chapter 5

I told my parents I was divorced and leaving. I asked whether they would come with me.

They stared for a moment, then looked relieved, barely concealing their delight.

“Aqiao, don’t blame us. People have to accept their fate. This is yours.”

“You’re still our daughter. Arao will look after you in the future.”

“But if you’re leaving, go far away, so people won’t gossip.”

I was stunned.

Did they think Zhao Ye had divorced me in order to marry Arao?

My sister’s face glowed with happiness.

“Don’t worry, Sister. I’ll help you out later. But you mustn’t appear before His Highness again.”

I laughed in anger.

For a moment, I wanted to slap her.

Then I thought better of it.

She was naive, foolish, and knew nothing of the world.

She thought beauty could carry her across every barrier.

But if beauty were invincible, why were so many abandoned consorts shut away in the cold palace? Had they not been beautiful and charming before they fell from favor?

Being beautiful did not entitle a person to everything. Being ugly did not mean a person deserved to lose everything, either.

She would understand one day. I only hoped the lesson would not be too cruel.

Without another word, I closed the door quietly and walked away.

The steward was waiting at the main gate.

He bowed as I approached and offered me a banknote for a thousand taels of silver with both hands.

“Miss Li, please accept this small gift from His Highness. He thanks you for your company these past three years and hopes that you will live comfortably from now on.”

The banknote seemed to shine.

I hesitated only briefly before taking it.

“Please thank His Highness for his generosity,” I said calmly.

The steward paused, then gave a soft sigh.

“Take care, Miss Li.”

I thanked him and stepped lightly over the threshold.

We both understood. Without that marriage decree binding us, he was a prince and I was a commoner. If we met again, my place would be on my knees, greeting His Highness.

There was no harm in getting used to that now.

I bought a small courtyard house.

And I took in an ugly cat.

It seemed to have lost a fight with another cat. It limped on one leg and meowed at me.

Looking at its face, I could not help laughing.

Its markings gave it a bowl haircut, dark rings around its eyes, and a black spot on its nose. It was ugly in a remarkably original way.

It really had made a mess of growing into its looks.

I picked it up, examined its leg, and murmured, “It’s all right. We’ll mend it.”

I carried it to a clinic.

The physician looked surprised.

Few people brought a cat to be treated when so many could not afford medicine for themselves.

He looked from me to the cat, his expression shifting between seriousness and suppressed laughter.

Eventually, he settled for looking only at the cat.

He finished splinting its leg.

Then he frowned a little. “Would you like to have your face examined, too? I know a physician who is very good at treating facial scars.”

I touched my face. “Yes,” I said softly. “Thank you.”

I went to the clinic he recommended and waited my turn. When I came out with the medicine and felt the sunlight on my skin, my eyes stung.

The physician had said, “Why didn’t you come sooner? If you’d come earlier, you would have recovered long ago.”

Why hadn’t I come sooner?

I had never entirely believed the imperial physician when he declared my face incurable. The junior doctor who usually treated the maids and eunuchs had given me a little wink.

But I had not been certain. I had asked myself countless times whether the imperial physician had told the truth.

Eventually, I understood that the truth did not matter. For the Noble Consort to win, my face had to remain ruined.

Then I was sent to the palace laundry, where the washing never ended. There was little to say to one another. We all ached with exhaustion and wanted only to finish our work and rest.

After that came my marriage to the Fifth Prince. By then, I knew I was a pawn being put to what might be its final use.

And now, at last, I could seek treatment and hear a definite answer.

For the first time, I felt the quiet joy of a future finally coming within reach.

I stroked the cat in my arms and smiled.

“Come on. Let’s go home.”