Page 1 of Dynasty of the Wicked (The Wicked Princess #1)

1

Blood dripped along the edge of Zhi Ruo’s sharp, black-scaled dagger—or more precisely, her brother’s dagger, which she had stolen this morning. She had never used a weapon before, until that moment, when she’d chopped a man’s finger off. He was still screaming in the background, but she was instead more fascinated by the scarlet rivulets that ran down in the hollowed central ridge of the blade and collected there.

It was a fine weapon. Short enough that she could strap it to her ankle, and long enough to swipe at a man’s grubby, straying fingers.

The man in front of her remained on his knees, his free hand bunching over his injured one. Blood spotted the polished wooden floors. He trembled like a young child caught stealing, his screams having abated.

“P-princess,” he whimpered.

Father would kill her for this.

She had just severed a noble’s finger .

“Princess Zhi Ruo, I swear I didn’t mean to do anything,” the man said through clenched teeth, his Adam’s apple bobbing from the obvious lie. Sweat poured down the sides of his pale face and his gaze darted from Zhi Ruo to the guards, who had conveniently only showed up once he started shrieking. “Please, believe me. It was an accident. I swear on my family’s life.”

Her heart was pounding so loudly, the blood rushing to her ears, that she could barely decipher his words.

Father would certainly hear of this.

“Your family’s life?” Zhi Ruo ripped her gaze from the weapon and pointed it at the man. She was sure her smile was disconcerting to him, because he avoided her stare. If she pretended like this—pretended that she was powerful, important, domineering—she could keep her own flesh from shaking. “Remind me who your family is again?”

The man swallowed. “My … my family name is Deng.”

“The Deng family?” She raked through her mind, trying to remember who he or his family were, but she couldn’t think of anything on the spot. So many noble families, even lesser-known ones, were invited to the palace for the Winter festival, so they all blurred together in her mind. “You must be from the south, then? I’ve never heard of your family.”

“C-correct.”

Even a small noble like him thought he could do whatever he wanted with her, the disgraced, wicked princess. The rumors must have spread down there too, then.

The two palace guards flanking the man shifted on their feet. She could already tell they didn’t want to be here. There were probably better places to be, like with her brother or her perfect sister. Or with the rest of the festivities being held at the palace. Or anywhere else that didn’t involve her. It was just their bad luck that they’d had to be guarding this hallway when the man had groped her, attempted to force himself onto her, and she had sliced his finger off. A finger that she couldn’t even spot on the floor anymore.

Zhi Ruo stared at the edge of the dagger once more. She hadn’t expected the blade to be this sharp. In truth, she hadn’t meant to cut him that deep. She had only meant to scare him off, to push him a little, but she had panicked when his grubby hands had touched her and when he had brought his sour-wine smelling mouth against hers.

“ Please .” He clutched his wrist tighter, the blood dripping down from his fingerless stub in gushes.

Zhi Ruo peered down at him with growing distaste. “You accidentally grabbed me?”

“I thought … you were someone else,” he whispered, gaze skating over the walls and floors.

“Truly?” She tightened her hold on the weapon. “And who did you think I was?”

He gulped again. “I … I …”

Silence filled the hallway. The two guards shifted on their feet again, exchanging glances with one another. Zhi Ruo remained rooted in place, staring down at the wretched man who probably would have gotten away with doing whatever he wanted if she hadn’t struck him. Would these two guards have even come to her aid if she had screamed? Or would they have ignored her and thought the wicked princess was pulling a prank? Her hands grew clammy.

“Your Highness,” one of the guards said, clearing his throat. “The man made a mistake. I think it’s better to let him be on his way. You’ve punished him enough.”

She stiffened . A mistake . If it had been Ying Yue who had been groped in such a manner, she doubted they would trivialize it like this. No, this man would have been left to hang in front of the entire empire if he dared such an insult to the royal princess. But Zhi Ruo didn’t count.

She gripped the hilt of her weapon so tight that her fingers grew numb. She couldn’t make more of a scene, because then she’d be in even more trouble than she already was. She was sure she would be punished for this, even though it wasn’t her fault. Or perhaps Father would go back to ignoring her like she didn’t exist. She wasn’t sure which she’d rather he do, but she didn’t want to make her situation worse, so she exhaled deeply and nodded to the guards. They visibly relaxed.

She pointed the dagger at the man’s face. “I should gut you like the pig you are. Leave my sight at once. Don’t ever show your face in front of me again, or I will kill you.”

