Chapter 5 Guards Outside the Hall
I had a feeling Li Yuancheng had been reborn as well.
But maybe not. Suyue was still by my side.
A man as careful as he was would not have left a slip like that.
I did not sleep soundly. When I woke in the middle of the night, he was still asleep beside me.
He had truly only stayed with me. He had done nothing else.
Unlike the last life, he had not held himself back then.
The matrons had told me it was what people called a reunion sweeter than a wedding night, and that he was at a hot-blooded age. They said having the Crown Prince's favor was a blessing others could beg for and never receive.
Only Second Elder Sister had warned me when she came to see me. "Xie Yuying, you must be careful."
She said her husband, that scourge of Tiandu, had treated her the same way.
He did not like her, and he could not defy the imperial decree or their parents, so he used that despicable method to torment her.
Pity that I had thought Li Yuancheng was different.
I had even comforted Second Elder Sister, saying I would plead with Li Yuancheng to let her divorce that scourge.
But in the end, we sisters both became the joke of this world.
Still, if he truly had been reborn, that would be fine.
Then this revenge would be fair.
When I woke in the morning, Li Yuancheng was rubbing his forehead, looking lost, as if something had slipped away.
I asked him what was wrong. He said he had dreamed of a parting.
I pretended to be curious. "A parting from whom?"
He said he had forgotten.
I did not press. It no longer mattered.
After breakfast, Li Yuancheng was going to pay respects to the Emperor and the Empress. I asked to go with him.
If I wanted revenge, I needed allies.
The Empress and her son Li Yuankuo were my first choice.
The Empress had helped raise Li Yuancheng. Everyone said she treated him as her own.
But her own child was only Li Yuankuo.
Human nature was the one thing that could least stand a test.
When we reached the palace where the Emperor lived, I saw the Black-Armored Guards outside the hall, and I vomited uncontrollably.
In the last life, they were the ones who had strangled me.
That night, I had just given birth when the steward matron brought a bowl of poisoned soup.
I smelled zhen poison in it. Mother knew a little of medicine and had taught us siblings how to tell such things apart.
I knocked over the soup and struggled toward the hall doors, calling to Li Yuancheng for help.
Li Yuancheng had been standing outside. Several Black-Armored Guards stood behind him.
"Your Highness, they want to harm me." I threw myself into his arms, seeking shelter.
He looked away and let the Black-Armored Guards drag me back into the room.
Seeing those men again now, even though I kept telling myself not to be afraid, my body still instinctively recoiled from the people who had killed me.
I vomited hard. Fortunately, everyone seemed to take it as morning sickness.
Li Yuancheng carried me to a side hall to rest.
Li Yuankuo was there as well.
He stood beyond the crowd. The autumn wind touched his firm brows and eyes.
It made me think of the first time I had seen him, when he had that same youthful spirit.
He had been only fourteen or fifteen then. The Emperor had sent him to the army to train under my father and Elder Brothers.
On the day I met him, Mother was leading the women of the border city, washing the soldiers' clothes in the stream.
I was scrubbing an inner robe hard when a youth suddenly ran over and snatched it from my hands.
The tips of his ears went red. "I... I will wash it myself."
The spring wind of the border city was gentler than the stream, yet it still mussed the youth's high-bound hair.
That day Mother told me he was a prince of Great Zhou, and she warned me and Second Elder Sister to stay away from him.
Away from anyone who came from Tiandu.
Mother said the men of Tiandu were no good.
She never would have imagined that both her daughters would end up married to men from Tiandu.
Li Yuankuo left after a year of training at the border. In that year, he and I had little to do with each other.
The few times we met, there were only a few simple greetings.
Only once, my horse bolted in fright, and he chased after me and pulled me down.
I was so scared I held him tight, and even after we landed safely I did not let go.
Father thanked him. My Elder Brothers teased, "Looks like only Li Yuankuo can handle our Xie Yuying."
And he, again, went red at the ears.
Later, Father and my Elder Brothers died in battle. Fourth Elder Brother brought me back to Tiandu. The Emperor, remembering the loyalty of the Xie house, meant to grant me in marriage to Li Yuankuo.
So the Empress summoned me into the palace to look me over.
The Empress was not pleased with me. She wanted a girl from a great house who could give Li Yuankuo real support.
I was not that girl.
As I left the palace that day, I saw Li Yuankuo.
He had come to see the Empress, standing quietly under the bronze bells at the eave, waiting to be received.
He said nothing. A bright sword under frost.
I paid my respects.
He asked whether Fourth Elder Brother was well.
I said Fourth Elder Brother was well.
He nodded.
The wind stirred the bronze bells. He walked past me, carrying a faint scent of green tangerine.
The next time we met, I was already a consort of Li Yuancheng.
From then until I died, we never saw each other again.
But he had not lived long either.
In the second year after my death, on the road back to court after taking Wu, he died on horseback from a chill after removing his armor.
He had been only twenty-two that year.