After the system set its sights on the dragon throne, the princess started courting death every day.

"Hahahaha..." Xiang Xin couldn't help but burst into laughter, "So what if I'm not only that?"

"I'll forgive you if you stop," Xiang An replied hesitantly, because Xiang Xin was a difficult person to control, and he didn't know if such a non-threatening statement would work on him.

"Little Nine, apart from Father Emperor, no one in the capital has ever been able to save anyone from my clutches."

He exclaimed to Anxin, "As expected."

“However—!” Xiang Xin’s tone shifted sharply, “You are my sister, so—you dog slave! I’m punishing you with a month’s salary.”

Xiang An looked up in shock, his eyes widening slightly.

The servant immediately knelt on the ground, weeping bitterly. Xiang Xin scoffed disdainfully, "Are you courting death again? How dare you disgust this prince?"

"No, no, I wouldn't dare!" The servant scrambled away.

The crying stopped, and it became much quieter. Then, the sounds of singing and dancing rose up from the stage again.

Xiang Xin opened her mouth and ate a grape: "Want to know?"

"Yes."

"Alright, go kneel for two hours first." Xiang Xin pointed to the cobblestone path that ran through the small garden. "No one has ever dared to shout at me before."

Xiang An: "…………"

The white pebbles were round and smooth, but walking on them was uncomfortable; kneeling on them for two hours would ruin your legs.

She frowned: "What if I don't kneel?"

As soon as he finished speaking, all the servants knelt down in silence, their heads bowed lower and lower than the last.

The summer breeze rustles through the treetops, and birds flying across the sky occasionally let out a clear cry. Silence, like a silent tide, envelops everything, so heavy it's hard to breathe.

After a long while, Xiang Xin lowered her head and drank a cup of wine. When she looked up, a faint, ambiguous smile appeared on her lips. "Then go die. It'll be good to go to the Yellow Springs to accompany my mother."

madman!

It's unnecessary to ask.

"I don't want to know anymore." Xiang An turned and left.

A leaf drifted down in the wind, landing gently on Xiang Xin's forearm. It felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, causing Xiang Xin to lose her grip on the silver cup, which fell heavily to the ground, spilling white wine everywhere.

With his hand hanging down, he casually grabbed the chin of a maid kneeling beside him, forcing her to raise her head. Looking at the maid's pale face filled with fear, Xiang Xin asked in confusion, "Does Xiao Jiu hate me?"

The maid's voice trembled: "This...this servant doesn't know."

"He must hate me, otherwise why would he leave?" Xiang Xin muttered to himself, then burst into laughter, tears streaming down his face. "This prince is actually hated by a bastard! How ridiculous, how ridiculous!"

He let go, wiping the tears from the corner of his eye with the back of his hand. His laughter stopped abruptly, replaced by a forced smile. He tilted his head and glanced at everyone in the courtyard: "Did you all hear that just now?"

The maid, her cheeks flushed red from being pinched, trembled and said, "I didn't, I didn't hear anything."

Xiang Xin nodded slightly, raised one hand lightly, and said in a light, emotionless voice, "White Fox, kill."

Three men in black jumped down from the tree, their silver swords flashing in the air. Blood and flesh flew everywhere, blood pooling into streams. The wailing opera singing stopped, and half an incense stick later, the men in black and the corpses filling the courtyard vanished.

Reclining on a deck chair, bathed in the warm sunlight, Xiang Xin closed his eyes, rested his chin on his knees, hummed a tune, and tapped his index finger to the beat. The courtyard was filled with the vibrant colors of flowers and the lush greenery, exuding a righteous and upright atmosphere.

Inside the carriage, Xiang An was still angry. She tormented the pastries on the table and patted the carriage lightly. "Yan Qing, you guys put in more effort and investigate for me by any means necessary."

"Yes." Yan Qingcai, who was driving the horse outside, replied, then suddenly whipped the horse hard. "Princess, someone is chasing us from behind."

"Stop. We're in the capital; who dares to kill us?"

"Yes. I forgot."

The carriage slowed down, and the horses following closely behind quickly caught up. Just as Xiang An was about to peek out, the curtain was suddenly lifted, and the person bent down, wrapped one arm around her waist, and held the back of her head tightly with the other, letting her rest her chin on his shoulder, her cheek pressed against his neck.

Yan Qing was forced to put down the hidden weapon she was about to throw after Xiang An warned her with his eyes, and quietly withdrew from the carriage.

After a long silence, Xiang An said indifferently, "Let go."

The hand around his waist froze, and he didn't move.

Xiang An said in a deep voice, "Fu is innocent!"

The hand on his waist finally loosened, and Fu Qingbai took a step back and sat opposite Xiang An, his hands unconsciously gripping the robe on his knees. "I'm sorry, I have overstepped my bounds."

Xiang An pulled his sleeves tighter and remained silent.

Even standing on the battlefield, facing the bloodshed head-on, Fu Qingbai remained calm and composed. In the short time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, countless good and bad thoughts arose in his mind.

She glanced up discreetly at Xiang An, and noticing her indifference, she looked at her openly. After a moment's hesitation, she handed her a note: "Princess."

Xiang An took it, glanced at it, and froze on the spot. Fu Qingbai was at a loss for what to do with his hands and feet. After thinking for a while, he said with difficulty, "His Majesty must have his reasons for doing this. Perhaps he has other plans."

Is there another plan?

Looking coldly at what was written on the note, Xiang An thought sarcastically, "No way, there's no backup plan. The emperor just wants to poison her. His biological daughter is already dead, and now a soul from another world is inhabiting her body."

She should have realized it sooner. There were only a handful of people capable of killing a princess within the palace, and the only one who could successfully poison her without any apparent abnormalities was the emperor. Even on the way to the marriage alliance, the emperor was still worried about killing her… Oh, right, the marriage alliance was the emperor's second plan after discovering that she, who should have been poisoned at the banquet, hadn't died.

Thinking back to the day she transmigrated, the original owner of this body was unwilling to stay overnight in the palace, yet also unwilling to leave halfway through the journey. It's likely that the original owner sensed something was wrong back then. How ridiculous that she attributed it to the original owner's reluctance to part with the emperor. How ridiculous that she was forced to go on a marriage alliance by the emperor spreading rumors throughout the capital, yet she still cared about the original owner and tried her best to put herself in the emperor's shoes to understand and empathize with the emperor's difficulties.

The warm firelight shone before my eyes, and the note was slowly consumed by the flames, turning all the secrets to ashes.

"Princess, aren't you going to ask if the news is true or false?" Fu Qingbai's lips curled up into a tiny smile.

Xiang An was not surprised that Fu Qingbai would ask such a question, and said calmly, "You, Fu Qingbai, are an upright person and would not easily lie to people. Besides, lying to me would not do you any good."

“I never imagined I would be so good in the princess’s eyes. So why would the princess reject such a sincere heart from someone as good as me?” Fu Qingbai once again couldn’t help but overstep the bounds of propriety, her hands resting on her knees, her palms damp with sweat.

"Just because you're nice, I'm supposed to accept? There are plenty of good men in the world. Should I ask His Majesty for an imperial decree so that I can search the land for all the finest men and marry them all into my princess's household as my male favorites?"

The curve of her lips flattened, and Fu Qingbai immediately rejected the idea: "No."