Chapter 1
It was snowing again. Lu Dieqing always found this time of year unbearable.
She stepped out of the Library Pavilion and, seeing the sky had already darkened, pulled her small hands back into her sleeves. Her thin shoulders trembled.
The dusty, coarse cotton tunic she wore made her look like a little mouse, easily overlooked.
But the moment this little mouse lifted her gaze, one would see a face of such celestial beauty it was exquisite enough to make one hold their breath. She was so lovely she seemed to have been painted into existence, born to be held in the palm of a hand and cherished.
And yet, that was not Lu Dieqing’s fate.
She was a hostage.
She held the title of “Little Princess,” but she lived like a furtive serving girl, taking care to never draw too much attention.
“Were you looking through the puppeteer archives again?”
The young palace maid guarding the Library Pavilion asked with curiosity as Lu Dieqing emerged.
Lu Dieqing immediately smiled and pulled a luminous pearl from her sleeve, pressing it into the other girl’s hand.
“Yes. Only the Chaoying Kingdom has such a grand library. Thank you for letting me in.”
The young maid already pitied the Little Princess, and now, having received such a fine luminous pearl, her face lit up with a smile.
“It’s nothing. In the future, if you want to read, just come when I’m on duty. I’ll keep watch for you.”
By thumping her chest and making such a promise, she was essentially admitting she would turn a blind eye to the comings and goings of the Little Princess from the Shan Kingdom.
The maid wouldn’t have been so lenient with anyone else; the Library Pavilion was an important place, after all. Only princes, princesses, and a few of the more idle imperial consorts ever thought to visit. It was, for all intents and purposes, the royal library. But who could be blamed? The Little Princess of the Shan Kingdom was a hostage, living right here in the palace.
Most importantly… the young maid had never seen anyone so beautiful.
Seeing the poor Little Princess smile at her every day was enough to lift the maid’s spirits, and a feeling of protectiveness had unconsciously taken root in her heart.
With the young maid’s assurance, Lu Dieqing felt a wave of relief. She chatted with her for a while longer before heading back towards her own remote quarters.
She stuck to the quietest paths, but as she passed the final palace hall, she ran into a stout old matron—the one in charge of the palace staff overseeing the hostages.
“Well, well, if it isn’t the Princess of Shan. Can’t sit still, can you? Out for a stroll again!”
Matron Li had a vicious face and an even fouler temper. She often went out of her way to make life difficult for the hostages from the neighboring kingdoms.
This life of dependence had honed Lu Dieqing’s ability to be cautious and read people’s expressions. The moment she heard Matron Li’s shrill tone, she knew the old woman was in a bad mood and was looking to take it out on her.
“Matron Li…” Lu Dieqing bit her lip, her body shrinking as she stepped closer.
The hope and color that had just returned to her exquisite face in the library vanished upon seeing the matron. She was pale once more, like a frightened kitten.
A kind-hearted person, upon seeing Lu Dieqing’s face, would have surely felt a pang of pity.
But Matron Li’s son had died on the battlefield between the Chaoying and Shan Kingdoms. She despised everyone from Shan, especially someone like Lu Dieqing—born noble, yet by a twist of fate, forced to live under her thumb. Ever since being transferred here two years ago, Matron Li had seen it as a chance for revenge, sent by the heavens themselves. Why else would they task her, at her age, with managing the daily lives of these enemy hostages?
And so, her revenge had to be carried out. But it had to be subtle, so no one would notice right away.
She would torture this Little Princess from Shan, bit by bit, until she broke.
Since taking charge of this section of the palace, Matron Li had deliberately reduced Lu Dieqing’s daily provisions, forcing the girl to do embroidery in secret and have it sold outside the palace for money just to survive.
A cruel look flashed across Matron Li’s face as she gave a nearby maid a pointed look.
“Go search her. See what our Little Princess has stolen and hidden on her person this time.”
At these words, Lu Dieqing flinched back, her small face turning deathly pale.
“No, I haven’t stolen or hidden anything…”
Matron Li was always looking for an excuse to humiliate her. Lu Dieqing had seen her “search” others before—they would even strip off a person’s outer robes just for the sake of degradation.
The palace staff behind Matron Li were mostly soulless sycophants, well-practiced in flattering the powerful and trampling the weak. Seeing the jade-like Little Princess so terrified didn’t stir their pity; it excited them.
“Don’t run, Little Princess. We won’t do anything to you, it’s just a little search.”
“Be a good girl and we’ll leave you with some dignity. Now, you run again and see what happens.”
One of the maids caught up to Lu Dieqing, grabbing the back of her collar as if seizing a fleeing rabbit.
Lu Dieqing’s bright eyes instantly filled with tears. Panicked and afraid, her voice broke into a sob as she tried to beg them to let her go.
“Matron Li, I haven’t hidden anything! Please don’t search me!”
Seeing her cry only brought Matron Li more satisfaction. She wished she could tear the delicate girl to pieces and devour her, bit by bit.
