Chapter 1

The night grew late, and the dew lay heavy. The massive, black iron-like city gates were pushed shut with a dull rumble, and a palm-sized lock fell into place with a loud clang. As the guards dispersed, the scattered lights of the bustling streets gradually went out. Occasionally, a few birds called out, their cries echoing through the deserted capital.

When the night watchman’s calls passed through the formidable walls and reached the Eldest Princess’s residence, the place was still bustling with activity, a kind of liveliness entirely unlike that of the capital.

But the bustle was only a facade.

Upon closer inspection, inside the Eldest Princess’s residence, decorated with festive red and green, the servants were all hurrying about with smiles uglier than crying.

Within the square courtyard, the main hall and study faced each other from a distance. Bonfires crackled and burned, casting a reddish glow across half the windows.

Yan Qingzhuo remembered that she was supposed to be at a business dinner, drinking with a bunch of old geezers while discussing the upcoming launch of her company’s latest VR game.

But when she opened her eyes, everything around her was pitch-black, save for a candle flickering not far away, its wavering light making her dizzy.

Her back was resting against a dark red wooden bed. The entire room looked extraordinarily old-fashioned, furnished like a set from a historical costume drama.

Was this some kind of hotel theme?

Yan Qingzhuo looked at the maids dressed in traditional robes, all kneeling on the floor.

Surely this couldn’t be part of the hotel’s theme too?

“Where am I?” Yan Qingzhuo hadn’t fully recovered her bearings, and when she spoke, her voice came out icy cold.

The people kneeling before her thought she was angry. Trembling, they kowtowed and replied, “Reporting to Your Highness, you’re in… in the study…”

“The study?” Yan Qingzhuo sat up. “Why am I here?”

“Y-Your Highness suddenly fainted just now\…” The young maid raised her head for a glance, then began kowtowing frantically as though she’d seen a ghost. She hurriedly added, “Please calm your anger, Your Highness! Please calm your anger! Officer Wei has gone to escort Her Ladyship into the residence. She’ll be back any moment!”

Officer Wei? Her Ladyship? Princess?

Had she transmigrated?

She had only just signed the contract and was bailiantales.comabout to launch into her grand plans. Surely she couldn’t be this unlucky!

“Then tell me… No, We ask you, what year is it now? And what is the name of our dynasty?”

The Eldest Princess naturally had a cold expression, and her usual behavior was so arrogant and eccentric that the servants wouldn’t have found anything strange about whatever she asked.

It was just that Officer Wei wasn’t here, and these maids had never spent so much time in the same room as Yan Qingzhuo before. At this point, all three of their souls and five spirits seemed to have rushed off to be reincarnated, leaving nothing but empty shells sprawled on the floor, trembling.

“R-Reporting to Your Highness, the current… the current dynasty is Liang, and this is the fifth year of the Tianjin era.”

Yan Qingzhuo’s heart immediately jolted.

These details weren’t from history. They came from a female-led power fantasy novel Yan Qingzhuo had read some time ago, titled “Song of Liangzhou.”

In the novel, the female lead, Jiang Ji, was a brilliant strategist who had never lost a battle. However, during the Battle of Liangzhou, she was betrayed by her deputy general and became a prisoner of war. She was then bestowed upon the notorious Eldest Princess as a concubine, where she suffered endless humiliation. After escaping Great Liang, the first thing she did was have the Eldest Princess torn apart by five horses!

And now, she had somehow transmigrated into that very Eldest Princess who shared her name!

Yan Qingzhuo threw off the quilt ​bailiantales.com​and stood up, intending to go outside and take a look. But just then, with a deafening crack, thunder suddenly boomed outside.

She turned around. Raindrops were pattering against the windowsill, slipping through the half-open doors and windows. The spring rain carried a slight chill, which seeped into the room along with it.

The bonfires burning in the braziers outside were doused by the rain. They flickered briefly before going out completely, and darkness instantly spread across the threshold to Yan Qingzhuo’s feet.

“Hurry up and close the doors and windows!”

A clear female voice suddenly rang out from outside. Soon after, a guard dressed in black, with an upright and righteous appearance, hurried into the room.

The moment this guard spoke, the maids felt as though they’d been granted a pardon. They hastily rose to close the doors and windows.

The guard approached, bowed, and asked with concern, “Mistress, are you feeling better now?”

“Much better.”