The man eagerly bobbed his head and scurried down the hall, flicking blood down the corridor. Zhi Ruo watched him disappear at the bend and it was only then that she could release a shuddered breath. But the two guards were still there, watching her with those unsure looks on their faces. She hated the uncertainty.

Zhi Ruo held her hand out to one of the guards. “A handkerchief.”

“Huh?” The guard blinked at her, at the bloodied dagger, and then fumbled with the folds of his uniform. He leaned his spear against the wall and yanked out a crisp white piece of linen with a small tiger embroidered in the corner. He reluctantly handed it to her. “Here, Your Highness.”

She cleaned her blade absentmindedly. She couldn’t see the missing finger anywhere on the floor. When would anyone find it? When it was already partially decayed? She was sure it would cause an uproar if a maidservant came across it randomly. The corner of her mouth rose at that thought.

“Your Highness?” The guard further from her gave her a hesitant smile. “Would you like for us to escort you to your room?”

They were being overly official. Nobody in the palace seemed to know how to treat her. Should they be as formal as they were to the other princes and princess? Or should they treat her however they pleased? Did it really matter, since she was the daughter of a disfavored concubine? Especially since her father, the emperor, couldn’t care less for her? It was all a mystery, it seemed. Even Zhi Ruo herself wasn’t sure what to expect.

Zhi Ruo handed back the handkerchief with a shrug. “Do whatever you’d like.”

She didn’t look back at them as she headed in the opposite direction down the hallway. She could hear them scramble after her, but their steps slowed, and eventually, they retreated back to their spots in the hallway. She didn’t have to glance behind to know that she was completely alone.

She breathed out deeply as she slid the dagger into its scabbard, and strapped it back onto her calf, where no one could see the bulk of it. She hadn’t expected to actually use it when she had pilfered it from her brother’s room that morning, where he had berated her to not cause a scene today.

If she hadn’t had it on her ….

Zhi Ruo tried to shake those thoughts away, but her fingers shook without meaning to, and she flexed them inward, then outward. She kept it up, trying to ignore the feeling of that man’s hands pressed against her waist. She pushed the memory of his drunken kiss from her mind and how he had shoved her against the wall. The helplessness she had felt. The way she had frozen up in that minute. But as much as she wanted to banish the memory, it kept replaying, over and over. Forcing her to accept a different possibility.

“Your Highness!”

Zhi Ruo hadn’t even realized she had entered her chambers until that moment. Her only maidservant, Liena, was sitting on her couch cleaning a piece of jewelry with a cloth. An array of hairpins and trinkets were laid across the tea table sectioned in two piles: one polished, one not.

“I didn’t expect to see you back so early,” Liena began, setting down the sharp metal pin into the heap of other polished hairpins. She tucked back a strand of loose black hair that had fallen from her simple low bun. “I would have thought you would be enjoying the festivities! Heavens knows I would too, but there’s just so much work to attend to and not enough time, and it’s not like I have anyone to enjoy—” Her words cut out sharply when she noticed Zhi Ruo, and her forehead creased immediately. “What’s wrong, Your Highness?”

Blinking, Zhi Ruo smoothed down her dress with trembling fingers, noticing how crumpled the scarlet and bright pink skirts had become. She hadn’t even realized how shaken up she was until that moment, until she was finally somewhere safe.

“Nothing.” Her voice was barely a whisper. She tried to smile, but it came out forced. “Liena, you should have gone to the festival with that one guard you like. What was his name? Li? Hao? I know you have a soft spot for him and I know he does too.”

Liena crossed the distance in the room and peered at Zhi Ruo with concerned eyes. “You can’t fool me. What’s wrong, Princess Zhi Ruo?”

“ Nothing .” Zhi Ruo took her hands and gave them a slight squeeze. “Now, tell me why you’re cooped up in my room instead of enjoying the festival yourself?”

Liena didn’t look too convinced, but she didn’t question her further and took her to her vanity, where she began undoing Zhi Ruo’s hair and pulling out the various pins and jewels she had put in just mere hours ago.

“I’m too old to enjoy festivals, Zhi Ruo,” she finally said, her deft fingers working quickly to undo the elaborate braids, knots, and pins she had secured into her hair. It had been supposed to last all night, not a few measly hours. “And I know you think I have a sweet spot for a certain guard, but I assure you, I do not. And besides, it’s too cold to have a festival, in my opinion.”

