On the first night of her marriage to Pei Zhiheng, Lu Mingtang realized their union was a one-year contract.
She had it all figured out: secure her position as principal wife and earn enough to qualify for going home to save her parents.
But Pei Zhiheng had seen through her from the very first glance.
He didn't call her out. Instead, he let her use their marriage certificate to see off the officials in charge of the wedding rites, watched her inspect every chest of dowry, and allowed her to take charge of everything from the inner household to military supplies. Even when people challenged her, he placed the princess consort's seal in her hands in front of everyone. “I gave it to her. Who dares question it?”
Yet his control was like an invisible net. The Black Feather Token let her summon guards and relay horses, but it also recorded every route she took out of the city.
He had seen the escape route she was preparing.
Their cold war erupted the night he discovered her draft of a divorce agreement.
The man held the thin sheets of paper, his voice as cold as the snow of the northern frontier. “From the day you married into the prince's estate, you've been preparing to leave.”
Lu Mingtang didn't deny it.
He remained silent for so long that she thought he would revoke all her privileges.
At last, the man who had always controlled everything pushed the Black Feather Token and a blank travel pass toward her. “Lu Mingtang, if you want to leave, I'll make sure you have the safest possible way out. But if you're willing to stay, from now on, wherever you want to go, you won't have to use the token and leave a record. I'll give you the freedom to go without reporting your movements.”
