Yu Luo still could not believe the reality before her eyes.
She had transmigrated into a male-oriented novel titled The Path of the Tyrant.
The male protagonist, Li Xiao, was the Heir of Prince Qin. He had become famous at a young age and had rendered outstanding military service for the Jing Dynasty.
Because his military achievements were so remarkable and his reputation so prominent, the calculating Emperor grew wary of him. The entire Prince Qin family was slaughtered, and Li Xiao barely managed to keep his life after narrowly escaping death many times.
Before the tragedy at Prince Qin’s Manor, Li Xiao had been a refined and upright noble young master, gentle toward others and calm in the face of everything.
After the disaster at Prince Qin’s Manor and the murder of his parents, Li Xiao had become cold and cruel—a true dark, obsessive, and gloomy figure.
In the early stages of the story, in order to evade the court’s pursuit and secretly build up his forces, Li Xiao hid his identity in the Yu Family Residence of the Marquis of Shunning. Disguised, he posed as an ordinary guard.
Yu Luo, the Eldest Miss of the Yu family, had an arrogant and domineering personality. Spoiled beyond reason by her family, she loved to beat and scold the servants in the manor.
After experiencing the unjust execution of his parents and a series of other tragedies, Li Xiao had become indifferent and disliked flattering others. Because of this, he attracted the attention of Eldest Miss Yu.
Every time Eldest Miss Yu saw Li Xiao, she would take out her whip and lash him until his entire body was covered in wounds.
From the title The Path of the Tyrant, one could already tell that the male protagonist Li Xiao would grow darker and darker, rising in power step by step while cruelly taking revenge on many people along the way.
As for Eldest Miss Yu, who had once humiliated him, Li Xiao later ordered people to tie her to a red-hot pillar and whip her to death.
Yu Luo: “……”
The reason she had read The Path of the Tyrant was because her best friend had told her that a female supporting character in the story had the exact same name as her.
She had never expected that after falling asleep, she would truly transmigrate into the book and become Eldest Miss Yu, whose ending was incomparably tragic.
Yu Luo looked at herself in the mirror.
Her face was exactly the same as her original body.
However, Yu Luo’s own hair had never been this long. The Eldest Miss Yu in the novel had kept beautiful long hair since childhood, and it had grown all the way down to her calves. Every day, several maids had to carefully comb and attend to it.
Fortunately, although this was an ancient setting, it was a fictional dynasty. Proper young ladies were not required to bind their feet.
Yu Luo touched her hair, then lifted her long robes to look at her feet, slowly letting out a sigh of relief.
The Path of the Tyrant had more than seven million words. Even after removing the author’s deliberately padded scenes and descriptions, there were still many plotlines that needed time to unfold.
Perhaps she had not yet met the male protagonist Li Xiao.
As long as she did nothing when she encountered him and simply pretended she had never seen him, her ending would not be so miserable.
—Why didn’t Yu Luo just cling to the male protagonist for protection?
Answer: Li Xiao was the protagonist of a male-oriented novel, not a lovestruck male lead from a romance story.
Even though Li Xiao himself was wholly devoted to his ambitions and had no interest in romance, the author had still arranged for many female supporting characters to appear in order to attract more male readers and encourage subscriptions and tips.
Aside from villainous supporting characters like Eldest Miss Yu, the other female characters—so long as they were beautiful—would fall deeply in love with the male protagonist and eventually become part of his harem.
The male protagonist was indifferent to his harem and had very shallow feelings toward all women. No matter how fiercely they fought over him, he would not even spare them a glance.
Yu Luo did not want to be caught up in so many struggles.
Since the male protagonist was the center of all those conflicts, as long as she did not offend him, the farther she stayed away from him, the better.
Outside, rain poured down in torrents, and Yu Luo could faintly hear the sound of the rain.
It was nighttime now. Yu Luo coughed softly.
The door to the boudoir was gently pushed open. A little maid dressed in green quietly walked in to check whether her young lady’s blanket had fallen off the bed.
Lord Marquis and the Marchioness cared greatly for their legitimate daughter. If she so much as developed a slight headache or fever, the servants attending her would be punished.
Unexpectedly, the moment the door opened, the maid saw that the young lady was sitting in front of the mirror wearing only her undergarments, apparently not even wearing shoes.
The little maid was so frightened that her soul nearly fled her body.
“M-M… Eldest Miss…”
Hearing the trembling voice that was almost about to cry, Yu Luo felt puzzled.
Did she eat people or something? Why was this girl so afraid of her?
Then she fell silent.
Yu Luo did not eat people—but the Original Owner, Eldest Miss Yu, was almost as terrifying as someone who did.
The maids serving by her side had all been severely punished by Eldest Miss Yu.
Since Yu Luo had just arrived here, the most important thing was not letting the people around her know that the person inside this body had changed.
Given the superstitious beliefs of ancient times, the mildest outcome would be inviting a group of masters to perform exorcisms. The worst outcome would be treating Yu Luo as a monster and killing her.
The most important thing was to stay in character.
She thought about it carefully. Eldest Miss Yu had a noble status. Her mother was the daughter of a Duke’s Manor, and her father was the prestigious Marquis of Shunning. Naturally, her household arrangements were extraordinary.
In her room alone, there were two first-class maids serving her, along with two second-class maids, eight third-class maids, and three or four menial servant women.
Since this little maid could enter her boudoir, she must be a first-class maid.
Yu Luo turned her head and said calmly, “The candlelight is dim. Who came in?”
The little maid hurriedly replied, “Eldest Miss, it’s me—Zi Ming.”
She carefully brought over a pair of finely embroidered shoes.
Before Yu Luo had transmigrated here, her father had been the richest man in X Province, and their household had also employed many nannies.
Even so, she still was not used to someone else putting shoes on for her.
She shrank back slightly and reached out to take the embroidered shoes, intending to put them on herself.
Zi Ming thought Eldest Miss was about to slap her again and shut her eyes tightly in fear.
Yu Luo: “……”
Forget it.
No matter what she did now, it seemed wrong. She could not break character.
She withdrew her hand. “It’s nothing.”
The slap she had expected did not land on her head. Zi Ming felt a bit delighted. She quickly held Yu Luo’s cool, snow-white foot and slipped the embroidered shoe onto it.
Afterward, she took a cloak embroidered with cranes and green bamboo and draped it over Yu Luo’s shoulders.
Although she did not know why Eldest Miss was not sleeping in the middle of the night and instead sitting by the mirror looking at herself, Zi Ming did not dare to ask.
Eldest Miss had always acted strangely. Asking even one extra question might earn her two slaps.
Yu Luo studied Zi Ming through the mirror, trying to remember her appearance so she would not forget later.
Zi Ming looked about seventeen or eighteen years old. She was tall but overly thin, with delicate and pleasant features. However, her temperament was somewhat timid. Standing beside Yu Luo, she occasionally revealed traces of fear, worried that Eldest Miss might beat her.
Yu Luo noticed several blood spots on Zi Ming’s cheeks and the back of her hands, as if they had been pierced by hairpins.
The Original Owner, Eldest Miss Yu, loved beating people and would sometimes stab the maids’ mouths with hairpins.
Yu Luo felt a bit sorry for her. She did not want the girl to remain at her side in constant fear, so she said nothing more and simply made a gesture for Zi Ming to leave.
Zi Ming withdrew nervously. After stepping outside, she finally let out a breath of relief.
For some unknown reason, she felt that today’s Eldest Miss seemed especially gentle.