Early update y'all

As the doctor was keeping his tools, the hazy voice sounded again.

"That gentleman... Was he defiled?"

The Imperial Doctor blanked only to realize the lord was talking about Feng mei ren.

"There are no signs of having been... violated."

At this answer, Long Xu Le's faint frown diminished. Soon, Xiao Hao saw the doctor off.

When he came back, her Highness was still sitting in the same place. Leaning back on the chair, her eyes were closed and resting. She looked immaculate but stiff.

If Xiao Hao didn't practice martial arts, he would think his master wasn't breathing anymore.

Wan Li Wang chose to summon the doctor here in the guise of hearing his report on the situation. Even if there were no more spies inside Zhongqing, unwanted eyes still couldn't take their sights away from this courtyard.

It can't be known that her Highness was receiving treatment. That one in Tanglin will rejoice.

"It seems Long Tang is still merciful. She didn't force herself on the boy." Came Long Xu Le's sarcastic voice.

Xiao Hao wanted to correct her that Beauty Feng was a grown man. But seeing her Highness' words were drawled and soft in a rare moment of vulnerability, he just held his tongue. It was just proof that the tonic was working.

"Make sure... her needs are all met but... do it covertly. Yao Ducheng is cornering me. Sooner or later, she will also target Long Tang if she stays a Junzhu."

Yao Ducheng was the given name of the Empress. If Long Xu Le's hunch was right, the assassins that ambushed her earlier were also sent by her Majesty or her cronies.

Either way, she left none of them alive. It was just too bad she got wounded in the process.

Xiao Hao now realized her Highness sacrificed her injury and carried Beauty Feng to hide the fact that she was hurt. The spies hiding inside the palace would report to their master about this scene, no doubt. It was better for the Empress to know that Wan Li Wang was undaunted.

Demoting Junzhu was also for her own good.

Seeing the ghastly bandages that still seeped blood, Xiao Hao found it ironic.

All the things wangye did just to protect herself and her family were answered with spite when she went home.

He took out the report from his chest pocket. Even if it is the brutal truth, he had to say this.

"There's proof that the Long Tang's maternal family is in contact with the distant nephew of the Empress. They're trying to monopolize the trade of ores in Juangxian Pass." He hesitated to add more.

"Speak." Even with eyes closed, wangye seemed to be giving a piercing glare.

"Her biological mother also met with her at least thrice a month. The reports didn't include their topics but I can dig into it more if you want."

Long Xu Le hummed. "Let Sangyu learn of it on his own...

...The Empress is intent on killing me. He needs to grow up."

After saying that, she got up and sauntered to her chambers. Looking at her desolate back, Xiao Hao couldn't help but sigh.

Her Highness' path was already laid. She even mapped what would happen after her death if she failed her great cause. If the worst happened and Junwang fell short of expectations, he wouldn't have a good ending.

For this, Xiao Hao was even more determined to help cultivate the prince.

---

Long Xu Le couldn't sleep from the pain. But even without it, she would probably still be awake. It had been that way since she fell gravely ill 16 years ago.

The tonic made her body sluggish at the most. It didn't numb the pain. This kind of medicine didn't completely work on her, who almost lived through drinking tonics for the first half of her life. But no one knew that normal medicine didn't work on her anymore. She always hid her weakness from everyone's eyes.

Having been kicked out of Tanglin Great Palace at 12 years old even when she was yet to recover from severe fever. She got used to only getting 3 hours of sleep and sometimes nothing at all. By now, her body had been tempered by martial arts and internal energy. If it was before, she would fall ill and die again.

King Wan Li chuckled darkly to herself. "King."

If it wasn't because of her, the one standing here right now would be her eldest brother.

Long Xueyu.

Born from the same parents as her. Her father's shizi.

>Shìzǐ - 世子 - heir apparent<

If the Yao family didn't covet the throne, her eldest brother would be the next-in-line after their Father became the Son of Heaven.

When was it her chance? There was never such a thing.

Long Xu Le stared at the flame from the candlewick. The orange light seemingly swayed and danced to an eerie music, making her face look even paler and gloomier.

Everyone was right. She was a demon.

With her own hands, she killed countless people on the battlefield... These hands also drew the blood of her eldest brother.

How would their imperial parents and grandfather react if they knew the sin she committed?

Maybe they saw it from the yellow springs already.

Long Xu Le's fingertips traced the rim of an empty cup. She didn't regret it one bit.

Killing Long Xueyu was necessary to preserve her and Long Sangyu's lives. In her eyes, she killed a traitor. She went through grievous things during those years after their parents died.

