All was quiet in the side room of Kunning Palace and Emperor Shang simply thought that his daughter must have already fallen into a deep sleep.

“Why should I hate you?” Shang Wuxin lay on the soft bed with her eyes closed. Her voice was so weak that made Emperor Shang couldn’t help feeling painful in his heart. “Should I hate you for your protection while leaving me on my own purposely? Or I should hate you for snubbing me though I have been aware that you just want to avert the attention of these bad guys. Am I supposed to hate you for sending your people to guard me?”

Actually, Shang Wuxin knew from the beginning that her father was sparing no efforts to protect her. The former crown prince might know nothing about it, but she couldn’t know it better.

Anyway, how could Shang Wuxin live such a long life if Emperor Shang didn’t love her dearly? It was true that Chief Hai played an important role in protecting her. But it would be easy for Emperor Shang to stop Chief Hai from teaching her martial arts and words. More importantly, those princes had tried so many times to kill her in the past years. However, she could always got a chance to escape though she also got hurt sometimes. As a weak person, could she be so lucky naturally? Of course not. It was just because Emperor Shang was protecting her in secret.

Furthermore, Shang Wuxin had been suspicious when she woke up and walked out the forest. She could feel that some people were following her but they had no evil intentions at all. Afterwards, she proved that those people came to find her not because they wanted to kill her. Who else could care about her so much besides Chief Hai? It had occurred to her at that moment that the person might be her father.

When she firstly met Emperor Shang, she could see that he cared about his daughter pretty much though he pretended to be cold. Shang Wuxin was not clear about all the things but she knew that her father really loved her, which made her feel easy in her mind. After all, it would be rather hard to fight against an emperor.

“Have you known all these things?” asked Emperor in surprise.

Shang Wuxin closed her eyes and replied in a nasal voice, “H’m.”

Staring at his daughter with complex eyes for a long time, Emperor Shang then slightly closed his eyes and said slowly, “I met your mum in a special fall. I was paying a private visit with several guards when I met a beautiful girl called Qiu’er. I tumbled for her the first time I met the girl who was as peaceful as the season. It was at that autumn that I knew the true meaning of falling in love at the first sight. I ignored my position as emperor and got out the palace so many times for her. Though she just held a cold attitude towards me, I still felt so happy during those days.”

Emperor Shang told his story slowly, eyes filled with affection. “In the end, Qiu’er was moved and I told her who I actually was. I knew that your mother was that kind of girl who just wanted to live a free life, so I promised her I would only love her in the following days. I would never favour anyone else except her! If I had knew that I would meet her in my life, I would be waiting for her quietly. How could I have so many concubines and children if I knew it early! It was all my fault and I felt so sorry for Qiu’er!”

From what he just said, Shang Wuxin knew a lot about what actually happened as well as its causes that year.

Emperor Shang was not the most powerful prince of the previous emperor at first and he had no desire for succeeding the crown. Unexpectedly, he ascended the throne for this as someone wanted to make him a puppet emperor. He had been struggling for so many years and before he met his empress. As he fell in love, he made a firm decision that he would create a simple and safe environment for Empress Qiu. He then rose up in resistance and took lots of measures to clean up those villains.

However, there were still so many people who criticized Empress Qiu for her position as she had no powerful background. More crucially, Empress Qiu had not been pregnant for a long time since she moved to the Kunning Palace. Emperor Shang didn’t concern about it at all as he already had sons and daughters, but he couldn’t control the whole imperial court. At that time, Empress Qiu got poisoned. Emperor Shang looked for all the famous doctors to save Empress Qiu. Finally, she survived but she got pretty weak because of the poison.

After that, all the officers began to send their memorials to Emperor Shang and urged that Empress Qiu should be put into the cold palace if she couldn’t give birth to a prince. Emperor Shang got furious as soon as he got those memorials. He killed several officers but he soon found that all his efforts were in vain. Fortunately, Empress Qiu got pregnant in the end, and Emperor Shang got more careful from that time. After all, Empress Qiu was so weak and Emperor Shang was really loyal to their love. He had never touched anyone else since he got married with Empress Qiu. And he even did so after Empress Qiu passed away. That was why Shang Wuxin was his last kid.

Everyone paid great attention to Empress Qiu, especially those concubines. However, Empress Qiu didn’t give birth to a prince but a princess. Even though the baby was a girl, they loved their daughter pretty much. To their surprise, the gender of the baby caused a lot of problems. In this case, Emperor Shang gave orders and killed all the witnesses who saw the born process of their little princess. Then he announced that Empress had given birth to a prince. That was why Shang Wuxin became a prince as well as the heir of the Shang State.

