Chapter 9

“A camp prostitute? Then we can do whatever we like with her?”

“I’ve had brothel girls and well-bred young ladies, but never a camp prostitute!”

“Zhaozhao really does know how to treat us…”

“Yes! If we can’t have the high and mighty princess herself, a camp prostitute who looks like her will do!”

…

Under the influence of wine and the drug, everything dissolved into chaos.

Xu Zhaozhao was stunned too.

This was nothing like what she had imagined.

Not a single man had recognized her from the music and the dance. Instead, they were…

Unfortunately, it was too late for regrets.

The drugged aristocrats had already stripped her clothes away.

Waiting for her was the same torment I had endured in my previous life…

…

The next day, everyone woke to the duke’s furious shouting.

“What are you doing?”

“You dare bring this debauchery into my own residence!”

The drunken, dissolute gathering came to its senses at once.

Like me in my previous life, Xu Zhaozhao had been left naked and bloodied by their abuse.

Returning from his duties, the duke was as enraged as he had been last time. But back then, he had chosen to protect his own reputation and his daughter, and let the matter go.

He did the same this time. He berated me for causing such trouble as soon as I returned to the capital, then drove all the young aristocrats out of the residence.

Unfortunately, that was when something changed—

A parrot suddenly flew over.

It landed on the bloodied Xu Zhaozhao’s shoulder.

“Greetings, Princess! Greetings, Princess! Greetings, Princess!”

It was Xu Zhaozhao’s beloved pet from the capital. She hadn’t taken it to Ximen Pass, so naturally it didn’t know me.

In that same instant, Xu Zhaozhao, barely alive on the ground, opened her mouth and silently formed a word.

“Father.”

The duke looked at me, then at Xu Zhaozhao on the ground.

In a flash, the man who had wielded power at court for decades understood. He drew his sword and pointed it at my throat.

“Tell me who you are!”

“My child trained in martial arts for years, yet there’s not even a trace of callus on your thumb. Who are you, to dare impersonate her?”

I was not afraid.

For at that very moment, the sobered young aristocrats were just as shocked.

“What? She’s not Xu Zhaozhao? The woman on the ground, the one we had last night, is the real Xu Zhaozhao? I thought she was a camp prostitute!”

“I-I had the princess? Will the duke kill me…?”

“Surely not. I took off that woman’s mask. Her face was covered in scars; she was already disfigured and mute. She can’t be the princess!”

“So what if she is? I had the princess! I don’t mind that she’s dirty. I’ll marry into the duke’s household! Hahaha!”

That was the nephew of the assistant director in the Ministry of Revenue, the lowest-ranking family among them.

The duke’s face grew darker as he looked at the group of young aristocrats.

I knew he was wavering.

His household had a century of standing behind it. It was one of the most prestigious families at court. If his daughter had become a camp prostitute and been passed around by the capital’s aristocrats,

He might as well never attend morning court again!

I smiled.

“Father, what are you saying? The northwest is so dry and windy. I simply took special care of my hands before coming home. How could that make you doubt I’m your own daughter? Look, I’ve even kept the portrait you had painted of the two of us before I left for Ximen Pass!”

With that, I pulled from my sleeve the painting I had copied of Xu Zhaozhao and Chen Wu “enjoying themselves” by the stream, and handed it to the duke.

The Zhaozhao in the painting was barely clothed, her expression abandoned. Her whole body was depicted with meticulous clarity.

I leaned close to the duke and whispered,

“Father, I’ve already had booksellers in the country prepare printing blocks from this picture. Unless you acknowledge me, within three days the scene of your princess’s encounter with an army brute by the stream will be all over the country!”

His face livid, the duke was silent for a moment. Finally, he pointed his sword at Xu Zhaozhao on the ground.

“Guards! Drag this woman away!”