Chapter 1 — Beauty Carries No Guilt

As I knelt by the babbling brook, washing strips of raw silk in the crisp morning water, the senior advisor of Lord Wei Zhao happened to catch sight of me. His original intent was to present a peerless beauty to the dissolute and indulgent monarch, yet upon our very first encounter, Wei Zhao became utterly captivated by my face. He refused to let me enter the palace as a mere tribute, choosing instead to keep me close by his side. He would personally guide my fingers across the strings of the zither, and spend long afternoons practicing delicate dances with me. Day after day, we drowned ourselves in lavish banquets and endless merriment, completely forgetting the grand ambitions of world domination he once cherished. When his loyal advisor desperately urged him not to sacrifice his imperial hegemony for the sake of a woman, Wei Zhao merely smiled and replied, "With a virtuous beauty such as this by my side, I no longer have any desire to contend for the realm."

Ten years passed in a blur of intoxicating indulgence. By then, the power of the rival State of Zhao had grown exponentially, culminating in a massive army that tightly besieged the imperial capital. The former dynasty collapsed into ruins, all the regional lords surrendered one by one, and the King of Zhao finally unified the entire realm under a single banner. Wei Zhao was left completely shattered, his soul adrift in despair. He dragged me along to share a cup of poisoned wine as the end closed in around us. He sneered bitterly, his eyes burning with resentment, "Hmph, they were right when they whispered that beauties are the root of all disaster. If I had not grown soft-hearted back then, if I had not begrudged sending you into the deep palace as originally planned, the one sitting upon that golden dragon throne today would surely have been me." He traced his trembling fingers across the fine wrinkles that now lined my aging face, letting out a mocking chuckle, "And if I had attained the throne, what kind of beauties would I not have been able to possess?"

He despised me down to the very marrow of his bones, blaming me for every failure of his ruined life. Therefore, when the wheel of fate spun backward and I was granted a second chance at life, waking up once more on the morning of my sixteenth year just as the neighbor girl came to invite me down to the stream to wash silk, I only offered a faint, knowing smile and shook my head. "I will not go."

"Oh..."

The young maiden did not ponder deeply over my refusal, merely letting out a dazed response. But when she caught the mysterious curve of the smile lingering upon my lips, a sudden blush rose to her smooth cheeks. "Ah, that is right! I heard the young scholar in the village say that ever since the beloved imperial consort passed away, countless people have been searching everywhere to offer new beauties to His Majesty. But looking at you, I am certain that none of them could ever compare to the breathtaking grace of older sister Chengyu..."

She stared at me without blinking, her bright, starry eyes wide with innocent admiration. In those sparkling depths, I saw once again the reflection of myself at sixteen years of age. In my past life, it was precisely this face, this exact visage, that had caught the discerning eye of Wei Zhao's advisor by the riverbank. At that time, the strategist had been utterly plagued by anxiety. The sovereign was foolish and self-indulgent, warlords carved up the land like wolves, and regional princes were restive. Among them all, the military might of Lord Wei Zhao was hardly the strongest. The advisor had wrung his hands in torment, racking his brains for any scheme that might propel his master to ultimate supremacy, until he accidentally laid eyes upon me. Overjoyed as though he had struck hidden treasure, he penned an urgent missive to Wei Zhao that very night: "His Majesty is notoriously fond of women and drowns his days in decadent pleasures. Your humble servant has fortuitously discovered a woman of peerless, otherworldly beauty. With just a brief period of refinement before presenting her to the court, she is bound to throw the imperial household into turmoil and stir up unprecedented chaos. Among the thirty-six stratagems, the beauty trap is supreme. Without expending a single soldier or blunting a single blade, we can easily help my lord contend for the realm."

