My Princess Has Been Reborn: Chapter 1

Chapter 1 – What do I like most?

It was dusk and the last ray of light in the sky had faded, yet Princess Qi Yang’s large mansion was still deserted and only the light in the main hall was on.

Princess Qi Yang sat upright in the main hall. Before her was a table with food that had long since gone cold. The two sets of bowls and chopsticks were as clean as new, proving that the person sitting by the table had not touched the food at all.

Evidently, the person whom Princess Qi Yang was waiting for had not yet returned but her face remained expressionless and not a hint of impatience could be seen. She silently watched the empty courtyard outside with a deep gaze, unknown thoughts swimming within her eyes.

The princess’ close female servant Zhi Ting finally could not bear to continue watching this anymore and went to advise her, “Your Highness, it’s getting late, this servant is afraid the prince consort may not be returning tonight.”

Upon hearing this, Qi Yang’s eyes did not move and her posture remained as upright as before. She only looked at the dark hue of the night outside without saying a single word.

Zhi Ting then knew that whatever she said would be useless. She did not know exactly when but ever since a certain point in time, Her Highness’ contented smiles started showing less and less and she slowly grew silent and somber, as well as stubborn. As of now, even Zhi Ting who had watched her grow up did not know what she was thinking about.

At what point exactly did these changes start? Zhi Ting tried to recall in great detail but in the end, she could only remember that these changes only started happening after her marriage with the prince consort. Perhaps it was a year after the marriage? Half a year? Or maybe it was the month just after the marriage when Her Highness suddenly became like this. After so many years, she could no longer find that carefree and innocent princess again.

It is commonly said that marriage is the time when most people mature. Maybe Her Highness had grown up too. However, for some reason, as she gazed at this silent princess, her heart ached…

The night deepened. Zhi Ting was wrong; the prince consort did return.

Not long after the grand marriage, Princess Qi Yang started to loathe the prince consort. In the beginning, the prince consort would always go to the princess’ mansion, hoping to change her mind. Over time, however, following the increasing stability of the prince consort’s position in court, he visited less. Later, after the prince consort secretly made connections with the third prince, the number of visits became even smaller. Now, the last time he had appeared at the princess’ mansion was a month ago.

Nobody knew why Princess Qi Yang had suddenly summoned the prince consort. Since it was so unexpected, not only were the people in the princess’ mansion bewildered, even the prince consort Lu Qicheng was confused. So although it was late when he left the third prince’s mansion, he still rushed over.

Upon entering the main hall and seeing the cold food on the table, Lu Qicheng raised an eyebrow in surprise.

Zhi Ting, who was standing at the side, could read the room well and said, “The prince consort has finally returned. Her Highness has been waiting for you for a long time and these dishes have all gone cold. Please let us take them away and replace them with new ones.” As she spoke, she waved a group of servant girls over and they quickly took the cold food away.

Only a bottle of wine that Princess Qi Yang had kept her hand on was left behind. Neither Lu Qicheng nor Zhi Ting minded.

After the people in the main hall left, Lu Qicheng gave Qi Yang a slight bow and asked, “Your Highness is in a good mood, but for what have I been summoned here today?”

A few years’ time had long since grinded the last bits of Lu Qicheng’s patience away. Even if Princess Qi Yang was born noble and good-looking, when this beautiful person was harsh towards him, there was no way he could like her. After a long time has passed, a man will gradually lose his patience. This was even more so for Lu Qicheng when his position in court had stabilised. Though it was not to the point where he had the support of hundreds, he was no longer afraid of a little princess like her!

Qi Yang did not care about Lu Qicheng’s rudeness and straightforwardness. She finally lifted her head to look at the person in front of her. It was the first time in many years that she had looked at him so seriously, her gaze sweeping over him inch by inch — from his teens to his youth, his once elegant and androgynous face now had much sharper contours, though his appearance was still quite similar to that of the past.

Looking at this familiar face, a wave of emotions surged up in Qi Yang’s deep, dark eyes. But before Lu Qicheng could discern anything from her eyes, those turbulent feelings disappeared, so quick that it seemed like just a figment of his imagination.

For some reason, Lu Qicheng felt a bit unsettled. He did not have a good feeling about this. Thus, he called out again: “Your Highness?”

Qi Yang finally retracted her gaze and lifted her chin slightly, her haughty expression not once fading. She directed her eyes at the seat in front of her as a small signal to him and tonelessly said, “Sit.”

Lu Qicheng was puzzled but he still did as he was told and sat down. After everyone had left, Princess Qi Yang still did not say much, making him feel a bit awkward. He hence opened his mouth to ask again, “For what has Your Highness summoned me here today?”

