“Sigh…”

“Siiiigh…”

“SIGH!!!”

In less time than it takes to drink a cup of tea, the eunuchs had witnessed the princess shift through several different positions.

They lowered their heads and exchanged glances, but no one dared to speak, terrified of angering Her Highness. None of them wanted to get whipped for no reason.

Ning Shengsheng propped up her chin, her small face scrunched into a knot.

An older palace maid felt that this couldn’t go on. If the princess wasn’t happy, they were the ones who would suffer. She stepped forward and said respectfully, “What troubles Your Highness?”

What troubles me?

Of course, it was the fact that she had beaten the main villain so badly that she wished she could dig a hole and bury herself in it right now. That would be better than having her head lopped off by his sword. It would be nice to at least leave a complete corpse behind.

Or perhaps… how could she earn some goodwill from Xue Chen? Make him show mercy with his sword in the future?

Seeing the princess still silent, the maid braced herself and said, “If Your Highness is in low spirits, would you like to play a game?”

“A game?” Her eyes lit up.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

As the palace maid spoke, her face turned deathly pale.

Ning Shengsheng’s spirits soared at the word “game.” She clapped her hands together and said with a grin, “Yes, yes!”

The moment she finished speaking, she saw two palace maids and two other eunuchs kneel in a row before her.

Ning Shengsheng froze. What’s this?

Laicai presented the whip with both hands.

“Please, Your Highness, grant us the whip!”

After speaking, he quickly lowered his head. All four of them couldn’t help but tremble.

Ning Shengsheng: ?

She was stunned for a moment, then it dawned on her.

The Ning An in the novel loved to whip people.

Relying on her older brother’s unrestrained doting, she ran rampant in the palace, doing as she pleased and acting unscrupulously. Her favorite hobby was to find someone who had gotten on her wrong side and bestow a few lashes upon them.

Her tyrant brother with a sister complex had even specially commissioned a weapon refiner to forge her a soft whip made from ice-crystal stone, just to make her whipping sessions more satisfying.

So this was the “game” they were talking about?

Ning An, oh, Ning An. With your habit of casually bullying others, you deserved to have your head lopped off by Xue Chen.

She glanced at the palace attendants, who were kneeling on the ground and trembling like leaves in the wind.

She propped herself up on her chair and stood up.

“Forget it. This princess doesn’t feel like playing games. You all go about your business. I…”

She paused, her gaze sweeping over the four kneeling figures.

“I’m going for a walk by myself.”

“How can Your Highness be without an attendant?”

The four of them were dumbfounded. They didn’t know why the princess wasn’t interested in her usual game today, but they didn’t dare let her go out alone.

If something happened to the princess, it would be more than just their heads on the line.

Ning Shengsheng knew how vicious “Princess Ning An” was in these people’s minds. Speaking to them nicely would surely not work. Clearing her throat, she turned and barked, “Shut up! Anyone who dares to follow, watch out for this princess’s whip!”

That little scare worked. The palace attendants indeed didn’t dare to follow her.

Once Ning Shengsheng’s figure disappeared from sight, the younger palace maid collapsed to the ground, saying fearfully, “Sister Songgao, I was so scared just now I almost couldn’t breathe and passed out cold.”

The older palace maid, Songgao, also let out a breath of relief. Who wasn’t? Her Highness’s temperament was volatile and unpredictable. She had never shown any mercy to them, the servants. They had thought a vicious beating was unavoidable today.

“Should we really not follow? If something happens to the princess, His Majesty will have our heads,” a young eunuch with round eyes said, looking at the older maid. The three of them were new. The previous maids and eunuchs had displeased the princess and were thrown out by His Majesty; whether they were dead or alive was unknown.

Songgao’s expression was grave. “I’ll follow from a distance. The rest of you stay here.”

“Thank you, Sister Songgao.”

…

Ning Shengsheng walked out of the palace and called for the system several times, but it ignored her. She was a little annoyed, but there was nothing she could do.

The system forced her to say Ning An’s lines, which meant the plot points of humiliating Xue Chen were unavoidable.

If she offended Xue Chen, how was she supposed to survive?

She carefully recalled the parts of the novel concerning Xue Chen. She remembered that “Princess Ning An” was cannon fodder who died relatively early.

“Chains of Clouded Joy” was a one-million-word novel set in an Eastern fantasy world. There were humans, demons, ghosts, and cultivation families.

The cultivation families were divided into the Ning Country, where “Princess Ning An” was from; the Heavenly Phoenix Nation, where Xue Chen came from; the Hundred Herb Valley of the novel’s female lead; and, in the far north, the Qingling Sect.

The people of the Heavenly Phoenix Nation specialized in beast taming. Due to the decline of high-level demonic beasts, the Heavenly Phoenix Nation gradually weakened, which was why they sent Xue Chen as a hostage to Great Ning to seek its protection.

Since Ning Xuan took power in the Great Ning Dynasty, his arrogance and autocratic rule had led to a toxic atmosphere in the palace. His youngest sister, “Princess Ning An,” in particular, was spoiled beyond redemption by this tyrant brother.

Xue Chen was exceptionally handsome. Upon first entering the palace, he caught “Princess Ning An’s” eye. But “Princess Ning An’s” ways were abhorrent; ever since she was a child, she had to have whatever she wanted. Because Xue Chen wouldn’t submit, she repeatedly made things difficult for him, finding excuses to bring him over for a round of humiliation from time to time.

At this thought, Ning Shengsheng’s face contorted in misery. She sat down, leaning against a railing. The lotus leaves in the pond were all wilted and drooping, just like her spirits.

“A hellish start. What am I going to do…”

As things stood, the bad news was that Xue Chen had been in the palace for over a month, and she had already bullied him. The silver lining was that she hadn’t bullied him too severely yet. There should still be a chance to salvage things… right?

But the system said she had to follow the plot, which meant she would have to bully Xue Chen again and again.

They made her try to win over a yandere, but then forced her to follow the game’s plot. What kind of forced romance was this? Her system was not cute at all.

Ning Shengsheng huffed and clapped her hands. Her almond-shaped eyes sparkled as she muttered to herself, “I’ll take it one step at a time. Besides, I, Ning Shengsheng, love to rise to a challenge!”

Just as she was about to turn and head back, two familiar voices came from behind the covered walkway. Ning Shengsheng lifted her skirt and tiptoed forward a couple of steps, hiding behind a pillar.

Three people were standing on the walkway in the garden.

“Xue Chen, you’re jumping today whether you want to or not. It was you who knocked my handkerchief into the pond.”

The girl who spoke was arrogant, her hair adorned with tinkling ornaments. Her face was pretty, and if it weren’t for her fierce expression, she would have been quite a beauty.

“Third Princess, the closest I came to you was still ten feet away. How could I have bumped into you?” the young man’s voice was calm.

From her angle, Ning Shengsheng could see his straight back.

“Xue Chen!” The girl opposite him stomped her foot in anger. “You’re nothing but a discarded son sent over by the Heavenly Phoenix Nation. This princess says you bumped into me, so you did.”

“Get in there right now!”

“Fetch my handkerchief!”

The young man remained unmoved. Ning Shengsheng could only see his back. She didn’t know if it was her imagination, but Xue Chen’s thin back seemed to straighten even more.