Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Mother, come quickly! It seems like my sister is possessed."

In the Eastern Palace, the nine-year-old Princess Wen'an rushed out from the eastern side hall, holding up her skirt, and ran to the pavilion with a panicked expression. She whispered into the ear of the Crown Princess, who was painting, and then tugged at her hand to pull her up.

Princess Wen'an was usually quiet and well-behaved, rarely showing such a flustered state.

The Crown Princess hugged her daughter, first patting her back to comfort her, then gently scolded, "What are you talking about? It’s broad daylight! Your sister eats and sleeps like a baby. How could she be possessed?"

Princess Wen'an stomped her feet, frustrated, almost crying, "Mother, you’ll see what I mean if you go and look."

Only then did the Crown Princess realize something was wrong. She got up from the couch, took her daughter's hand, and hurried out to the eastern side hall.

As soon as they entered, they saw the three-year-old sitting on the couch by the window, waving her chubby little hands in the air, her soft, confused voice asking, "Doggy, why can't I touch you?"

The system replied, "I am illusory; you can't touch me."

Seeing this scene, the Crown Princess was instantly horrified and stood there, frozen.

Nuo Er’s mouth didn’t move at all. How was she speaking?

She said "doggy," but there was no dog in the room.

Who was she even talking to?

Could it be, as Hui Hui said, that Nuo Er was really possessed?

At the thought of this possibility, the Crown Princess felt her scalp tingle and her hair stand on end, and she instinctively tightened her grip on her eldest daughter's hand.

Princess Wen'an winced from the pain, but she didn’t try to pull her hand away. Instead, she felt the pain was just right.

The pain confirmed it wasn’t her imagination—her sister was truly possessed.

The Crown Princess, horrified, moved to pick up her youngest daughter, but Princess Wen'an quickly grabbed her hand, giving her a meaningful look as she pulled her outside.

Though puzzled, the Crown Princess followed.

After they reached the door and walked a few steps, Princess Wen'an stopped and signaled for the Crown Princess to lean closer.

The Crown Princess, anxiously glancing toward the window, bent down and asked, "What’s wrong?"

Princess Wen'an whispered, "Mother, were you planning to ask my sister who she was talking to?"

The Crown Princess nodded, "Yes, why did you stop me?"

Princess Wen'an replied, "Mother, don’t bother asking. You won’t get an answer."

The Crown Princess frowned in confusion, "What do you mean?"

Princess Wen'an explained, "Just now, when I heard Nuo Er talking to someone, I wanted to ask her who she was talking to. But as soon as I opened my mouth, it felt like needles pricking me. My whole mouth was in pain and numb, and I couldn't say a word."

Hearing this, the Crown Princess's expression changed, and she quickly cupped her daughter's face, examining it left and right, "Does it still hurt? Should we call a physician to take a look?"

Princess Wen'an shook her head, "It doesn't hurt anymore, Mother. Don't worry."

The Crown Princess carefully checked her daughter's mouth, finding no wounds and seeing that she didn't seem to be in pain, she slightly relaxed, "Tell me quickly, what exactly happened just now?"

Princess Wen'an nodded and recounted the events.

She had been holding Nuo Er and playing on the couch when suddenly she heard Nuo Er talking to a man who called himself A Tong, though Nuo Er called him "doggy."

She looked around and saw only the maid embroidering in the corner—no doggy, no man. She quickly asked her sister what was happening, but as soon as she opened her mouth, it felt like invisible needles were pricking her, and she couldn’t speak.

Her first thought was that her sister was possessed by evil spirits, so she hurriedly ran to find her mother.

After hearing this, the Crown Princess hugged her eldest daughter tightly, "You did the right thing, Hui Er. Mother will stay with Nuo Er now. You hurry to the government office and bring your father back."

Princess Wen'an nodded and hugged her mother, comforting her, "Don’t worry, Mother. I’ll go now and be back soon."

With that, the little girl slipped out of her mother’s arms and, without waiting for her maid, lifted her skirt and ran off.

Uneasy, the Crown Princess quickly called to the maid standing anxiously in the corridor, "Hurry, follow the Princess." The maid responded and ran after her.

Taking a deep breath, the Crown Princess turned and entered the east annex. The embroidering maid stood to bow, but the Crown Princess waved her away.

The room fell silent as the Crown Princess tiptoed to the window couch and sat gently behind the chubby girl.

She had planned to listen more to the little girl’s conversation with the "doggy," but the little girl, startled by her movement, turned to look.

Seeing her, the girl grinned so wide her eyes disappeared, wriggled her chubby body, stood up, and threw herself into her arms, calling out in a milky voice, "Mommy."

Holding the chubby child, the Crown Princess felt a pang of sadness, her tears threatening to fall.

She fought back tears, reassuring herself that no matter the evil, she’d find a way to rid Nuo Er of it.

She hugged the girl tightly, kissed her chubby cheeks, then her tiny hands, "Mommy’s here. Are you hungry, Nuo Er? Want some cake?"

The girl giggled, "Nuo Nuo wants cake!"

The Crown Princess agreed, picked her up, and left the east annex, but instead of entering the main hall, she had a chair brought and sat with the girl under the midday sun.

She figured any demon or monster would fear sunlight.

But Shen Zhinuo, afraid of the sun, covered her eyes with her tiny hands, "Mommy, Nuo Nuo is so hot."

Feeling sorry for her, the Crown Princess stood and moved to the pavilion’s shade.

The maid first brought a basin of water, then some pastries and fruits. The Crown Princess grabbed the little girl’s hands and washed them clean, then gave her a piece of cloud cake to eat.