Judging by the situation, this person was probably the “Officer Wei” the servants had mentioned. She was Wei Qi, the Eldest Princess’s personal guard, a simple-minded but unwaveringly loyal woman who would eventually die saving the Eldest Princess.

Wei Qi asked, “Then, Mistress, would you like to go to the bridal chamber now?”

“The bridal chamber?” Yan Qingzhuo was so startled that her voice involuntarily rose in pitch. The surrounding servants immediately dropped to their knees again in a great commotion.

Yan Qingzhuo was getting thoroughly fed up with all the kneeling. She waved her hand and said, “All of you, leave!”

The maids instantly scattered like frightened birds and beasts, and the room finally became a little quieter.

But although the servants had left, Yan Qingzhuo’s heart was still pounding with unease.

Surely the person she was supposed to spend her wedding night with wasn’t Jiang Ji? She couldn’t possibly be so unlucky that she’d run straight into her mortal enemy the moment she arrived, could she?

At this thought, Yan Qingzhuo’s fingertips trembled. She cautiously asked, “Where is Jiang Ji right now?”

Even if she had transmigrated, that didn’t necessarily mean she was the Eldest Princess of Great Liang. And even if she had become “Yan Qingzhuo,” that didn’t necessarily mean she’d married the female lead.

Clinging to her last shred of hope, she silently chanted, Please don’t let it be Jiang Ji, please don’t let it be Jiang Ji.

But Wei Qi, completely oblivious to her thoughts, answered in a ​unauthorized copy​firm, resounding voice, “She’s in Your Highness’s bedchamber in the front courtyard!”

Yan Qingzhuo’s heart instantly shattered into eight pieces.

Of all the people she could have transmigrated into, why did it have to be this debauched Eldest Princess who died young? And of all the possible times, why did it have to be her wedding night with Jiang Ji?!

She had to face Jiang Ji at the very moment the woman hated her most, without even the slightest chance to prepare. Yan Qingzhuo almost wished a bolt of lightning would strike her dead on the spot.

While she was drowning in despair, the utterly tactless Wei Qi spoke again. “Mistress, this servant knows you’re unwilling, but since it’s a marriage bestowed by imperial decree, you have to show some respect.”

The original owner of this body was the current emperor’s elder sister. However, after failing in her attempt to seize power, she’d become an object of suspicion to the emperor, leaving their relationship far from secure.

Since the marriage had been arranged by imperial decree, she had no choice but to go. Otherwise, before Jiang Ji even got the chance to kill her, the emperor would have her chopped into pieces.

“Wei Qi,” Yan Qingzhuo called.

Wei Qi immediately stepped forward. She thought Yan Qingzhuo was about to order her to get rid of Jiang Ji, and her heart filled with dread. She knew perfectly well that even ten of her wouldn’t be a match for Jiang Ji.

However, Jiang Ji currently had difficulty walking, so perhaps she stood a fighting chance.

She raised her eyes slightly and saw the Eldest Princess standing there with her head lowered, lost in thought.

Although Yan Qingzhuo was a Qianyuan, her years of imprisonment had left her increasingly frail. Her complexion was pale, and even as she stood, a faint melancholy lingered between her brows. Her slender figure looked as though she might collapse at any moment, making it difficult not to feel sorry for her.

Wei Qi gritted her teeth. Steeling herself with the firm resolve that she would gladly die for the Eldest Princess without regret, she was just about to draw her sword and charge out when she heard Yan Qingzhuo let out a soft sigh.

The faint sigh drifted into Wei Qi’s ears, barely more substantial than a thread of air.

“Come on. Let’s go see her.”

Yan Qingzhuo lifted the hem of her skirt and walked toward the door.

Wei Qi froze.

Did that mean… she didn’t have to kill her?

Her grip on her sword hilt loosened. She picked up a large cloak from the stolen contentside and followed, draping it lightly over Yan Qingzhuo’s shoulders.

Although it was somewhat chilly outside, the weather wasn’t cold enough to warrant wearing a fox-fur cloak. Yet when Yan Qingzhuo stepped outside, the cold wind actually made her bones ache faintly.

The pain made her instinctively pull the fox fur tighter around herself. Her pale fingers strained with the effort, the reddish marks around her knuckles resembling cinnabar bleeding across white paper.

With a sharp rustle, Wei Qi opened the umbrella.

Yan Qingzhuo stepped into the rain with one foot, watching the water splash beneath it, and furrowed her brows again.

On the very first day of her transmigration, she had to spend her wedding night with the woman who would eventually kill her.