Qi Yang picked up the bottle of wine and poured a cup for each of them. She casually replied, “I have not seen my prince consort for a long time so I’ve summoned you here to see you, is there a problem?” As she spoke, she pushed a cup to Lu Qicheng.

Lu Qicheng remained mute, he felt that these words, spoken by Princess Qi Yang, were a bit strange. But these princesses and princes were born noble and had self-centred personalities — it was her way or the highway, how could others object? Lu Qicheng had said that his position was stable and he was not afraid of her anymore, but there was no need to offend her so he did not say anything and even cooperatively took a sip of the wine.

Qi Yang glanced at the half-empty cup and suddenly stood up. She slowly walked over to Lu Qicheng.

Just when Lu Qicheng looked at her with a face of confusion, a warm hand touched his cheek. The long and fair fingers lightly brushed over, from his striking brows to his sharp nose in one fluid motion that seemed to be harbouring deep and intimate feelings within it.

The fingers stopped at his stubble and quickly retracted like they had been pricked. Yet after a moment, that hand could not help but lightly caress his brows again, as though lovelorn.

Lu Qicheng’s heart sped up uncontrollably. He looked up at Qi Yang. He could not deny that the princess’ beauty was enough to move any man’s heart. Naturally, Lu Qicheng had once been interested in her but sadly, she was too cold and did not even bat an eye at his efforts in courting her.

Could it be that after so long, the princess finally saw his good and was planning to take the initiative to break the ice?

Lu Qicheng felt a little excited and proud. As his heart rate quickened, he reached out, wanting to hold Qi Yang’s hand. However, he ended up grabbing at air. His heart suddenly felt inexplicably empty. He looked up at Qi Yang at a loss and called out, “Your Highness?”

Qi Yang met his eyes and asked all of a sudden, “Do you know what I like most about you?”

When Lu Qicheng heard the word ‘like’, his heart started pounding rapidly again. He was obviously not a fresh young boy anymore and had already had a taste of girls a long time ago but at this moment, he still could not suppress his excitement. He lifted a hand and placed it over his racing heart. He did not even like Princess Qi Yang that much but he still could not stop his heart from speeding up.

As he kept his hand over his heart, with some sort of indescribable emotion, Lu Qicheng followed up after Qi Yang’s question and asked, “I do not know, what does Your Highness like most about me?”

Qi Yang smiled, her gaze still pinned on his elegant face. She answered, “Your face, of course.” The warmth in her eyes suddenly vanished as she spoke and turned cold and sharp, “I like this face of yours that looks exactly like hers*.”

*male and female pronouns in chinese sound the same when spoken; they are only written differently

Once she said this, Lu Qicheng’s eyes widened at once. The secret that had been kept hidden away for years was exposed in a flash — and by the noble Princess herself too. His heart started painfully hammering against his chest again.

Myriad thoughts raced through his head. The first thing that came to his mind was to kill her to keep the secret under wraps. However, at this moment, he was at the princess’ mansion and was completely unprepared. He could not kill her and it was even more impossible for him to be able to cleanly get away with it. Thus, he had no choice but to temporarily reject the idea of killing her. Instead, he decided to act dumb so he forced a smile and asked, “What does the princess mean by this? Whose face does mine…”

Before he could finish his sentence, Lu Qicheng suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood. The dark red blood splattered over the corner of Qi Yang’s skirt like red plum blossoms.

“Princess, you…” Lu Qicheng looked at Qi Yang with disbelief. His hand was still pressing on his frenzied heart. It was only at this moment that he realised that the palpitations of his heart were not because of excitement but rather because he had been poisoned from the start! The poisoned wine had been prepared for him since the beginning. She had never wanted or needed an explanation from him.

Qi Yang simply looked at him coldly while he coughed up blood and collapsed, watching how the light in his eyes died out as he kept his hand pressed on his chest…

Even until his death, Lu Qicheng never had the chance to ask why. Even until his death, he did not understand why Qi Yang would poison him. Was it to take revenge for that person? If that was the case, then why did Princess Qi Yang take revenge on her behalf?

Qi Yang was obviously not interested in entertaining a dead person’s questions. A multitude of emotions flashed in her eyes as she watched Lu Qicheng’s corpse gradually turn cold — the joy of revenge, followed by the sorrow of having lost everything and lastly, the feeling of disorientation, like she did not know what path to take next. Somehow, she looked a bit pitiful.

An unknown length of time passed. Zhi Ting finally returned with piping hot dishes but once she stepped into the hall, the first thing she saw was the prince consort dead on the floor. She clasped her hand over her mouth in shock. Her eyes landed on the bloodstains on Her Highness’ skirt and she croaked, her voice trembling, “Your Highness…”

Qi Yang ordered, “Clean it up,” then turned and left with a flick of her sleeve.