Chapter 10

Xie Jing'an's pupils contracted.

“Shen Yuemian, how dare you!”

“I told you I won't marry you. Even if you force me with an imperial edict, I still won't.”

“If you know what's good for you, swear that for the rest of your life you'll stop using underhanded tricks to compete, take what belongs to others, and harm them. Then I might—might, for the sake of your devotion to me—reluctantly take you as a favored concubine.”

Shen Yuetang gritted her teeth, suppressing her hatred as she spoke with false generosity.

“Once you enter the household, if you give birth to a child, I'll raise the baby under my care and give it the status of a legitimate child. I'll treat it as my own.”

“That way…”

She glanced at Xiao Ce.

“My sister won't be able to drag Your Highness's reputation into her foolish schemes anymore.”

I laughed.

If you want to humiliate someone, do it in front of everyone.

So I said:

“Didn't you know? The very prince you're talking about personally knelt in the Imperial Study to ask His Majesty for an imperial edict…”

Xie Jing'an trembled.

“Even so, I still won't…”

“But the edict he requested is for me to become the Third Prince's principal wife.”

Xie Jing'an went silent.

Xiao Ce laughed at him.

“Marquis Xie, you've rejected her in a hurry, haven't you? But don't worry, because… this has nothing to do with you.”

Xie Jing'an looked at me.

Something seemed to shatter deep in his eyes.

“You want to marry him, not me?”

I answered mockingly:

“I've told you countless times. You were the one who refused to believe me.”

**17**

“His Highness the Third Prince… wants to marry a secondary daughter like you as his principal wife?”

My stepmother's voice was shrill. Her entire body trembled.

I gave her a cold smile.

“Does that surprise you?”

Father drew in a sharp breath.

“Why didn't you tell me about something so important?”

I looked at him.

“Maybe because you don't deserve to know.”

Shen Yuetang's face had gone pale, too.

“You're using your life-saving kindness to force the Third Prince to marry you as his principal wife. Isn't that shameless?”

I clicked my tongue and shook my head.

“Why are you using something you don't have to pressure me?”

“Remember to remove the gifts from Consort Lin from your dowry list. The palace matrons don't tolerate dishonesty. If they come to the Xie family to reclaim my things, you'll lose face—and the Xie family will be disgraced, too.”

“I didn't take anything!”

Shen Yuetang hurried to defend herself.

“Don't slander me!”

Unfortunately for her, I'd already copied the dowry inventory.

Now it lay spread across the table.

Every member of the Shen family turned pale and green by turns.

“Impossible!”

Shen Yuetang was nearly hysterical.

She understood that she had lost all her face and reputation in front of everyone.

Even if she married into the Xie family, she would have no peace there.

So she spared no effort in trying to drag me down with her.

“Shen Yuemian, you're cruel and obsessed with competing. You use every scheme and trick, with no conscience at all. Why do you think the imperial family would accept someone like you?”

She rushed over and knelt before Xiao Ce, tears streaming down her face as she spoke.

“When Grandmother fell gravely ill, the rest of us were in our rooms copying Buddhist scriptures.”

“She ran to Grandmother and knelt before the Bodhisattva, pretending to be devoted. She knocked her head until it split and bled, begging the Bodhisattva to take years from her life and give them to Grandmother. She only did it to win Grandmother's pity and get her to raise her at her side.”

“To frame Mother, she even slipped my widowed aunt's handkerchief into Father's sleeve, turning Father and Mother against each other.”

“That's not all. She tried to have it both ways.”

“She clung to my cousin and wouldn't let go.”

“And at the same time, she was determined to steal my childhood sweetheart. She's shameless and despicable.”

“Finally, she schemed against the Third Prince and used saving his life to trade for a marriage and a future.”

“Your Highness, the entire household can testify. Would you really marry such a calculating woman?”

The whole courtyard buzzed with whispers.

Father sighed and tacitly agreed.

My stepmother wept, saying I was simply immature, not cruel.

Even Grandmother hesitated, then pressed her thin lips together.

Finally, Xie Jing'an seemed to struggle for a long time before clasping his hands toward Xiao Ce.

“Shen Yuemian has always been like this: she only knows how to compete and take, and never leaves anyone else a way out. Your Highness, please think carefully.”

The imperial edict was already waiting outside. Nothing they said could change what it decreed.

But I wanted to know what Xiao Ce would do when the same slander reached his ears.

Would he want to die, or would he only wish he were dead?

I hadn't expected Xiao Ce's expression to suddenly turn cold. He stepped in front of me, blocking the others, and shouted:

“If someone is willing to protect her, why should she have to fight for herself?”

“You bully her, exploit her, and keep her down. She fights for a way to survive, and then you blame her for competing.”

I drew in a sharp breath.

**18**

I stared at his tall, straight back.

Light fell across his brocade robes, cloaking him in a golden glow.

Xiao Ce pointed at my stepmother.

“If you had given her food and clothes and hadn't mistreated her, why would a young child have schemed and knocked her head bloody just to beg Grandmother to protect her?”

“Just because no one exposes the filthy affairs in your household doesn't mean no one knows about them.”

My stepmother was so shocked she couldn't speak.