9. Kingdom of Ming

She knew that this was just the beginning of her journey, and there were challenges and obstacles ahead. But she was determined to make the most of this opportunity, to learn and grow, and to find the right moment to achieve her goals.

The princess entered one of the courtyards and found a tranquil garden with colourful flowers and a small pond. It was a peaceful place where she could gather her thoughts and plan her future steps.

Her maidservants and bodyguards began to unpack their belongings and settle in, while the princess stood by the pond, watching the KOI fish swim lazily in the clear water. She knew that she had to adapt to her new life in the Kingdom of Jing, but she was prepared to face whatever challenges and opportunities came her way.

In the days to come, the princess would immerse herself in the culture and life of the Kingdom of Jing, gaining knowledge, skills, and allies to aid her on her path of revenge and self-discovery. She would embrace this unexpected twist of fate and use it to her advantage. She still remembered how she was treated in the Kingdom of Ming. Everything here was different.

Memories of princess:

"The decree has arrived. Everyone is to kneel down and receive the decree."

The cold palace which only included the sounds of princess sobbing and maidservant's scolding all year round, today was filled with another sound. The sound of hurried footsteps and loud voices of eunuch announcing the arrival of decree.

The large and cold palace as the name implied only contained two individuals.

The thin figure of said-princess which looked like, even a slightly strong wind could shake. The mean faced maidservant who didn't look good to be with.

No one would believe if someone said the plump girl was a maidservant and the thin and pale girl is actually a princess among those two.

At the moment, both of them were kneeling before an eunuch who was announcing the decree, "The eldest princess of the Kingdom of Ming is betrothed to the prince of the kingdom of Jing. The preparation for the journey is to be made in a day and the group is to be set off tomorrow at the earliest."

The preparation for any normal journey would take at least a week. And the marriage preparation would take a month. But the preparation time was given only a day.

The princess didn't even know to take the decree. Her mind was dull. She was not capable of thinking at all. The maidservant had to teach her in front of eunuch.

Well, she had never received any education so, it was no wonder she didn't realize the customs.

Even the eunuch looked at the princess in distress.

After giving the decree, the eunuch asked them to follow back to the kingdom to meet the king.

To be honest, no one in the palace wanted to meet the eldest princess.

The queen has given birth to a prince and eldest princess. There were several of the concubine's sons and daughter in the palace. The crown prince was not yet chosen. No matter how badly any of the prince and princess were living, none of their life was as hard as Ming Liao's. She was not even given much monthly allowance.

Truth be told, her little monthly allowance was also sabotaged by servants and the queen turned a blind eye to that.

If not for fearing that the princess might die of hunger, the maidservant wouldn't even provide her mouthful of food.

Inside the palace of Ming:

As the two of them reached the Palace of Ming and were presented before the king, the princess didn't have any knowledge to show the basic courtesy toward the king.

Seeing her standing in front of the king with head down, the maidservant had a pang of headache. The ministers were laughing and making fun of her.

The king and queen of Ming, upon seeing the princess with only bone and skin were taken aback a little. They realized if they were to send the princess this way to the Kingdom of Jing, they would be embarrassed.

But the decree had already been given and the king didn't want to change the decree.

The king had a little guilt toward his late wife while looking at the frail princess.

He didn't realize the ministers taunting toward the princess upbringing.

To make up for little guilt toward the princess, the king bestowed her all the dowry of the late queen. After hearing the king's words, the queen was displeased but she couldn't say otherwise.

Well, those were rightfully her's. But after dozens of years, with no one to protect the dowry, it was already sabotaged by everyone in the palace.

The princess was given whatever was left as if given a treasure and she should be very grateful for them.

Dozens of maidservants, manservants and guards were also assigned for the journey.

They carried the dowry of the late queen to the cold palace.

When the princess walked out of the palace room, she encountered the princes and princesses playing together. She wanted to look at them so she walked towards them.

The assigned manservants and maidservants were hurriedly bringing the boxes of dowries to the cold palace. They had to go to another country. No matter how little it was, they had to take them.

No matter what, since they were already assigned to go to another country as the princess's servants, their life will be entangled with her.

In order to survive, they not only have to ensure the princess's survival, they also have to make sure the princess is well-groomed. Making the princess look able in this journey, they had a lot in their cup. They didn't even notice that the princess had already strayed away from them halfway.

"Look at her. Who is she?", One of the princes asked.

The maidservants and manservants knew that she was the eldest princess. After they respectively informed their masters of her identity, the prince and princess invited her to play.

Truthfully, they were disgusted by looking at her and just wanted to make fun of her.

They asked the eldest princess to catch the ball as they passed it to each other.

While doing so, they were hitting the princess with the ball. As the mind of the princess was dull, she didn't even realize that she was being bullied.

One of them even pushed her which resulted in her head hitting the stone. The blood flowed out of her head and everyone fled.