“Our eldest princess is back! She’s alive!”

“Great news, our royal princess has returned!”

“The heavens have blessed our country!”

“So we found the third princess and the eldest princess as well?! What a blessing!”

Inside the carriage, the woman sighed. She leaned further back into her seat and hid herself to the corner. The sound of people rejoicing and hollering entered the carriage from all directions, excitement resonating the main road. She was certainly not happy to return.

On the other hand, the younger girl sitting not far away was smiling happily at the number of people welcoming her home.

The entourage has made it especially obvious to the people that two of the royal family has finally come back. Soldiers from different ranks were guarding the carriage from all sides, vigilant and careful but there’s a look of pride in their eyes.

---

It’s been 13 years since she last saw the grand palace, even more so the throne hall.

When she was younger, she rarely got the chance to see the room where the emperor and ministers discussed the country’s politics and war tactics all morning. It was only when there are delegates from neighboring countries that she’s allowed to attend the banquet which is held in the spacious throne hall, enjoying feasts and entertainment along with the rest of the royal family.

But this is the first time that she entered the hall as the guest of honor. It felt weird.

The place never changed. Gold and red ornaments remain as the theme to show elegance and superiority of the emperor. The throne in the center of the room still looks intimidating after all these years as two dragon carvings by the seat emit an intimidating aura.

“The Emperor has arrived!” a eunuch announced.

As per formality, the two ladies knelt to the ground to show respect as the emperor made his way to the golden seat from behind the beaded curtain. Once they both rose up to their feet, the face of Xi Wei’s emperor welcomed their sight.

“Father emperor, daughter has returned.” The younger of them both, Ruyi, spoke delicately. She may have looked courageous on the outside but the guilt and fear searing in her eyes were palpable.

The emperor slammed the table. “You still have the guts to return and call yourself my daughter?! You should not have ran away in the first place if you’re going to come back, you ungrateful child! Tian Ruyi, kneel!”

Ruyi’s knees buckled and hit the ground with a loud thud. Her shoulders were trembling as her soft hands clutched her green dress tightly.

“You are already 18 and yet you’re still so childish! Are you even a princess?”

The emperor’s face darkened with fury as he stared down at the third princess.

Meanwhile, Luxing was bored beyond words. Her gaze flitted randomly to the expensive vases and pottery lining against the walls, then to the paintings of landscape hung on each side of the room. She would rather be stuck in a busy battlefield than trapped in this boring situation.

It was then that the emperor finally calmed down after averting his gaze to the other person who he hasn’t seen for a very long time. The young woman’s appearance was the complete opposite of Ruyi. Her bun was in a mess, body adorned with no jewels or pearls, haphazardly dressed in a heavy military suit. She was far from what a young lady should look like. His piercing gaze softened almost immediately.

“Xing-er…”

“Commoner Xuan Luxing greets the emperor,” she spoke confidently without breaking eye contact with the middle-aged man. “My purpose for visiting Xi Wei is to escort the third princess across the borders. I have fulfilled my main objective so I should be off as soon as possible. I am a person from Guo Qing and my presence will bring much disdain from the ministers and the people.”

The emperor’s guilt-stricken face entered Luxing’s line of view.

“Xing-er, this is your home.”

Luxing shook her head firmly. “My home is in Guo Qing.”

Now, the emperor looked even more determined. “I’ve let you suffer for too long. I want you to stay here, in Xi Wei, in the palace where you deserve to live a life of abundant wealth and care. You are my daughter and the eldest princess of this nation, I’m not letting you return to that wretched country that hurt you.”

Ruyi was still kneeling but forcefully turned her head to stare at Luxing, at the woman whom she refused to believe as her long-lost sister.

Hearing these, the blood started boiling in Luxing’s heart as she clenched her fists so tightly that the nails digging down on her skin could pierce through and cause blood to spill.

Although the first few years after she left Xi Wei was hellish, life in Guo Qing had been better than it was in the palace where she grew up. Her mind is always at ease whenever she went off to the borders and fought for her life, she felt alive, free, unrestrained.

The intention in the emperor’s eyes was crystal clear and left no room for discussion. He obviously wanted to keep her around, to cover his guilt or for other political reasons no one really knows.

As the saying goes, the emperor has a mind of his own. Being around the most important person in the land is like taking care of a sleeping tiger; you won’t know whether you’ll be eaten or not when it wakes up.

Luxing gritted her teeth, “Your highness, I am an orphan. Not a princess, not your daughter. My family name is Xuan!”

“You cannot deny the royal blood running in you, Xing-er.”

“You have eight other sons and four other daughters, that should be enough for you right?”

The room has turned incredibly silent, tension so high that it’s starting to feel suffocating. All the attendants and eunuchs present weren’t able to hide their anxiety.

“Wu Sang, grind the inkstone.”

It was the emperor who broke the silence as he ordered his personal eunuch to prepare writing utensils. His hands were deft yet graceful as the brush danced across the paper at an incredible speed. Not long after that, the emperor placed his brush down and took the dragon seal to place an imprint on the edge of the paper.

Handing the scroll to Wu Sang, the emperor then glanced over to his eldest daughter with a challenging gaze.

“Hear the decree!” Wu Sang shouted and everybody kowtowed to the ground. Except Luxing.

“Tian Luxing, eldest princess of our great Xi Wei nation who has been missing for the past decade, has been found. To celebrate her return, Tian Luxing will be granted the title of zhang gongzhu (grand princess), the fiefdom of Yun province, and the imperial family’s clothing shop in Yi city.”