Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Princess Anping was five years old when the Deposed Queen threw herself into the well.

By all rights, she should have been handed over to the other consorts of the harem to be raised.

But her situation was a bit different.

She had become a mute.

Likely traumatized by the death of her brother and her Imperial Consort Mother’s suicide, the little princess had become dull and vacant.

When she finally managed to see King Liang, she couldn’t even manage a single cry of “Father.”

King Liang was deeply displeased by this, his face etched with loathing.

Seeing his reaction, the other consorts were terrified of inviting his disfavor. One after another, they made up excuses to avoid taking her in.

And so, the poor Princess Anping was left unplaced for a time before being sent back to Fenghuan Palace.

After that, it was as if she had been forgotten by everyone; her name was never mentioned again.

Following the death of Anping’s Imperial Consort Mother, the two young palace maids originally assigned to Fenghuan Palace had been reassigned by Consort Shu.

Princess Anping was left with only an old matron named Aunt Qiu to look after her.

That care lasted for seven years.

Seven years later, Aunt Qiu had grown even more frail.

With her mobility impaired, it was Princess Anping who ended up having to take care of her instead.

Thus, the twelve-year-old Princess Anping began carrying her own water, washing clothes, cooking, and digging up the courtyard to plant vegetables.

At the beginning of every month, she also had to make a trip to the Western Palace Storage to carry back half a basket of charcoal and half a bushel of grain rations.

That charcoal made from pine branches and the stale grain were of the lowest quality, commonly known as “Cold Palace Special Supply.”

Princess Anping herself was much like these inferior goods. Dressed in old clothes that Aunt Qiu had mended and resized, she was small, thin, and covered in dust, looking no different from a common laboring maid.

When the eunuch at the Storage Depot first saw her, he thought she was a new little maid. He let out a snide, mocking laugh. “Oh? A new face. Did that old crone Qiu from Fenghuan Palace finally kick the bucket?

“Are you new to the palace? Tsk, being assigned to a place like that… how pathetic.”

Everyone in the palace knew that Fenghuan Palace had long been derelict. A Prince had died of illness there, and a Deposed Queen had jumped into its well. The place was thick with yin energy; forget people, even the stray cats of the Cold Palace refused to set foot there.

Rumor had it that Princess Anping was a fool who still couldn’t speak and spent her days sitting idly while drooling.

Any young maid assigned to such a place was surely cursed with terrible luck.

…

Bah! To hell with their foul mouths!

Anping isn’t a fool!

And Anping isn’t cursed!

She is my best friend and the kindest princess in the whole world.

What? You’re asking who I am?

Me? My name is Little Frog.

I’m a toad living in Fenghuan Palace.