The moment Cang Lan exited the palace, he saw a young girl waiting for him outside. She strode over and began to question him anxiously, “Are you really going to marry Princess Qing Guan?”
“En.”
“But…” The girl’s lips moved, but she didn’t know what to say. She felt so anxious that she began to stomp her feet. ‘Qing Guan isn’t supposed to be with Highgod Cang Lan!
But…
Why does the name Qing Guan sound so familiar? I seem to have heard it before…
But from where?’
Cang Lan sidestepped her and walked off. Seeing this, Yue Yao could only suppress her doubts and run after him. ‘Seems like I have to take matters into my own hands.’
……
Shi Sheng met the female lead on the second night of her stay in the palace.
The female lead had used some unknown methods to knock her attendants unconscious and clambered in through her window, dressed from head to toe in dark clothing.
Shi Sheng was sitting cross-legged on her bed in her nightgown, as if she had been awaiting Yue Yao’s arrival.
The moment Yue Yao entered, her gaze met a pair of calm and clear eyes. Even as they met her own Yue Yao could see no change in their still depths.
She patted herself down. ‘I didn’t make myself invisible! What’s with this Princess Qing Guan? Wouldn’t the first reaction of a normal person seeing a stranger enter their room be to call for their guards?’
Yue Yao had already planned on how to stop this princess from yelling for her guards, but the latter didn’t seem like she was planning to call for anyone.
‘She’s not blind, is she?’
Yue Yao tried moving around a bit. The woman’s eyes remained fixated on her.
‘So she’s not blind…’
Yue Yao felt that this woman was really too odd. After all, her reaction—or rather, her lack of reaction—was too strange.
“Why did you come here?” Shi Sheng’s frosty voice interrupted Yue Yao’s musings.
‘I do not wanna know what the FL was thinking about just now…
I(bbb) was waiting for her to speak, but she just fucking stood there without saying anything for ages. Did she come here just to see how good-looking I(bbb) am?’
“Ah?” Yue Yao reacted at last and asked in confusion, “You know me?”
‘The body I’m in shouldn’t have been acquainted with her, so how come she seems to know me?’
“I(bg) asked you: why did you come here?” Shi Sheng repeated herself, though hints of impatience had seeped into her tone and her aura had turned sharp.
“I…” Yue Yao retreated a step, shocked by Shi Sheng’s attitude. She forced herself to speak, “I wanted to talk to you about General Cang Lan.”
Yue Yao’s face was red—whether from the shock she received or from embarrassment, only she knew.
“Oh, I don’t wanna hear it,” Shi Sheng spoke coolly.
‘What could FL-sama possibly have to say about him? Of course she’s going to slander Cang Lan and make me dissolve the engagement. She’s been using this method for all of Cang Lan’s other admirers too…
If that didn’t work, she’d scare them off.’
Yue Yao had a script prepared, but it was now useless thanks to Shi Sheng’s immediate rejection. So for a time, she just stood there staring at her, not knowing what to do.
But upon remembering her purpose behind sneaking into this room, Yue Yao grit her teeth and picked up where she left off, “Princess Qing Guan, look at you. You’re pretty, and with your noble background, you can have any talented young man you want in Nanjin! Why must you be married off to such a distant land? You might not be able to return to Nanjin and see your family for the rest of your life!”
“You climbed into my(bg) room this late at night just to praise me(bg)? Do you have a crush on me(bg)?” Shi Sheng’s expression was full of ridicule as she asked.
‘She didn’t bother thinking about what consequences I’d face if I returned, did she? How would the people of Nanjin and Chen view me? That I wasn’t worthy of Cang Lan, or that there was something wrong with me that made him ditch me?
In this day and age, a woman’s reputation is everything! The number of gossips here certainly aren’t fewer than in a modern world! FL-sama, are you planning on completely ruining my(bbb) reputation?’
Yue Yao, “…” ‘Please pay attention to the last part of what I said!!!’
Yue Yao felt like she had no way to communicate with this princess.
