My older sister and I spent more than a decade as princesses in a palace that favored sons over daughters. At last, the System took pity on us and agreed to send us back. My sister clutched the gold earring in her hand and smiled at me. “Xiaoxiao, I don’t want Mom anymore. The orphanage is nice enough. I’ll go back first.” With that, she swallowed the gold and died. The Consort, who had just been sneering at her for being a girl and forcing her to go marry into another kingdom, collapsed to the floor. Meanwhile, my mother, the Empress, was preparing to disown me and adopt someone else’s son. She emptied her private treasury just to win her new son’s favor, looking at him with a tenderness and affection I had never seen before. I plunged my jade hairpin into my chest. “Sister, I don’t want her either.”
