The female general said she was forthright.
The Crown Prince was ambushed and fell off a cliff. I happened to be gathering herbs in the mountains and rescued him.
When the emperor heard of this, he issued an edict arranging our marriage and naming me Crown Princess.
But at the palace banquet, the female general pointed at me in front of everyone and said:
"Wasn't the one who carried the Crown Prince back that day the little maid behind you?"
"This concerns the royal family. It is no trivial matter."
"I wonder whether His Majesty has investigated it thoroughly?"
Within days, rumors were spreading throughout the palace and beyond.
People said that our Gu family had always stayed out of court politics, but now, in order to curry favor with the throne, we had actually let our young lady take credit for a little maid's deed.
My father was furious. As a family of renowned physicians, the Gu family could no longer hold its head high in the martial world.
That night, I was sobbing uncontrollably atop the Star-Picking Tower when someone pushed me off. I fell to my death.
After I died, everyone said I had killed myself out of shame. When the female general heard the news, she went to the Crown Prince and wept aggrievedly:
"I was just being forthright and asking a casual question. Who could have known she would jump off the tower because of it?"
When I opened my eyes again, it was the day before the betrothal banquet.
This time, I went to find someone first.
The female general's lover, whom she thought had already died.