Zhi Ruo’s hair slowly but surely became lighter as all the accessories were drawn out from it, and she closed her eyes as her scalp was pulled this way and that. The smell of sweet jasmine and cinnabar swayed over her face from the small, woven scented sachet Liena wore around her wrist. Zhi Ruo had a similar one full of crushed and dried chrysanthemum and cloves, but she had lost it after her tussle with the now-fingerless man.

“A certain guard would have taken you to the festival if he had the balls to simply ask you,” Zhi Ruo said with a long sigh once Liena was done fussing with her hair. Now with the weight free from her head, she wanted nothing more than to crawl under her covers and fall into a deep slumber. She rubbed her sore, taut shoulders and exhaled again. “I think it best that you make the first move. He doesn’t seem keen on doing anything. You both like each other, I’m sure.”

Liena made a low, throaty sound of exasperation and rolled her eyes as she plucked all the shiny jewels and hairpins from the vanity. “Your Highness, I’m fairly certain he has more interests in a woman more suited for him. I’m old, divorced, and unable to bear children. I’m hardly the top choice.”

“That’s not true—” she started.

“ Tsk .” Liena clucked her tongue and gave her a look that told her arguing was out of the question. “Stop trying to pair me with Cheng. I understand I played an important part in helping to teach you life lessons when your mother passed away—may she rest in peace—but I am your servant, Princess Zhi Ruo. Let’s please keep it that way.”

It was the same conversation she had heard many times the past year and although it had stung to hear it the first time, Zhi Ruo was now desensitized to Liena’s efforts to distance herself. Liena was just trying to remain formal to remind Zhi Ruo of her place as a royal princess, but all it did was make her feel like she was a pretend-princess pretending to be important.

“All right, I’ll stop,” she grumbled. For tonight .

She wouldn’t stop her matchmaking efforts until the woman was married, though.

Zhi Ruo stripped out of her silk dress and quickly donned her sleeping robes with Liena’s help. They both situated themselves on the couch. Liena went back to polishing the jewels while Zhi Ruo tucked her legs close to her body and watched her quietly.

Liena was exactly twice Zhi Ruo’s age at thirty-eight, but she didn’t look it. Or maybe Zhi Ruo refused to see the small lines forming around her eyes when she smiled, or the three gray hairs that were woven in her midnight locks, or the thinning of her once-plump lips. Liena was simply Liena. Intelligent, caring, no-nonsense. The one person who had stuck to her side the past ten years, since Zhi Ruo’s mother passed away.

“Your Highness.” Liena eyed Zhi Ruo with a serious expression. “Has it been decided who you will marry?”

Zhi Ruo flinched and averted her gaze. She picked at a loose thread on the couch to distract herself. Father was thinking of marrying her off to one of his vassals. The only problem was which vassal. Knowing his concubines and his wife, they would want Zhi Ruo to marry a titleless noble who would squander any chance she had to rise up in power, so that she could continue to live in desolation, while they laughed behind their silk fans.

“He will announce it tomorrow,” Zhi Ruo whispered, hating the way pressure built in the back of her eyes. She blinked at the prickles and breathed deeply.

“Do you have any idea who it will be?”

“No one important,” she murmured.

Her only hope was that she married someone who would give her some freedom from this cursed place. She didn’t care for titles and such, even though everyone else in the palace seemed to think she was a power-hungry, wicked girl. All she had ever wanted was love and for someone to take her far away from this vicious court. If it wasn’t for Liena … she would never want to be here.

“I hope whoever he is, he’ll let me take you with me.” She gave Liena a tightlipped smile. It was meant to be a lighthearted, hope-filled comment, but it only made the back of her eyes burn more. She sounded miserable to even her own ears.

“Oh, Princess.” Liena’s own eyes filled with tears and she pulled Zhi Ruo into a quick embrace.

Don’t cry .

Zhi Ruo smiled when they pulled away from each other, even as her heart felt like it was being torn apart. She hated crying in front of anyone, even Liena. She hated the idea of being vulnerable to anyone; it was a habit formed from years of being in Father’s cutthroat court, where anyone would hook onto her insecurities, doubts, and weaknesses, and exploit them.

“Well, you should get some rest,” Liena finally said once she had polished all of the jewelry, organized it, and placed it back on her vanity. She led Zhi Ruo back to her bed and helped her under the covers. “Sleep well, Princess.”

“You too.”

It was only when she was completely alone, Liena having retired for the night, that Zhi Ruo finally allowed herself to cry against her pillowcase. One day, she prayed, she would never have to feel this way. Useless, abandoned, and forgotten.