Chapter 1 — The Man Who Couldn't See My Face

My fiance, Xu Yanqing, suffered from prosopagnosia—face blindness—utterly incapable of distinguishing between my features and those of my elder sister. When I won first prize at the grand poetry assembly, he showered my sister with praise, declaring that the eldest Miss Shen possessed a talent far surpassing the ordinary. When my sister accidentally shattered a priceless jade pendant bestowed by the imperial princess, he shielded her immediately, excusing her clumsiness with the gentle plea that the second Miss Shen was merely young and ignorant of worldly matters. Countless times, I had stood before him on tiptoe, pointing directly at my own face and demanding he look closely to realize that I was Lingyi.

Later, I deliberately began wearing the muted, drab colors my sister despised, pinning into my hair the aged, old-fashioned jade hairpin she so vehemently rejected, transforming my entire appearance into the exact antithesis of hers. Yet, he continued to mistake me for her. Even on the fateful morning when my sister and I were married off simultaneously, he mistakenly welcomed the wrong bride into his bridal sedan chair. Desperate to remain beside the man I loved, I had resorted to desperate threats of ending my own life, ultimately forcing my way into his household merely as a lowly concubine. But on the day I labored in childbirth, he remained entirely convinced that the woman screaming in agony behind the closed doors was my sister. Regardless of how desperately I shrieked his name, he adamantly refused to summon a physician. In the end, both my newborn child and I perished in the throes of dystocia. Before I drew my final breath, he leaned over the edge of my bed and whispered into the cold shadows of the room:

"In our next life, I pray you will no longer cling to me and Lingchang. And I will no longer need to exhaust my mind pretending to suffer from this wretched face blindness."

When my eyes fluttered open once more, I found myself miraculously returned to the very morning of my wedding. Xu Yanqing had once again carried my sister away, while the grand wedding procession from the Prince Regent’s estate had already arrived at our gates, sending my entire family scurrying around in frantic panic. I calmly pushed open my bedchamber door and stepped out into the courtyard.

"Let me take her place and marry in her stead."

The moment those words left my lips, every gaze in the courtyard converged upon me in stunned silence. Upon hearing my proposal, my mother let out a heavily guarded sigh of profound relief.

"It is truly for the best that you have finally seen reason. Although the Prince Regent possesses a somewhat ruthless and volatile temper, he is at least blessed with vast wealth and towering official rank. Marrying into his estate ensures you will never suffer a shortage."

In my past life, after I discovered that Xu Yanqing had mistakenly carried my sister away, she had uttered these exact, callous words to me. Yet the Prince Regent was notoriously dark, ruthless, and tyrannical—a living Yama roaming the mortal realm. My family simply could not bear the thought of sending my precious sister to such a grim fate, tacitly choosing to treat Xu Yanqing's feigned face blindness and his wrongful abduction of the bride as an ordinary, acceptable mistake, while coldly pushing me straight into the jaws of hell. My mother tenderly adjusted a stray lock of hair near my temple, her expression solemn as she lectured me.

"You must not harbor any resentment toward your sister. Yanqing's affliction flared up once again, making such a mistaken bride entirely unavoidable."

"On the contrary, since you have secured such an extraordinarily prestigious marriage, you ought to remember and cherish your sister's great kindness."

A bitter, humorless laugh echoed silently within my chest, leaving me momentarily at a loss for words. Barely an hour earlier, I had distinctly overheard Xu Yanqing and my sister conspiring behind closed doors.

"The Prince Regent is extraordinarily cruel and bloodthirsty, while you are far too delicate and frail; you must never, under any circumstances, be allowed to marry him."

"Yet the imperial decree is difficult to defy; I am left with no choice but to feign this blindness to take you as my wife, ensuring you never fall into such a terrifying tiger's den."

I had stood quietly outside the door, listening to the soft, pathetic sobbing of my sister.

"But what is to become of Lingyi? Will she not truly end up married to the Prince Regent?"

After a prolonged silence, Xu Yanqing had let out a weary sigh.

"Lingyi’s temperament is stubbornly unyielding. If she ever discovers she was married off by mistake, she will undoubtedly raise a tempest that shakes the heavens, choosing death over submission."

"Furthermore, with your respected mother residing within the manor, the situation will certainly not descend into complete chaos."

"Once this mismatched marriage is successfully dissolved, I shall simply take her as my concubine. Her heart is entirely devoted to me, so she surely will not mind such a lowly title."

In my previous life, completely intoxicated by the blinding joy of my impending wedding, I had paid no heed whatsoever to why Xu Yanqing was so inexplicably late when the auspicious hour arrived. Even though my mind had long since prepared for cruelty, hearing those ruthless words with my own ears still caused a dull, agonizing ache to blossom in my chest. What truly baffled me, however, was discovering that my own flesh and blood mother had been an active participant in this betrayal.

"Since mother was already fully aware that the marriage had gone disastrously wrong, why remained silent during the wedding procession, only to cause a chaotic uproar now?"

