I'm a Useless Crown Princess. All I Do Is Tattle. - Chapter 1

One sentence from Xie Xuanzhi banished every trace of sleepiness.

I sprang up in bed and pointed at him. “How dare you speak ill of Her Majesty in my presence!”

My kick had stunned him. He scrambled up without even bothering to pull his fallen robes together.

Shuffling forward on his knees, he reached the bedside and motioned for me to lower my voice.

“Your Highness! Everything I said was for your sake. Think about it. The reigning Empress slaughtered every male in the imperial family. Your father and brothers all died at her hands. Such a blood feud can never be forgiven!”

“My father and brothers?”

I tilted my head and frowned, giving this some serious thought. “Which father and brothers would those be?”

I meant it. As far back as I could remember, I had never so much as seen that supposed father of mine.

As for that whole string of older brothers…

Why would I avenge people who had never done a single thing for me?

Did I look like I had nothing better to do?

Aunt, on the other hand, couldn’t have children of her own, so she had simply named me Crown Princess.

Power was mine for the taking.

Wealth and luxury were mine every day.

As far as I was concerned, Aunt was the parent who had given me a second life.

Xie Xuanzhi choked on his words.

Then he tried another approach, appealing to both my feelings and my reason. “Your Highness has imperial blood in your veins. How can you bear to be a puppet in her hands?”

I stared at him.

How was this man even stupider than I was?

Given a choice between being a wretched little nobody my father and brothers ignored and bullied, and a puppet who answered to only one person in the entire empire, of course I would choose the puppet.

Besides, Aunt wasn’t going to live forever.

I was already Crown Princess.

Give it ten or twenty years. Was I really going to run out of chances to wield power?

When I said nothing, Xie Xuanzhi actually thought he had persuaded me.

His eyes lit up, and he leaned closer.

His loose inner robe slipped off his shoulder, revealing a lean, firm chest and stomach. Paired with that gentle, handsome face, it was quite a sight.

Ah. No wonder I had picked him at first glance.

“Your Highness, say the word, and the entire Xie family will raise our banners to purge the evils surrounding the throne. We will brave fire and flood for you, and die ten thousand deaths without regret.”

The candle flame flickered, making his face look even lovelier.

I couldn’t help it. Half my body went weak.

The next moment, though, I grabbed him by the throat.

“Guards!”

The women stationed outside rushed in, then froze at the sight before them.

“Xie Xuanzhi harbors treasonous intentions and has attempted to turn me against Her Majesty. Bind this traitor!”

Two guards pinned him to the floor. He struggled to raise his head and look at me.

All the tenderness had vanished from his eyes. There was only disbelief and humiliated fury.

“You! Tang Zhaoning! You hopeless fool!”

“The Xie family has served loyally for generations. I have bared my heart to you, and this is how you—”

Yes, well. If I weren’t a fool, how could I have become Crown Princess?

Make myself Empress? If I so much as entertained a rebellious thought, Aunt would chop off both my arms.

Then I could only wriggle along the ground. I wouldn’t even be allowed to push myself up.

Being stupid kept you alive.

Being clever only got you killed faster.