Chapter 1

Chapter 1

By the time I was eight years old, I had a rough understanding of what it meant to be a ‘transmigrator.’

My Father Emperor came from another time and space.

In that era, technology was advanced and men and women were equal. Regardless of gender, everyone could pursue their own desires.

I imagined it to be a utopian age.

I also eventually figured out my own identity.

In my Father Emperor’s understanding, the world we lived in was a book.

I was the villainous supporting actress of that book. In the future, I was destined to blacken for the sake of a man, begging for his pity like a dog and offering up my family and country just to get him to spare me a single glance.

But he felt nothing for me but hatred and loathing.

When he and another woman celebrated their grand wedding to share the world together, I would go mad and set the palace halls ablaze, only to burn myself to death.

That scene of me jumping from the city walls, my entire body engulfed in flames, would serve as a vibrant splash of color for his wedding ceremony.

He and that woman would stand atop the high city walls, looking down at my blazing corpse and saying, “Evil is rewarded with evil. It’s finally over.”

Father Emperor told me these plot points as if they were stories, teaching me that a woman must never lose herself in romantic love.

“It isn’t worth it for a man, and it’s even less worth it to commit crimes for him. If a man requires you to sacrifice your entire country before he’ll look at you, then it isn’t you he values-it’s your country.

“Furthermore, every kind of affection in this world is precious. While love is valuable, the bonds of family, friendship, and country are equally important. If a relationship requires you to abandon one form of love to receive another in return, then that relationship isn’t worth having. A truly good relationship is harmonious; it can embrace your family and friends and respect your devotion to your country.

“Ronghua, you are the world’s most precious treasure, the pearl in your parents’ palms. You should have grander ambitions and a more steadfast heart. You must never be like that girl, seeking life or death for the sake of a man. If you do, your Father Emperor will be very disappointed.”

He lectured me with a solemn expression, but in his heart, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

[I’ve taught her to this extent, so she shouldn’t walk the path of the villainous supporting actress anymore, right? Hmph! No one is allowed to bully my daughter. When the male and female leads arrive in the capital later, the first thing I’ll do is kick them out. No one is going to use my Ronghua as a stepping stone to climb up.]

I smiled.

I hugged his arm and asked him to lift me high up.

He happily let me dangle from his arm, lifting me up and setting me down, over and over again.

I screamed with laughter, my joy flying into the clouds before settling deep into my heart.

I thought that I surely wouldn’t become that villainous supporting actress.

For Father Emperor’s sake, I wouldn’t.

He was my guiding light, my soft spot, and the sanctuary of my soul.

For him, I was willing to change.

But things often do not go as one hopes.