At my pointed question, she abruptly jerked her head upward, a flash of undisguised panic flickering deep within her eyes.

"What on earth are you implying?"

"The marriage alliance with the Prince Regent was decreed directly by His Majesty. If you dare to cause any disturbance now, you are essentially driving your sister, Xu Yanqing, and the entire Shen family straight to their execution."

I swallowed the bitter lump rising in my throat and stared hard at her. The mother who had given birth to me had carefully considered every single person in this household, leaving me alone to be utterly discarded. In my past life, utterly infatuated with Xu Yanqing, I had stubbornly ignored every warning, blindly rushing toward the bridal sedan chair and threatening suicide until the marriage was finally dissolved. Afterward, they had shifted the entirety of the blame squarely onto my shoulders. His Majesty had personally ordered thirty heavy bamboo strikes to be inflicted upon me, and only then was the scandal settled—though my reputation lay permanently in ruins. In the end, I was dragged into a side entrance of the Xu manor inside a pathetic, stark white palanquin. It was not until my final moments on my deathbed that the terrifying truth finally unraveled before me. Looking back now, the entire ordeal was nothing short of a grotesque farce. I offered my mother a deeply respectful, flawless bow.

"Mother jests, this daughter is more than willing to marry."

As the auspicious hour finally struck, I draped the heavy crimson veil over my head and bid a formal farewell to my parents alongside the Prince Regent, Xiao Xing. With a swift, commanding motion, he reached out and swept me effortlessly off my feet into a sturdy bridal embrace, his stride steady and unyielding as he carried me outward. Though hidden entirely behind the veil, I could distinctly feel the violent, rhythmic heaving of his broad chest. Not until he deposited me securely inside the grand bridal sedan did the deafening cacophony of firecrackers and ceremonial wind instruments erupt in unison. The surrounding guests shouted endless streams of congratulations, everyone utterly immersed in unrestrained jubilation. Only I sat quietly inside the secluded palanquin, my heart frozen like solid ice. Vaguely, I recalled how in my previous life, after I fiercely rejected this very marriage, His Majesty had flown into a towering rage. Word had it that Xiao Xing had personally knelt before the emperor to plead for my life, which was the sole reason my punishment was reduced to thirty bamboo strokes. Sitting now inside his palanquin, I could not determine whether my heart held sorrow or relief. Yet one thing remained absolute: I refused to spend another lifetime enduring humiliation, bowing my head in endless subservience while being perpetually mistaken for another. I lowered my gaze to inspect the bridal robes draping my form. The style was utterly outdated, nothing more than the discarded remnants my sister had rejected. Even the veil bore an embroidered cloud motif that she loathed above all else. Yet I had willingly chosen to don them, hoping desperately that Xu Yanqing might finally stop confusing us. Over the years, I had long since grown accustomed to erasing myself to become the exact inverse of my sister. Because she detested the color green, every single garment in my wardrobe was hastily altered to shades of green. Because she disdained simple ornaments, my hairpins and jade bracelets were selected for their dullest, most unremarkable appearance. Despite all this, Xu Yanqing remained incapable of telling us apart. The intricately knotted cord of everlasting harmony I had meticulously crafted with my own hands was casually gifted to my sister, and chests upon chests of bridal gifts were hauled directly into her Fragrant Orchid Pavilion. In the days leading up to the grand ceremony, I had repeatedly pleaded with him, begging him not to make a fatal mistake when the crucial moment arrived. Yet he still married the wrong person. In my previous life, after being reduced to a concubine, I had wept bitterly as I demanded an explanation:

"I deliberately wore the very bridal robes my sister detested; why on earth did you still mistake me for her?"

At the time, he had pulled me into his embrace with an expression of heartbreaking anguish.

"Forgive me, Lingyi. I was simply overwhelmed by the tension and momentarily forgot."

"Thank the heavens you remain by my side. Had you truly married the Prince Regent, I would have cursed myself for eternity."

Back then, a mere handful of sweet falsehoods had instantly washed away the humiliation of my wedding day and the agonizing pain of thirty brutal strikes. Today, however, the brutal truth finally crystallized in my mind: deep affection, too, could be thoroughly feigned. Before the procession departed, my mother pressed her trembling palms against the wooden frame of the sedan chair, her voice shaking slightly.

"Lingyi, what is done cannot be undone. Once you cross that threshold, you must never act on impulse; only by yielding can you spare your own skin from needless suffering."

I remained utterly silent. I knew precisely what she implied. Whether I provoked the notoriously ruthless Prince Regent and suffered a gruesome fate was a matter of complete indifference to her; her singular terror was that my defiance might somehow implicate my sister and the Shen family.

"Mother may set her mind at ease. However, regarding this bride-swapping farce, I sincerely advise you and my father to devise a countermeasure as swiftly as possible."

"Otherwise, even if I choose not to stir up trouble, there is no guarantee that Xiao Xing will let the matter rest."