“Tsk, tsk, Little Princess, your crying is so pitiful. It’s a shame you have such a terrible fate, being sent here to our Chaoying Kingdom as a hostage for anyone to abuse. Otherwise, how would a lowly servant like myself ever dare to lay a finger on you?” Matron Li said, her voice dripping with scorn as she gestured with her eyes.
Immediately, other maids pinned Lu Dieqing’s arms, pressing her against a decorative rockery. Someone else moved to tear off her outer tunic.
The search was just a pretext. What Matron Li wanted was to torment her.
“Don’t touch me! Sob… You’re all so cruel… I may be a hostage, but I am still the face of my kingdom! How can you humiliate me like this… sob… Let me go…”
Lu Dieqing struggled with all her might, her small, palm-sized face flushed red from crying.
The maids holding her arms only smirked, watching her struggle. They even deliberately slowed their movements, savoring the sound of a girl who should have been a pampered noble begging for mercy. Perhaps it was the sadistic pleasure of seeing a flower that should have been carefully nurtured on its branch, suddenly plucked, thrown to the ground, and crushed underfoot until nothing but pulp remained.
A few young eunuchs were also lingering nearby, watching the spectacle. Some among them surely pitied her, but who would risk offending their direct superior, Matron Li, for a stranger? Everyone who had been here long enough knew that Matron Li was temperamental and held grudges. If you did the slightest thing to displease her, she would remember it and take revenge at the first opportunity. A young maid who had once casually advised the matron against her cruelty was found dead in a pond in the back hills less than two weeks later, the official story being that she had “slipped and fallen in the middle of the night.” The matter was quietly dropped.
Everyone knew then what happened to those who crossed Matron Li.
And now, the matron was only toying with the Shan Kingdom’s princess. It wasn’t their own skin on the line. It wasn’t worth risking their lives for a foreign hostage.
No one helped.
Even if some felt pity in their hearts, even if they felt a sense of guilt watching the innocent girl with her tear-streaked face and sobbing voice, no one dared to help.
In this predicament, Lu Dieqing slowly began to despair.
Sob… what can I do? Who will save me?
Every person surrounding her was like a hungry ghost reaching out to devour her. She could endure being underfed and poorly clothed. But to be stripped of one’s basic dignity, to be pinned down and have her clothes torn off under a false pretense while a crowd watched as if it were a joke…
She couldn’t bear it. It made her want to die.
A faint layer of despair clouded the Little Princess’s flower-like face, which only served to make her features all the more stunning.
Just as the maid beside Matron Li reached out to pull down the Little Princess’s tunic, someone suddenly cried out.
“The Crown Princess! The Crown Princess is here!”
Everyone froze. A moment later, they scrambled back to their original positions.
Why would the Crown Princess come to such a remote palace hall?
They were baffled, but there was no time to think. Even Matron Li grew flustered at the unexpected arrival of such a noble personage.
The Crown Princess’s sedan chair approached silently from a distance.
All the palace staff in the area fell to their knees in unison, but no one dared to speak. The Crown Princess was prone to headaches. Any clamor that disturbed her could worsen the pain to a splitting, murderous rage.
Thanks to this turn of events, Lu Dieqing had been temporarily saved. Her loose tunic was on the verge of falling off. With tears of indignation still in her eyes and her heart still pounding with fear, she paid no mind to the arrival of the exalted Crown Princess of Chaoying. She quickly lowered her head, fumbling to fix her clothes.
It’s so unfair. So, so unfair.
Her trembling hands were as pale as snow, and her small face was still drained of color. She stood out among the kneeling crowd like a solitary, abandoned seedling.
As the sedan chair passed, the Crown Princess, who was supposed to be resting inside, suddenly drew back the curtain.
A pair of slender phoenix eyes looked directly at Lu Dieqing.
Her gaze was icy, as if she were looking at a cold, lifeless stone.
The moment their eyes met, Lu Dieqing, having just secured her tunic, pulled back her delicate hands, bit her lip, and sank to her knees without a word.
The Crown Princess withdrew her gaze. With a slight raise of her eyebrow, the last image that remained in her mind was of a palace maid with an impossibly beautiful face—one that had no business being on a servant—and a pitiful, moving demeanor.
But what of it? A palace maid like that would never have a future. On the contrary, her beauty would only get her devoured alive by those beneath her.
The sedan chair passed by.
It was a long moment before Matron Li dared to stand. She glanced back at Lu Dieqing, snorted coldly, and said with a scowl, “Consider yourself lucky, Little Princess. I’ll let you go today. But if you dare to hide things again, don’t blame us for being impolite.”
Not knowing when the Crown Princess might return, Matron Li didn’t dare cause another disturbance and finally let Lu Dieqing go.
The crowd dispersed.
Only the Little Princess of Shan, Lu Dieqing, remained with her head bowed, transparent teardrops falling onto her soft, white face. She raised a hand to wipe them away, but her shoulders still shook with silent sobs.
Sob… I wish someone would protect me.
She thought of the puppeteer’s manual she had seen today. It said that once you became a puppeteer, you could create powerful dolls to protect you.
Lu Dieqing silently clenched her small fists.
I will become a puppeteer.
Sob… I will.
I really, really want a little doll of my very own.
Poor baby 🙁