Chapter 2

"There won't be a mistake. The horse has already been tampered with. It'll panic before it finishes half a lap. The boys accompanying the earl's third son are all ours."

I nodded.

Less than two days later, bad news reached the Eastern Palace.

Han Yan's brother had been racing when his mount suddenly went wild. It threw him, leaving him badly injured, then crashed into Grand Princess Anning's ceremonial procession as she happened to pass nearby.

The fright made the Grand Princess ill. The emperor was furious.

The Pavilion of the Resting Moon dissolved into wails.

Han Yan knelt before Gu Chengzhang, her face streaked with tears, begging him to save her brother.

Naturally, he wanted to protect the man.

But a senior member of the imperial family was involved, and the evidence lay plain. No sooner had he pleaded before the throne than the emperor shouted him down.

"You would favor a concubine's brother and disregard your own aunt? Gu Chengzhang, have you forgotten what it means to be heir apparent?"

He was confined to the Eastern Palace, forbidden to leave without an imperial edict.

The storm had broken.

I continued to visit the small Buddhist shrine each day to pray for the Grand Princess, copying sutras stroke by careful stroke, apparently untouched by the turmoil outside.

Three days later, the empress came in person.

With an icy expression, she flung a written accusation to the floor. It listed Han Yan's brother's crimes: seizing commoners' farmland under the Eastern Palace's protection, allowing brutal servants to injure people. His victims had signed a joint complaint and submitted it directly to the Censorate.

"Crown Princess."

Her voice was weary and cold.

"Do you admit your fault?"

I immediately prostrated myself. Despite my apparent alarm, my words were clear.

"Please calm yourself, Mother! I failed to exercise proper oversight. I could not restrain the Eastern Palace's relatives, allowing the Lady of Excellence's brother to run wild and disgrace the imperial family... I willingly accept punishment."

I confessed without hesitation, limiting my fault to "inadequate oversight" and never mentioning Han Yan.

The empress stared at me for a long time. Her expression shifted several times before she waved a hand.

"Rise. This... cannot be laid entirely at your door."

Could she truly not see where the trouble began?

My very "weakness" and "obedience" made the Pavilion of the Resting Moon's bottomless greed and the Crown Prince's unchecked favoritism all the more glaring.

3.

Han Yan was intent on saving her brother. Every day, she wept, made scenes, and clung to the Crown Prince. Word spread throughout the imperial city. There was no shortage of people enjoying the spectacle behind their backs.

That night, Gu Chengzhang was summoned to the imperial study.

They said the emperor smashed a teacup in his fury. His shouts could be heard beyond the doors.

"...If you still can't distinguish what matters, if all you care about is romance, perhaps you needn't be Crown Prince at all! That Han Yan cannot remain!"

Those final words struck like thunder, shattering Gu Chengzhang's last hope of a lucky escape.

The emperor's terms were clear. Unless he consummated our marriage and produced a legitimate eldest grandson soon, demonstrating the Eastern Palace's stability to the realm, Han Yan's brother would receive no leniency.

Gu Chengzhang returned with a heavy heart. He had meant to explain his father's conditions and ask Han Yan to understand his predicament. He had even considered abandoning her brother.

But before he was halfway through, she began weeping and raging, refusing to hear him out. All she would do was insist that he save the man.

Watching her sob until she could barely breathe, her thoughts wholly occupied by her brother, Gu Chengzhang's heart slowly cooled.

He asked through gritted teeth, "You insist on protecting him? Whatever it costs me?"

She answered without hesitation.

"Yes! You must save him!"

The light in his eyes went out. At last, he hardened himself.

"Very well. If that's your decision, I'll give you what you want!"

It was nearly midnight when he stumbled into my chambers.

Cold moonlight fell behind him, making his tall figure look exhausted and alone.

In an outer robe, I sat reading by lamplight. I rose and bowed calmly, unsurprised.

"Your Highness."

He looked at me, eyes bloodshot. His lips moved several times, but no words came.

I waited in silence. I already knew why he was here.

I could guess the emperor's terms and his quarrel with Han Yan without hearing either.

After a long silence, he finally made his decision.

"It's late. Let's rest."

His voice was hoarse.

Red candles burned brightly, revealing every struggle on his face.

I reached to remove his outer robe, my fingertips barely grazing his throat.

He went rigid for an instant, but didn't retreat.

"Your Highness."

I blew out the candle and spoke gently in the dark.

"Tomorrow, I'll visit the Grand Princess myself, present the sutras I've copied, and plead once more for Han Yan's brother."

"Lingyi..."

His voice was dry.

"Tonight... I've wronged you..."

