She Lives!

Miette was dying.

She had no chance. To die at sixteen... Well, that was just cruel. She'd never gone out on the town, never kissed a boy, never done anything worth remembering. Cancer and the chemotherapy required often left her too sick to even work on schoolwork. She had hoped someday to get married, have children. Maybe get a job, or go to college. As she drew her last ragged breaths, the tumor in her throat slowly closing up the airways, she wished.

'I wish things could be different next time.' she thought, 'Any other death. But a long life first. And I want to... be... in control...'

Her throat closed completely, and she suffocated to death. It was like holding your breath until you get dizzy. Slowly, so slowly, she fell asleep.

~Welcome to XiaYuan, an Iteration of Fairy Maker. We look forward to seeing your particular playstyle! Would you like to go through the tutorial?~

~yes

~no

'What good would a tutorial do?' Miette thought. She wasn't sure what was going on. She'd gone to sleep, and now... She felt like she was floating, but all that appeared when she opened her closed eyes was a blackness so dark she was sure she'd gone blind.

'Where am I...?'

~You are currently in the womb level. It is time to determine your character statistics. Please select from below that which you wish to be best at. You may select up to three, but you get more points back if you buy less.~

A list appeared in front of Miette, and she gasped. Except she didn't. There was no air here. Miette reached out or tried to, to touch the words. There was nothing there. So, she tried to speak. Nothing came out. She thought at the words really hard and felt something click.

~You have selected Dancing. Two more skills to go!~

She quickly backpedaled. 'How do I cancel that!?'

~You have removed Dancing. Three more skills to go!~

She browsed through the list, trying to think of what might be useful in many ways. When she came across the skill "Phoenix from the Ashes", she stopped. She thought, 'Description' at it really hard, and the little window appeared.

~Phoenix from the Ashes

A skill that allows you to play again as your own child, should you have an unnatural death. To activate this skill, you must have a child, and the child must have at least two skills.~

She wondered, would she even get far enough to use that skill? She would have to get married, conceive, have the child, and raise it well. All very difficult. Where was she starting this weird game? When? Who would she be born as?

Putting those thoughts aside, she went back to perusing the skills and stopped when she found an interesting section.

~Poor Upbringing

Merchant's Daughter

Duke's Daughter

Emperor's Daughter~

Emperor... Was she going to be in Asia? China maybe, or Japan? Or France? France had had an emperor once. Either way, it seemed a good way to go. She selected it, and the system dinged.

~You have selected Emperor's Daughter. Two more skills to go!

Emperor's Daughter comes with subskills!

-Diplomacy

-Dancing

-Singing

-Literature

-History

-Needlework

One more skill to go!~

There were other skills too. Like 'Protective Older Brother', 'Twin', 'Empress Mother', 'Beloved of the People', and more. It was a bit overwhelming. Her eyes landed on one more.

~Spiritual Farm

A mystical space stored between dimensions, where Magical Crops will grow and Animals can live. Time is paused while Player is in this space. Player may train with Manuals while inside, but effects are halved.~

It sounded like some kind of minigame. She clicked on it. Why not?

~You have selected Spiritual Farm!~

The floating words changed. A list of awful things appeared and terror pulsed through her veins.

'Dead Mother', 'Dead Twin', 'Blind', 'Lame', 'Missing Limb', 'Ill Childhood', 'Abusive mother', 'Abusive Father', and so many more. All of them were simply horrible things to go through. She couldn't imagine what person would CHOOSE to have these things happen to them.

~Please select from below your disadvantages. You must pick at least three, however, you can take as many as six. The more you take, the more points you will have later on.~

She was supposed to choose. They were going to let these things happen to her. What should she choose… All of them were horrible. But which ones were things she could live with? And how many should she choose? All six? And what were these points the system mentioned going towards?

The first one that she picked, she felt was probably the mildest.

~You have selected 'Neglectful Maternal Family'. Up to five more disadvantages to go!~

She could deal with a family that didn't like her. She could deal with being neglected, so long as she didn't starve. A child of the Emperor would surely never starve. She could just win over her father, and then be set for life.

~You have selected 'Sibling Rivalry'. Up to four more disadvantages to go!~

She could deal with one of her siblings disliking her. She'd have many others to win over, if this was a harem situation, and if not, she could slip away in the night with her jewelry, and start a peasant life somewhere else.

~You have selected Graceless. Up to three more disadvantages to go!~

Graceless had described itself as 'having to work harder than most to become elegant and graceful.' She didn't think that would be too much of a problem. She could handle being a little clumsy. And she could always train herself to be graceful. Dancing classes would help. She'd heard somewhere that taking dancing made your movements more graceful.

Now she had a hard choice. She could continue with disadvantages… Or she could move on. Did she really want to make this … game or whatever it is harder? She didn't really want to… And as soon as she'd made her decision, the game dinged again.

