Title: Reborn as the Poison Duchess: The System Crowned Me Empress
Chapter 2: The Resounding Slap
It took half an hour to get dressed. I did not rush.
I allowed the maids to pull the heavy, magnificent layers of dark crimson silk over my shoulders. The fabric was interwoven with real gold thread that caught the candlelight, depicting soaring phoenixes. My hair was pulled up into a severe, towering imperial bun, secured with nine heavy golden hairpins that chimed softly like temple bells with my every movement. I painted my lips a deep, blood red.
When I finally looked in the bronze mirror, I did not see a grieving, desperate wife clinging to a man’s love. I saw a queen preparing for war.
"Open the doors," I commanded.
The heavy wooden double doors of the main hall were hauled open by the servants. The roar of the torrential autumn rain immediately filled the room, bringing with it a biting, freezing wind.
Two sturdy manservants rushed forward, opening a massive, oiled-paper umbrella over my head as I stepped over the threshold.
I walked out onto the elevated stone veranda, looking down at the massive courtyard.
There they were.
Shen Ze knelt in the thick, brown mud of the courtyard. His usually immaculate, handsome face was pale and plastered with wet hair. Wrapped tightly in his arms, shivering like a drowned rat, was Lu Yao. She wore a thin, pathetic white dress—perfect for showing off her fragile figure in the rain.
The entire household staff—dozens of maids, guards, and eunuchs—stood under the eaves, watching this dramatic spectacle in hushed, terrified whispers.
Hearing the chime of my golden hairpins, Shen Ze snapped his head up. When he saw me standing there, towering over him in my full imperial regalia, a flash of genuine shock crossed his eyes, quickly replaced by manipulative, righteous anger.
"Wan'er!" Shen Ze cried out over the sound of the rain. His voice was laced with a demanding tone disguised as pleading. "Have you finally come to your senses? Look at what you are making us do! Yao'er is your own flesh and blood! She has nowhere to go. I am merely taking her in as an Equal Wife so she will not be bullied by the servants. Why must you be so incredibly jealous and narrow-minded?"
Right on cue, Lu Yao coughed delicately, a weak, pitiful sound. She buried her wet face into Shen Ze’s chest. "Brother-in-law... please, don't blame Sister. It is my fault for being born lowly. I shouldn't have come here to ruin your marriage. Just let me go... I will go drown myself in the eastern river. My life is worthless anyway..."
"Don't speak nonsense!" Shen Ze roared, holding her tighter, glaring up at me as if I were a monster. "I am the head of this household! I will not let you die!"
What a brilliant performance, I thought, my heart dead and silent. In my past life, this exact routine had shattered me. I had felt like the villain in my own home.
This time, I slowly began to walk down the stone steps.
Clink. Clink. Clink.
My golden hairpins swayed. My heavy, crimson robes dragged slightly over the wet stone, completely dry beneath the massive umbrella held by my trembling servants. The silence in the courtyard became deafening. Even the guards held their breath as they felt the terrifying, suffocating aura radiating from me.
I stopped at the bottom of the steps, standing right in front of them. The mud splashed near my embroidered silk shoes, but I didn't care. I looked down at them like a deity looking at insects.
"Jealous?" I repeated softly. The single word cut through the sound of the rain like a blade.
Shen Ze frowned, confused by my unnatural calm. "Wan'er, just agree to the Pingqi status, and I will come inside. Don't make a scene."
I didn't argue. I didn't scream.
Instead, I raised my right hand, drew it back, and swung it down with the full, unbridled force of the martial arts training my father had secretly taught me.
SMACK!
The crisp, explosive sound of flesh striking flesh echoed like a firecracker across the courtyard.
I struck Lu Yao so hard that her head violently snapped to the side. A spray of bloody saliva flew from her mouth, mingling with the rain. The sheer force of the blow ripped her out of Shen Ze’s arms, sending her tumbling backward into the thick, filthy mud with a pathetic, high-pitched shriek.
"Yao'er!" Shen Ze roared, his eyes widening to the size of saucers in pure, unadulterated shock.
A vibrant, violently red handprint instantly raised on Lu Yao's pale, delicate cheek. She clutched her face, looking up at me with an expression of sheer terror and disbelief.
Shen Ze leaped up from the mud, his face twisting into a mask of pure fury. "Lu Wan! You venomous, crazy bitch! How dare you strike her!"
He raised his large hand, aiming a brutal backhand directly at my face.
