Second Miss, ChunHua

At the general's manor, a commotion was starting at its finest.

"Second Miss!"

A disheveled female servant trailed after a well-dressed youth. The servant carried a basket of freshly steamed buns. A bead of sweat ran down her neck, and the hems of her skirt were muddied. She panted for air before running in front of her polished master.

Her master was Chunhua, the second miss of the manor.

Although the second miss's name implied spring flowers, her master's current face expression looked nothing resembling the loveliness of her name.

Chuahua wore five golden hair sticks in the folds of her hair bun. Her outfit was light pink, speckled with tiny cherry blossoms. The second miss had almond-shaped eyes and currently wore a tight frown.

"Second Miss! Please wait for this servant. The master said you can't-"

Chunhua turned her head sharply, the gems on the hair sticks glistened in the sunlight as she glared at the servant trailing her. She scoffed before shoving the servant to the ground. The woven basket was knocked to the ground, a few fresh pastries rolled out.

Chunhua watched the food escape from the basket. In anger, she slapped the servant.

"Hmph! Master this! Master that! I'm your current master! Father probably won't be in power for long anyway! Shut up and go away!"

The female servant looked appalled, "Please, Second Miss! Don't say things like that so loudly, what if-"

"Second sister, what are you doing being so loud this morning?" A gentle voice called out softly.

Lan'er strolled out gracefully, a servant accompanied closely behind while carrying a basket abundant of roses that bloomed in ranges of pink and red.

Chunhua swirled around to see Lan'er. She gritted her teeth. How hateful!

She loathed seeing her third sister alive sometimes. Even though her own status should be higher than the person in front of her, her father's doting approval told everyone how special her third sister was.

It was so unfair!

Nevertheless, Chunhua still managed to establish a sweet expression on her face and patted her shelves as if she never slapped her servant moments before. She nodded politely to Lan'er before sending a harsh glare towards her trembling servant on the ground.

"Nothing. My servant was misbehaving, so I had to teach her a lesson."

Lan'er nodded, but her gaze never moved away from the bruising slap mark on the servant as Chunhua spoke. She stretched behind her and drew out a pink rose from her servant's basket. Playing with it in her hands, she twisted all the rose petals with noticeable blemishes off.

The third miss smiled gently before asking, "Hua'er, where are you heading?"

Chunhua's eyes flickered to the rose with discomfort, "I'm going to see the eldest sister."

Lan'er froze at her answer.

Her hand clenched, closing around the rose. The thorns from the rose dug deeply into her palm. A trickle of blood dripped down her wrist.

"Is that so?"

Her eyes no longer held a mild look. Chunhua was startled by the cold stare her third sister gave her.

Lan'er took in the sight of the steamed bun on the ground. She turned the rose around once more before she sighed lightly.

"Chunhua, that's no good. She currently is seriously ill, and you have a weak body. I'll visit her for you. There's no need for you to go yourself."

Wasn't this just telling her to bug off?

Chunhua glared at Lan'er, no longer hiding any of her pretenses.

"Why are you blocking my way? Why are you helping her now?! You're not any better than I am. You want her dead too, don't you?! So stop playing the good sister. She'll die off pretty soon anyway!"

Above them, Hongyue chewed on the chicken leg in her hand while she watched the play unfold. She had planned to enjoy the meal quietly in her own part of the manor but who told them to be this loud in the morning.

However, she was in quite a good mood, so she decided to watch while hidden within the branches of the tree. She squinted her eyes as Chunhua hollered at Lan'er.

She nodded wordlessly in agreement.

Why are you helping me so much?

Why now?

It's too late to act now, your sister already departed.

Hongyue's eyes roamed back to the steamed bun on the ground before she sighed quietly.

This Chunhua seemed to be a mere pawn as well.

Her eyes narrowed.

Just how many rats are after this life of hers?

Live well, my butt!

You probably left this body, so I would have to deal with all your dilemmas.

She quickly finished the rest of the chicken.

Good thing, I do enjoy playing around, or else you would have died 10 times over already.

Hongyue lazily threw away the remains of her food. Wiping her dirty hands on her face and into her hair, she recovered the trashy eldest miss image.

Hongyue rubbed at the bark of the tree, scraping bits of brown remains and spread that onto her face. She pushed herself off the tree carelessly and stumbled down from the tree.

Cuts quickly formed as branches sliced into her soft flesh.

A loud thump sounded on the ground, alerting both Chunhua and Lan'er. Chunhua's eyes immediately lit up before turning dark. Meanwhile, Lan'er felt confused. How did her powers not inform her of her eldest sister's nearby presence?