Chapter 1 — The Crown Prince criticized me for not being worthy of the Eastern Palace, but the Martial General held my hand and wouldn't let go

I am the daughter of the Minister of the Palace, the head of the competition, yet I was given in marriage to a General Chinh Tay who came from the profession of slaughtering pigs. Just because the person in the Crown Prince's heart lost to me in the competition, he came back crying. The Crown Prince has never even met me, yet he conveniently abandoned me as his fiancee. On the holy decree of marriage there is only one sentence:

"Not talented enough to be worthy of the Eastern Palace."

The day my father knelt down to receive the blessing, his hands trembled so much that they could not stop. Mother knelt in the hallway and cried all night. In the morning, her eyes were red, she held my wrist tightly, chokingly said:

"My daughter is so talented, why did she have to marry a rude martial artist?"

Even the cleaning maids in the palace looked at me with pitying eyes, secretly whispering in each other's ears:

"I heard that the general ate his meals with his hands, and there wasn't even a decent study room in the palace."

Everyone thought I would cry, hang myself, or stab my head against a pillar in protest. However, I just calmly accepted the decree, then told the maid to arrange the dowry. It's okay to marry into the palace of a rude person. Later, my ears became even more calm, and I was able to read books and practice writing in peace. If you marry anyone, then you should follow God's will. We will still have our own space to rest in peace.

"The people from the Ngu palace have arrived."

The manager's voice came from outside the door, not at all polite. I lifted the hem of my dress and walked through the threshold of the General's palace, behind were two ladies carrying the dowry chest. There aren't many chests, only three. Mother originally prepared twelve burdens of dowry, but I stopped her. Marry someone you don't even know, what's the point of bringing so much with you? It only makes others laugh, saying that Ngu Palace clings to military generals and has to give up more wealth. The yard is cleaner than we thought. There were no pig bones or pig slaughter knives as rumored, the yard was neatly swept, and in the corner of the wall was a row of unknown wildflowers.

"Madam, please come this way."

The maid who led the way was about thirteen or fourteen years old, with a round face and a timid look when she spoke, leading me through the hallway. Arriving in front of the main door, she suddenly stopped and lowered her voice.

"Madam, the General said... he's waiting for you in the study."

The General's Palace, rumored to not even have a study room, actually has a study room. I nodded and followed her into a small path. The study door was ajar. Standing outside the door, I saw a person. He turned his back to me, his body was very tall, his shoulders were broad, and he was wiping a long sword with a rough cloth. The candlelight reflected on the blade, flashing, making my eyes slightly dizzy. He didn't turn around. The voice was deeper than I expected, like a layer of snow on a tiled roof in winter, heavy but quiet. We step in. Only then did he turn around. Much younger than we ever imagined. Dark eyebrows, slightly slanted eye corners, strong jawline, completely different from the white-faced scholars in the capital. It cannot be called handsome, but it has a majestic aura that is hard to describe. He looked at me, his eyes stayed on my face for less than a breath, then immediately moved away. We found a chair and sat down. He placed the sword on the shelf and sat down. The whole room fell into silence. One very long silence. In the end, it was still him who spoke first.

"Miss Ngu, there are a few words I want to clarify first."

He looked at the tea cup on the table, not at me.

"This marriage is not what I asked for. The Crown Prince gave the marriage, I accepted it, but I never thought of getting married."

I said nothing. He continued:

"My parents passed away early, and there's only one younger sister left in the family. I fight outside all year round, and there's no one in the palace to take care of it. The Crown Prince sent you here. I guess he meant..."

"Let her take care of someone he doesn't want to take care of."

Replace him to manage someone he doesn't want to manage. This statement is very straightforward. Also very cruel. The Crown Prince threw me away, even the way he threw me was just to throw it away. I looked at Hoac Van Tranh. He frowned slightly, as if he was talking about something that had nothing to do with him.

"So..."

Finally he raised his eyes to look at me.

"Between you and me, we just need to respect each other as guests. She lives in the East courtyard, I live in the West courtyard. In the palace, if you want to manage it, you can manage it. If you don't want to manage it, I won't force you."

"What the General means is, I just need to make a decoration."

He paused a bit.

"Not a decoration."

"It's... everyone lives their own life."

I suddenly burst out laughing softly. He looked over, a trace of surprise appearing in his eyes.

"Miss Ngu?"

"General, rest assured."

I stood up and adjusted my sleeves.

"I got married here, not to compete for some love between husband and wife. What you said is right, everyone lives their own life, it's very good."

Obviously he didn't expect me to agree so decisively.