I slipped my arms around his waist.

"Why say such things? We're husband and wife. We should face things together. Easing your burdens is my duty."

I spoke close to his ear, warm breath brushing his skin.

His breathing grew heavier.

Faint moonlight through the curtains caught the red tips of his ears.

I lowered my eyes, concealing a flicker of mockery.

I followed the poses I'd learned from erotic paintings. Clumsy though I was, I took the initiative at every turn.

At last, desire overcame him. With a low growl, he pulled me hard into his arms.

The crimson bed curtains fell and stirred softly, long into the night.

When I woke the next morning, the pillow beside me was empty.

Wanhe helped me wash and dress, reporting quietly:

"His Highness went to the Pavilion of the Resting Moon before dawn."

Before the bronze mirror, I carefully shaped my brows. I merely laughed.

The woman in the glass had neatly arranged hair and eyes that remained clear and calm.

"It doesn't matter. Have our people find an opportunity to let Lady Han hear that His Highness only came here last night because she wept and begged him to protect her brother..."

Wanhe understood at once.

"Yes, Your Highness. When she knows her own pleading brought this about, her gratitude is sure to be all the deeper."

I dabbed a little rouge onto my lips.

How bitter would she feel when she realized she'd put Gu Chengzhang into my bed herself?

But this slow work with a blunt knife was only the first cut.

I wanted far more than one favored night.

Through it, I would plant a thorn between them that could never be pulled out.

4.

At the Pavilion of the Resting Moon, Han Yan heard he'd spent the night in my chambers. Her fingers loosened. Her teacup shattered on the floor.

"But he promised me..."

She murmured in a daze, disbelief filling her eyes.

An exhausted Gu Chengzhang came to explain. At first, she wept until she could hardly breathe. Then she heard, "It was all to save your brother." Like someone doused with cold water, she abruptly stopped.

She threw herself into his arms, her face wet.

"Your Highness had to endure such humiliation for me..."

Watching her fight down her jealousy and struggle to appear understanding, Gu Chengzhang felt guilty. He held her tighter.

From that day on, he spent the night with me every few days.

Whenever he left her pavilion, Han Yan stood outside, staring after him. Only when my chamber doors closed did she bite her lip and turn back.

Still, I showed no sign of pregnancy.

He could only visit more often.

Each time, I wore an exquisite little underbodice beneath my nightclothes and lit a faintly scented incense. Following the methods in medical texts and erotic paintings, I did everything I could to please him.

More than Han Yan, I wanted to conceive soon.

Only a legitimate eldest son would truly secure my position.

At first, Gu Chengzhang remained distant. But the human heart was not iron.

I never complained and managed every matter, great or small, impeccably. Gradually, his guard came down.

Sometimes, over a meal, he would even ask about my childhood on the frontier with my father.

The autumn hunt was approaching. When the list of those accompanying the emperor was released, more porcelain shattered in Han Yan's pavilion. Gu Chengzhang was taking only his principal wife—me.

At the hunting camp, spending every day together, we both relaxed considerably.

One night, while I was bathing, he burst in, a little drunk.

Through the steam, he saw me half-concealed in the tub and stopped.

"Your Highness..."

I called softly. Instead of covering myself in alarm, I rose through the mist, letting water run down my skin.

Warm candlelight enveloped me. His throat moved, desire quickly darkening his eyes.

"Lingyi..."

He murmured my name hoarsely, bent to lift me, and carried me straight to bed.

That night, he was gentler than before, and more absorbed.

Seven days later, the imperial party returned.

My monthly courses were five days late.

I had my suspicions but said nothing. Daily life went on as usual.

One morning, I was pruning flowers in the courtyard when Han Yan forced her way past the servants.

Dark shadows ringed her eyes. Clearly, she'd slept badly.

"How capable you are, Sister."

Her voice dripped sarcasm.

"A few days at the hunt, and you've stolen his soul. A pity that after leaving your rooms, he still spends so long in mine. He says... the sight of your pretended dignity disgusts him."

I trimmed a dead branch without even raising my eyes.

"Does he? You're very angry today. Don't you want to save your brother anymore?"

She froze as though I'd struck a vital point. Her bluster vanished.

She glared, chest heaving, then forced out through clenched teeth:

"All you can do is threaten me with my brother! What else are you capable of? He'll only ever love me!"

I smiled and handed Wanhe the shears.

"I hope you always believe that."

She stormed away.

"Your Highness," Wanhe warned softly, "she hates you to the bone now. I'm afraid she'll..."

"Let her hate."

I straightened my sleeve, my gaze settling on my still-flat belly.