The bridal sedan chair was hoisted upward, leaving my mother standing frozen in utter bewilderment. Perhaps she had never anticipated that the daughter who had always endured in silence could utter such chillingly perceptive words. Yet fortune is a fickle mistress; no sooner had we departed the boundaries of the Shen estate than the heavens unleashed a torrential downpour. Xiao Xing reined in his mount, signaling the procession to slow its pace. As he drew level with my palanquin, his deep voice cut through the drumming rain:

"There is no turning back once a bride leaves her home. Endure a little longer, there is a pavilion up ahead to shelter from the storm."

His tone was exceptionally concise, laced with an authoritative coldness that permitted no argument.

"Understood."

I replied with absolute indifference. As long as I could escape that suffocating household, it mattered little where the winds carried me. When our wedding procession arrived at the shelter of the rain pavilion, we discovered by sheer coincidence that another bridal party was already resting there. Lifting the edge of the silk curtain slightly, my eyes immediately fell upon a desperately familiar sight. Xu Yanqing was gently, meticulously wiping the rainwater from my sister’s damp garments, his gaze overflowing with a tenderness as soft as spring water. In days long past, he had once cherished me with that exact, obsessive devotion. The southern city’s cherry preserves that I adored above all else were something he would rise two hours before dawn to purchase, personally delivering them to the Shen manor in the northern district. When I was struck by a dangerously high fever, terrified of ruining my reputation, he had brazenly scaled the high garden walls to tend to me in secret through the freezing night. Yet who could have foreseen that he would ultimately weaponize his feigned face blindness as a convenient excuse to lavish everything rightfully mine upon my sister? Even during my previous life, as I hovered at death's door during a horrific childbirth, my heart still harbored a fragile ember of hope that he would finally send a physician to save both me and my child. My maid had gone to plead with him repeatedly, yet he stubbornly insisted on escorting the physician directly to my sister’s chambers instead. By the time he finally dragged a medic to my bedside, my life had already slipped beyond recall. Before I breathed my last, he had leaned over me, his eyes bloodshot and frantic.

"Lingyi, do not blame me. Feigning this blindness has been an unbearable torment. I only pray that in our next life, you will spare us both and never tangle your fate with mine and Lingchang's again."

The mere memory sent a sharp, stabbing pain lancing through my chest. In this lifetime, I would never allow myself to stumble into the same abyss. Upon noticing the arrival of Xiao Xing and our grand palanquin, Xu Yanqing stiffened visibly before hastily dropping to his knees in a formal salute. Xiao Xing merely cast a fleeting, utterly dismissive glance in his direction before dismounting to personally assist me down from the sedan. Xu Yanqing’s eyes remained aggressively glued to my figure, as if desperately trying to decipher some hidden truth. It was not until my sister frantically tugged at the fabric of his sleeve that he finally snapped back to reality. The resting pavilion was modest in size, prompting me to quietly claim a dry, secluded corner. With her crimson veil still firmly in place, my sister stood a short distance away beside Xu Yanqing.

"My Lord Xu, could that person over there truly be my younger sister?"

Xu Yanqing practically blurted out his response through sheer conditioned instinct:

"That is utterly impossible."

"Lingyi would never marry him. She vowed long ago that she would take no husband other than myself. There must be some profound misunderstanding at play here."

My sister immediately latched onto his words, offering a soothing, gentle confirmation:

"Indeed, my sister has always been exceptionally cunning. If she discovered a mistake had been made, she would surely have raised a tempest that turned the world upside down."

"She must have secretly bribed some maid of similar stature to take her place in the palanquin."

Xu Yanqing pressed his lips into a thin line, desperately grasping at this flimsy excuse as if it were a lifeline, though a subtle, nagging unease still churned deep within his gut. My sister paused momentarily, casting a sidelong glance at Xu Yanqing’s tense expression before testing the waters further:

"My sister is truly utterly lacking in sense. How could she dare substitute another person to take her place so recklessly? What if the Prince Regent discovers the deception? After all, the person destined to marry into that household was supposed to be me."

"Will I be put to death? Lingchang is terribly frightened."

As she spoke, she raised delicate fingers to brush away nonexistent tears, emitting a series of pathetic, muffled whimpers. The sight of a great beauty weeping shattered Xu Yanqing’s composure entirely. He pulled her protectively into his arms:

"Do not be afraid, Lingchang; I will never permit anyone to harm you."

"If she truly stooped to such vile, manipulative tactics to steal your rightful place out of an obsessive desire to marry me, I will never forgive her. Forget taking her as a concubine—she is utterly beneath contempt."

Burying her face deep against his chest, my sister’s voice emerged laced with a potent mix of wounded pride and honeyed fragility:

"Yet if this deception is brought to light, my sister will merely lose a marriage she never wanted, whereas I shall undoubtedly face the wrath of His Majesty."

"Should I be dragged back to the Prince Regent's manor to face that living Yama day in and day out, would that not be a fate far worse than death?"

At once, the warmth vanished completely from Xu Yanqing's eyes, replaced by a cold, hardened resolve as he declared grimly:

"She would not dare!"