Chapter 3

When I returned to the banquet and had just taken my seat,

a commotion broke out. Someone beside me spoke.

“They’re Prince Jing’s men.”

“I heard Prince Jing had some sort of dream. The moment he woke, he painted a portrait and ordered his men to find the woman in it at any cost.”

My palm clenched. I stared past the tables at the pear-blossom pastries above them.

This was still the Chenghua era. The previous emperor remained alive, and Xie Yuan was still Prince Jing.

He had been conceived when a palace maid climbed into the current emperor’s bed while he was drunk.

His birth mother died as soon as he was born, and he spent roughly the first ten years of his life in the Cold Palace.

It was not until he was thirteen, when he threw himself in front of an arrow meant for the emperor during the spring hunt, that his fortunes finally changed.

Someone nudged my arm.

“Come to think of it, why do I feel the woman in that portrait looks a little like you?”

I raised my head, touched the red rash across my face, and smiled. “You must be mistaken.”

“Oh! What happened to your face?” she cried.

Pear blossoms had given me a rash ever since I was a child.

At the gates of the duke’s estate, men were comparing each departing woman against the portrait.

The soldiers saw my face and waved me away without a second glance.

Once inside my carriage, I opened my sweat-dampened fist. My heart was still pounding wildly.

Since it had only been a dream, Xie Yuan’s impression of me must have been vague.

Otherwise, if he truly remembered our previous life, finding me would have taken no effort at all.

After I entered the palace in that life, I tried to hang myself. I also struck and kicked Xie Yuan.

Later, I resigned myself to my fate and became docile.

At first, Xie Yuan treated me well and showered me with affection.

But gradually, rumors spread inside and outside the palace that the emperor had stolen his subject’s wife.

My face was identical to that of the Cui family’s young madam. There was scarcely any need for proof.

After taking the throne, Xie Yuan campaigned across the realm and worked from before dawn until late at night. The land knew peace, and the people prospered.

His remarkable achievements freed him from the suspicious infamy of a usurper.

But because of me, the whole realm reviled him once more.

After that, my life became difficult.

Xie Yuan still desired me and demanded that I serve in his bed every night.

Yet I never received another reward, and not a day passed without the contraceptive brew being brought to me.

When the Noble Consort accused me of giving offense, she punished me by making me kneel in the snow.

Xie Yuan walked past. I caught the hem of his robe and begged him through my tears.

He crouched, brushed the tears from my face, and said, “Consort Shu, do not vie for my favor. I cannot make another mistake for your sake.”

By day, he never showed me affection, so the world would see him conduct himself as a wise ruler.

But at night, he entangled himself with me again and again.

To avoid further gossip, my name never appeared on the bedchamber roster.

Xie Yuan simply came whenever he wished. His visits were never recorded.