Chapter 2
Bridal Chamber
Feng Qi Palace is in deep silence, cold wind blows through the room, the flickering candles almost extinguished. Xia Hou Shang Yue and Bai Yu Chen sits on their respective places, one on top of the bed, while the other on a pear-wood chair, both staring at each other.
After a couple of moment pa.s.s, Xia Hou Shang Yue finally retrieve her eyes, dropping them to the floor. He only wanted her to put her head down. If putting her head down means she can better life in the palace, then why not?
Bai Yu Chen lets out a cold sneer, the pull in his lips and the redness of the room mismatching each other. His eyes are locked on Xia Hou Shang Yue who is looking at the floor.
Deep inside, he had always thought that the Princess Yue Feng who received excessive doting would have an unruly, spoilt personality. Only after he met her did he realized she is someone who is calm and collected. Even after receiving his blatant provocation, she can still be so calm and quiet, she really took him by surprise.
From outside the palace, the sound of the night.w.a.tch can be heard, Xia Hou Shang Yue lightly knit her eyebrows, it is almost 11 pm, don’t tell her both of them are going to sit like this until the sun rises?
“Your Majesty, this servant is sent by the Empress Dowager to serve both Your Majesty and the Empress to sleep,” an old mama from Ci Ning Palace is holding a white cloth while kneeling on the floor, her wrinkled face expressionless.
“Leave the cloth here, you can leave!”
Just as Xia Hou Shang Yue was left speechless, Bai Yu Chen opens his mouth and coldly explains that on the wedding night, an old mama would be serving them.
“But Empress Dowager….”
“Impudent! I told you to leave, so you better leave! What are you waiting for? Get lost!”
Bai Yu Chen flings some of the things on top of the table off. The kneeling mama trembles on the floor and hastily put the white cloth on the bed and retreat with her head bowed down.
Bai Yu Chen snort, his eyes coldly looking at the calm and tranquil Xia Hou Shang Yue. The wedding night is originally one’s biggest most beautiful thing in life, but to him, this is no different than an insult, an absolute humiliation towards his imperial honor.
Bridal chamber? Ah, what a taunting word!
Even though Xia Hou Shang Yue has no idea what Bai Yu Chen is thinking of, but she knows he has been unsatisfied with her because of this wedding matter. But she knows, even though she too is not willing, they both can’t avoid this wedding night.
“Your Majesty, it’s getting late. Let me serve you to sleep.”
She gets up and faces him, her entire face a scene of calmness. Standing in front of Bai Yu Chen, she did not show any form of discomfort or anxiety any other woman would have.
Bai Yu Chen smiles, a charming one inside the red chamber. Xia Hou Shang Yue frowns as she look at the man who slowly reach her.
She sighs, don’t worry, don’t be nervous. The palace mama already briefed her of what to be done before her marriage. Her hand was just about to reach Bai Yu Chen’s red belt when he grasp her hand. She look up to find a pair of eyes full of coldness staring back.
“Wedding night? Don’t think just because you’re a princess you would obtain my affection. You are not worthy!”
He toss her to the bed side, her head accidentally hitting the bed hard. Xia Hou Shang Yue bit her lips wordlessly from the pain.
She should’ve known, Bai Yu Chen will never accept her. Even if she was the esteemed princess of the Mu Kingdom, after arriving in Yue Kingdom, she is nothing but a consort disliked by the emperor.
Xia Hou Shang Yue’s pair of eyes are deep; like water as she look at the cold smile on Bai Yu Chen’s face. It was a while before she opens her mouth again.
“I am aware of Your Majesty’s dislike, but the Empress Dowager will definitely inspect the white cloth tomorrow.”
“Princess Feng Yue is of great intelligence, don’t tell me a mere white cloth will be enough to put you in a dead end?”
Bai Yu Chen take the white cloth and toy with them for a while before letting go. The cloth falls on Xia Hou Shang Yue’s face. He laughs for a couple of times before he goes back to sit on the pear-wood chair, the mockery in his eyes getting more and more prominent.
Xia Hou Shang Yue grits her teeth, trying to endure the humiliation. In her own wedding night, her own husband told her she is not worthy! Ah, such an insult. This is the biggest one she has ever received in her life!
She grasp the white cloth in her hand, and uses all her remaining self-esteem to get up from the bed while eyeing Bai Yu Chen’s smiling face.
She grab a phoenix hairpin from her own head, she uses a little pressure to pierce the tip of the hairpin into her fingertips. It hurts. The physical pain that she couldn’t describe cannot match the pain in her chest.
Blood starts to drip onto the white cloth.
Bai Yu Chen himself is in a shock, what kind of a woman is she? A woman who has received such a humiliation during her own wedding night can still maintain such a calm temperament?
He must say, he is really impressed.
“Is Your Majesty satisfied now!”
With one hand, she is holding the hairpin while in another, the white cloth. She asked the question coldly, she just wants to live in the palace peacefully, she does not care for anything else.
But Bai Yu Chen’s att.i.tude already told her that such ideas are mere wishful thinking, he will never let her live in peace!
Even though Bai Yu Chen is pretty surprised deep inside, his face still carries the same mocking smile. He grabbed Xia Hou Shang Yue’s hand with force, his other hand pulling at the white cloth. The red ‘shougong sha’(virginity mark) greets the eyes of the two people.
“What about this then?”
The red, blood-colored virginity mark is a mark that will not go away unless the virginity is taken. It was initially her symbol of chast.i.ty, but who would’ve thought it would’ve ended up becoming a tool for him to mock her.
Bai Yu Chen is aware of the function of the virginity mark, and is also aware that it will never go away unless she loses her chast.i.ty. Him doing this was only to give Xia Hou Shang Yue a blow.
Xia Hou Shang Yue bit her lips before resting her eyes on a pair of scissors beside the desk. The scissor was initially there to cut pieces of their hair as a token of their consummation.
Seems like cutting hair would no longer be possible for them. Xia Hou Shang Yue suddenly gives Bai Yu Chen’s face a smile, with the dazzling charm of a white spring flower.
She release her arm from his grip, Xia Hou Shang Yue head over to the table and take the scissors before facing Bai Yu Chen. She lifts her sleeves and expose her fair arm, the red dot that is the virginity mark exposed.
Xia Hou Shang Yue merely knit her eyebrows before she sc.r.a.p the virginity mark with a scissor. Blood drip from the wound, becoming a scene of blood and flesh. Despite all that, Xia Hou Shang Yue still maintained her composure.
“Is the Emperor satisfied now!”
Bai Yu Chen scoffed coldly, he flip his sleeves and turn around to leave Feng Qi Palace. Xia Hou Shang Yue grits her teeth to endure the pain, her forehead started dripping with cold sweat.
Bai Yu Chen suddenly turns again to face Xia Hou Shang Yue, his handsome face full of mocking.
“Don’t think I will change the way I treat you just because you did this! From now on, I shall never enter your Feng Qi Palace!”