As Shen Zhinuo nibbled, she thought about the system’s words.

She was actually a transmigrator, born as the little princess of the Crown Prince’s family, loved by her father, cherished by her mother, and doted on by her siblings. Over the years, she had enjoyed endless affection.

She thought it was the heavens compensating her for her miserable previous life.

She thought, now she is a princess, and in the future, when her grandfather passes away, her father will become the emperor, her mother the empress, and she will be the most favored princess in Daxuan.

She had already prepared for a life of ease, good food, and fun, lying flat all her life.

But today, a black puppy-shaped system suddenly came to her, saying that she was a minor character living in a book, that her father would be stripped of his position as the crown prince, the whole family would be exiled, and they would die tragically on the road.

That couldn’t be. In her previous life, she was an orphan, living alone. In this life, she finally had a family, and she couldn’t let them die so easily.

She had wanted to ask more, but her mother came and interrupted.

Now that she had some free time, she wanted to ask more carefully to see what was really going on and if there was any way to change this terrible ending.

Before she could ask, she saw her sister leading her father into the courtyard.

She looked up at her mother curiously, pointed to the door with the hand holding the cloud-shaped pastry, and said happily, "Mother, Father is back."

She wondered why her sister, who had been playing with her just now, suddenly disappeared. It turned out she went to pick up Father.

The Crown Princess patted her youngest daughter's head and looked towards the Crown Prince.

Although the Crown Prince was nearly forty, he still looked as dashing and handsome as ever. Time had only made him more steady and restrained, leaving almost no trace on his appearance.

The moment their eyes met, her restless heart found some peace, feeling a bit more at ease.

After a brief exchange of glances, the Crown Princess knew that Hui Er had already informed the Crown Prince about the situation.

Seeing the unease in his wife's eyes, the Crown Prince gently patted her hand, then embraced his youngest daughter, who was running towards him with arms wide open, and asked, "Nuo Er, tell Father, what were you doing earlier..."

Mid-sentence, the Crown Prince's mouth suddenly went numb from pain, cutting off his words. In that moment, he finally believed what Hui Er had said.

Earlier, Hui Er had hurried to the Ministry of Revenue, secretly pulled him aside, and told him about the strange things happening to Nuo Er.

At first, he didn't believe it. After hearing it, he laughed and said Hui Er had started making up stories, adding that such jokes shouldn't be taken lightly.

But Hui Er, teary-eyed, said that her mother had sent her to fetch her father, and if he didn't believe her, he should at least believe her mother.

Only then did he start to take it seriously. Thinking about it, his eldest daughter was usually the most composed and sensible, and would never go to his office during work hours to tell stories.

But the matter was so bizarre that he remained only half-convinced, yet he didn't ask further. After informing the Minister of Revenue, he rushed back to the Eastern Palace with Hui Er.

If he had been five-tenths convinced earlier, seeing his wife's worried expression now, he was already seven or eight-tenths convinced. But still holding onto a sliver of hope, he picked up Nuo Er and asked.

Well, it turned out his mouth felt like it was being pricked by needles, instantly numbed by pain, and it was still numb now.

Seeing the Crown Prince abruptly stop mid-sentence, the Crown Princess understood what was happening. She gestured to her own mouth and then touched Princess Wen'an's face, indicating that they, mother and daughter, were the same.

Though they didn't know why, all three knew they couldn't ask anything in front of the little girl.

The Crown Prince gave Princess Wen'an a look, and Princess Wen'an extended her arms towards her sister, "Father and Mother need to have a talk. Nuo Er, come to your sister."

From a young age, she had been passed around among the family members, always being held by one person after another. Shen Zhinuo was already used to it.

But she preferred being held by her mother and sister the most because they were soft and fragrant, unlike her father, who practiced martial arts all year round and was hard. However, her father was better than her brothers, as he always carried a faint scent of sandalwood, while her brothers ran around every day, often sweating and smelling bad.

Seeing Princess Wen'an reaching out to hold her, the little girl turned and threw herself into her sister's arms, even feeding her the cloud-shaped pastry, "Sister, eat."

To make it easier for her parents to talk, Princess Wen'an walked a bit further away with her sister in her arms.

The Crown Prince and Crown Princess immediately put their heads together, first exchanging information. They found that since Princess Wen'an left, the little girl hadn't spoken to the so-called dog again. After some discussion, they decided to hold their ground and listen further.

So they gave Princess Wen'an, who was holding her sister and looking at the flowers, another look. Princess Wen'an then walked back with her sister, and the family of four sat in the pavilion, leisurely drinking tea and eating snacks.

After eating and drinking her fill, Shen Zhinuo, seeing that her father, mother, and sister had stopped talking, started talking to the system in her heart again, "Doggy, are you there?"

A black puppy instantly appeared before Shen Zhinuo, "Young Master, ATong is here."

The system had already mentioned that the Transmigration Bureau had become more humanized. For example, to help human children understand what a system is, all systems sent to hosts under ten years old were set to appear as small animals.

Of course, these small animals were illusory, only visible to the bound host, and only the host could communicate with them.

So, seeing the black puppy appear again, Shen Zhinuo wasn't worried about her father, mother, and sister seeing it.

She calmly continued the conversation, "Doggy, earlier you said that my father would be stripped of his position as Crown Prince by my grandfather. When will that happen?"

The Crown Prince was sipping tea when he heard this. His hand shook, spilling tea all over his robe.

What?!

He was stripped of his title?

How is that possible?

Why?