Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I never imagined that, in the end, I still failed to escape my original fate.

The nobleman who blocked our way was none other than Lord Wei. He seized me and dragged me into his carriage, refusing to yield even when Crown Prince Jie questioned him.

“Your Highness is the heir to the throne. Women and beauty bring ruin. It would be best to keep your distance.”

Crown Prince Jie could do nothing. Nor would he stand up for a mere beauty like me. That very night, I was abducted into Yeting Palace.

In that cold, vast hall, pale gauze hung everywhere like drifting mist. The tables and chairs were wrapped in soft padding, and torn scraps of women’s dresses lay scattered across the floor.

Lord Wei wore a dazed smile. One cold hand stroked over me as he murmured, “You look like her.”

Unlike Lord Fuyong, with his refined, clear bearing, Lord Wei was handsome, but there was something damp and sinister in his expression.

“You. Are you willing to serve me?”

I glanced at the shredded cloth strewn across the floor, and gooseflesh rose along my back. Between living and dying, I chose to submit.

“This slave is willing.”

He seemed quite pleased by my obedience. His large hands moved over my shoulders and back.

“My beloved pleases me!”

Then he seized me by the throat, ripped open my skirt, and tore apart my padded trousers. He committed his cruelty upon me, yet his gaze drifted far beyond the gauze curtains, as if inviting someone there to watch.

The palace servants standing guard at the door immediately scattered, letting layer upon layer of silk curtains fall.

In the dimness, I stared blankly upward. The terrifying pale face before me blurred, then seemed to become another face altogether-deep, quiet eyes, hanging sleeves, a noble and graceful bearing…

I did not know how long had passed.

By the time Lord Wei had exhausted his interest and left, I had already fainted from that utter brutality.

I did not know how much later it was when a petite figure emerged from the depths of the gauze curtains.

She came to my side and let out a barely audible sigh. Then she took off her outer robe and covered my battered, wounded body.

I understood then. Perhaps, probably…

I looked like her.

A tyrant like Lord Wei actually had someone he loved. She was a princess he had abducted from a small state-Lady Tan.

She should have been at an age bright with youth, yet she looked terribly pale and frail, with the delicate charm of someone too slender for her own clothes.

Lord Wei would always come late at night, through wind and dew, begging only for the slightest chance of warmth from her.

And yet the ending was always the same.

Lady Tan never once showed him a pleasant face. Humiliated and enraged, he would turn around and vent his fury on me instead.

Day after day. Year after year.

I once asked Lord Wei why he did not simply make Lady Tan serve him. He held high rank and great power; a beauty from a small state had no freedom to refuse.

He merely sneered.

“Then what use would I have for you?”

Only then did I understand.

There were differences between people.

Because he was afraid of her, treasured her, and feared she might die beneath his violence, he chose to vent his rage on me instead.

And somehow, time after time, I endured.

The beauties around Lord Wei were like fragile palace flowers, withering one after another. Perhaps my life was stubborn, because I stayed by his side just like that for one year, then two…

Until one day, the way he looked at me changed. “You. Have I ever asked your name?”

At his words, I knelt low to the ground, my posture meek and obedient.

“This slave is called Man Ji.”

“Oh.”

Lord Wei answered carelessly. “Man Ji, after all these years, is there anything you want?”

Though he was speaking to me, his gaze was still fixed outside the window. Not far away, Lady Tan sat by the water. She was slender and weightless, with a pointed chin, like a pale wisp of a wandering soul.

I replied meekly, “This slave only hopes that Lady Tan will come to understand Your Lordship’s feelings, and that she and my lord may soon become a devoted pair…”

At my words, Lord Wei lowered his dark lashes, the corners of his mouth going taut. “You do know how to talk.”

I quickly shut my mouth and lay prostrate on the ground in fear and trembling.

Unexpectedly, this time he did not strike me. Instead, he nodded to the palace servants.

“Raise Man Ji to the rank of lady.”