Chapter 15 — Wedding Day Switch: My Husband Traded Me Away

General Shen, do you truly believe that my patience is so easily tested, or do you take the Regent’s estate for granted?

With every single word I uttered, my father’s head sank lower. By the end, his face was nearly pressed flat against the cold earth.

This humble subject does not dare! This humble subject dares not do so a thousand times over!

You dare not?

I let out a chilling, sardonic laugh.

It seems to me that your audacity knows no bounds.

Bring Shen Nhu out here.

The moment those words left my lips, a wave of restless agitation rippled through the gathering behind my father. My mother, the lawful matriarch of the Shen household, hurriedly stepped forward to block Shen Nhu from view.

Your Highness, Rhu is still plagued by illness and her constitution is frail. She simply cannot endure such harsh torment!

Elder sister, you cannot possibly be this cruel to me!

Shen Nhu shrieked and wailed aloud, weeping pitifully to put on an agonizing display meant to wring sympathy from anyone watching.

Plagued by illness?

I lifted the carriage curtain and stepped down. Behind me, over a hundred imperial guards of the Regent’s estate drew their side sabers in unison with a sharp, synchronized ring of steel. The blades caught the glaring sunlight, flashing with a biting, lethal frost. The estate servants were so frightened their souls nearly left their bodies; one by one, their legs turned to jelly and they collapsed limply onto the ground. I walked forward step by deliberate step until I stood directly in front of Shen Nhu, looking down with cold condescension upon her meticulously painted, tear-streaked face.

I distinctly recall that on my wedding day, you used this exact excuse of being ill to force me to take your place as the bride.

What is this? Is your persistent illness truly incurable after all?

If that is the case, then it is quite fortunate. Today, I shall personally escort you part of the way and help grant you an early release.

I reached out and unfastened a long blade from the waist of a nearby guard, drawing the steel with a clear hum. The tip of the sword pointed unwaveringly straight at Shen Nhu’s throat.

Ah!

Shen Nhu let out a piercing scream of pure terror, her complexion draining to the ghastly white of a blank sheet of paper. My mother was equally paralyzed by fright, sinking to the ground unable to utter a single syllable.

Stop!

Father finally managed to snap out of his stupor, scrambling and crawling frantically until he landed groveling at my feet.

Spare her life, Your Highness! Spare her life!

He threw his arms around my boots, pleading in desperate agony.

It is entirely the fault of this rebellious wretch! She was momentarily blinded by wickedness and lost her senses! This humble subject will hand her over to Your Highness this very instant to be dealt with however you see fit. I only beg that Your Highness considers our past ties of blood and spares her life!

In the end, he had chosen to abandon Shen Nhu.

Father! How could you possibly do such a thing!

Shen Nhu stared at him with an expression of utter, broken disbelief.

Silence!

Father whipped his head around and struck her viciously across the face with a resounding slap.

You wretched creature! Do you still fail to realize that the disaster you have brought upon the Shen family is not yet great enough?

The blow left Shen Nhu dazed and reeling. She clutched her burning cheek as a fresh torrent of tears burst from her eyes. Watching this pathetic farce of a devoted father and loving daughter unfold before me, I felt nothing but profound mockery. I slowly withdrew the blade.

Capital punishment may be averted, but the sins of the living cannot be easily forgiven.

I spoke in a voice devoid of warmth.

I do not desire her life.

I command that she be sent to the imperial ancestral temple outside the city to shear her hair and renounce the mortal world. She shall live as a nun with tonsured hair, praying day and night for the Prince’s peace and longevity.

Without my explicit permission, she is forbidden to set foot back in the capital for the remainder of her days.

To live as a nun with tonsured hair, unrepentant until her dying breath. Such a punishment was a thousand times more agonizing for her than a swift death. From this day forward, she would no longer be the cherished second young miss of the Shen family, nor would she ever lay eyes upon her precious Master Yan again. She would spend her remaining years keeping company exclusively with flickering green lamplight and cold stone statues of the Buddha.

No! I refuse this!

Shen Nhu shook her head in frantic, crazed denial.

Elder sister, I know I was wrong! Won’t you forgive me just this once?

I paid her no mind whatsoever, fixing my gaze instead upon my father.

General Shen, do you have any objections to this arrangement?

A look of agonizing conflict flickered across my father’s aging face. Yet, in the end, it crumbled into total submission.

This humble subject... obeys the decree.

He knew all too well that this was already the most merciful outcome possible. At the very least, it preserved Shen Nhu’s breath of life and spared the Shen household from total ruin.

There is one more matter.

I spoke once more.

Those servants who acted on her orders may not deserve death, but they cannot escape their share of guilt.

Give each of them fifty heavy blows with the rod, cast them all out of the Shen estate, and ensure they are never employed anywhere again.

Understood!

Father replied instantly without a second thought. Right at that moment, a disheveled figure came rushing toward us from the distance in a state of utter disarray. It was Gu Yan. In the end, he had still managed to catch up. Upon witnessing the harrowing scene before him, he froze in his tracks, entirely dumbfounded.

Nhu!

He lunged forward to Shen Nhu’s side, catching her as she wept and pulling her into his embrace.

Master Yan...

Shen Nhu threw herself straight into his arms, sobbing uncontrollably. Gu Yan held her tightly with a look of profound heartbreak, then slowly raised his head to fix his complex, shifting gaze upon me. Within those eyes lay simmering fury, deep resentment, and an undeniable plea for mercy. Did he truly believe that I would remain as soft-hearted and yielding as I once had been?