Chapter 5: Rebirth, Memories Stirred by Familiar Sights

After her parents had left, Chu Junhan also rolled out of bed with a nimble turn and, accompanied by her mother's attendant Shadow Butterfly, stepped out of the white tent.

"Is all of this the will of heaven?" Chu Junhan stretched out her chubby little hand, catching a snowflake drifting down from the sky.

It turned out that the day the reins tightened around her neck was also the day she had been sentenced to death by slow execution.

It seemed as if everything was destined by fate.

"Miss Ruyan, your lady has instructed that you must not leave the camp's five-mile radius. Let's hurry back so she won't worry," Shadow Butterfly coaxed the plump little girl beside her, her tone gentle and soothing.

Chu Junhan looked up at the young woman in her prime, and a ripple stirred in her heart.

Shadow Butterfly, who had never married, had shielded her with her own small body when the Chu family was wiped out, helping her escape, only to die amidst the chaos and looting. In the end, she had failed her; she was captured not long after their flight.

"Little miss?" Shadow Butterfly looked at the girl in confusion. Why did tears glimmer in her eyes? Were children always so mercurial? But why did this child seem to carry such sorrow?

Chu Junhan snapped out of her reverie and wiped away the tears at the corner of her eyes. "Sister Shadow Butterfly, I'm fine. I was just moved by the scene. Let's go back."

"Moved by the scene?" Shadow Butterfly tilted her head in puzzlement. At this moment, her little miss seemed like an old soul, weathered by the storms of life, even her steps uneven and heavy.

Shadow Butterfly shook her head and muttered to herself, "I've watched her grow up since she was a baby. What nonsense am I thinking?" With that, she hurried to catch up with Chu Junhan, taking her hand once more and leading her back to the tent as if comforting a child.

They had barely reached the entrance when the sound of her parents quarreling drifted out from within.

This quarrel was etched deeply in her memory—the fiercest one she could recall between them. And all for the matter of naming her.

"What kind of name have you chosen? My daughter is as gentle as water, yet you treat her as if she were a hardened son!"

"Anyone of the Chu family, be they man or woman, is no coward. So what if Ruyan is a girl? She bears our blood and should have the Chu family's pride and courage."

"Yes, the Chu family is bold and mighty, but that's nothing more than the foolishness of brutes."

"You..." Chu Xiong, exasperated, pointed a trembling finger at his wife. This fierce woman was utterly incorrigible—unruly beyond compare!

A faint smile rose to Chu Junhan's lips. Such scenes she had only witnessed before the age of five. Before long, she would be sent to Pingzhou, ostensibly to learn the womanly arts and prepare to be the crown princess, but in truth, it was nothing more than imprisonment—a means to keep Chu Xiong in check.

Will I really let you, you dog of an emperor, have your way?

"Little miss..." Shadow Butterfly, seeing Chu Junhan about to go inside, quickly scooped her up. When her lady and master quarreled, it often escalated to drawn blades. The little miss was too young to risk getting hurt.

Chu Junhan patted the hands encircling her waist. "Sister Shadow Butterfly, you can put me down. I know what I’m doing."

Somehow, Chu Junhan’s words carried a weight beyond her years, making Shadow Butterfly trust her instinctively. She set the little girl down without realizing it.

"Sister Shadow Butterfly, just wait for me outside," Chu Junhan instructed, then reached out her chubby hand to lift the flap of Chu Xiong's work tent and slipped inside.

It was all over in a matter of moments, but Shadow Butterfly stood there, stunned and unable to recover for a long while.

Since waking up, her little miss seemed to be a completely different person.