Chapter 1

My elder sister suffered from a strange gu poison. To keep her alive, someone of her own blood had to bleed for her.

For more than ten years, I had been her living remedy.

Then, in the year of my coming-of-age hairpin ceremony, I happened to save a man of high rank.

He saw the scars on my wrists and made me a promise there and then.

“Marry me and come to the Eastern Palace. No one will ever dare hurt you again.”

In my first life, I believed him. I became the Crown Princess.

Under his protection, my health steadily improved.

My sister, meanwhile, grew gravely ill. Her beauty withered, and she died.

On the day she went to her final resting place, Pei Yan caught sight of her lovely face and froze.

“So I cherished a fish’s eye and overlooked the pearl.”

My sister was the woman he had been searching for all along.

His pity for me had come from the resemblance I bore her.

When I opened my eyes to a second life, it was the very day I had saved him.

I pulled down my sleeves to conceal the scars on my arms.

“What would you like as a reward?” he asked indifferently.

“How about I make you my wife?”

Water dripped from a crack in the rock. Each little splash set my nerves on edge.

To escape the assassins pursuing him, Pei Yan and I had spent the night hiding in a mountain cave.

When I still gave no answer, he raised an eyebrow.

“I said I would marry you. What do you think?”

I roused myself from the joy of being alive again.

Clutching a corner of my robe, I made up the first excuse that came to mind.

“I am grateful for Your Highness’s favor. But my heart already belongs to someone else. I fear I am not fortunate enough to enter the Eastern Palace.”

As Crown Prince, Pei Yan was known for his courtesy and upright conduct. Surely he would not force me.

He merely smiled.

“Then we are not destined for each other. In that case, choose another reward.”

After a moment’s thought, I said, “I would like a secret medicine kept in the palace.”

In my first life, learning the truth had left me so distraught that I fell seriously ill.

Pei Yan saved me with that medicine.

It was late spring. Standing at the window, he gazed at the fallen red petals carpeting the ground, grief etched into his face.

“If Hengzhi had taken this medicine, she wouldn’t have died.

“If I hadn’t stood up for you, she wouldn’t have died either.

“In the end, we killed her.”

Ye Hengzhi was my elder sister’s name.

Now that I had another life, I would grant Pei Yan his wish and keep her alive.

To my surprise, he refused.

“There is only one dose. My mother, the Empress, keeps it. I cannot give it to you.”

I sneered inwardly.

If he knew that the woman he yearned for day and night was my sister, he would deliver the medicine into her hands himself, however precious or difficult to obtain it might be.

So I put on a look of regret.

“What a pity. My sister fell in love with a scholar at first sight during the Lantern Festival. But with such a grave illness, she never dared tell him how she felt.”

Sure enough, the words “Lantern Festival” and “scholar” struck a chord.

He suddenly seized my wrist.

“What family are you from? Who is your sister?”

His questions came in a rush.

I frowned slightly but told him.

Only then did he realize how discourteous he had been. He released me at once, regret flickering across his face.

“I’m sorry.”

An awkward silence settled between us.

At last, his guards found the cave.

Amid the crowd of men, Pei Yan glanced at me.

“I’ll take you home.”

“That would not be appropriate.” I shook my head. “If Your Highness accompanies me, people may misunderstand.”

He was desperate to see my sister for himself.

Without further argument, he left two guards to escort me and hurried away.

When I reached the Ye residence, I happened to meet his carriage.

He had found the woman he loved and was clearly delighted.

Lifting a corner of the curtain, he spoke gently.

“Second Miss Ye, I grant your request. And I shall give you another reward besides. Once you’ve decided what you want, come to the Eastern Palace.”

Mother and my sister were every bit as pleased as he was.

For the daughter of a fifth-rank official to catch the Crown Prince’s eye was an extraordinary stroke of fortune.

When they saw me return, the conversation in the main hall abruptly ceased.

Mother pressed her lips together.

“Where were you when His Highness came just now?”

If I told her what had happened last night, would she worry about me as a mother should?

A little hope stirred in my heart.

I was about to speak when she cut me off.

“Hengzhi is going to be Crown Princess.

“At least you had the sense to hide. You knew your character was too poor to risk offending our honored guest and tarnishing your sister’s reputation.”

Bitterness seeped through me.

She had not even noticed that I had been gone all night.

My sister rose and took both my hands.

“His Highness says there is a secret medicine in the palace that can cure my gu poison,” she said softly. “You won’t have to be my living remedy anymore.”

She stroked my long hair.

“You ought to be happy now, shouldn’t you?”

My sister’s illness had begun with Father’s youthful arrogance. Years ago, he had trampled on the love of a woman from Miao territory.

To take revenge, that woman had placed a gu curse on his newborn child.

Only blood from a close relative could feed the gu and keep its host alive.

But Father spent the year guarding the frontier, and Mother was constantly ill.

After weighing their options, they conceived a second daughter.

They would use her blood to treat their first.

That daughter was me.

In the year of my hairpin ceremony, I went to Baohua Temple to pray.

On the road, I encountered a handsome young man fleeing a band of mountain brigands.

I pulled him into a cave, where we hid together overnight.

There, he happened to see the scars on my pale wrists.

He fell silent for a long time. At last, he could not help asking, “Have you been trying to end your life?

“If something is troubling you, you can tell me. Perhaps I can help.”

I lowered my eyes, torn.

Only at daybreak did I haltingly explain where the scars had come from.

All I had wanted was someone to confide in, someone to hear the misery I had kept bottled up.

Instead, after listening, the young man revealed who he was and offered to marry me.

“There is no color in your lips. Your body is already badly weakened. If this continues, I fear you may not have long to live.”

I believed him and became Crown Princess.

Pei Yan cherished me as though I were a treasure.

Whenever rare fruit or some other curiosity arrived from the imperial palace, I was the first person he thought of.

I had never known such consideration in the Ye household.

Mother pitied my sister for suffering in Father’s place.

Everything good went to her.

For me, Mother had only one instruction.

“When Hengzhi marries, you’ll go with her as a concubine. It will be easier for you to tend to her health.”

I said I did not want to.

A hard slap struck my face.

Mother looked down at me with contempt.

“You don’t get to choose.

“Hengzhi is the only daughter I need. If not for her illness, I would never have had you.”

Remembering those days, I felt my eyes fill.

I quickly turned away to wipe the tears.

Pei Yan did not know why I was so upset.

He simply drew me into his arms and soothed me.

“There now. Don’t cry.

“I’m here. No one will bully you again.”