It's Hard Being the Empress - Chapter 2

I knew military men had impressive stamina.

The reality still surpassed everything I had imagined.

Like an abandoned hound, the Second Prince caught my lips between his and kissed me until they were tender. Between kisses, he interrogated me.

“Has my father kissed you here?”

His callused fingers traced my waist.

“Has he touched you here?”

His palm pressed lightly against my lower belly.

“Has he had you here?”

Sobbing and barely able to lift my arm, I slapped him.

“What nonsense are you spouting? I’m your mother now!”

Something in that sentence struck a nerve.

He became even more relentless.

I watched the moon cross the sky and dawn bleed into the windows. Neither tears nor pleading moved him.

At last, I fainted.

When I opened my eyes the next morning, the Second Prince wore nothing but a loose pair of sleeping trousers. The muscles of his back shifted beautifully beneath a chaos of scratches.

Apparently, I had coaxed every last trace of anger out of him. He clung to me, kissing my lips over and over.

“I knew you must have had your reasons for marrying my father.

“I’ve already dealt with Consort Li. You needn’t worry.

“I was too rough last night. Next time, I promise I’ll be careful.”

I stared at him.

“Next time? Do you truly think your father is dead?”

The Second Prince snorted.

“I’ll find a way.”

He reached beside the pillow and picked up a piece of creamy white jade—my half of the paired-heart pendant.

He dangled it before my eyes with obvious satisfaction.

“You once said you would give me this half after we married.

“Now that we have become husband and wife, it naturally belongs to me.”

My waist and legs ached too badly for me to stop him. He caught the red cord between his fingers and tied the jade smugly at his belt.

As for the second affair—the one with the Crown Prince—I had even less reason to be blamed.

The Crown Prince was gifted in statecraft, gentle and magnanimous, and widely praised for his virtue.

On my second day in the palace, he came to pay his respects. He swept back his robes and knelt with perfect decorum.

Tall and slender, carrying the faint scent of sandalwood, he spoke in a voice as warm and smooth as water.

“This son greets Mother Empress.”

I immediately put on my most gracious, virtuous smile.

“Come closer. Let Mother have a look at you.”

Although the Crown Prince and the Second Prince were twins, everyone said they looked nothing alike. I had never seen the Crown Prince before.

He lifted his head.

Our eyes met.

The mask of the dignified empress cracked across my face.

His gentle, benevolent expression froze.

We cried out together.

“Why is it you?”

How could the exalted Crown Prince possibly be the penniless scholar I had met by chance?

It had begun at the Lantern Festival one year earlier. I saw a young scholar lingering beside a theater stage, solving seven lantern riddles in succession.

His plain blue robes had been washed almost white, yet they could not hide his clean-cut elegance or his pine-straight bearing.

My competitive spirit flared, and I challenged him.

After that, rivalry turned into friendship.

He told me his family was poor, his mother long dead. He lived with an elderly father who farmed the land, while his younger brother worked as a cook in an army camp.

I told him I was a peddler’s daughter and that my betrothed had died in the war two years before.

We understood each other at once. Every day, we met in a little courtyard and talked—from poetry and music to our hopes for the future—until, somehow, our conversations found their way into bed.

Who could have guessed that our next meeting would take place in the Empress’s chambers?

The Crown Prince narrowed his eyes as the pieces fell into place.

“Six months ago, Father sent me to Jiangnan to investigate a major corruption case.

“I told you I would return in half a year and ask to marry you.

“For six months, I scarcely slept. Every night was spent poring over evidence or interrogating suspects.

“But when I finally returned to find you, you had vanished without a trace.”

Words failed me. I stumbled backward.

“Wh-wh-wh-what are you talking about? I-I-I-I don’t know you!

“You have the wrong person!”

The Crown Prince laughed coldly.

All warmth vanished from his eyes, leaving only jealous obsession.

“So you entered the palace and became my mother.

“You told me you loved cleanliness and hated sharing above all else.

“Father has a harem of thousands. When you and I were together, I had never touched a woman before.

“Does he pleasure you as I did?

“Do you enjoy being with him as much as you enjoyed being with me?”

Before I could react, he bound my wrists and left me unable to move.

“Since you’ve forgotten, I’ll help you remember.”

He caught hold of my leg.

Then he lowered his head.