Bone Replacement - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

On the day of my coming-of-age ceremony, the same rosy clouds spilled across the sky in radiant color, and a hundred birds cried in chorus, circling again and again above the Yun Family estate.

Only in this life, the one who awakened the Divine Bone, became the Divine Maiden, and stood beneath the gaze of all… was me.

Every member of the Yun Family knelt before me.

“We welcome the Divine Maiden!”

“The Divine Maiden has finally appeared. Heaven blesses our Yun Family…”

The way these people looked at me was both reverent and feverish, as if they were worshiping a god.

Even the ground I walked on was covered with carpets, so that not even the tips of my shoes would be stained by a speck of dust.

The water I drank was rootless water specially gathered by servants of the Yun Family.

The grapes and fruits brought before me were selected only from the finest portions, each one crystal clear and gleaming like a jewel.

In my previous life, Yun Yanyan had lived this life above all others, yet she had never cherished it in the slightest.

I lifted my gaze and swept it across the crowd.

In this life, Yun Yanyan knelt like everyone else in the Yun Family, looking up at me and calling me Divine Maiden.

A flash of jealousy flickered in her eyes.

The Divine Maiden protected all living beings. Her status was lofty, unmatched by anyone.

Even in my previous life, after I became empress, I still had to kneel and pay respects whenever I saw her.

But this time, it was her turn to kneel to me!

After everyone rose, Eldest Madam, who was also my legitimate elder sister’s birth mother, took Yun Yanyan’s hand and said with no small amount of regret, “My Yanyan was extraordinary from birth. I never imagined the one to awaken the Divine Bone would be her, and not you!”

Yun Yanyan’s face paled.

Of course, she did not dare mention the matter of swapping bones with me.

But perhaps when she thought that she could now walk the same path I had in my previous life, marry Pei Cheng, and become empress of a nation, the gloom on her face vanished completely, replaced by a bright smile.

She comforted her mother. “What’s so good about becoming the Divine Maiden? I don’t envy it at all! Never mind being forbidden from feeling love or harboring wicked thoughts-even the food and clothes are worse than what the servants of our Yun Family get.”

Hearing her words, my heart became perfectly clear.

Yun Yanyan had probably resented it for a very long time.

I wore a gauze dress tailored from Soft Cloud Brocade and an Eight-Treasure Necklace, faintly revealing my slender waist and jade-white arms.

She, on the other hand, could only wear white robes that wrapped her up tightly from head to toe. She could not even wear a hairpin, all to strip away every worldly desire.

With such shallow vision, she would probably never understand.

Every bit of effort Eldest Madam spent on me came with a price already marked, one I would have to repay several times over.

A true noble young lady of a great house would never need to learn incense blending, singing, dance…

From the very beginning, she had raised me like a plaything.

Dressing me in the most beautiful clothes, adorning me with the most magnificent jewelry, sending me to all sorts of banquets in the capital…

Number One Beauty, Number One Talented Woman-those were only empty titles meant to attract princes and noble heirs. She, or rather the entire Yun Family, had planned from the start to send me into the palace as a beauty-piece on the chessboard, paving the way for the entire clan.

And Yun Yanyan had thrown away the exalted status of Divine Maiden, fighting instead to become a pawn that could be used and discarded at any time.

I couldn’t help but laugh.