Her weak body gave up after two years of exile. She wouldn't have lasted that long if not for her desire to protect Sangyu.

When she opened her eyes, time miraculously turned back on the day the Crown Princess, their mother, was made to commit suicide. Long Xu Le never would have imagined she would experience seeing her mother drink the poisoned cup twice.

But her ill body couldn't do anything. Before she knew it, the things that happened in the past were repeating and the siblings got dragged to Suliang again. Naturally, she couldn't save her Imperial Grandfather even if she wanted.

The suffering almost drove her mad but it also kept her going. She was desperate for power.

Long Xu Le had to be King. She also had to be the master of this world. And so she did what she had to do. The first was to kill her own cruel brother. Only she and Xiao Hao knew this matter. Everyone who witnessed it being carried out died in the desert that day.

She forcefully closed her eyes.

Her Highness would silently count the days of the Yao family. Sixteen years ago, Prime Minister Yao murdered her parents, Crown Prince and Princess, and slowly killed her Grandfather Emperor.

In her last life, she was barely a flower, yet to bloom but was trampled upon by her own Eldest Imperial Brother. It was too short of a life but she learned that she could only stand on her own and take things under her control.

Maybe the heavens couldn't bear the injustice of the sky and earth being owned by an unscrupulous family. Or maybe this was just another punishment of hell. Every day, she would be woken up by nightmares. She was still afraid all the memories she made were just an illusion given by a devil. That her path to revenge was a mere deception.

But she had to carry on. Long Xu Le would pave the way to her ambition, even with blood.

Before dawn arrived, she finally closed her eyes.

But not even an hour had passed and she woke up, sweating. There were slight tremors in her pupils and her lips were bloodless.

It felt like if she closed her eyes again, she would see that bloody figure littered with arrows and slashes. Blood washed her face and seeped through her armor. Arrows whistled past her cheeks, deafening her but the person in front of her was immovable.

He was determined to block everything for her.

Men rushed from all sides. Their blades were blind and eager to kill.

Long Xu Le smelled her own death looming in the nightmare.

"Feng Ting."

She wouldn't be here if not for that person. Wan Li Wang sneered. That memory still haunted her dreams. That debt remained unpaid.

The King remembered the little guest residing in her courtyard right now. His surname was Feng like him.

Long Xu Le called for hidden guards to bring a basin of warm water. The bandages on her arm were bloody again.

After fixing them, there was a flurry of servants inside the inner room of Zhongqing courtyard. Her highness was feverish but this didn't stop her from moving.

Long Xu Le came out of her quarters with a ghostly face.

Wangye's usual routine if she was in the palace would be to go to her study after practicing martial arts before the break of dawn. But it looked like things were different today.

Eunuch Cheng followed her Highness in silence. He knew she was injured so going to practice martial arts was out of the question.

The direction she was going to... wasn't this the side hall Cheng Gong gave to Beauty Feng temporarily? His face contorted.

Did master find it repulsive to have someone living in the same courtyard as her?

Chief eunuch Cheng grew troubled. He couldn't order the people to move gentleman Feng because of his injuries and he wasn't even conscious.

Wouldn't it be too heartless to send him away?

So he picked the side hall farthest from her Highness' living quarters and just planned to quietly let them leave after a few days.

"Wangye..." Eunuch Cheng made a motion to explain but couldn't find the chance.

The king's strides were long and quick.

But she paused after seeing a familiar person in the small yard.

Long Xu Le wasn't aware of the frown on her face. "Why are you here?"

Xiao Hao felt like he was caught snooping around. He faked a few coughs.

Chief eunuch Cheng looked back and forth between the two. His former worry was gone and was replaced with confusion.

Why was it that he felt there was a secret between Xiao Hao and wangye? And it seemed it was related to the person currently residing in this hall.

Xiao Hao stepped closer to the master. He couldn't say it out loud.

"I was waiting to pass this to his maids." He opened his calloused palm to show a familiar jade pendant carved with the character Feng.

Long Xu Le snorted. Sometimes, this old man was plain stupid. Why sneak around for this?

She snatched the jade and wiped it using her sleeves.

Xiao - labeled old man - Hao scratched his head. He thought it was a better idea to just give the jade to the maids.

He never expected he would meet her Highness on the way.

"Dismissed." Wangye's order was heard. So Xiao Hao took this as cue to leave.

---

For everyone's information, Xiao Hao isn't old lmao Long Xu Le just likes to call him old inside her head. Also, yes, our FL is reborn but she didn't really grow up in her last life. She just went back two years before her death at age 14.

Edited: Feb. 13, 2023