Reborn to Win Over Myself - Chapter 3

The Head of the Shen Family was the current Chancellor, and the original body, Shen Ning, was the most beloved daughter of the Shen family.

At the Emperor’s Birthday Banquet, the Chancellor led Huaiyang forward and claimed that he had found the princess who had been missing for many years, hoping she could acknowledge her lineage and return to the imperial clan.

The crowd broke into murmurs, because at this critical moment in the succession struggle, no one knew what variables this princess who had suddenly appeared might bring.

But I knew the Emperor would agree.

I saw the Emperor seated upright on high, staring at Huaiyang’s face as he sank into memory. In the end, tears even shimmered in his eyes.

Without any suspense, His Majesty titled her Princess Changping and bestowed her name.

Song Huaiyang.

And I became, as an exception, Princess Changping’s teacher, responsible for teaching her the zither, chess, calligraphy, painting, and the principles of duty to family and nation.

Not only that, I also taught her how to deploy troops and arrange formations, and told her about the current state of the realm.

The Emperor was now old, muddleheaded, and incompetent, while Song Huaiyang, during the years she had wandered outside, had also witnessed the people being displaced and struggling to survive.

So although she became the noble Princess Changping overnight, she still studied diligently and worked hard.

Gradually, we also began to secretly draw in factions at court and started vying for power and profit against the various imperial princes.

Several years passed. Our forces were slowly cultivated, but my win-over mission still made no progress.

Her affection progress remained stalled at 25%.

And I lay in bed, looking at Song Huaiyang sleeping beside me, lost in thought.

Because my body had always been very weak, sometimes I would develop a fever in the middle of the night and need someone to stay by my side without leaving for even a step. Song Huaiyang naturally took over this heavy responsibility.

This care went on for three years. Sometimes, after looking after me late into the night, she would simply sleep in my bed, not worried at all that I might infect her.

Even the Chancellor said the two of us had a good relationship.

But in truth, this was the only physical contact between us. On ordinary days, my attitude toward her could be called cold.

During the day, the only time we exchanged a few words was when I was teaching her. The rest of the time, we strictly upheld the moral relationship of master and disciple.

That was all.

The System was so anxious watching that it was about to die: [When are you ever going to succeed like this!]

I yawned. [I’ve already given her half my bed.]

The System could bear it no longer: [Aside from that, what else have you done in the past three years?]

I did not respond.

So the System began listing them one by one: [When she didn’t finish her lessons, you punished her by making her kneel in the ancestral hall. When she didn’t practice her swordsmanship well, you sparred with her personally and ended up injuring her. She wanted to eat with you, and you said there must be boundaries between master and disciple. Fine, fine, what wonderful boundaries between master and disciple.]

The more the System spoke, the angrier it became. [Even the one time you deliberately went to the market to buy her a sugar figurine, you still insisted stubbornly that it was leftovers and casually tossed it to her-with that delicate stomach of yours, how could the Chancellor possibly let you eat some lousy sugar figurine from outside?]

I had nothing to say.

That night, I did not wait for Song Huaiyang. Instead, I received a reminder from the System.

[Detected that the mission target is in mortal danger. Host, please handle it in time.]

I stopped sleeping, threw on my robe, got up, and went out.

Following the System’s reminder, I walked to Song Huaiyang’s study and saw several assassins lying in ambush in the shadows.

I frowned and immediately drew my sword to meet them.

However, I had still overestimated what this body could withstand.

If it had been my previous life, dealing with these assassins would have been more than easy for me, but this frail and sickly body clearly could not endure it.

Moreover, these assassins had clearly come prepared. After a few exchanges, I gradually fell into a disadvantage.

After Song Huaiyang heard the sounds of fighting and came out, she immediately shielded me behind her, then became locked in combat with the assassins.

Before I had time to breathe a sigh of relief, from the corner of my eye I noticed a cold glint flashing past.

In the next second, an arrow shot swiftly from the dark.

For an instant, my mind went blank. Before my eyes flashed the image of my previous life, when I had been shot to death by an arrow on the battlefield, my vision filled with blurry blood-red light.

By the time I came back to myself, I had already instinctively blocked myself in front of Song Huaiyang.

The arrow tore through flesh. I raised my eyes in astonishment, never expecting there would come a day when I would willingly take an arrow for someone.

Why? I wondered.

I looked at the face of the person before me and slowly blinked. At last, I understood.

Probably because the me from my previous life had already suffered too much, and I could not bear to watch her experience it again.

The assassins were subdued by the imperial guards who arrived afterward. I felt myself being carefully lifted into someone’s arms, and the hands around my shoulders were still trembling slightly.

As my consciousness grew hazy, I heard Song Huaiyang’s voice, so furious that she laughed instead:

“Are you mission takers all this willing to go all out?”

At the same time, the System prompted beside my ear:

[Congratulations, Host. Win-over progress: 65%.]