My wedding night
Chapter 1 - My wedding night
The silk sheets felt alien against her skin, the heavy embroidered quilt trapping a suffocating warmth around her. A dull ache throbbed behind her eyes, and a strange disorientation made her blink rapidly in the unfamiliar darkness.
Where am I?
My mind was a jumble of fragmented memories: the sharp glint of a dagger, the acrid taste of poison, the triumphant sneers of women I once considered rivals. Then, a sudden, blinding light, and the sensation of being dragged through an endless, churning void.
I pushed myself up, my limbs stiff and uncooperative. The room was opulent, shadowed by heavy drapes. The scent of sandalwood and lotus blossoms hung in the air, a scent I knew intimately from a life that couldn’t possibly be mine anymore.
Then, it hit me. The intricate gold phoenix embroidered on the canopy above, the pearl-inlaid dressing table, the ornate screen depicting a blooming plum tree... these were the furnishings of the bridal chamber in the Eastern Palace. My bridal chamber.
A gasp escaped my lips, choked and disbelieving. I rushed to the polished copper mirror. Staring back was the face of Li Mei, porcelain skin, almond-shaped eyes, a delicate mole beneath my left eye. The same face I’d possessed in my previous life. But this was before.
Before I had fallen for Crown Prince Lin, before his favor had become both a blessing and a curse. Before the whispers had turned to threats, the veiled smiles to open hostility. Before the other concubines, driven by jealousy and ambition, had orchestrated my slow, agonizing demise.
I remembered the endless battles for his attention, the petty sabotage, the carefully laid traps. I remembered how I, naive and blinded by love, had walked straight into them, believing his protection was enough. It wasn’t. His favor, however deep, couldn’t shield me from the venomous envy of those who saw me as an obstacle. They had killed me. Slowly. Painfully.
And now... I was here. On my wedding night. The night I was first brought into the Eastern Palace as Prince Lin’s second wife, fresh-faced and hopeful. This was the beginning. Or rather, it was a second chance at the beginning.
The Daughters of the Li family were legendary. For three generations, it was said, we had married exceptionally well, always receiving profound favor from our husbands and, remarkably, always securing the position of principal wife. Whispers claimed we were not merely born into fortune but meticulously trained to be perfect consorts—to manage a household with grace, to support our husbands with wisdom, and to maintain an unshakeable inner calm amidst any storm.
There was also a deeper secret, known only within the ancient walls of the Li estate. When a daughter came of age, a secret ritual, passed down for three generations, was performed. Its purpose and nature were fiercely guarded, but I knew it was believed to be the source of our family’s uncanny ability to navigate the treacherous currents of high society and win our husbands’ unwavering devotion.
I was no exception to this lineage. The youngest and most cherished daughter of General Li, I possessed a beauty so striking it was rumored to make flowers blush. Growing up, shielded by my doting father and the protective cocoon of the Li family’s reputation, I had been thoroughly spoiled, incredibly naive, and woefully ignorant of the depths of evil some people could harbor.
And now, here I was, in the very chamber that marked the start of my disastrous first life.
