Shadow Princess

Mei was whimpering in front of the princess like a child who just lost her parents.

Before adoption, 'Mei's original name was "Nuwa". She was a miserable beggar back then. She slept on the streets, and whenever she got some food, she'd considered herself lucky. People always bullied her and children would throw rocks by calling her dirty and disgusting.

Even a stray dog's situation was better than her.

Then, like the fairy godmother, Princess Liena came to her life.

Liena forced King Lin to adopt her. Well, at least Liena regarded herself as someone good at convincing people.

Liena was a pampered princess so all King and Queen Lin could do was grant her demands.

Nuwa couldn't talk properly when they first took her in the palace. She was undernourished. Her behavior was violent as wild animal's. After years of abuse and mistreatments, there was no more trust left in Nuwa' heart for people, especially for children, since they were the one who bullied and harassed her most.

But Liena treated Nuwa very kindly. In the beginning, it was difficult for Nuwa to trust Liena. She didn't understand why a pampered princess would help and dote on her when the world was full of selfish people.

No one ever treated her nicely since she was born without selfish ulterior motives. Not even her biological parents...

So she was very aggressive and violent towards Liena, but the princess patiently tolerated her behaviors. Observing Liena's selflessness, Nuwa was finally tamed by her and belief grew in her heart as well as respect and loyalty.

Since King and Queen Lin adopted Nuwa, thanks to Liena's constant fussing, King and Queen Lin also treated Nuwa kindly. Both were always good and kind to her; treating Nuwa almost as if the Princess herself. Sometimes Nuwa felt very jealous of Liena's good fortune for having such a perfect family...

One day, King Lin proposed an idea to Nuwa that she become Princess Liena's body-double.

Most of the people in the Kingdom knew that since Princess Liena was a child, she had a very weak body constitution. To stop these negative rumors, Liena worked hard day and night to build a good reputation and change onlookers' views about her. However, because of handling too much stress, Liena could not get enough time to rest, and day by day she was becoming frailer.

And the cause of her illness was unfortunate.

Princess Liena was abducted when she was eight years old along with her younger brother. Although Nuwa didn't know the details, she knew that the kidnappers killed the prince in front of Liena and gravely injured her. Since then Princess's body became weak; most of the time she was bedridden.

When Nuwa learned about Liena's past, she was heartbroken. From that day onwards, she vowed to herself that no matter what she'll protect Princess. She even started learning martial arts to become strong.

For this reason, when King Lin came up with that idea, she became happy.

Surprisingly, Nuwa's face was similar to Princess's except for the eyes.

Princess Liena's eye color was light-brown color. In the Lin Kingdom, most people's eye color was black or brown, and on rare occasions, hazel.

In contrast, Nuwa's eyes were not only exceptional, but it was impossible to find someone like her in the whole continent. Her eyes were complete heterochromia- one was deep blue while the other one was green.

Nuwa liked the idea despite Lienas's continuous refusal. Liena told her it was risky; there were always people lurking around who rebelled against the king and would try to kill the princess.

Liena didn't want Nuwa's life in danger because of her, but no matter what, Nuwa wanted to help the princess to give her enough time to recover her body. She wanted to protect Liena so much that it was utterly impossible to convince her, and finally, Liena gave up.

From that day onwards, Nuwa became Princess Liena's shadow. Whenever someone tried to kill or ambush the princess, she'd be there. She accepted this shadow life, not only to show her gratitude but also because she regarded Liena as her sister.

But now!

Princess was injured. Her face was pale. There was no trace of blood.

Nuwa was crying like a child, blowing her nose and sobbing.

Princess stared at her with a pained expression and said,

"...Nuwa..."

She looked at Princess with teary eyes. Only Princess used her real name. In order to avoid suspicion, Queen Lin used the identity of a deceased relative for Nuwa's adoption. When she wasn't playing the Princess role, everyone, even the King and Queen, would call her "Mei."

Princess was the only person in the entire world who called her "Nuwa," and now that person is dying in front of her!

How could she accept this???

Liena looked at Nuwa and reached her hand to touch Nuwa's face. She said very painfully...

"...Nuwa...please....stop...crying...."

Nuwa never disregarded Princess' request, so she tried her best to stop sobbing.

"...Nuwa...can...you...fulfill...my...selfish...wish...?"

Nuwa was worried that if she made a noise, she wouldn't be able to hear Princess's voice again. She looked at the princess and nodded at her.

Nuwa didn't care what Princess was going to ask, as long as she wanted something, Nuwa would achieve it. Even if it was unreasonable- even if she wanted Nuwa's life, she would give her life. No matter what, she wanted to fulfill it.

Because, for the first time, Princess was going to request something from her.

Princess looked at Nuwa with a guilty expression. And said slowly,

"....please... save... this... kingdom..."

"Marry... Emperor..... Qiu... Feng... Mian...."

Numa's body jolted when she heard these words, as she jumped up from the bed. She was full of disbelief and felt as though her body had been struck by a bolt of lightning.

Did she hear something wrong?

Emperor Qiu Feng Mian!!!

Qiu Feng Mian was the infamous emperor known throughout the entire continent. Who hasn't heard about this blood-thirsty tyrannical Emperor?

In the battlefield, he killed people like he was killing ants.

To claim the throne, he killed all the probable emperor candidates along with his parents. He declared that whoever rebels against him would be erased along with their ancestors and descendants to the eighteenth generation that the world would wonder if they even existed.

Nuwa was suddenly in a daze as if she was solving a puzzle.

Last month, Princess told Nuwa that she was going to marry a king from a distant kingdom. So she asked Nuwa about her future plans. Nuwa replied at that time that she wanted to follow Princess all her life, but Princess refused to listen and insisted that she tell the truth.

After listening, the princess's face became bright like the sun. She encouraged Nuwa happily to follow her heart and fulfill her dreams.

Liena promised Nuwa that she would be free to go after the wedding when Liena left the palace.

But Nuwa never knew... The "KING" her Princess was supposed to marry was no one but that god of the massacre!!!

She was accepting that tyranny for this Kingdom's sake!

Nuwa didn't try to think more about it fearful of having any second thoughts. She looked at Liena and determinedly replied...

"I Promise."