The Butcher Girl and Her Hapless Crown Prince - Chapter 5

“Look out!”

The guards cried out.

I instinctively tried to dodge, but my foot slipped on the pork on the ground. The crown prince slammed into me and knocked me flat.

His weight left me struggling to breathe. His blood-smeared face was barely an inch from mine.

The reek of decay from his mouth washed over my face.

It wasn’t his smell. It was the yin energy of the evil ghost possessing him.

“Get out.”

I lowered my voice, staring at the black shadow behind him.

It grinned hideously and clung to him all the tighter.

The prince’s hands closed around my throat with astonishing strength.

Chaos broke out around us. The guards wanted to help but were afraid of hurting him.

My eyes rolled back as my right hand crept toward my waist.

My butcher’s knife was still there.

“Last warning.”

I stared at the ghost, speaking so quietly only the two of us could hear.

“Get out on your own, or I’ll eat you.”

It laughed wildly and made the prince tighten his grip.

My vision began to darken.

Killing the crown prince would get the marquis’s whole family executed, wouldn’t it?

That wouldn’t include my godfather, would it?

“Forgive me, Your Highness!”

I whipped out my butcher’s knife and slammed its spine against the prince’s forehead.

The dried pig’s blood on the blade gave off a faint red glow.

A weapon used for years to slaughter living creatures carried a measure of baleful energy. Exactly what ghosts feared most.

“Aaargh!”

With a piercing shriek, the ghost sprang free of the prince.

He collapsed limply on top of me like a puppet with its strings cut.

I shoved him off and scrambled up. The ghost hovered in the air, glaring at me with venomous hatred.

So vicious!

I wanted to eat it!

I licked my lips and watched regretfully as it hid in a room behind us.

“W-what have you done to His Highness?”

A guard pointed at me, trembling.

I put away my knife and brushed the dirt from my clothes.

“Saved his life. See for yourselves.”

The crown prince slowly woke. His eyes were clear again.

He looked around in confusion.

“What happened to me?”

“You had another episode, Your Highness.”

An imperial physician hurried over to take his pulse, then exclaimed in surprise. “Oh? It’s much steadier this time.”

Every eye turned to me.

I shrugged.

“We pig butchers have techniques passed down through the family. Particularly effective against madness.”

The prince was helped to his feet. At last, he noticed me.

“You’re… the legitimate daughter the Marquis of Yongchang recently reclaimed?”

“Before that, I slaughtered pigs for a living. You just ate half a pig of mine, Your Highness. Remember to pay.”

I offered a clumsy imitation of a formal salute.

His expression was magnificent, as though he’d swallowed a live fly and had no choice but to get it down. After staring at me for a long while, he suddenly asked, “Just now… did you see something?”

My heart tightened, but I played dumb.

“You eating raw pork? Yes. You seemed to be enjoying it.”

He looked as though he wanted to say more, but finally waved a hand.

“Reward her with ten taels of silver. No one is to breathe a word about today!”

On the way back to the marquis’s residence, I could think of nothing but the evil ghost that had possessed him.

Imperial princes should have been protected by dragon energy. Ordinary ghosts couldn’t get inside them. For that evil ghost to haunt him for so long, something had to be wrong.

And the prince seemed to know he was easily possessed?

Never mind. I’d never eaten that kind of vicious ghost before. It looked far too tempting.

At first light, I set off hungry for the prince’s residence again, carrying another half-carcass of pork.

I’d dreamed about that ghost all night.

A soul black as ink, giving off the smell of rotting meat. An evil ghost of that caliber was a full imperial banquet to me.

I’d barely stepped through the gate when a flurry of wings sounded overhead.

I looked up. The crown prince crouched in the fork of a parasol tree, half a bloody sparrow between his teeth, staring straight at me with crimson eyes.