The Empress Is Within Reach

[Under revision]

[ #Tentacles #Nonhuman, theatrical princess and cold empress ]

Coming soon in my author page: The Little Mushroom of the Aloof Immortal Venerable Has Run Away. Please add it to your collection!

On the day her kingdom fell, the least favored Ninth Princess was given to the enemy empress as a gift.

Rumor had it the newly enthroned empress of the enemy kingdom was utterly cruel. To save her life, Meng Sui resolutely chose to run away from her wedding!

Along the way, Meng Sui came across a stunning beauty bathing, and fainted on the spot.

When she woke again, the beauty asked in a gentle voice, "Miss, are you all right?"

Meng Sui: "There's something more important right now. How old are you, sister? Are you promised to anyone? What do you think of me?"

The beauty: "...?"

Later, the beauty told Meng Sui her name was A Ci. A Ci could hunt and fish, farm and weave, and the women of the fishing village all respected her.

They spent three months together in the village. Meng Sui ate A Ci's cooking and wore clothes A Ci had made, feeling thoroughly pleased with herself. What a treasure she'd found!

Until the day bandits attacked, and flames engulfed the village.

Through a crack, Meng Sui saw someone carrying a black umbrella, walking through blood and mud. The bandits convulsed and bled, screaming that they had seen a monster.

Meng Sui looked closer. As if sensing her gaze, the beauty turned and smiled faintly in her direction.

It was A Ci!

Meng Sui's legs went weak. When she heard A Ci's personal guard address her as Her Majesty the Empress, her heart sank even further!

If A Ci found out she was the ungrateful Ninth Princess who had run away from the wedding, wouldn't the empress tear her limb from limb and devour her alive?

After several days of living in fear, Meng Sui heard A Ci say, "I'm going back."

Meng Sui pretended to cry. "Then, sister, let's meet again if fate allows."

Su Buci smiled. "Meet again? You're coming with me. Ninth. Princess."

Meng Sui: It's over. I'm dead this time!

Meng Sui was taken to the imperial palace of Jing and then sent into the bridal chamber.

When the red veil was lifted, Meng Sui saw Su Buci before her and wanted to beg her, for old times' sake, to spare her life.

She lowered her eyes and saw four black-red, satin-like tentacles swaying beneath Su Buci's skirt. They seemed alive as they reached toward Meng Sui.

Meng Sui was so frightened she dropped to her knees. "Y-you... what are you?"

Su Buci lifted her with a gentle smile. "Didn't you want to see my true form? Here it is."

Meng Sui fainted on the spot.

When she opened her eyes again, her body ached all over, and black-red tentacles were wrapped around her waist.

Meng Sui's scalp prickled. She seemed to have gotten herself into even bigger trouble!

*

Su Buci's perspective:

From the day she was born, she was secretly taken away by fishermen and later left in the imperial palace of Jing.

Su Buci had always believed her mother was benevolent and her sister gentle, until she stumbled upon her mother's secret at the age of nine: all that indulgence and tolerance had been part of a death trap laid for her.

If it was a death trap, then she would step into it willingly and throw the world into chaos.

Until, one day, she encountered the first ray of sunshine in her life.

She would never leave the green hills behind, and they would always be together.

From then on, all she wanted was to spend her life with Meng Sui.

P.S. Both heroines have killed people. They aren't good people.

Guiding principle: Love the world.