·

The night mist was thick. Although the study and main hall appeared to face each other from a distance, getting from one to the other actually required passing through several winding corridors.

Yan Qingzhuo walked steadily along the bluestone path, listening to the rain striking the bamboo leaves. The path was long, yet in her mind, the distance kept growing shorter and shorter.

As the lights of the main hall drew closer, Yan Qingzhuo felt as though someone had seized her heart in bailiantales.coma tight grip. It throbbed violently, pounding against the bones of her chest.

Standing beneath the eaves of the main hall, Yan Qingzhuo was just about to steady her breathing when a sudden rustling sound startled her so badly that her shoulders jerked.

She turned around and saw Wei Qi folding up the umbrella. The guard looked at her in confusion. “Mistress, why have you been so distracted and restless today?”

“It’s nothing. I’m probably just tired.”

With her meeting with Chiyan’s deadliest warrior only moments away, Yan Qingzhuo became even more determined not to let her guard down. She forced herself to press her fingers against her temples and watched as a maid placed her hand against the door and slowly pushed it open.

In the novel, the Eldest Princess had become a cold-blooded, pleasure-seeking woman after losing the struggle for the throne against her younger sister at the age of sixteen.

But that younger sister of hers could hardly be called a good emperor either. During her reign, she was foolish and incompetent. The Left Chancellor controlled the imperial court, amassing wealth with impunity while the common people suffered terribly.

The fall of Great Liang was already inevitable. Jiang Ji was ruthless and decisive, with an obsessive disposition. Even if Yan Qingzhuo did absolutely nothing, as long as Jiang Ji had endured that humiliating period of her life, she would never let Yan Qingzhuo go, no matter what.

The dim light inside the room quickly spilled out.

Yan Qingzhuo looked at the smiling wedding matron inside, curled her fingers slightly, bailiantales.com and stepped over the threshold.

Things had already come to this. She could only take things one step at a time.

She walked past the maids toward the inner chamber. The wedding matron followed her with a beaming smile. “Your Highness, you’ve finally arrived! I was beginning to think you weren’t willing to consummate the marriage tonight!”

Yan Qingzhuo stopped in her tracks.

For a mere servant to joke so casually about a marriage bestowed by imperial decree, this wedding matron probably had quite an extraordinary background.

Perhaps she’d been sent by that “imperial younger sister” of hers to keep an eye on her.

Yan Qingzhuo was just about to speak when Wei Qi stepped forward first and snapped indignantly, “Since when is it your place to comment on Her Highness’s affairs?”

The wedding matron’s smile remained firmly in place. “This servant was sent here by Her Majesty. I wouldn’t dare neglect my duties.”

Just as she’d thought.

Wei Qi stormed forward, one hand gripping her sword, looking as though she would gladly kill the woman on the spot. “You’re a servant, while our princess is [read the original at bailiantales.com]your master! Do you think bringing up Her Majesty gives you the right to interfere in my princess’s affairs?”

Yan Qingzhuo’s eyelid twitched.

She silently observed the situation for a moment before raising her hand to stop Wei Qi. Carefully choosing her tone to make herself seem no different from the original owner, she said to the wedding matron, “On such a joyous occasion, must you be so noisy? Say another word out of turn, and I’ll have your tongue ripped out.”

Seeing that the princess was defending her, Wei Qi looked rather smug. She shot the wedding matron a provocative glare before stepping aside.

The wedding matron had long heard that the Eldest Princess killed without batting an eye. Now thoroughly frightened, she didn’t dare utter another word. Trembling, she led Yan Qingzhuo into the inner chamber.

Soon, a flash of red entered her vision.

Beside a bed large enough for two, sheer golden curtains were drawn back to either side. Seated in the center was a figure dressed in red wedding robes, her face concealed beneath a bridal veil.

Even while seated, her back was as straight as a sharpened blade. Her hands rested loosely on her thighs, fingers half-curled into fists, seemingly without exerting any strength.

But Yan Qingzhuo knew that this blade had already been drawn from its sheath and was merely waiting for her to offer up her head.

“Your Highness, it’s time to lift the bridal veil.”

The wedding matron’s voice drifted over.

Yan Qingzhuo’s thoughts were still occupied with Jiang Ji. Hearing those words, she reached out, took hold of the edge of the bridal veil, and slowly pulled it away.

She saw Jiang Ji’s hands tighten slightly.

Then, when she raised her gaze, a pair of dark, vicious peach-blossom eyes met her own.