The morning light fell gently over the capital, but inside the Cheng family residence, the air was heavy and suffocating.
Chen Guowei lay on his bed, his back still burning from the punishment he had received in the Dowager's courtyard the day before. The bruises beneath his robes throbbed with every breath. His servant knelt beside the bed, carefully applying herbal paste, but even the soothing medicine couldn't calm the storm in his heart.
His mind was in chaos.
Yesterday had been humiliation.
Today… uncertainty.
He had been forced to stand under the sun for an hour.
A teacup had nearly struck his head.
The Dowager Empress had publicly scolded him, calling him a traitor to his own clan.
And yet…
He did not regret his decision.
My younger daughter does not belong to this palace, he thought bitterly.
She is not meant to be a pawn in power struggles, nor a concubine in a pit of vipers.
The palace had devoured enough of his family already.
Just then—
