From a distance, a middle-aged man approached. Unlike the officials and young men seated together, he sat alone at a specially arranged seat far from the others. The man appeared to be in his forties, with a dark, gaunt, and fierce countenance. He wore a luxurious pine-colored robe, but unfortunately, he had only one leg.
This was none other than the current emperor’s younger brother, Prince Yu.
Prince Yu was the emperor’s full-blooded younger brother. In his youth, he had saved the emperor’s life from an assassin but suffered a severe injury to his left leg, which had to be amputated, leaving him a cripple. Since then, Prince Yu’s temperament had drastically changed—he became cruel, violent, and eccentric. He filled his manor with concubines, and while outsiders remained ignorant of the truth, the imperial family knew all too well about his depraved and twisted habits. Countless women had met their demise under his perverse whims.
Princess Yu had died seven years prior under suspicious circumstances. However, with the emperor and the empress dowager shielding Prince Yu, her family had no choice but to swallow their grievances. Recently, news had spread from Prince Yu’s Manor that he intended to take a new Royal Consort.
For a time, the entire Fixed Capital buzzed with speculation. Prince Yu held a high status, favored by the emperor and the empress dowager, so his Selection for a Royal Consort naturally required a match of equal standing. Families who genuinely cherished their daughters were unwilling to send them into such a den of wolves. Yet there were those who saw their daughters as mere bargaining chips, eager to trade them for wealth and status, even at the cost of their lives.
Hadn’t the family of the previous Princess Yu, despite losing a daughter, flourished under the emperor’s compensatory favor?
Shen Miao’s gaze swept past Prince Yu and landed on Ren Wanyun among the women’s seating.
Sure enough, Ren Wanyun’s expression brightened as she remarked to Madam Yi beside her, “His Majesty truly holds Prince Yu in the highest regard.”
As someone well-versed in the intrigues of the inner court, Madam Yi immediately grasped Ren Wanyun’s intentions. Though she privately scorned Ren Wanyun’s ruthlessness, her own husband was aligned with Shen Gui, so she naturally sided with Ren Wanyun. Smiling, she replied, “Indeed. Though he is older, he surely knows how to cherish a woman.”
Chen Ruoqiu, sitting nearby, lowered her head and slowly nibbled on a pastry, her smile tinged with something peculiar. Cherish a woman? No one in their right mind would willingly marry their daughter to a crippled widower, no matter how doting or powerful he might be—it was tantamount to throwing their daughter into a pit of fire. With this thought, she turned to glance at Shen Miao.
Shen Miao patiently held a chess piece, methodically placing it on the board as if entirely absorbed in the game, oblivious to the surrounding conversations. Chen Ruoqiu suddenly felt uneasy. Ever since Shen Miao awoke from her near-drowning, she had seemed like a different person. Could this be the awakening of Shen Xin’s bloodline? The Shen Xin family was known for their fiery temperaments. If Shen Miao learned of Ren Wanyun’s scheme, would she simply accept it?
Just as she pondered this, Shen Miao seemed to sense her gaze and looked up, meeting her eyes with a chilling indifference. Though it was the golden autumn of October, that single glance froze Chen Ruoqiu’s heart to ice.
Shen Miao lowered her head again, focusing on the chessboard before her.In her past life, she had made a complete fool of herself at the Golden Chrysanthemum Banquet. Upon returning home, Ren Wanyun brought up the marriage proposal from Prince Yu's Manor to Old Madam Shen. Ren Wanyun said: "With Fifth Miss behaving like this now—having no merits to speak of and even embarrassing the Shen family—which noble household would be willing to marry such a girl? Currently, there's still this good match with Prince Yu's Manor. If Fifth Miss marries there, she'll become a Royal Consort, under the care of His Majesty and Her Majesty the Empress Dowager. That would be a blessed life. Though he has a bad leg and is somewhat older, our Fifth Miss doesn't have any outstanding qualities either. It wouldn't be a loss for her."
The words sounded righteous, but they were utterly malicious. It was only later, after she spent a fortune to bribe a maid from the Hall of Glory and Scenery, that she learned of this conversation. Old Madam Shen had long harbored deep hatred for the eldest branch of the family. Shen Xin was the child of the original wife, and when the old master was alive, he had favored Shen Xin, making the stepmother, Old Madam Shen, jealous. After finally outliving the old master, she found she couldn't touch Shen Xin because of his military achievements. But if she couldn't harm Shen Xin, she could still harm Shen Miao. And for a woman, nothing was more painful than a bad marriage.
Old Madam Shen and Ren Wanyun hit it off immediately and were about to send someone to Prince Yu's Manor to propose the match. Shen Miao was both furious and terrified. At that time, she was infatuated with Fu Xiuyi. In desperation, she packed her belongings that very night and went to Prince Ding's Residence, begging to be taken in. She deliberately let word spread, ruining her own reputation, thinking that since her reputation was already tarnished, she might as well force the issue. Being a concubine to Prince Ding would still be better than marrying into Prince Yu's Manor.
This immediately sent Old Madam Shen into a rage. Though Fu Xiuyi was inwardly annoyed, he treated her decently on the surface—perhaps recognizing the value of the Shen family's military power to him. Though he wasn't particularly warm toward Shen Miao, he didn't reject her either. Later, when Shen Xin returned to the capital at year's end, he was greeted with the news that his daughter had thrown herself at a man's doorstep. Shocked and furious, he found Shen Miao even resorting to a hunger strike in protest. In the end, Shen Xin had no choice but to leverage his military achievements to secure her the title of Royal Consort Ding.
But no one could have anticipated that this would mark the true beginning of her nightmare.
Shen Miao closed her eyes. All the mistakes of her past life seemed to have started today. And today was destined to become the turning point of her present life. Those who owed her—now, they would all begin to repay their debts!
"Hey, what's so fun about being alone?" A voice suddenly sounded in her ear. Feng Anning, who had somehow walked up to her, sat down across from her with a somewhat awkward expression. "How about a game of chess with me? Though, do you even know how to play?"
Feng Anning glanced at the board, initially speaking offhandedly, but upon closer inspection, she grew intrigued. After studying it for a while without making sense of it, she asked, "What kind of play is this? I've never seen it before."
"This isn't chess," Shen Miao smiled. "This is war."
"What?"
"You can't see it now," Shen Miao said calmly. "This kind of game only reveals itself when the final pieces are taken." Like a net, tightly woven, leaving no gaps—none could escape.
Feng Anning shivered. "What are you talking about? It's creepy." She glanced toward the men's seating area and suddenly brightened, giving Shen Miao a teasing look. "Look, Prince Ding has arrived."At the men's banquet seating, Prince Ding Fu Xiuyi was dressed in a splendid blue robe embroidered with golden pines, jade crown atop his head, exuding an air of grandeur. Naturally handsome with a coldly dignified demeanor, his actions were surprisingly amiable, showing no trace of the haughty airs typical of a prince. As he passed by, gasps of admiration arose from the women's seating area.
Shen Miao lowered her head, her clenched fingers digging into her palms.
Ten years of companionship, wholehearted support—only to be repaid with a strip of white silk and the blood debt of her entire family. Even her own children had perished because of it.
The more benevolent this man appeared on the surface, the more venomous he was within. The more just he seemed, the crueler his heart truly was.
In her past life, this man had granted her a whole corpse. In this life, she would ensure he died without one!
Fu Xiuyi, this princess has returned!
...
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