Her face never changed.
Regardless of what they said to her, her face never changed.
She stood unmoving like a block of ice. Her behavior made them even more furious than they already were.
“Filth. That’s all you are. How selfish can you be?”
“You were born for the sake of the clan, so you should live for its sake as well. How dare you act so willfully?”
“Look at this pathetic bitch. Is she even the Patriarch’s daughter? She should just die so that she doesn’t humíllate the clan more.”
“Idiot! Why should she die? If we sell her body to an elder of some great force, we can get even more benefits!”
“You’re right!”
It was how they thought of her. She knew it from the start, and there was no way it’d change now.
But regardless of what they said, she never let it get to her. She was indifferent to it all.
Scum.
What do the words of scum have to do with her?
Why should she let it affect her?
That’s how she wanted to think. That’s the ideal she was looking for.
But she was never that cold and indifferent person. She could fool others, but she couldn’t fool herself.
They told her that even if she was getting raped in a back alley, it would be better than what she was doing now.
They told her that if she killed herself, they’d let her corpse get desecrated by orcs.
She was only 16.
How was she supposed to remain cold and indifferent?
It was impossible.
She cried. Even as they jeered at her, she cried. But she couldn’t let them see her tears or else their attitudes would only become even worse.
So when those tears threatened to spill out of her eyes, she froze them. She froze them and shattered them into specks of frost so minuscule that the others couldn’t even perceive them.
“The only way to make them shut their mouths is with strength. Yue’er, you must never let them believe they’ve won against you.”
The clan didn’t care for her. She was given an ill maid and a guard who was just as weak as she was. But those two were her family. The words they said held meaning in her heart.
That guard had told her this. To gain strength. Otherwise, she would never have any say in what others thought. She would never have any control over her own fate.
Her maid berated him for speaking such cruel words, but she didn’t mind. He told her a fundamental truth that she needed to understand. For that, she was grateful.
And he wasn’t wrong.
From that day onward, she began to sneak out of the Clan Manor. She went into nearby forests with a shabby steel spear and killed anything that moved.
And slowly, she gained strength.
The clan that didn’t pay attention to her, the members who prayed on her downfall, they began to look at her with a hint of fear in their gazes.
At least, they did at first.
Soon, a piece of news traveled through the clan.
The Third Elder of the Jade Heavenly Palace was to take Xue Ruyue as his 347th concubine.
347th.
That prized gem of the Xue Clan wasn’t even given the status of an official wife or even an important concubine. She was to be reduced to a position no greater than a dog’s.
But in return for acquiring the Young Miss of the Xue Clan as his sex slave, the Third Elder of the Jade Heavenly Palace would grant the Xue Clan unprecedented status.
Status that would allow them to outshine the other three great clans.
She was horrified upon hearing the news. She felt like the hope she’d built up over the years had crumbled in an instant.
She wanted to run. She wanted to leave and never look back. However…
“Tonight, the Third Elder will be coming to see you. If you can’t serve him well, don’t expect that pathetic maid of yours to live.”
Those were the words she was given. Rather than threatening her life, they threatened the lives of some of the only people she cared about.
So she resigned herself to fate.
That night, she laid on the bed defenseless. She was prepared to offer no resistance. Her heart had frozen over.
But fate had other plans in store for her.
That guard broke into her room before the Third Elder arrived at the clan.
He forcefully dragged her away.
Even though his strength was now nothing in front of her, she couldn’t bear to hurt even a strand of hair on the head of the person who had raised her with care since she was young.
So she allowed herself to be pulled away.
On that silent night, the Xue Clan was sent into an uproar.
Two mere servants had rebelled.
Using an unknown poison, they killed dozens of guards that were monitoring the little princess.
And they sent her out of the clan.
On that night, Xue Ruyue ran with all her might.
She didn’t look back. She didn’t hesitate. Because she knew that if she did, she wouldn’t be able to control herself. She wouldn’t be able to leave her parents in such a terrible situation.
On that night, the guard and the housemaid, the two who had raised Xue Ruyue like their own child, committed suicide in front of the clan gates.
Their fates would’ve only been worse if they didn’t.
The housemaid would’ve been raped and humiliated until she was a shell of her former self.
The guard would’ve been tortured brutally until he was unrecognizable.
They knew this.
So they acted decisively.
Xue Ruyue only found out later what had happened to them.
When she did, she swore revenge. She would tear down the Xue Clan even if it took her hundreds of years to do so.
Meanwhile, the Xue Clan was in an uproar. Not only did they have nobody to punish for the events that occurred that night, they had also incurred the ire of the Third Elder.
By the time they caught wind of their little princess again, she had gained the backing of the Grand Elder of the Celestial Star Palace.
They could no longer touch her.
But Xue Ruyue wasn’t in the slightest bit proud of her achievement.
In the end, the people she cared about died because of her weakness.
The clan she hated most was still standing strong.
Under their influence, news of the incident never leaked. In the eyes of the public, the Xue Clan was honorable and just.
They were incredibly shameless too.
Even with Xue Ruyue abandoning the clan, they acted like she was still their property.
Even after the deal with the Third Elder was snuffed, they engaged her in another marriage agreement.
Not even with a force that was greater than them, but with the Wang Clan, which was a mere subsidiary clan.
She was infuriated.
But there was nothing she could do.
It was the fate of the weak.
She was born to be a tool for the Xue Clan, and even after she escaped, this fate still tried to follow her.
Ruyue woke up with a start.
The rage she felt, the humiliation, it was all fresh in her mind.
But she wasn’t the same helpless and sheltered princess anymore.
The feelings and struggles of her past self couldn’t bog her down.
She was different from Damien. From start to finish, she never repressed her memories.
She made sure those memories burned bright in her head. She made sure she’d never forget what had transpired.
It was her motivation. It was the reason she became strong.
So that one day, she could put the Xue Clan under her foot.
And then exterminate it for what it did to her and her family.