Quick Transmigration: Still Life Fairy

Chapter 194 The Princess's Embroidered Robe Has Come to Life!!!

As mentioned before, the current emperor is an incompetent fool. The reason he was able to ascend the throne is because all his brothers died in a coup, leaving him as the only remaining member of the royal bloodline. Helpless, he was supported by his ministers and ascended the throne.

He did sit on the throne, but he only had the title of emperor. Real power was controlled by other court officials. He spent his days eating, drinking, having fun, and—working hard in the harem, favoring the daughters of various ministers and trying to get them pregnant and give birth to the emperor's son.

At first, the emperor was not happy. He knew that if a son was born, his good days would be coming to an end. So his initial attitude was perfunctory. But to his surprise, after several years of hard work, none of the concubines in the harem had conceived. This made the emperor lose face. With so many concubines, he couldn't very well say that there was something wrong with their bodies.

The emperor began to genuinely desire an heir of his own.

Princess Chuchen and Princess Xiwan were born in such an environment.

Their mother, the Empress, had been with the Emperor for a long time, when he was just an ordinary prince, neither particularly high nor low in rank, quite mediocre. After marrying the Emperor, the Empress looked down on him from the bottom of her heart. Relying on her powerful family, she constantly mocked and slandered the Emperor. Therefore, the relationship between the Emperor and the Empress was irreconcilable. The Emperor had even considered deposing the Empress, but the Empress's family was too powerful, and he couldn't eliminate her in one fell swoop. So, the Emperor could only swallow his anger.

It was just a routine monthly visit to the Empress's palace, but unexpectedly, the Empress became pregnant. Just as the Emperor's perception of the Empress began to change, the Empress gave birth to twins—two daughters.

In ancient times, twins were considered an omen of bad luck. The emperor, having listened to the slander of a villain, wanted to execute the two children. However, upon seeing the two children for the first time, the emperor, for some reason, was as if bewitched by the second princess. He not only took the second princess away himself, but also ordered people to conceal the fact that the eldest and second princesses were actually twins. Although it was hidden on the surface, everyone actually knew.

After that, the lives of the two full sisters, the eldest and second princesses, were like heaven and hell.

The empress looked down on the emperor back then, and now the emperor naturally looks down on the empress as well. Moreover, the empress has long been married and her relationship with her family has gradually faded. Even though she has her family as her backing, her private interactions with them are gradually decreasing.

With the Emperor's deliberate obstruction, the Empress's life became increasingly difficult. As her daughter, the eldest princess's initial life wasn't particularly good; she could barely be described as having enough to eat and wear, and received little else. Unlike the eldest princess, the second princess, Xiwan, was raised personally by the Emperor. From the beginning, she lived in the Emperor's palace, eating and sleeping with him, and all her daily needs were taken care of by him. It was almost unbelievable that the supposedly incompetent Emperor, who had always been served by others, had now learned to serve others—even his own daughter.

As the two princesses grew older, the elder princess, around four or five years old, still lived in the Empress's palace. She spent her days playing within that palace, and the Empress personally taught her to read and write. The younger princess, however, was completely different. The Emperor specially ordered renowned scholars to become her tutors, teaching her music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. She also had private tutors who taught her martial arts. It seemed the Emperor treated the younger princess like a prince, providing her with meticulous care. The ministers all perceived this as the Emperor's intention to pass the throne to the younger princess.

Although the succession to the throne was based on bloodline, in ancient times with its feudalistic ideology, women were absolutely excluded from the throne. During that period, the court was in turmoil, and all the ministers in power submitted memorials of remonstrance, to the point that the emperor's position was insecure. The most vocal critics were the empress's maternal family.

It's impossible to say they never considered having the second princess inherit the throne, since they were, in a sense, her maternal grandparents' family. However, if it came down to it, they would have preferred the eldest princess to inherit the throne. This was because the second princess had been raised by the emperor himself and had a deep bond with him, whereas they, her maternal grandparents' family, had no such affection for her due to the emperor's interference.

Their original intention was to persuade the emperor to change his mind, since the eldest son should be chosen over the youngest. However, they did not expect to anger the emperor. With the help of their enemies, the emperor wiped them out completely. The empress lost her support in the harem and was banished to the cold palace. The status of the eldest princess also plummeted.

On the contrary, the second princess, born of the same mother, received even more favor from the emperor. Although she could not escape the fate of marriage in the end, the man she married was a great general who was once famous in the court. When he put on his armor, he was a cold and bloodthirsty soldier, but when he took off his armor, he was a refined and cultured scholar. His handsome face captivated countless women in the capital. It was such an outstanding man who was forced by the emperor to shed his title of great general and marry the princess with the title of consort.

That's right, it's marriage!

This is a word that is almost a disgrace to men.

In the emperor's eyes, the second princess deserved the best; she shouldn't have to marry a man and spend her life revolving around him. Therefore, the general, who was subordinate to him, could only be "married off" and become the princess's principal wife.

Since she was the principal wife, there were naturally second and third wives. In the emperor's words, how could my daughter be hung up on one tree? So the emperor made a stroke of his pen and selected several talented young men from among the sons of the court officials, sending them all to the princess's residence as concubines to serve her alongside the general.

The second princess was living a prosperous life, while the eldest princess seemed to have been forgotten in the palace. Apart from the few people who served her, no one remembered her.

She had reached the age where she was ready to get married, but the emperor had long forgotten about her. Since being banished to the cold palace, the empress had become disheartened and gradually stopped caring about her. Despite having the title of princess, she was actually just a pitiful little girl with no one to love her.

Speaking of these past events, the eldest princess's face showed some jealousy, but more so a sense of loss.

"...Ever since I became aware of things, I've always felt that this kind of life is the destiny my sister and I should have. After all, our births were fraught with misfortune. But in the end, I'm the only one who has to bear this life. My sister... Husband, sometimes I really hate myself because I have the most vicious thoughts, imagining whether my sister is possessed by a powerful demon, or whether she herself is an evil spirit. That's why Father was only able to see her once, and then..."

The princess was losing control of her emotions. She shook her head and covered her face with her hands.

"Am I...too wicked...?"

"No!" Seeing her like this, and thinking of her tear-streaked face, Zhengze couldn't help but soften. He couldn't help but grab the princess's hand, his tone firm: "This isn't malicious; you're just making a reasonable guess. After all, that's what I think too."