Chapter 10
Edward Quan ·
I walked out of the Du residence openly, with my head held high.
Xiao Yunlan was already waiting when I returned home.
I approached, paid my respects, and thanked him sincerely.
“Thank you, Yunlan.”
“Hmph. So this heartless little girl is finally willing to call me by my name again!”
Everyone around us tactfully withdrew.
I had just straightened when he pulled me into his arms.
“Yue'er, you're free now.”
“When will you marry me and become my empress?”
“I only got divorced today. What's the hurry?”
“How can I not be in a hurry?”
“I've waited more than ten years!”
“More than ten years?”
“You… You…”
“I was only a child then!”
A rare embarrassment crossed his face.
“I know.”
“You were still a child, and I wasn't much older.”
“But I'd already decided.”
“When I grew up, you would be my only wife.”
“I wanted no one else.”
“No one but me?”
I gave a little snort.
“What about that harem of yours, then?”
“Yue'er, I haven't!”
“I've never touched them!”
“Haven't you wasted their lives, then?”
He smiled bitterly.
“Do you think the women sent into my harem are all good people?”
I reached up and gently smoothed his furrowed brow.
“What if Du Cheng and I had stayed together for the rest of our lives?”
“Would you have left them untouched forever?”
“What about an heir?”
“I'll tell you the truth, Yue'er. Don't be angry.”
“If you and Du Cheng had truly spent your lives together…”
“I might not have been able to let go for the first few years.”
“Perhaps, eventually, I would have come to terms with it.”
“And even if I couldn't…”
“If enough time passed, I would still have had to visit them, for the sake of an heir.”
I rested my head against his chest.
I did not blame him.
“You're the ruler of a nation.”
“That's your responsibility.”
His arms tightened around me. Happiness shone openly on his face.
“But Heaven has been kind to me.”
“It let me wait long enough for my Yue'er.”
I smiled too.
“I never thought Heaven would be so kind to me either. When I thought I was alone, with no one left to turn to, there was still a fool waiting for me, protecting me…”
5
At court, the change in the emperor's treatment of Du Cheng was obvious to everyone.
He was neither dismissed nor demoted.
But he was rebuked from time to time and even docked his salary.
Naturally, the ministers followed the emperor's lead.
Before long, Du Cheng found himself back where he had started in official life.
Never had he understood so clearly what losing me meant.
He came to the Su residence again and again, begging to see me.
He even knelt before me to repent.
“Qingyue, only after you left did I realize you're the one I truly love!”
“As for Liu Wanning… She seduced me!”
“You were so good to me before. I know you love me.”
“You left because you resented my taking her as a second wife, didn't you?”
“Don't worry!”
“Once she gives birth, I'll divorce her at once!”
“Come home with me, please?”
“From now on, I'll love only you.”
“I'll never take a concubine.”
“Only you!”
“Du Cheng, I was blind before.”
“I blame no one else.”
“There is no possibility of anything between us again.”
“Leave.”
“No!”
“Qingyue!”
“You love me!”
“Can't you wait until Liu Wanning has the baby?”
“Fine!”
“I'll go home and divorce her right now!”
“Once I've divorced her, we can go back to how we were!”
His frenzy sickened me.
In the end, I simply ordered him thrown out.
After that, wherever I went, I took more attendants.