
Liu Liang did not stir; even the wine in his cup remained perfectly still. He looked steadily at me. “Wanniang, how should I apologize? How should I make amends?”
As I drew close, I suddenly caught a familiar scent.
It was like…someone from long ago had returned.
Before I could think further, Liu Liang shoved me away. I fell to the floor, bewildered, as a streak of sword light sliced through His Majesty’s sleeve with the sound of tearing silk. The final stroke of General Xie’s dance had landed exactly where the emperor and I had been touching.
If His Majesty had not pushed me aside, I would have lost a hand.
My face went white.
General Xie’s swordsmanship was superb. The blade had cut only His Majesty’s sleeve without touching flesh. He sneered at me. “A mere merchant woman dares sit as my sister’s equal? All she did was ask you to dance, yet His Majesty killed so many people for your sake. Until this demon consort is removed, the realm will know no peace!”
At once, others prostrated themselves in support and renewed the demand that His Majesty put me to death.
Empress Xie’s lips curved into a smile.
Dynasties had risen and fallen in rapid succession. Four had ruled within fifty years, yet the great clans had endured them all.
That was the source of the Xie clan’s confidence.
No one believed His Majesty would still protect me. I did not believe it myself. I was only a merchant woman, nothing like Empress Xie. I had no one but my husband.
Husband, where are you? I am so afraid.
I gripped the corner of my sleeve, trembling with cold, when a tall figure stepped in front of me.
At the height of the standoff, His Majesty suddenly rose and kicked General Xie’s knee. Bone cracked. General Xie staggered to the floor, and astonishment swept through the hall.
Someone at the banquet started to move, but the sound of Jinwu Guards surrounding the hall rang out, their armor clashing like iron. No one else dared stir.
His Majesty looked down from above. “Xie Chi, you behaved disgracefully before the throne and showed contempt for imperial authority. Break his knee and make him kneel until daybreak.”
His knee was already ruined, yet he was to kneel on it through the night. For a martial man in particular, this meant that he might never fight again. Even walking could become difficult.
I stared blankly at Liu Liang.
In that instant, memories fluttered through my mind.
It had happened soon after I first entered the palace. Raised in the countryside, I knew none of its rules or etiquette and had made many embarrassing mistakes.
Empress Xie said I had saluted her incorrectly and wanted her attendants to take me to the Xie estate, where the rules were strictest, for a period of training. No one in the Xie family liked me, and I did not want to go. Then His Majesty happened to arrive.
I stole a hopeful glance at him, instinctively pleading for help. His Majesty ignored me. As he passed, he kicked the back of my knee.
I fell painfully to the ground.
“Zhao has behaved without decorum,” His Majesty said. “She will kneel until tomorrow.”
He made me kneel on a pebble path until dawn.
Satisfied, Empress Xie stopped pressing the matter and left at His Majesty’s side.
My knee had hurt terribly then, but it was not the only thing that hurt.
My heart had ached as though it were being carved from my chest.
So in the past I had forgotten, His Majesty had hurt me more than once.
He thought General Xie’s sword had stunned me senseless and reached out to comfort me. I slapped his hand away instinctively and cried, “Do not touch me!”