~Next is age. What age would you like to start your session at? Any years before your chosen age will be procedurally generated, and may include random disadvantages thrown in for fun!~

'What?!' Miette yelped, stunned and annoyed. She really had to choose to let the game choose what happens to her during her previous years, or choose to be born a baby? She couldn't believe this. This system was ridiculous.

~Any and all complaints must be handled once the session has ended. Thank you for your concerns, and have a nice day.~

And she couldn't even lodge a complaint! Great. Something about this game felt rigged as if it meant for her to lose. She stopped for a moment and started thinking. The name of the… Iteration? Was XiaYuan. That sounded really Chinese to her, which meant the game was probably going to be set in China. She was going to guess sometime in the past, too. China didn't have an emperor right now. ...Did it? She wished she'd paid more attention in geography class.

So, past china… as an emperor's daughter. She was tempted to just go with her normal age as it was now. But didn't they marry early in those days? She would want a couple of years to try and catch a good man so that she could activate that Phoenix rising skill. After that, she could worry about the rest of her life. If she had the child, then she could rest in peace and live a normal, happy life.

She really hoped it was that easy.

Fourteen seemed a good age. Only a little younger than she was now, and she'd have time to figure out how to make this work to her advantage.

~Age fourteen selected. We will now begin the procedurally generated fourteen years. You may read at your leisure. Please let us know when you are done.~

And then information began scrolling across what Miette had been calling the 'screen'. It went by so fast that it was done scrolling by the time she'd finished reading the first line. She read through and found herself… very worried.

~Year one: an assassination attempt on mother leaves her bedridden, unable to give milk. Miyue is sickly.

~Year two: Another assassination attempt kills Miyue's mother. She is assigned to be cared for by her mother's old nurse.

~Year three: Old nurse dies of poisoning. Miyue is assigned to consort Zhujiang. Zhujiang has her own daughter who is four years old. The two become fast friends.

~Year four: Zhujiang gives birth to a son, and begins neglecting her daughters. Miyue gets sick at the end of the year.

~Year five: Miyue recovers, but is noticeably weaker. She begins schooling, learning about math, reading, and other more 'womanly' arts.

~Year six: Zhujeng's son dies of an assassination. Zhujiang hangs herself. Miyue and Zhunao are passed to the empress, who sets them up together in a small villa in the harem. They are attended by maids. Miyue discovers her Spiritual Farm.

~Year seven: Miyue and Zhunao are not neglected, but do not have the lush lifestyle that imperial princesses are used to. They garden, and they sew their own clothes, and they prepare their own meals sometimes. The maids help, but Miyue distrusts them, after all of the assassinations.

~Year eight: Miyue gains the Emporer's attention at a celebration, and she and Zhunao are seperated. Miyue gains the title Lotus Princess. She is given a rich palace to live in, and an allowance.

~Year nine: Miyue studies more than most of her brothers, continues to hire teachers. Her sisters avoid her. Her brothers mock her. Miyue is slowly falling out of her father's eye.

~Year ten: Miyue is assigned by the Empress to care for a younger sibling who was also orphaned. This young girl is named Fuashiao, and Miyue loves her dearly.

~Year eleven: Miyue and Fuashiao live peacefully in the palace.

~Year twelve: Miyue and Fuashiao go on a trip to a temple in the mountains. When they come back, their palace is on fire. Miyue and Fuashiao are assigned a smaller palace by the Empress.

~Year thirteen: Miyue wins a contest between the daughters, and has caught her father's eye again. There is talk of betrothing Miyue.

~Year fourteen: Fuashiao has just died of poisoning. Miyue is devastated. So much so, her entire personality changes.~

What a story. Miette shook her head, trying to wrap her head around how much had happened to this child in her lifetime. And this was supposed to be her life now? She had to pretend to mourn a little girl she had never met. And she had to deal with the Emperor trying to marry her off? This was going to be difficult.

~You have 600 points to spend on your appearance. Please select from the following selections.~

Miette looked through, and there were no crazy colors for hair, like purple or silver. But there was a platinum blonde. Miette had always been a brunette. She liked the idea of being special, so she chose the platinum blonde hair, which took 300 points. Then, she looked at the eye selection, and decided on wide, gentle brown eyes. They would look good with the hair, she thought, and when it brought up a display of her face, she realized she was right.

~You may come back to the customization screen at any time. Please earn lots of points!~

'But how do I earn the points?' She asked, and the system happily responded.

~Any time you receive affection, whether outright or covert, you will receive proportional points. Any time you incur jealousy, whether outright or covert, you will receive proportional points.

Any time you exceed expectations, you will receive proportional points.

Please have fun discovering all the many ways you can earn points!~

Miette sighed, or she would have if she could breathe. 'What now?'

~Now, we begin. Please enjoy yourself!~

Brown eyes flashed open, and Miyue lay on her back, clutching at the pillow. Her long hair, bound in a protective style, had somehow escaped its bounds, and scattered across her body, like rope. She stared at the lacquer-painted beams on the ceiling and swallowed.

'The game has begun.'