“Swish!”
The Beaded Curtain hung down, its lustrous sheen shimmering in the lamplight. Behind the Golden Hook Gauze Account, the scene was hazy yet magnificent.
On the large, carved bed, a figure abruptly threw off the covers and sat up. Her unbound hair flew about wildly, and her hoarse voice was filled with ridicule. “Absurd!”
Xiao Li had died, but it seemed she was alive again.
She had transmigrated into a book from some unknown era, becoming an evil supporting character and forced to live through her entire life.
Used, love-obsessed, defiled, pregnant, driven to madness, and dead from a hemorrhage!
It was utterly preposterous! Xiao Li had been forced to experience it all. That person was not her, yet everything had felt too real. The suffocating pain, self-loathing, and disgust left her breathless, her scalp tingling.
“The nightmare should end now!”
A faint sound of a door opening pulled Xiao Li back from the brink of a mental collapse.
A figure tiptoed toward the bed. He carefully lifted the curtain and looked up, only to meet a pair of Phoenix Eyes as cold as the Nine Netherworlds.
The intruder jumped in fright and hurriedly apologized, “Princess, forgive me! This subordinate… this subordinate…”
Zhang Jing, one of the princess’s guards.
In the book, he had long coveted the original owner, Xuan Yang Chang Gong Zhu. He had only dared to fantasize and never transgress, but after the princess got drunk, someone gave him the order to unleash the beast within his heart.
He had come to the princess’s bedchamber and defiled her. Although he was killed the very next morning, he had left her pregnant.
So, she had arrived on this day. Did this mean she was still trapped in that book? Fear gripped Zhang Jing’s heart, but when he heard no response from the princess for a long time, he remembered that she was drunk tonight.
Was she still drunk? “Princess… Princess?”
He called out tentatively but received no reaction.
Bolder now, he looked over. The princess’s gaze was still terrifying—cold and profound, like she was looking at a dead man, without a flicker of emotion.
So she was still drunk. In that case… The thought of what he was about to do made his breath come in ragged, nervous gasps.
“Princess…” He moved closer to the bed, his face a mask of greed and vile desire.
Perhaps the way Xiao Li was staring at him was unnerving. He spoke to bolster his courage and alleviate his fear and guilt as he approached.
“Princess, you are as beautiful as a celestial fairy. Only the Imperial son-in-law doesn’t know how to cherish you. Why must you waste your devotion on him? You are a noble princess and deserve to be pampered and adored. Why not look at this subordinate? This subordinate will definitely serve you well…”
Finally, his hand was about to touch the princess’s shoulder. The moment he had dreamed of was about to arrive.
As his heart leaped with joy, he heard a pfft.
“Ah!”
The short dagger pierced through his clothes without resistance, plunging viciously into his flesh.
“Clang!”
The blood-stained dagger fell to the floor. Xiao Li shoved the corpse aside. Her hands and body were covered in blood, yet she felt absolutely wonderful.
She couldn’t stand that pathetic plot for a second longer.
What imperial power? What protagonist? What plot? They could all go to hell!
Now, the interesting part was just beginning. She rose and called out coldly, “Men!”
In an instant, candles were lit, and Chao Yang Courtyard was brightly illuminated.
The princess’s mammas and maids knelt on the ground, not daring to make a sound.
On one side lay Zhang Jing’s corpse, a pool of blood spreading from his chest. His eyes were wide with a contorted, terrified expression, unable to rest in peace.
Xiao Li sat in the main seat, dressed in her nightclothes, her hair hanging loose. She was sipping tea.
This attire was anything but proper and not fit to be seen by others, but no one dared to say a word at this moment. Xiao Li’s clothes and face were spattered with blood, a shocking sight to behold.
Though she didn’t speak or show any anger, the air felt thin, so oppressive that it filled people’s hearts with dread, and no one dared to look up.
Several sets of hurried footsteps entered. The man in the lead had a handsome face with thick brows and large eyes. He kept his gaze straight ahead, holding a saber as he approached with a tray bearing several items.
“Reporting to the Princess, these were found in Zhang Jing’s room.”
Xiao Li glanced up, then her gaze fell to the person kneeling at her feet. “Li Momo, go and see.”
Li Momo trembled as she went forward and examined the items. “Princess, these are indeed your accessories. They are worth at least several thousand taels of silver.”
Xiao Li looked at him, finding the situation even more absurd.
The wooden-faced princess before him finally showed an expression. Her frigid eyes slowly lifted, revealing a look that was indifferent, sharp, bloodthirsty, and malevolent.
Blood gushed out, the pain arriving belatedly.
“Princess, it wasn’t this subordinate who wanted to defile you, it was the Imperial son-in-law… The Imperial son-in-law told me to come…”
“Princess…” He wanted to explain, to beg, but no one gave him the chance. The dagger was pulled out, shredding his heart and ending his life completely.
Although she was still in the book, she now had control of her body.
Xiao Li wasn’t the original owner, but she wouldn’t sling mud on herself either. Compared to almost being defiled, dealing with him on charges of theft was more appropriate. Besides, it wouldn’t stop her from settling accounts with others.
Xiao Li closed her eyes. “Zhang Jing committed theft, and the evidence is conclusive. Although he is dead, his crime is not erased by death. Send him to Shuntian Prefecture.”
Yang Jun nodded. “This subordinate obeys.”
They had never seen the princess this furious, but thinking about what Zhang Jing had done, it seemed understandable. Who doesn’t get pushed to their limit? That Zhang Jing actually dared to lay a hand on the princess and even forced her to kill someone. He truly deserved to die.
Yang Jun took Zhang Jing’s body away. Xiao Li swept her gaze over the kneeling figures. “I’ll spare you this once. There will be no next time.”
The princess had five trusted aides: Nai Momo Qian Hui, who had raised her; two managing mammas, Gao Zhen and Li Cuiyun; and two head palace maids, Hong Yue and Lan Yue.
Speaking of which, it was rather strange. These people were loyal to the princess, and someone would usually be on watch in shifts. Yet tonight, not a single person was around.
Not only did they let that scoundrel Zhang Jing in, but in the book, they didn’t even know she had been violated.
This was simply too unreasonable, as if they had all vanished, everything orchestrated to ensure Zhang Jing’s success. The timing, the location, the people—it was as if she were cursed.
Although they were only mentioned in passing in the story, and always as brainless, wicked servants who aided the villain, Xiao Li decided to keep them for now, seeing as they had been loyal from beginning to end.
“We will remember this,” the group kowtowed in gratitude.
“Splash!”
Xiao Li bathed again. The blood on her body dissolved into the water. The reddish color coincided with the plot she had experienced, but this was not her blood; it was someone else’s.
She got up and looked at the tub of water. The thought of being defiled and carrying Zhang Jing’s child in the book instantly filled her with disgust. “Change the water!”
She washed three times in a row and had incense lit before she finally felt clean.
The corner of her lips slowly curved upward, and her cold smile grew wild.
A smile appeared on her face, yet it seemed laced with poison, as if she were looking at the most disgusting thing in the world.
“Thud.”
It seemed she was still affected by the emotions from that nightmarish plot after all.