No, She Can't Die Yet - Chapter 3

Chapter 5

My father is a Tyrant-the “tyrant” as in domestic tyranny.

He smacked me on the top of my head, then punished me by making me stand in the corner and face the wall.

And even then, he still wasn’t satisfied. From a pile of medical texts, military treatises, and a complete compendium of punishments from every dynasty, he dug out a wrinkled copy of the Tao Te Ching and made me balance it on my head.

“Don’t move! Reflect on yourself properly!” he barked.

I was unconvinced, so I turned my face away, refusing to look at him. But the barrage of comments before my eyes kept coming one after another, all doing their level best to provoke me.

[Hell is empty, and the King of Hell walks among us.]

[Good grief. I never noticed before, but the Little Princess is a Living King of Hell!]

[So what if she’s a Living King of Hell? She still got disciplined by her old man.]

[I’m dying. Honestly, she kind of deserved that smack.]

I was so angry I puffed at my bangs and glared.

Behind me, the guard was reporting the whole incident to Father in a calm, orderly manner.

“The female official who has always served at Little Highness’s side was actually impersonated. She likely slipped in amid the chaos this morning.”

Father’s voice carried a faint edge of impatience.

“With so many people around her, not one of them noticed anything wrong?”

The guard replied, “She was wearing a human-skin mask. Even if her behavior differed from before and someone noticed, she could use ‘not wanting to part from Little Highness’ as an excuse to muddle through.”

“And where is she now?”

“Dead. Poisoned.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Father begin rubbing his temples.

He let out a cold laugh.

“Dead? Don’t talk to me about dead. Even if she’s been buried, I will have her dug up and then torn apart by five-”

As if realizing something was wrong, he cut himself off abruptly.

[Five what? So hard to guess. Surely not five ants, right?]

[Now that’s more like a Tyrant. Too bad it’s exactly because he doesn’t just treat human life like grass, but even insults corpses too, that one thing after another piles up until he loses the people’s support completely.]

Nervous, I dug my nails into my palm and heard the puzzled guard ask, “Your Majesty, do you wish to have the criminal torn apart by five horses?”

“Five what horses! Don’t let a child hear these things!”

He looked toward me, and I quickly straightened my back, staying perfectly still as I stared fixedly at the wall in front of me.

Only then did Father relax.

“Follow this trail of hers and clean out the filth in the palace properly.”

“Also,” he added through gritted teeth, squeezing out each word, “when the Son of Heaven is without benevolence, he cannot safeguard the realm. To be emperor, benevolent rule must come first. Li Heng’e, remember that!”