[System Warning: Hostile physical attack detected. Activating Passive Defense Protocols.]
I didn't flinch. I didn't even blink.
Before Shen Ze’s hand could even come close to my cheek, I shifted my weight. With blinding speed, I raised my leg beneath my heavy robes and drove my foot squarely, viciously into his left kneecap.
Crack!
"ARGH!" Shen Ze bellowed in agony. His leg instantly buckled under the precision strike. His momentum betrayed him, and he collapsed forward, splashing right back onto his knees in the deep puddles at my feet.
The entire courtyard gasped in unison. Several maids covered their mouths in horror. The Duchess just struck the Duke!
Shen Ze clutched his knee, staring up at me, trembling with a mix of humiliation, pain, and utter disbelief. This was the first time in ten years I had ever laid a hand on him. This was the first time I had ever looked at him with anything other than adoring submission.
"Know your place, Shen Ze," I commanded, my voice infused with cold, immutable iron. I leaned forward slightly, my eyes boring into his soul. "I am the Legitimate daughter of the Lu Military Family. I hold the military seal of the Northern Army. I was granted the title of First-Rank Duchess by the Emperor himself. You? You are a Duke in name only, an empty shell living entirely off my family's stipends."
Shen Ze’s lips parted, his face draining of all color as the harsh, undeniable truth of his status was aired out in front of every servant he commanded.
"Who," I hissed, my voice dropping an octave, "gave you the courage to raise a hand against me?"
Shen Ze swallowed hard, his bravado shattering under my oppressive glare. "You... you are my wife! I am your husband! The heavens dictate—"
"The heavens dictate nothing in my courtyard!" I snapped, cutting him off. I shifted my gaze to Lu Yao, who was sobbing hysterically in the mud. "A concubine born of a lowly, foot-washing servant dares to call herself my sister? You want to enter my Duke's estate? Fine."
Lu Yao stopped crying for a fraction of a second, hope flashing in her venomous eyes.
"But there is no Equal Wife," I continued, crushing that hope instantly. "You will not wear red. You will not walk through the front gates. You will enter through the servant's back door, wearing pink cotton, and you will serve me tea as a lowly, subservient concubine."
"Sister...!" Lu Yao wailed, clutching her swelling cheek. "Why are you so cruel? I am of the Lu bloodline!"
"Cruel?" I laughed, a sharp, mocking sound. "If you refuse, you can go ahead and fulfill your promise. Drown yourself in the eastern river. I'll even pay the carpenters to build your coffin tonight."
Shen Ze’s face turned a mottled, furious purple. He tried to stand, but his knee throbbed violently. "I will not allow it! I am the master here! If you do not accept her as an Equal Wife, I will march to the palace tomorrow and petition the Emperor for a divorce!"
He threw his ultimate trump card. In the past, the mere threat of divorce would have had me on my knees, weeping and begging for his forgiveness.
I smiled. I leaned down, bringing my face close to his ear so only he could hear my next words.
"Do it," I whispered, my breath cold against his wet skin. "Divorce me. And the very moment you do, I will instantly withdraw the eighty thousand taels of silver my Lu family secretly funnels into your estate's accounts every single month. Let’s see how you pay for your lavish lifestyle, your expensive teas, and your precious, heavily-armed private guards then... my dear husband."
Shen Ze froze completely. The rain continued to pour, but he looked as though he had been struck by lightning. He stopped breathing. He didn't think I knew about the secret funds he had been siphoning. He didn't know I knew he was using my money to build a private army for the Third Prince.
His jaw worked up and down, but no words came out. He was completely, utterly paralyzed by the realization that I held his life, his wealth, and his treasonous secrets by the throat.
[Ding! Quest Complete. Scum's dignity successfully crushed.] [Reward: +500 Dynasty Points. Skill 'Aura of the Tyrant' activated permanently.]
I straightened my posture, ignoring the System's chime, and turned my back on the pathetic pair kneeling in the mud.
"Tomorrow morning. The Main Hall," I announced loudly, ensuring every servant heard my absolute decree. "If she isn't kneeling on the stone floor with a cup of hot tea by dawn, have the guards drag her out and sell her to the lowest brothel in the capital."
I walked back into the warmth of the hall, leaving my husband and his beloved white lotus to shiver in the cold, unyielding storm.
This was only the beginning. I had promised the heavens a demon, and I was going to deliver.
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