Chapter 2

Fortunately, the poison wasn’t potent enough to kill anyone.

My life was no longer in danger, but it left me with a chronic illness. I would never be able to bear children.

I looked at Bui Chieu Dan, tears welling in my eyes.

“We’ll never have children…”

He took my hand and lowered his gaze. “Any child of mine would inherit my vicious, rotten nature. It’s better this way.”

But I truly wanted to have a child with him.

Sadly, that would never come to pass.

I nestled against Bui Chieu Dan, overcome with grief.

The next day, he disbanded his harem.

It sent shock waves through the court.

I understood what he meant. If he and I could not have children, then he would not have children with anyone else, either. With no babies born in the inner palace, I would not have to watch and suffer.

I realized I was beginning to make my way into his heart.

From then on, Bui Chieu Dan indulged me until I could do whatever I pleased.

He even tacitly allowed me to interfere in court affairs, secretly build a faction, and eliminate those who opposed us.

Criticism rose both inside and outside the court, but he ignored it all.

While Bui Chieu Dan reviewed memorials, I sat on his lap, wrapped my arms around his neck, and coquettishly swayed against him.

When he reached a memorial calling for my deposition, he glanced at it lazily and handed it to me.

I smiled and kissed him. “I knew Your Majesty cared about me.”

His eyes darkened with interest. He caught my chin between his fingers.

“Then let Us see just how much you care for Us.”

…

Four long incense sticks had burned down.

Memorials were piled on the imperial desk and scattered all over the floor, vermilion ink from the emperor’s replies blurring into faint smudges.

I fought back my exhaustion and put on my outer robe.

Then I smiled coldly and set that memorial on fire.

Within a few days, I used my own methods to force the minister who had submitted it to resign.

I thought of what would happen after Bui Chieu Dan and I died.

Our infamy would be recorded in the history books, and generations would curse us.

But I had always been able to take things in stride. As long as I enjoyed myself while I was alive, that was enough.

Who would have thought even those good days would be so short-lived?

05

Bui Chieu Dan was no easy man to deal with.

He had been just as difficult when he was young.

My mind raced. At last, I caught his sleeve and said earnestly, “Actually, I can read fortunes. Your Highness is destined to face a calamity.”

“A calamity?” Bui Chieu Dan parted his thin lips and gave a careless laugh.

He lowered his head, the bridge of his nose brushing my cheek.

“The calamity I’m facing right now is your faithlessness,” he drawled.

“It has to do with Ta Thuat!” I blurted out.

Ta Thuat was Bui Chieu Dan’s enemy.

They were mortal enemies. One of them would have to die.

Bui Chieu Dan paused.

If Ta Thuat had set a trap, that was entirely possible.

Fortunately, at this point, I didn’t mean much to Bui Chieu Dan yet. If he lost one pretty trinket, he could always find another.

“Go on,” he said, looking down at me.

I continued gravely, “Didn’t Your Highness once kill a eunuch? Before long, at the flower-viewing banquet the Princess Royal is hosting, Ta Thuat will have that eunuch’s family brought in to accuse you of killing an innocent man.”

I thought to myself.

In truth, this was something Ta Thuat had told me in my previous life while he was humiliating me.

Whenever Ta Thuat spoke to me, I pretended not to hear him and simply bit down on my lower lip.

So he started telling me about his past with Bui Chieu Dan.

Only when he mentioned my husband, who had died too young, did his words catch my attention. My taut nerves would relax for a moment, and I would drift into a daze.

Bui Chieu Dan studied me for a long while before saying blandly, “If what you say is true, then you’ve done me a favor. I’ll spare you.”

I breathed a sigh of relief.

“If it doesn’t happen, then you can obediently wait for our wedding night,” he added with a smile.

How could it not happen? I had been reborn, after all.

Seeing that things had taken a turn for the better, my mood immediately lifted.

I pushed Bui Chieu Dan away,

then trotted out of the imperial garden without so much as looking back.

04

After what felt like an eternity, the day of the flower-viewing banquet finally arrived.

At first glance, I spotted the man standing amid a crowd of guests.

He looked upright and aloof, every inch the refined young nobleman.

Who would have guessed that he enjoyed humiliating and abusing the empress?

I didn’t want to get too close to Ta Thuat.

The times he had forced himself on me in my previous life were still vivid in my mind.

Back then, Ta Thuat had been Bui Chieu Dan’s enemy.

Naturally, that made him my enemy too.

After Ta Thuat was exiled to the northern frontier, I had secretly and openly sent people to harm him.

He had some skill, at least.

Otherwise, he would have died at my hands long ago.

I mused to myself.

The lakeside pavilions had been carefully prepared. Pale jade-green silk curtains hung beneath their eaves, stirring gently in the breeze.

Elegant brocade carpets covered the ground, and small tables had been arranged in neat rows.

Celadon teacups and carved fruit plates sat atop them, filled with honey-preserved fruit and delicate pastries.

When Bui Chieu Dan finally strolled into the banquet,

his gaze slowly met mine, a cool smile still playing at the corner of his lips.