Chapter 6 — I Refuse to Be a Concubine

It is such a pity that our father and mother returned just in time to hear your cries for help. To maintain a favorable impression before them, I had no choice but to rescue you, yet in doing so, I suffered the permanent loss of my fertility. You have truly been the bane of my existence. Fortunately, it is all coming to an end.

As she spoke, fresh blood suddenly spilled from the corners of her lips. My brother, listening from the adjacent room, could no longer restrain himself and burst in. He had intended to reprimand her, but he was instantly horrified by her condition. She collapsed into his arms, and he looked toward me with an instinctual, accusatory glare. I replied coldly, "I merely allowed her to drink the concoction she had prepared for me." Had she left even the slightest glimmer of hope for my survival, she might have been saved by a physician. Regrettably, she had left none. Before she had ever encountered me, she had already administered a sterilizing poison to Gu Yanyu. Once the truth was laid bare, the Marquess of Truong Ninh could not seek retribution against the dead, so he vented the entirety of his fury upon my brother. Consequently, my brother was stripped of his official post. Crushed by the weight of these calamities, his hair turned white overnight. After my sister was buried, he came to seek me out, but I refused to see him. My maid relayed his final message: "He says he intends to wander the mountains and rivers, and will never return to the capital."

"He also added that he does not expect your forgiveness, Princess. He only wishes for you a life of peace and tranquility."

I gave a faint nod. "That is for the best."

14

In the winter of the second year, Xie Zhenliu and I welcomed a daughter. My brother, residing in the distant northern borderlands, received the news and sent a silver safety locket across a thousand miles. I gazed at it for a long moment before tucking it away deep within a wooden chest. Gu Yanyu, unable to produce an heir, lost his opportunity to inherit the title and spent his days languishing in houses of pleasure. During the Lantern Festival, Xie Zhenliu won the first-place prize for me—a magnificent moon-shaped lantern. I did not realize when Gu Yanyu had drawn near until I heard his voice, a low and helpless laugh.

"If only I had married you from the beginning."

"In truth, I have always known it was you who saved me."

"It was merely that my heart could not let go of Thoi Thu, and she refused to be a concubine. Had I known then what I know now, I would have cast her aside."

"And I would not have ended up in this wretched state."

His shameless words left me breathless with indignation. After a long silence, I replied, "Had it not been her, it would have been someone else."

"It is simply your nature. You were never a man worthy of a life's devotion."

The road ahead was a brilliant tapestry of light. Xie Zhenliu held the moon lantern aloft, his eyes crinkling with a radiant smile as he ran toward me. In that fleeting moment, all other people and things faded into insignificance. The End.