On the day the spring examination results were posted, the young lord who had taken first place died.
He set himself on fire, burning down the study where he had spent decades poring over his books, along with every volume and notebook inside.
Everything turned to ash.
But among the ruins, the marchioness found an inkstone.
On its underside, someone had carved these words with a knife: “Chunxu, go die.”
I was Chunxu.
Having lost her only son, the marchioness decided I had killed her precious boy.
She locked me in the manor’s punishment chamber and subjected me to every torture she could devise.
Seven days later, unable to endure any more, I died under torture.
By my final breath, there was not an uninjured patch of flesh on me.
I made a wish then.
If there was another life, I never wanted to be a slave in a great household again.
I wanted only to be like the spring catkins of my name, free to drift across a wide and boundless world.
But when I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day I had been assigned to serve the young lord.
