A Trial of Love - Chapter 2

I truly could not understand it.

Chiyuan had descended to endure a trial of love. So why was I the one tortured in body and soul?

Chiyuan was the celestial realm’s foremost God of War, but he had been born coldhearted and unfeeling. To remedy that deficiency and teach him compassion for all living beings, the Heavenly Emperor ordered him to reincarnate in the mortal world and experience its seven emotions and six desires.

The Demon Race had long been eyeing the celestial realm and stirring up trouble in secret, however, so Heaven did not dare let its God of War wander outside for too long.

When the Keeper of Destinies wrote Chiyuan’s mortal fate, he therefore made him irresistibly attractive to everyone—men and women, young and old alike. Chiyuan was to cram ten ordinary lifetimes’ worth of romance into one, thereby gaining a rapid education in love, hatred, passion, and resentment.

Unfortunately, my timing was a little off when I descended to kill the brat. I accidentally reincarnated as his childhood sweetheart—the poor fool destined to remain entangled with him longer than anyone else.

We grew up together. Though we were both men, tender feelings blossomed, and in youthful ignorance we pledged ourselves to each other.

Bound by the script of fate, I loved him with absolute devotion.

I kept him company through more than ten bitter years of study, sold everything I owned to fund his journey to the capital for the imperial examinations, and served without complaint as his traveling nursemaid, enduring wind, rain, and nights beneath the open sky while tending to his every need.

Then Chiyuan’s romantic trials began arriving thick and fast. Everywhere we went, another beauty appeared.

He bought a steamed bun, and the proprietress batted her eyes at him.

He stopped at an inn, and the innkeeper’s daughter tried to elope with him.

He saved a beauty from a local tyrant. Not only did the beauty want to repay him with her body, the tyrant wanted to carry him off as well.

Passing a mountain was worse. Bandits from every village within ten li fought until blood ran over who would take him back to the stronghold as their bride. The casualties were so severe that the local magistrate thought the imperial court had sent troops to suppress the bandits. He happily brought the villagers to thank their savior.

I did not let Chiyuan leave the room that day.

Had he shown his face, by a conservative estimate half the young men and women present would have joined his harem.

My jar of jealousy was already overflowing. There was no room for any more big sisters or little brothers.

And that was far from the end.

Chiyuan passed the imperial examinations with brilliant honors and became the youngest third-ranked scholar in the realm.

On the day of the celebratory procession, he rode through the streets in crimson robes with a golden flower pinned in his hair. His face was smooth as fine jade; his figure straight and graceful as green bamboo. The midday sun shone upon him, setting his deep, glass-bright eyes aglow.

As his horse passed, he suddenly looked back.

He smiled, and my heart gave a violent thump.

So did the heart of the princess watching from an upper floor in disguise.

The next day, an imperial edict arrived commanding Chiyuan to become the imperial son-in-law.

That should have been the end of my role as his childhood sweetheart. I was supposed to cry a few times, curse the faithless man, demand some travel money as compensation for my emotional suffering, and sob my way home alone.

But who was I?

I had fought my way through the entire Demon Race and seized the sovereign’s throne through sheer strength. How could I surrender so easily?

Even as a mortal, I was going to do something earth-shattering.

I found an illicit dealer and bought a packet of medicine that could make a man conceive. After taking it, I clung to Chiyuan in tears, appealing to our history and pouring out my love.

Chiyuan’s heart softened. At the risk of provoking the emperor’s wrath, he spent three days and three nights entwined with me.

The medicine worked remarkably well.

Unfortunately, the mortal world had little respect for reason.

I thought bedding him first and arranging the marriage later was shameless enough. The princess proved even more domineering: she had Chiyuan abducted and taken to her estate, then sent soldiers to imprison me.

On the day I cut the baby from my own belly and died in that desolate courtyard, a magnificent royal wedding was taking place in the capital.