“Princess Qing Guan, Cang La— the General has some nasty habits. He doesn’t wash his face or his feet, and he’s violent to women! I’m saying this for your sake! If you really married him, you’d be the one suffering…” Yue Yao persisted along this train of conversation. She’d dealt with many of the other admirers before crossing this woman, so she believed this one would be no different.
“And you know this so well because…? Who is he to you?” Shi Sheng cast Yue Yao a sidelong glance. ‘FL-sama’s really putting in a lot of effort to keep the ML’s love interests away from him. But… I’m the one who’ll break their ship.’
“I’m just a kind person who doesn’t want to watch you girls be deceived.” Yue Yao gave her a friendly smile.
“Don’t you find this excuse that you barged in here for a total stranger utterly ridiculous? Do you know what crime you’d be charged with if you got captured? I(bg) could kill you right now and say that you were an assassin. Even if the others found out about this tomorrow, I’m(bg) the Princess of Nanjin. No one would punish me(bg) for it.”
‘I’m surprised Qing Guan ended up like that even with her strong backing and the FL’s recklessness…’
Yue Yao felt a cold shiver race up her spine as she stared in fear at the woman seated on the bed. Shi Sheng’s lips raised slightly as a mocking, malicious smile spread across her exquisite features, causing Yue Yao’s scalp to tingle.
“I—I was only being nice! Why are you being so unreasonable?” Yue Yao spoke through clenched teeth as she stared at Shi Sheng nervously.
“You enter my(bg) room in the middle of the night and expect me(bg) to be reasonable?” Shi Sheng leapt off her bed, and with a flick of her wrist, her sword appeared.
“Fine! I’ll show you unreasonable!”
Shi Sheng slashed her sword down at Yue Yao.
“Ah!” A startled shriek escaped from Yue Yao’s lips as she ducked and weaved while covering her head with her hands.
Shi Sheng had truly been angered this time, for her sword continued to slash at the female lead without pause.
‘For fuck’s sakes, instead of sleeping like a normal person, you ran over to my bedroom in the middle of the night to try and brainwash me?! And when that didn’t work out, you call me unreasonable?! Just who is being unreasonable here?! I must’ve been too nice to her just now if FL-sama thinks I’m easy to bully!’
Yue Yao hadn’t expected Shi Sheng to act on her words so suddenly. She tried to use her spells once she had a chance to react. But Shi Sheng interrupted Yue Yao’s hand seals every time she tried to cast a spell.
Yue Yao got cut several times, causing the faint smell of blood to pervade the room.
“Princess Qing Guan! I’m the Prime Minister’s daughter! You can’t kill me—” Without her spells, Yue Yao was no match for Shi Sheng.
“Who said I(bg) wanted to kill you? I’m(bg) just teaching an assassin a lesson!”
‘I’m(bbb) not dumb! The FL’s got a main character halo, so she can’t be killed. But even if I can’t kill her, I can still maim her without any problems…’
Shi Sheng knew where to draw the line; the injuries she inflicted weren’t fatal. But they bled a lot, making Yue Yao a terrifying sight to behold.
Once she’d dealt with Yue Yao, Shi Sheng went to wake Bi Xi up.
Bi Xi paled upon seeing the streaks of blood lining the floor of the room.
“Are you alright, Your Highness?” Bi Xi anxiously examined Shi Sheng from head to toe, and only let out a sigh of relief once she confirmed the princess was unharmed. However, doubt soon beset her. ‘How did I fall asleep just now…? Fortunately Her Highness is alright. If anything happened to Her Highness, I don’t know how I’d face His Majesty.’
“It’s fine. Go wake the others.”
Bi Xi cast one final look at Yue Yao lying on the ground, whose current state of health was unknown, before reminding Shi Sheng, “Why don’t you stand outside, Your Highness? The stench of blood here is too thick.”
Bi Xi had a lot of experience despite her young age, or else she wouldn’t have been sent to follow Qing Guan to Chen.