“Third Princess, although I am a discarded son of the Heavenly Phoenix Nation, I still entered the palace as a hostage with the status of a prince. Not to mention, your handkerchief was not my doing. Even if it were, it should be your attendant’s duty to retrieve it, not mine.”

Ning Shengsheng nodded silently. Xue Chen was absolutely right. He was here as a hostage prince, not a servant responsible for diving into ponds to fetch things.

Evidently, Xue Chen’s words failed to persuade the Third Princess.

“Hmph, a mere hostage prince from a weak nation. If this princess tells you to jump, you jump.” The girl gestured with her hand.

A palace maid at her side walked up to Xue Chen and pulled a whip from her sleeve.

Just as the soft whip was about to lash across Xue Chen’s face, Ning Shengsheng couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.

Seriously? Is everyone in the Great Ning palace obsessed with using whips?

She leaped forward and whipped out her own ice-blue soft whip. Like a coiling dragon, it nimbly wound around the other whip. With a sharp tug from Ning Shengsheng, the palace maid was pulled off-balance and stumbled, falling right in front of her.

The maid was about to open her mouth and curse, but upon seeing who it was, her face turned white as a sheet. She lowered her head and retreated behind her mistress.

“Ning An, have you lost your mind? Sticking up for a hostage prince?” The girl’s features were delicate, but her expression was haughty and spoiled, and her prominent cheekbones gave her a somewhat harsh look.

Ning Shengsheng couldn’t help but frown. The girl before her, dressed in purple palace attire, was the Third Princess, Ning Jin, who was no better than the original owner of this body. Both of them treated human life as if it were grass.

“Shut up!”

Ning Shengsheng’s voice was full of confidence. In the palace, aside from the emperor, she feared no one.

She slowly and methodically coiled the soft whip back around her waist and walked up to Ning Jin. “I have business with Xue Chen. Why don’t you just go back where you came from, Third Sister?”

Ning Jin’s chest heaved with rage. Annoyingly, the person in front of her was not someone she could provoke. She had no choice but to back down, but she turned to shoot Xue Chen a vicious glare.

Fuming, she left with her palace maid. After walking a few steps, as if unwilling to let it go, she turned back and stared daggers at Xue Chen, spitting out a threat.

“Xue Chen, sooner or later you’ll fall into my hands. When that time comes, I’ll skin you alive.”

Ning Shengsheng: “…”

A psycho who bullies the weak and fears the strong.

Ning Jin’s party soon disappeared around the corner. Xue Chen stood to the side with his eyes downcast, silent the entire time. His gaze seemed to fall on Ning Shengsheng’s neck, yet it also seemed to be fixed on the empty space in front of him.

His clenched fists by his side slowly relaxed, and a barely perceptible, mocking smile touched his pale lips. He didn’t believe Princess Ning An would save him. Perhaps the whipping from before had been too light; she must want to take him back for another round of humiliation.

Ning Shengsheng saw the lotuses blooming in the pond, bent down to pick one, and held the delicate pink flower in her hands. She took a deep breath of its fresh fragrance and toyed with the petals, quite fond of it.

The young man’s dark eyes flashed with a hint of surprise. The girl before him had a gentle smile gracing the corners of her eyes and brows, and her full little lips were slightly upturned. He could even see the transparent fuzz on her earlobes. The warm sunlight made her fair, tender face seem even more radiant. She seemed utterly soft.

This was a completely different person from the one who had whipped him earlier.

The girl seemed oblivious to the gaze behind her. She turned around, holding the lotus, and seeing Xue Chen was still there, she tilted her head in confusion.

“Why haven’t you left?”

Xue Chen was taken aback but quickly composed himself, bowing his head. “Many thanks to Princess Ning An for coming to my aid.”

He appeared to be looking down, but in reality, he was observing Ning Shengsheng’s every word and action.

“It was nothing.”

“You may go. Don’t disturb this princess’s enjoyment of the flowers and fish.”

Remembering her position and persona, Ning Shengsheng listlessly waved him away and shot him a disdainful glance.

“Hmph, this handsome face is all you have left.”

Xue Chen saw she was acting just like she always did. Then just now, was it his imagination?

“This subject takes his leave.”

After Xue Chen was long gone, Ning Shengsheng raised a hand to wipe the sweat from her brow. She didn’t know if saving him this time had salvaged her image in his heart at all.

The system required her to follow the plot and say the key lines, but it didn’t forbid her from making amends in private. This meant that as long as she completed the required lines, it was okay if her character was a little OOC.

As Ning Shengsheng stroked her chin in thought, she suddenly heard a commotion. Turning her head, she spotted a pink figure behind a pillar. The palace maid met her gaze and immediately knelt, her voice trembling. “Your Highness, this servant… was just worried something might happen to you… that’s why…”

Songgao’s terrified appearance made Ning Shengsheng keenly aware of how much others feared “Ning An.” She pressed her lips together and gave a muffled “en,” then walked deeper into the garden.

Songgao’s clenched fists gradually relaxed. She carefully raised her head, and her pounding heart finally settled. The princess actually didn’t whip her? She looked at the sky in suspicion. Had the sun risen from the west today?

And… Her Highness didn’t chase her away either?

Songgao quickly got up. Afraid of provoking her princess, she followed from a safe distance. She saw that the princess seemed to be wandering aimlessly. Before she knew it, they had reached a secluded area. The princess ahead of her stopped. Songgao looked up and saw a garden full of pear trees.

Ah… Her Highness came to find Hostage Prince Xue after all.

Ning Shengsheng, who had been mistaken for seeking out Xue Chen, stood under the pear trees, looking around blankly.

“Huh? Where am I?”

Just as she muttered this, a shrill scolding suddenly erupted from nearby.

“You should be grateful you have anything to eat! Who doesn’t know that the ruler of Heavenly Phoenix detests you? A discarded, good-for-nothing hostage prince, what are you pretending to be in our Great Ning?”

“Yo yo, you dare to glare at me?”

Crash—

Along with the curses, the sound of porcelain shattering could be heard.

Ning Shengsheng couldn’t help but frown. Xue Chen, that unlucky little thing. In the Great Ning palace, anyone could step on him. One ordeal after another, more difficult than a monk’s journey for scriptures.

“You knocked this over yourself. Either you get on the ground and eat it clean, or…”

“You can just go hungry! Hahaha!”

The voice grew more and more arrogant, yet she didn’t hear Xue Chen say a single word in rebuttal.

Songgao watched as her princess lifted her skirt and stormed into the small courtyard where Xue Chen lived. She quickly scurried after her.

Upon entering the courtyard, she saw Her Highness grab a eunuch by the ear, fuming.

“You black-hearted wretch! Are you deliberately trying to make people think our Great Ning has no discipline?”

The eunuch yelped in pain. “Your… Your Highness, please spare this slave! Hostage Prince Xue said that our Great Ning has treated him poorly.”

“This slave was just acting in a moment of panic…”

“Treated him poorly? A moment of panic? You dare to slander him so casually, you dog slave!”

Ning Shengsheng’s eyes narrowed, and her grip tightened. “This princess heard everything clearly from outside. Hostage Prince Xue didn’t say a single word. It was all you, deliberately making things difficult for him.”

“And now you dare to frame him?”

“Well, well. If I don’t punish you severely today, how can I display the strictness of our Great Ning’s palace rules!”

Realizing the situation, the eunuch fell to the ground with a thump, kowtowing while crying his eyes out.

“It’s this slave’s fault! This slave’s mind was muddled with lard!”

“It will never happen again! I beg Your Highness for a lenient punishment!”