Chapter 2

I had never imagined that my sister hated me.

Before the entire harem, she recounted every dishonorable thing I had done for her, magnifying each deed as she spoke. In her telling, I became a vicious woman who persecuted the imperial consorts.

With the last of her strength, she cried, “I have never committed an evil act in my life. Why must I suffer the consequences of this?”

Then she died.

Amid the deathly silence, Qin Zheng spoke at last.

“Consort Chen, what do you have to say for yourself?”

His voice was colder than ice.

For years, he had treated my sister with lukewarm courtesy. Anyone with eyes could see that his respect for her was merely for appearances. Yet now that she was dead, his fury was boundless.

I knelt before him, reached humbly for the hem of his robe, and tried with all my strength to explain.

He would not listen. A faint, mocking smile touched his lips.

“We once intended to make you the next Empress. It seems now that you are unworthy of the position.”

Every consort in the room trembled, not daring to speak.

Only the Empress Dowager defended me, heartbroken and furious. “Those are the words of one woman. How can you decide from that alone that Consort Chen is guilty? Without her careful balance of firmness and mercy all these years, do you truly believe a woman of the Empress’s temperament could have kept peace in this harem?”

Qin Zheng fell silent.

His gaze rested on my sister’s bloodless face, and pain flickered through his eyes.

“A dying person speaks from the heart.”

That single weightless sentence sealed my guilt.

I was stripped of rank, reduced to a palace outcast, and confined for life. When I gave birth, Qin Zheng took my child away without the slightest emotion.

“A child of Ours cannot be raised by a woman of such low character.”

And yet, at night, he continued to visit the chambers of that same low woman.

Again and again, the heavy night dew wet my eyes.

He tormented me until nothing remained of my spirit. At last, with nothing left to lose, I wept and demanded, “If you despise me so much, why not simply order my death?”

Qin Zheng wiped away my tears as though it meant nothing.

“Who knows where you might go once you die?”

“Only when We can watch you suffer beneath Our eyes can We be at peace.”

This time, no matter how my sister begged, I refused to enter the palace.

Her disappointment was profound.

“What are you so afraid of?”

She waved a weary hand and ordered a eunuch to escort me out.

I had no need of a guide. I knew every road in the palace by heart.

That was why, when we passed the imperial garden, I stopped abruptly.

“Eunuch Xu, this is not the way out of the palace.”

He turned with a smile. “The imperial garden is beautiful. Second Young Lady, you rarely have the chance to visit. Why not admire the scenery a while longer?”

My expression darkened.

Qin Zheng practiced riding and archery every evening and always passed through this garden. My sister meant for us to meet. She had not given up.

I glanced at the sinking sun and turned to leave, only to nearly collide with someone.

“Sister-in-law.”

The two emotionless words fell like a boulder upon my heart.

I immediately dropped to my knees and begged forgiveness.

“There is no need for ceremony,” Qin Zheng said. “We are family.”

He put the faintest emphasis on the last three words.

“What did the Empress summon you here to discuss?”

“Only family matters.”

He seemed to smile. “Tell Us.”

I bit my lip in silence.

At this time in my previous life, war raged in the northwest while floods devastated the south. Qin Zheng had been so busy he barely touched the ground. I could not understand why he suddenly had time to make small talk with his wife’s sister in the imperial garden.

I chose my words carefully. “Her Majesty finds life in the palace lonely. She was considering which of our younger sisters might enter the palace and keep her company.”

Qin Zheng arched a brow. “Oh? And whom did she choose?”

Silence settled between us.

“Her Majesty will most likely choose either our third or fourth sister.”

The smile vanished from his face.

He turned toward me, his eyes dark, and asked in a voice scarcely above a whisper, “Is that so?”