The War Bride

2 | The Marriage Truce

Under the matriarch's orders, several handmaids prepared a warm, scented bath for Luwen. When they attempted to serve her in person, she refused and glared at them, forcing them to leave her room.

After all, she knew that this lavish treatment was only the beginning of her disastrous fate.

Flower petals drifted along the water. As she removed her clothes and soaked her battered body into the wooden tub, a relieved sigh escaped her lips.

She hated following the matriarch's instructions, but welcomed the heat from the water. It soothed the aches in her muscles and washed the grime and blood away.

The reason they gave her this bath was because the matriarch abhorred unclean looks, however, the latter failed to notice her own reflection. If she looked into the mirror long enough, she would see the world's most repulsive creature—her. She was someone who bore a blackened heart and a mind of a savage animal. The true monster.

Luwen scrubbed her skin harder, repeating the motion several times until they were red and raw. She dreaded her meeting with the matriarch later, who had wicked plans in store for her.

Her daughter was dead. Instead of grieving, she wanted Luwen to be her substitute?

What a ridiculous parent.

Luwen could only imagine the princess's pain caused by her heartless mother when she was alive, which eventually led to her death.

And now, Luwen was to impersonate the princess. The matriarch was infamous among people, and so was her kin. Their names spread wide and far.

If Luwen pretended to be the princess, she would be an obvious imposter.

She wasn't anything like the well-groomed princess of the Xia clan. Blisters covered her hands and feet, while purple bruises dotted her body. Her face, unlike the princess's soft features, was sharp around the edges. She wasn't soft-spoken and eloquent in her speech, but straightforward and brusque. Her body was built to fight, not enchant a man.

She could scare him away.

However, she could not confront the matriarch, who was highly skilled in dark magic. If she escaped now, it would be futile. The matriarch's guards would skewer her with their spears, or the Dai clan waiting at the borders would kill her.

She washed herself thoroughly, but the dirt turned the water rust, momentarily resembling red, just like the bloodstains on her uniform. The cries of the dead rang in her ears over and over again.

Luwen shivered. Closing her eyes, she hugged herself. No one was here to comfort her that everything would be alright.

She was alone.

***

The matriarch was waiting for her in the ancestral hall. The scent of sandalwood permeated through the air. It was relatively quiet, except for the crackling sound of incense paper burning in a metal tray right by the memorial tablets—an offering for the dead. There was a new tablet placed in the middle, and the name engraved on it only confirmed Luwen's suspicion.

It was the deceased princess–Xia Junyi.

As soon as the matriarch's eyes set upon Luwen, they brightened immediately and her lips slowly curved into a smile.

"Luwen," she said happily. "Come closer and let me see your wounds, especially your hand."

Luwen almost cringed at the gentleness in her tone, but she quickly smoothed her expression. If the matriarch portrayed her affection to her at this timing, the sense of impending doom felt even greater.