After the Mad, Beautiful Princess Was Raised by Her Ruthless Shadow Guard

[Coming soon: After Taking My Old Enemy's Daughter. Add it to your favorites!]

“In her dreams, she went mad for the princess's body. Awake, she went mad for the princess's ambitions.”

[Brooding, sinister secret guard gong x beautiful, mad princess shou]

Wei Lingxiao had never seen anyone as otherworldly as her, with a face like a painting and a compassionate heart.

She accepted the steamed bun the woman offered her. It was an ordinary bun, yet sweeter than the peach blossom cake from the day her sister sold her.

To repay her kindness, Wei Lingxiao climbed step by step to the position of great general.

She thought that as long as the Grand Princess still considered her the most useful blade at her disposal, she would be content.

But the Grand Princess died on the day before she was to ascend the throne.

Cause of death: poisoning.

*

Wei Lingxiao refused to believe it, and slaughtered the entire palace as an offering to Heaven.

Whether Heaven had finally taken notice or her defiance had forced its hand, Wei Lingxiao was reborn.

She got her wish and returned to five years earlier.

This time, she didn't want to become a general or a marquis. She only wanted to stay by the Grand Princess's side as a secret guard, tasting poison and taking arrows for her.

To keep her safe and prolong her life.

Wei Lingxiao became the Grand Princess's most trusted blade. Everyone in the capital “honored” her with the nickname Mad Dog.

When the Grand Princess said the road was too bumpy, Wei Lingxiao held her carefully, savoring the delicious tremor in her heart.

When her medicine was too bitter, Wei Lingxiao learned to make medicinal dishes, carefully chopping radishes with the hand that had slain a hundred thousand enemies.

When her political rivals became a nuisance, Wei Lingxiao used threats and bribes, then assassinated the stubborn ones to make an example of them.

There was only one thing Wei Lingxiao had never managed to do.

The Grand Princess sat upright at the head of the bed. A puff of vapor escaped her lips as she spoke. “Tell the palace maids to prepare more warming bottles.”

Wei Lingxiao held her feet in her hands and warmed them. “I have already sent the palace maids outside away.”

The Grand Princess looked at her coldly. “Why?”

Wei Lingxiao held her feet and pulled her into her arms, her voice close to the princess's ear. “Isn't having me enough for you, Your Highness?”

A little teaser for my upcoming story: After Taking My Old Enemy's Daughter

The Zhao family has been the foremost aristocratic clan in the Great Yue for a hundred years.

As the second legitimate daughter of the Zhao family, Zhao Liyu controls the family's hidden network of contacts and manages half its assets. Everyone says she's lucky.

But Zhao Liyu thinks her life is miserable.

She does all the dirty, exhausting work, while her mother and elder sister stand in court, aloof as chrysanthemums, advising her not to scheme so much because it will wear her out and shorten her life.

So Zhao Liyu, whose life is supposedly short, is ready to flip the lid off her coffin.

She heard that the Pingyuan Marquis's household, implicated in unrest along the border, planned to send a beautiful illegitimate daughter to the Zhao residence in exchange for protection.

Zhao Liyu had met that illegitimate daughter. She was pretty, but nowhere near as stunning as the marquis's legitimate youngest daughter, Xie Yunxiu, the most celebrated beauty in the capital.

Bright-eyed and graceful, she was simply a little frail. As a Source Daughter, she might not be able to bear children easily.

To Zhao Liyu, that flaw was exactly what she wanted!

She immediately seized the marquis's offer, then sent people to kidnap Xie Yunxiu.

On the other side of the wall, the marquis's relatives fawned over Zhao Liyu's elder sister, praising the illegitimate daughter's virtue and beauty.

On this side, Zhao Liyu raised Xie Yunxiu's chin with her whip. Bound hand and foot, Xie Yunxiu looked even more tempting, her face flushed.

They praised her skin as smooth as jade and her waist as slender as a willow.

Zhao Liyu ran her fingers from Xie Yunxiu's chest down to her waist, and the struggling only made her seem stronger. “If the marquis's household is giving someone away, they should send the very best.”

Source Daughters: Source-Bearing Daughters, who carry primordial essence and can pass it to others.

Bearer Daughters: Essence-Receiving Daughters, who have a womb and can conceive and bear children.

Theme: Be the best version of yourself.