The air was hot and dry. A fire broke out at the marquis's residence, and scorching flames nearly consumed everything.
My adopted sister, Ji Lanxin, and I were both trapped deep in the sea of fire, crying out for help in despair.
Yet at the critical moment, my husband, Marquis Lu Jinzhao, rushed without hesitation toward Ji Lanxin and held her tightly in his arms.
In a panic, he carried her out of the fire without looking back.
He didn't even glance back at me, leaving me surrounded by flames and thick smoke, nearly suffocating.
Only when the flames licked at my skirt, and I thought I was certain to die, did the servants finally arrive and drag me, battered and bruised, from the jaws of death and out into the courtyard.
The next day, covered in wounds, I handed Lu Jinzhao the divorce agreement.
His face darkened, his eyes full of disdain and reproach. "Lanxin is afraid of fire. That's why I protected her first. You begrudge me even that? As the marquis's principal wife, how can you be so petty?"
He thought I was only throwing a tantrum. He had no idea that the flames from the night before had burned away the last of my love and hope for him.
Meeting his self-righteous gaze, I said calmly, "My lord, let us part ways in peace!"