I had never read military treatises and knew nothing of whether this truly counted as a sound strategy, but in the end, Wei Zhao had been completely persuaded, granting his advisor permission to bring me before him. Yet, no one could have anticipated that upon our very first meeting in the grand hall, Wei Zhao would be so utterly smitten that he immediately kept me for his own private estate. The grand beauty trap dissolved into nothingness, and we instead spent ten passionately intertwined years together. Ten years later, when the Zhao forces conquered all beneath the heavens, the lands of Wei were annexed, and every noble title was abolished. Wei Zhao fell overnight from a lofty, revered ruler into a commoner clad in coarse cloth. He regretted it. He regretted yielding to his sudden infatuation the moment he laid eyes on me. He cursed me as a ruinous siren, insisting that had it not been for my existence, he never would have lost his throne or his grand ambitions. Hence, in this lifetime, I resolved never to step foot by that stream again. The strategist was not a native of our village and had only been visiting temporarily to clear his mind; after today, he would depart forever. Without that fateful encounter by the water, Wei Zhao and I would never cross paths again.

Yet, as fate would have it, just as the advisor was preparing to leave the village, he happened to cross paths with Jiang Luo. She had been born with striking, exotic features, possessing an alluring and deeply seductive charm that made her an absolute beauty in her own right. The strategist was instantly captivated, just as he had been captivated by me in the former life, and he hurriedly dispatched another letter to Wei Zhao, eager to offer this new prize to his monarch. That very night, I quietly sought out Jiang Luo in her secluded chamber.

"The sovereign is already past forty, and his temperament is notoriously violent and deeply suspicious. To walk beside a king is like sleeping beside a fierce tiger; the imperial palace is by no means a benevolent place," I looked at her with sincere earnestness, adding, "And should the Lord of Wei happen to take notice of you, wishing to make you his principal consort, it will prove no better than entering the palace gates. He is naturally fickle and ungrateful; today he may cherish you as a rare treasure, but tomorrow he will cast you aside like a worn-out shoe. Therefore, Jiang Luo, do not go. You will live to regret this path."

However, the young beauty merely sat beneath the soft lamplight, indifferently toying with the rouge boxes and jade trinkets the advisor had bestowed upon her, refusing to even lift her gaze to look at me. "You have never once stepped beyond the borders of this humble village. How could you possibly know what kind of man the Lord of Wei truly is?"

Before coming here, I had already anticipated that she would pose such a question. Yet the truth of rebirth was far too ethereal and misty; even if I spoke the absolute truth, she would hardly believe me. I could only claim that I had seen flashes of the future in a strange dream. Jiang Luo let out a cold, mocking laugh, her delicate chin lifting with a haughty air. "Tu Chengyu, everyone in the village favors you, praising your gentle kindness while dismissing me as your inferior. But in my eyes, you are nothing more than a hypocritical pretender. Just like today, you are clearly seething with jealousy because I have managed to seize this golden opportunity, yet you deliberately put on a facade of righteousness just to hold me back. It is truly sickening."

A cool breeze swept through the open window, making the candle flame flicker and casting long, dancing shadows across the earthen floor. I drew in a deep breath, meeting her gaze squarely. "If I told you that I speak from the bitter experience of having been betrayed by the Lord of Wei in another life, and that is why I came to warn you—"

"Then it only proves that you lack the capability to truly bind a man to your side." Jiang Luo cut me off sharply, her smile radiant with unbridled vanity, her brows brimming with triumph and arrogance. "If the one he met had been me, he never would have betrayed me for as long as he lived."

That night, my earnest warnings ultimately failed to sway her. A few days later, the strategist received his reply from Wei Zhao, and following his master's explicit instructions, he prepared a lavish carriage to escort Jiang Luo away. Just before departure, Jiang Luo turned around, her sharp gaze sweeping across the small crowd of villagers gathered to watch, before finally resting upon me, who stood quietly near the back with a veil covering my lower face. She slowly raised her hand, her slender index finger pointing directly at me. "I want to take her with me as well. Let her come along to serve as my personal maid."

I understood her intent all too well. Knowing Jiang Luo's proud and overbearing disposition, she wanted me to witness with my own eyes how she climbed the highest branches of society to bask in boundless wealth and glory. The advisor cast a cold, indifferent glance in my direction, then quickly looked away without a second thought. "As you wish."