The Butcher Girl and Her Hapless Crown Prince - Chapter 1

I stood at the entrance to Drifting Cloud Pavilion. Behind me, the maids craned their necks, watching with equal parts curiosity and contempt.

“Sister, you must be tired after your journey. Why don’t you bathe and change first?”

The voice was delicate and weak.

I turned to see Shen Linglong approaching, coughing every few steps.

Her skin was white as snow, her figure as frail as a willow in the breeze.

Like a beggar who’d spent a fortnight starving in a ruined temple.

She took my hand affectionately, then stiffened almost imperceptibly when she felt my rough palm.

“Drifting Cloud Pavilion is ready. You can stay there, Sister.”

No sooner had she spoken than she began coughing violently again.

Behind her, Shen Lang frowned.

“Linglong, you’re not well. This place is warm in winter and cool in summer. Mother had it built especially for you. Green Bamboo Pavilion is quiet, deserted, and so far away. It won’t be good for your recovery.”

He gave me a displeased look.

“You only got taken by those kidnappers because you were off playing. That wasn’t Linglong’s fault. She’s been a dutiful daughter to our parents all these years. You should be grateful, instead of stealing her things the moment you come back.”

I stared at the pair of them, baffled by this conversation they were having all by themselves.

That very morning, I’d been slaughtering pigs at the market when Shen Lang suddenly appeared and announced that I was the marquis’s long-lost legitimate daughter.

Then a whole crowd brought me back here.

The marchioness sat in the seat of honor, took one look at me, and covered her nose with a handkerchief.

“Why does she reek of pigs?”

She muttered it under her breath, then left, pleading a headache. Shen Lang was left to settle me in.

Now, without having said a single word, I was the villain stealing someone else’s belongings?

“My lord heir.”

I gave a cold little laugh.

“I went missing when I was two. Who says a two-year-old can’t remember? I remember you were holding my hand. You were too busy looking at the lanterns.”

If my godfather hadn’t rescued me in time, the traffickers would probably have sold me off long ago.

Shen Lang’s face changed dramatically.

“What nonsense are you talking?”

Shen Linglong hurried to smooth things over.

“Sister’s had a tiring journey. It’s only natural she’s in a bad mood. She can have Drifting Cloud Pavilion. I’ll have my things packed right away.”

The more she yielded, the more resentfully Shen Lang looked at me.

I was just about to refuse when my vision blurred. Lines of text floated before my eyes.

[Drifting Cloud Pavilion is full of ghosts. The heroine’s so weak because a lecherous ghost sits on her head draining her every day.]

[Good thing this random extra of a sister is back. In another fortnight, a Daoist will pass through and capture every ghost in the place. The heroine will feel sorry for them and hold a ritual to send them on to their next lives.]

[By then, the random sister will be out of the story, so the heroine can move back in. Plus, the merit she earns from releasing a hundred ghosts will make her luck better and better.]

I looked around in astonishment, but no one else seemed able to see these captions.

More astonishing still, I really could see a blurry gray shadow crouched on Shen Linglong’s head!

There were ghosts in this house?

I froze. Didn’t that mean… I could have a proper feast?

I’d known since I was little that I was different.

I could see the ghosts wandering the human world.

Stranger still, when I got really hungry, eating them made the hunger go away.

When my godfather found out, he was so frightened he took me to a temple several times to beg for protective talismans. He only stopped once he was sure I wasn’t possessed.

“I love this place. Thank you, little sister!”

I agreed at once, afraid she might change her mind.

Red-faced with anger, Shen Lang carefully helped Shen Linglong away.