Chapter 3

I had three brothers, and all of them were good to me.

My eldest brother was the Crown Prince.

Gentle and generous, he had won the hearts of the whole court.

Every time he came to the palace, he brought me some clever little trinket from the streets outside to make me smile.

My second brother was gifted in both letters and arms.

In riding and archery, he stood first among all the princes.

He had been made grand general.

My third brother was the handsomest of the three.

Music, chess, calligraphy, painting—there was nothing he had not mastered.

He was the man that countless daughters of noble houses dreamed of.

All three of my brothers had been fooled by Letitia's acting too.

Each of them praised her without end.

My eldest brother said, "Lady Chavez treats Rosalind so kindly. She's a truly virtuous woman!"

My second brother said, "With Lady Chavez managing the harem, Father has so much less to worry about."

My third brother spoke with real feeling. "Mother can rest easy now, even in the world beyond…"

How could they have known?

This "virtuous woman" they spoke of.

Was busy plotting exactly how to kill each of them off!

Letitia's ambition grew larger by the day.

She struck at my eldest brother first.

She bribed Rodney Lambert, the head eunuch of the Eastern Palace.

And had him secretly slip a dragon robe.

Into my eldest brother's study.

Then she sent Rodney to report it.

Claiming the Crown Prince, resentful that ten years as heir had not yet put him on the throne, meant to rebel.

Father flew into a rage.

On the spot he stripped my eldest brother of his position as Crown Prince.

And locked him away in the Court of the Imperial Clan.

Next came my second brother.

Gifted in both letters and arms, he was Father's favorite.

She sent someone into his palace.

To bury a witchcraft effigy.

Marked with Father's birth date and hour.

The same old trick.

She bribed one of my second brother's servants to come forward and accuse him.

Father shook with fury.

He would have had my second brother put to death then and there.

It was only the Empress Dowager's desperate pleading.

That changed the sentence to exile, three thousand miles away.

Never to return to the capital.

Last of all was my third brother.

Lost in his painting and calligraphy, he had no guard against schemers.

Letitia invited him to her palace to admire the flowers.

And while his attention was elsewhere.

She tore her own robe.

Then she started screaming and wailing as if her heart were being ripped out.

"Third Prince, no! Please!"

"I am your father's woman!"

"To force yourself on me like this—you spit on every bond of decency!"

"My honor is ruined. Better I just dash my head and die clean!"

That woman was ruthless enough for it.

To frame my third brother, she used her own body as the bait.

She threw herself headlong at a stone pillar in the hall.

Until her whole face ran with blood.

When Father learned of it, he was livid.

"You animal! With no regard for rank or the ties of blood!"

"You dared lay hands on your own father's consort? This is beyond forgiveness!"

My third brother had no way to defend himself.

He was stripped of his princely rank and cast down to a commoner.

Three brothers, all brought down in half a year.

The harem was no more peaceful.

Any concubine or palace maid who fell pregnant.

Was certain to miscarry within three months.

Some had safflower slipped into their pregnancy tonic.

Some found the floor smeared with cooking oil, and lost the child in a single fall.

It was all Letitia's doing.

And her acting was flawless.

Every time someone was struck down.

She was the first to rush over with soft words and warm concern.

Bringing tonics, shedding tears.

Inside the palace and out.

From Father and the Empress Dowager down to the maids and eunuchs.

No one suspected she was the hand behind it all.

She did not only abuse me.

She used me as a tool to fight for the emperor's favor.

Every day, under the pretext that "Rosalind misses her father, let me take the princess to see him."

She pressed her way in front of Father.

And found every means to share his bed.

At last, she was with child again.

The Old Sage had retired to his home village a year before.

The new holy man, Grant James, was a priest.

Grant James took one look at her belly.

Stroked his beard, and said.

"This child carries the mandate of the true dragon. One day he will be a wise and enlightened ruler."

Father was overjoyed.

And agreed on the spot.

On the first day of autumn.

She would be formally invested as empress.

When the news reached the Serenity Palace.

She called me alone into the inner hall.

Stroking her belly, smiling with utter triumph.

"Once I'm empress."

"My child will be the crown prince!"

"You and your three brothers—I'll kill every last one of you!"

"Pull the whole thing out by the roots!"

I looked at her with no expression at all.

She did not know.

The first day of autumn.

Was also my fifth birthday.