They were cousins, betrothed since childhood.
By the fourth year of their marriage, Xue Ehua was wondering when he had changed.
Perhaps once his claim to the throne was secure, he no longer needed her maternal family's support?
He no longer indulged her as he once had, nor did he spend the night pampering her again and again.
He even wanted to take another woman as his concubine.
Ehua was consumed by resentment and used witchcraft to curse the beauty who had stolen her husband.
When the truth came to light, the emperor showed no regard for their past. He issued an edict banishing her to a Taoist temple to reflect on her misdeeds.
Ehua lived there in sorrow, in wretched conditions.
Until one night,
she accidentally lost her footing and fell off a cliff, her body shattered on impact.
-
When she opened her eyes again, eight years had passed.
Xue Ehua returned to the Taoist temple, a place that had changed beyond recognition. The kind female Taoist who took her in told her:
The emperor's love for you runs deep. He often comes here and asks a ritualist to summon your soul, hoping to ease the pain of missing you.
Ehua gave a gleeful "Oh."
So that other woman didn't have long to live either?
The old bastard was putting on a show of devotion now.
-
The emperor had ascended the throne in his youth. He was handsome, majestic, and peerless in battle.
His only mistake was marrying a spoiled, domineering first wife. Fortunately, she made a grave error and died in shame.
Ehua often heard people say these things, but now she felt they had nothing to do with her.
Until one day, when the emperor performed another soul-summoning ritual, Ehua happened to glimpse the talismans. There was a thick stack of them, and every single one bore the same four words:
My wife, Ehua. My wife, Ehua. My wife, Ehua...
Ehua clutched the paper, shocked and confused.
What did it mean?
Had she really been summoned back?
Theme: None yet.
