Chapter 1: Protagonist? Plot? They Should All Die
SWISH!
Beaded curtains hung low, their surfaces shimmering gently in the lamplight. Golden hooks held back silk bed-curtains, creating a hazy yet magnificent scene.
On the large, carved bed, a figure abruptly threw off the covers and sat up. Her unbound hair flew wildly as a hoarse voice, dripping with ridicule, bit out, "Absurd!"
Xiao Li was dead. But now, it seemed, she was alive again.
She had transmigrated into a book from some unknown era, becoming a vicious supporting character and forced to live through her entire life.
Used, obsessed with a man, defiled, pregnant, driven mad, and finally bleeding to death!
It was utterly preposterous!
Xiao Li had been forced to experience it all. That life wasn’t hers, yet everything had felt too real. The suffocating pain, the self-loathing, the nausea—it left her unable to breathe, her scalp tingling with dread.
She couldn’t stand another second of that wretched plot.
’Imperial Power? The protagonists? The plot? To hell with all of it!’
CLICK.
The soft sound of a door opening pulled Xiao Li back from the brink of collapse.
A figure crept stealthily toward the bed. He carefully lifted the curtain and looked up, meeting a pair of phoenix eyes as cold as the nine circles of hell.
"Ah!"
The man jumped in fright and hurriedly apologized, "Princess, forgive me! This subordinate... this subordinate..."
Xiao Li looked at him, feeling an even greater sense of absurdity.
Zhang Jing. One of the Princess’s guards.
In the book, he had long coveted the original owner of this body, Princess Xuan Yang. He had only dared to fantasize, never to act. But after the Princess got drunk, someone gave him an order to unleash the beast within.
He had come to the Princess’s chambers and defiled her. And though he was killed the very next morning, he left her pregnant.
’So I’ve arrived on that very day. Does that mean I’m still trapped in that book?’
Zhang Jing was terrified, but when the Princess remained silent for a long moment, he remembered she was drunk tonight.
He dared to look up again. The Princess’s gaze was still terrifying—indifferent and profound, as if she were looking at a dead man, her expression utterly flat.
’Is she... still drunk?’
"Princess... Princess?"
he called out tentatively, receiving no response.
’So she really is still drunk. In that case...’
Thinking of what he was about to do, his breathing grew short and ragged with nerves.
"Princess..." He moved closer to the bed, his face a mask of greed and vile desire.
Perhaps it was the unnerving way Xiao Li stared at him with her eyes wide open, but as he steeled himself to approach, he began talking to lessen his own fear and guilt.
"Princess, it’s not that this subordinate wants to defile you. It was the Prince Consort... The Prince Consort sent me..."
"A celestial beauty like you, Princess... only the Prince Consort would fail to cherish you. Why waste your devotion on him? You are an honored princess; you deserve to be pampered and adored. Why not look to me? This subordinate will be sure to serve you well..."
Finally, his hand was about to touch the Princess’s shoulder. The moment he had dreamed of was about to arrive.
Just as his heart was leaping with excitement, he heard a *SHLICK*.
A short dagger pierced through his clothes without resistance, sinking deep into his flesh.
Blood gushed out. The pain was slow to follow.
The wooden-faced Princess before him finally showed an expression. Her frigid eyes curved upward, revealing a look that was cold, sharp, bloodthirsty, and wicked.
"The nightmare ends now!"
She smiled, but it was a smile laced with poison, as if she were looking at the most disgusting thing in the world.
"Prin... cess..."
He wanted to explain, to beg for his life, but no one gave him the chance. With a single motion, she ripped the dagger out, twisting it to shred his heart and end his life completely.
CLANG!
The bloodstained dagger fell to the floor. Xiao Li tossed the corpse aside. Her hands and body were covered in blood, but she felt wonderful.
She was still in the book, but now, she had control of her body.
The corners of her lips slowly curved upward, her cold smile growing wild and unrestrained.
’Now, this is where things get interesting...’
She rose and barked, "Attendants!"
In moments, candles were lit, and Chaoyang Courtyard was brightly illuminated.
In the main seat, Xiao Li sat sipping tea in her nightclothes, her hair still unbound.
Her attire was anything but proper and not fit to be seen by others. But at this moment, no one dared to say a word. Her clothes and face were spattered with blood—a shocking sight.
To one side lay Zhang Jing’s corpse, blood pooling on the floor from the wound in his chest. His eyes were wide with a look of savage terror, unable to rest in peace.
Although she neither spoke nor showed any anger, the air felt thin, so oppressive that everyone’s hearts pounded with fear, none daring to look up.
The nannies and maids closest to the Princess knelt on the floor, not daring to make a sound.
They had never seen the Princess this furious. But when they thought about what Zhang Jing had done, they could almost understand. Who wouldn’t be pushed to the edge?
’That Zhang Jing actually dared to touch the Princess, even forcing her to kill someone with her own hands. He deserved to die.’
A few sets of hurried footsteps entered. The man in the lead had a handsome face with thick brows and large eyes. His gaze fixed straight ahead, he strode forward with a sword at his hip, carrying a tray with several items.
"Reporting to the Princess, these were found in Zhang Jing’s room."
Xiao Li glanced up, then her gaze fell upon the person kneeling by her feet. "Nanny Li, go take a look."
Nanny Li stepped forward, trembling. After a brief look, she said, "Princess, these are indeed your accessories. They must be worth at least several thousand taels of silver."
Xiao Li closed her eyes. "Zhang Jing committed theft. The evidence is conclusive. Though he is dead, death does not erase his crime. Send him to the Shuntian Prefecture."
Yang Jun nodded. "This subordinate obeys."
Xiao Li wasn’t the original owner of this body, but she wasn’t about to let her own name be sullied. Dealing with him under the charge of theft was more appropriate than admitting she had nearly been defiled. Besides, this wouldn’t stop her from settling the score with the real culprit.
Yang Jun took Zhang Jing’s body away. Xiao Li’s gaze swept over the kneeling figures. "I’ll spare you this once. There will not be a next time."
The servants quickly kowtowed. "Your servants will remember this well."
The Princess had five confidantes: Qian Hui, the wet nurse who had raised her; Gao Zhen and Li Cuiyun, the two managing nannies; and Hong Yue and Lan Yue, two senior palace maids.
Although they were only briefly mentioned in the story as mindless, wicked servants who aided the villain, Xiao Li decided to keep them for now, seeing as they had been loyal from beginning to end.
It was a bit strange, though. These people were loyal to the Princess, and normally someone would take turns keeping watch at night. Yet tonight, of all nights, there was no one.
Not only did they let that scoundrel Zhang Jing open the door and enter, but in the book, she was raped without any of them even knowing.
It was completely illogical. It was as if they had all vanished, with everything—the time, the place, the people—conspiring to let Zhang Jing succeed. It was like something out of a horror story.
Xiao Li bathed again. The blood on her body dissolved into the water, and its reddish color reminded her of the fate she had experienced in the plot. But this was not her blood; it was someone else’s.
SPLASH!
She stood up and stared at the tub of water. The thought of being defiled and carrying Zhang Jing’s child in the book instantly filled her with revulsion. "Change the water!"
She washed three times in a row and had incense lit before she finally felt clean.
’It seems I’m still affected by the emotions from that nightmarish plot after all.’