Ah Hua Knows My Heart

[Cold Palace Princess] [Revenge] The Great Liang imperial palace is vast, yet it has no place for the Sixth Princess.

Her name is Rong Le. Her mother was sent to the cold palace and died of illness when Rong Le was five, leaving her alone to face this man-eating imperial city. She has no title, and few people even call her by name. At the palace, they refer to her only as "that one in Yong Alley" or "the Sixth Princess," with the casual contempt one might use for an old thing that should have been thrown away long ago.

Rong Le understood at five that tears were useless. What mattered was a clever mind, patience, and a smile no one could read. She smiled obediently at everyone, smiled humbly. When the Fourth Princess smashed her medicine bowl, she smiled and thanked her. When a matron slapped her, she smiled and said the lesson was well deserved. Everyone thought she was a fool.

Only Ah Hua knew she wasn't.

Ah Hua was a skinny yellow-and-white cat Rong Le found in a corner of Yong Alley when she was ten. It was covered in wounds and starving to death. Rong Le fed it the only half a cake she had. After eating, the cat didn't leave. It watched her with amber eyes. From then on, Ah Hua never left her side.

Rong Le often held Ah Hua as she sat on the cold palace's threshold, staring up at the tall walls. She would ask, "Ah Hua, what do you think it's like outside the imperial city?" Ah Hua couldn't answer. It only rubbed its head against her palm.

Ah Hua helped her pass signals, carry secret messages, and keep watch. Together, girl and cat wove a web no one noticed.

At the autumn hunt banquet, the Seventh Prince of Yuan, Xiao Lin, arrived. He seemed carefree, but was deeply entangled in the struggle for the throne. Then he saw the princess in the corner, holding a yellow-and-white cat. Rong Le smiled at him, gentle and ingratiating. But he saw through her eyes at once: that wasn't the alarm of a fawn, but a fox in disguise.