When Empress Qiu passed away, Emperor Shang found that the more he loved his daughter, his daughter would get more hurt. He had lost the woman he loved most and he couldn’t bear the pain if his daughter died too. So Emperor Shang drew himself away from his daughter and sent her to Crown Prince Mansion. He knew that Chief Hai was loyal to him so he ordered him to look after his daughter.

Gradually, his daughter grew up. Emperor Shang Found that his daughter was not only weak physically but also weak in character. Emperor Shang really regretted and felt pity as his daughter’s offspring did not live up to his expectations. He tried his best to find a solution for his daughter and worried about how his daughter could survive after he died. He had never thought that his daughter could inherit the throne one day. It was not because of her gender but her ability. There was no doubt that an emperor should be capable of his position if he wanted to manage the state well.

However, Emperor Shang gradually changed his idea after his daughter got back from the forest. He then realized that his daughter might have hidden her ability for a long time, which made him feel painful but proud. He kept silent, wanting to figure out the true ability of his daughter. If it was not good enough, he would arrange all the things and let her live a peaceful life in the future. Soon after that, the event of Fengzhou City brought great hope to Emperor Shang. He then totally realized that his daughter was so intelligent and excellent in managing a state, which encouraged him to put his daughter into power, despite of the fact that she was just a girl.

“I didn’t protect your mother well, so I just want to spare no efforts to protect you!” Emperor Shang approached the soft bed and gazed at his daughter who was still closing her eyes. He stretched out his hand and touched her face saying, “My daughter, I promise I will protect you well!”

Emperor Shang had got a bit tired as he had told so much. And his daughter, his little princess, was still lying still there. If he hadn’t been sure that she was still awake, he would feel like he was just talking to the air for such a long time.

Emperor Shang petted his daughter’s hand which was folded on her belly. He could obviously felt the stiffness and rejection of his daughter, which made Emperor Shang feel so complex in his heart. He knew that he really owed so much to his daughter. He didn’t look after his daughter well as she was supposed to enjoy her simple life rather than take a man’s responsibility as a girl. It was all his fault.

“Xin’er, I knew you are able to do whatever you want. I will never interrupt you if you really want to do something!” With those words, Emperor Shang got up on his feet, turned around and was about to leave. He would not allow his daughter do anything she wanted if she was not capable enough. And now he knew that he could set his mind at ease as his daughter was so brilliant.

“What if I want to kill my brothers and sisters?” asked Shang Wuxin in a strange tone, a smile curved the corners of her lips.

Shang Wuxin didn’t repel her father so much, but she was clear that those princes and princesses were his natural children. He might show no affection to his concubines, but it didn’t mean that he didn’t care about his own kids. Shang Wuxin admitted that Emperor Shang loved her and her mother deeply. But was it so deep that he could allow her to take some cruel measures?

People always said that a general’s reputation was built upon sacrifices of tens of thousands of soldiers. Shang Wuxin never thought that she was a kind-hearted girl. She had to kill more and more people if she wanted to survive, including her brothers and sisters who had the same father with her.

The large back-view of Empire Shang trembled a bit and his footsteps was out of order too. He turned his back to his daughter so Shang Wuxin got no chance to see the sorrow and sadness on his face. Emperor Shang knitted his eyebrows uttering, “I know the price of surviving. You are my only child!”

Finishing his words, Emperor Shang left Kunning Palace. Wasn’t Emperor Shang sad? Of course he was. Even though he was not fond of those kids and didn’t love them so much, he was still their father. He would be greatly painful if he lost them.

Now Emperor Shang was not the kind young man who just came into power. He had gone through so many difficulties and killed so many people no matter they were good or not. Emperor Shang had been used to blood. He knew more clear about what the position stood for. If his daughter was a kind person and forgave those people who tried to hurt her, she would definitely lost her life one day. He could lose anyone else but the daughter he loved most was not one of them. Everyone would show partiality for someone special, and it was the same with him. It would be a better choice if those kids were smart enough and were willing to be princes all their lives. Otherwise…

Hearing his answer made the smile on Shang Wuxin’s lips warmer. She opened her eyes which were filled with light. If Emperor Shang’s answer was not as satisfying as she had thought, she would not only keep her goal but also ruthlessly kept him away from her.

Shang Wuxin never expected those people around her to be kind or sensible. She simply needed those people who stood by her side all the time. She hoped that they would be with her no matter how cruel she was. They would be for her even when she was a devil, whom all people wanted to kill.

As one of the most serious problems had been solved in her heart. Shang Wuxin fell asleep gradually. It never occurred to her that the person who found her and woke her up could be Huan Moche. As soon as she opened her eyes, she got blank in her mind as she saw Huan Moche standing in front of her.

His eyes was so similar with those of the other man, who brought warmth to her but pushed her into the hell finally.

In a sudden, Shang Wuxin rose up and pulled Huan Moche, throwing him on the soft bed and got on top of him.