chapter 1

“Your Highness, this is rebellion.”

As we neared the capital, the young officer at my side, Ran Mu, felt obliged to remind me.

“I’m a princess, not a prince,” I said. “There is no law forbidding me from entering the capital without a summons.”

“But we brought troops. Private troops.”

“Relax. I’ve already thought of a solution.”

He asked what it was. I told him to wait.

I kept him in suspense until we reached the city gates. The defending general stared at me, sweat pouring down his face.

“Your Highness, what is the meaning of this…?”

“Oh. These are all my male favorites.”

Ran Mu fell silent.

The general looked past me at the five thousand cavalrymen and fell silent too.

I told him to report to the palace.

“Tell them I request permission to enter the capital with my five thousand male favorites.”

“That is impossible…”

I smiled without warmth. “Only the Grand Princess Defender of the Realm has authority over me. If it is impossible, have her come tell me herself.”

“The Grand Princess is unwell. Please remove your armor and dismount. I will escort you into the city.”

“Carry her here if you must. I will not dismount until I see her.”

The general left in a cold sweat and ordered the gates shut behind him.

“Not even a ghost would believe that story,” Ran Mu said.

I looked up at the ramparts. “Prepare for battle.”

“Think carefully, Your Highness. Once fighting begins, there is no turning back.”

“That’s all right. You can take the blame when the time comes.”

Ran Mu stared at me. “I must have committed every sin in eight lifetimes to end up serving you.”

I was Shen Qingning, Grand Princess Wan’an, second elder sister to the emperor.

But I had not always lived in honor.

Ten years ago, when I was fourteen, rebels stormed the capital. That was when Shen Qingbi arrived in my elder sister’s body. She was new to this world, and I saw through her at once.

The rebels looted the streets, assaulted women, and slaughtered everyone they encountered, young and old. Shen Qingbi immediately understood that they were massacring the city.

During our escape, we crossed a mountain whose every cave was crammed with people so tightly that there was no room for a needle.

Shen Qingbi said she used to be a “police officer.” I did not know what that meant. I only knew she was unlike any woman of this age. Responsibility seemed carved into her bones.

Even after we were escorted out of the city, she insisted on mounting a counterattack. She nearly died before the rebellion was finally crushed.

Afterward, she remained in the capital to help our younger brother ascend the throne and rebuild the city.

Beside her achievements, I—the ignorant, idle second princess—looked like a defective product of the imperial family.

When I turned sixteen, the court rushed to arrange my marriage. Shen Qingbi alone said, “What’s the hurry? Little Two is only sixteen. Let her go have fun.”

She defied every objection and sent me straight to my fief. Under her protection, I spent eight happy years riding horses and amusing myself. She had opened a new world to me.

Then, half a month ago, I received her letter.

She was going to marry Chi Yuan, eldest son of the Pillar-General Chi Ke. I eagerly packed for the wedding feast. Before I reached the capital, however, word came that the marriage had been canceled and the Grand Princess had disappeared.

The walls ahead filled with archers. The gates opened, and troops marched out.

“Your Highness,” Ran Mu said, “let me remind you one last time: a wise person protects herself.”

It was a phrase I often used myself. I had used it to coax this descendant of a legendary general into staying on my fief to raise horses.

But now I remembered what Shen Qingbi had said when she first arrived.

“If you are powerless while the people suffer, so be it. But if you have soldiers, then of course you fight.”

Whether Shen Qingbi lived or died, I had soldiers now. Of course I had to fight.

Ran Mu watched me tensely.

“Dead or alive, I will see Shen Qingbi with my own eyes.”

Despair crossed his face. “I truly let you fool me senseless…”

I did not order an attack on the gates. Since they refused to admit my “male favorites,” I turned around instead.

The Western Capital Garrison, the nearest defense camp, held twenty thousand soldiers trained in wagon formations and infantry tactics. I had brought five thousand hard-charging cavalry.

I ordered a surprise attack that night.

Five thousand against twenty thousand. It took us one night.

At dawn, Ran Mu woke me in the enemy command tent.

“Your Highness, the Western Garrison has fallen.”