Willow on the Palace Wall (Lily ABO) - Chapter 3

003: Do You Know the Eldest Princess?

“You’re a clever girl,” Su Ce remarked. “Tell me, where are you going now? I can have someone take you—”

“I… I have nowhere to go, boo-hoo-hoo… Can I follow you, sister?” Amidst Xiao Chu’s chaotic sobs and explanations, Su Ce pieced together what had happened.

After escaping home, she had intended to seek refuge with her aunt, who had married and moved to Yannan. But Yannan had been ravaged by war, and her aunt’s family had long since disappeared. She didn’t even know if they were dead or alive, and now she truly had nowhere to go.

“I can do anything! Washing clothes, cooking, cleaning, feeding horses—it’s all fine…” As if afraid of being rejected by Su Ce, she urgently listed all her good qualities.

“I’m a soldier,” Su Ce said, suddenly leaning close to Xiao Chu, a hint of flirtatiousness in her eyes. “An Omega in the army can only serve as a military prostitute. Would you be willing to do that?”

“You… you’re lying!” Xiao Chu boldly retorted. “I… I’ve heard that this is the Eldest Princess’s army! It’s different!”

“You know the Eldest Princess?” Su Ce couldn’t help but ask.

“No,” Xiao Chu replied, but her voice suddenly became excited and much louder. “But I’ve seen her portrait. If she were right in front of me, I’d definitely recognize her.”

“Oh?” Su Ce almost laughed out loud.

“You don’t believe me, sister?” Xiao Chu looked completely unable to accept Su Ce’s doubt. She rummaged through her small bag, which could barely hold anything substantial, and actually pulled out a portrait.

“I begged my dad to pay five taels of silver to get someone to draw this,” Xiao Chu bragged to Su Ce. Su Ce watched with amusement as she unrolled the scroll. After seeing the “Eldest Princess” with a square face, bushy eyebrows, and round, brass-like eyes, Su Ce was speechless for a long time.

“…As far as I know, isn’t the Eldest Princess a Beta?”

Su Ce didn’t care much about her own appearance, but this portrait was just too strange.

“The Eldest Princess couldn’t possibly be a normal Beta woman! She’s definitely more Alpha than any Alpha!” Xiao Chu gazed adoringly at the portrait, carefully using her sleeve to wipe it. Su Ce really couldn’t bear to watch anymore.

“Wait here.” Su Ce walked toward the bank of the mountain spring. She didn’t know that the girl who had been so timid and frightened just moments before was now shamelessly studying her from behind, especially her pale nape and exposed legs.

It was the look of someone who had been starved for a long time and was finally getting what they craved—a gaze filled with an obsession and devotion that threatened to completely drown Su Ce, to devour her whole.

“I’ve finally found you,” she whispered softly. “This time, I won’t let you die in front of me.”

“Sister, please slow down. My… my foot hurts a little.”

A few yards after they started walking, Xiao Chu, wrapped in Su Ce’s cloak, began to limp and cry for mercy. Su Ce then noticed that the back of her ankle was somehow swollen and bruised.

“I just twisted it. It’ll be fine tomorrow, it won’t keep me from working.” She anxiously looked up at Su Ce from beneath the hood of the cloak, her eyes filled with sorrow and fear that Su Ce would abandon her.

Su Ce stopped in front of her, bending down slightly. “Get on. I’ll carry you.”

About fifty paces from the area where soldiers guarded the camp, Su Ce set the girl down.

“There’s an inconspicuous small path on the side. You’ll have to sneak into the main tent from there. Don’t let anyone see you, or else…” She left the threat unfinished, instead reaching up to help Xiao Chu adjust the cloak around her, covering even her messy hair.