Page 107 of Empire's Curse

“You made a fool of me today, Muyang!” Her fingers flexed and she had the urge to run her nails across his pretty face. To watch him bleed, and even then, he would only feel a fraction of the pain he had inflicted on her. “How could you do this to me? You humiliated me in front of the entire empire!”

“I didn’t humiliate you.” He sounded genuinely surprised, and that lit up her fury even more. Made her want to burn him on the spot like the burning lanterns. “I had already promised Lord Wang months ago?—”

“Don’t tell me that the lantern lighting isn’t a big deal out here!” Daiyu screamed, not caring that the servants were hanging around in the background. She didn’t care if the whole empire heard her shout and cry. It didn’t matter, anyway, since they would all know by tomorrow. “I already have to prove myself as more than just a simple, stupid farm girl, and now you’ve made it infinitely harder for me to be anythingmore than … more than just that! Everyone is already laughing at the fact that you chose me! That you even married me! You should have just—” A strangled sob escaped from her throat. She didn’t even know what she was saying anymore. Her mind was too frazzled, too hurt, to think of anything. “Oh. I hate you. I hate you so much!”

“Daiyu—”

“Youhumiliatedme!” Daiyu shook her head at him, hating the tears that blurred her vision. Hating that she was even standing here, yelling at him. “If you were going to make her your favored woman, why didn’t you marry her instead of dragging me into your court? Into your palace? Why did you put me in this position? So you could laugh at me like the rest of everyone?”

“I didn’t realize this was so important to you?—”

“You didn’trealize?” Her hands trembled and she clenched them into fists. She was nothing more than a simple commoner to him, she realized with mounting horror. She was never supposed to be anything more than that. She was the stupid one for thinking that she could be his wife. His empress. “You … You lied to me.”

Muyang reached out as if to touch her, but she slapped his hand away.

“Stay away from me!” Her voice grew shrill and she backed away from him. “Don’t you dare touch me!”

“Daiyu—”

“You humiliated me!” She felt like she was screaming at a brick wall. The words didn’t seem to sink into him and he kept staring at her like he was waiting for her to implode. And maybe that’s exactly what she was doing. “You want her, don’t you? You’re planning on marrying that bitch, aren’t you?”

“What are you?—”

“Don’t play dumb,” she hissed through the burning tears. “You’re going to marry Wang Yanlin, aren’t you? You’re going to make her your empress and I’ll be pushed down the lines of concubines until I’m forgotten. Do you think I’m truly that stupid that I don’t realize how court life works? I was so, so verystupid to think I had a chance at happiness with you. That I had a chance to become something more than just a?—”

“Daiyu, I’m not?—”

“You’re notlisteningto me!” She jabbed a finger into his chest. “You’re not listening, Muyang! I know what you’re planning on doing. Don’t you see? I get it now. I get it! You never intended to make me anything more than just your bed warmer. You were planning on marrying her all along, weren’t you? I knew that, I knew it!”

And yet she hadn’t expected it to hurt so bad. She hadn’t expected the sharp pain that made her want to scream, and scream, and scream.

Of course he was going to be with other women. She had expected it. Everyone knew it was going to happen.

But she couldn’t accept it. Now that it was becoming a reality, shecouldn’t.

“You—” Whatever words she was going to say died on her lips when she spotted Yanlin marching down the hallway toward them, a glowing, venomous grin on her face. Daiyu saw red, red, andred. Her nostrils flared and all the rage seemed to build up in that moment. She wanted to strangle the woman. How dare she?

She had poisoned Daiyu. Had kidnapped her. Burned her family’s rice paddies. Tried to assassinate her. And now she had humiliated her in front of the entire empire.

All the while, shegrinned.

“You can’t speak to His Majesty that way,” Yanlin said in a singsong voice, her smile growing wider as she took in Daiyu’s appearance. “You should know that already. He can have you thrown in the dungeons for that, or even executed.”

She stopped until she was in front of them both. She bowed to Muyang, who stood rigid with an expressionless look on his face, and then she turned to Daiyu. “You really should stop making such a scene?—”

Daiyu slapped her.

Yanlin’s head whipped to the side, her painted lips forming a perfect O.

Her hand stung, but she couldn’t even relish the satisfaction of smacking the evil woman. Not when her emotions were all over the place. Not when she wanted to strangle her pretty little neck. “Youbitch,” Daiyu seethed, “you’ve been planning this all along, haven’t you? To show the entire empire how important you are and to secure your own position within the emperor’s court. Well, there you have it! You’ve won!” She shoved the sputtering woman against Muyang, who barely caught her by the shoulders. “You both deserve one another! You’re both nobles who know how this world works!”

She whirled on her feet, grabbed her skirts, and sprinted down the hallway. She didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of watching her burst into tears. She was already having a meltdown, she knew, and she was already making a bigger fool of herself. Everyone would be talking about her tomorrow. About how the emperor’s new wife was left stranded during the lantern lighting and how the beautiful Wang Yanlin would marry the emperor soon.

“Daiyu!” Muyang called out for her, but she ignored him, continuing to run down the hall.

She yanked open one of the doors to an empty room and slammed it shut behind her. She locked it immediately, even as Muyang rattled against the doorknob and pounded his fists against it. She fell to the floor, her sobs breaking through her chest. She heaved in large gulps of air, hating how horrible she felt. Hating that she was even here in the first place. Hating that he could hear her strangled sobs.

“Feiyu! Please, Ineedyou.”

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