Chapter 1: Dream

Pain! She felt a sharp pain on her abdomen before she tasted blood in her mouth. The pain didn't last long because she already feel numb all over her body the next second, she can't feel her body and started falling from the finely crafted recliner.

"Your highness!" Her sudden fall attracts her personal maid attention who was previously busy chitchatting while arranging her bed.

She can hear her personal maid crying and shouting for help while she slowly start losing vision now. The pool of blood that she vomited on the floor have become blurry.

She knows what's her ending now, she's going to die today. She can feel it coming.

Ah, this must be how her father emperor have felt back then. Slowly, like falling asleep. Then, if it always feels like this, she doesn't feel that bad about his father passing anymore, rather than continue feeling the extreme pain, she rather that her soul is taken out from her body now.

She lifted her lips into a smile. Dying is not that bad.

She doesn't feel any resentment to whoever it was that poisoned her to death. She just felt sorry towards her mother who will surely feel another heartbreak. Her mother is already suffering enough from father emperor passing. Now, she will lose another person, her daughter. Even though her weight inside her mother's heart is not as much as father emperor, in the end she is still her flesh and blood.

"Wuu…wuuu…your highness, please wake up…" The personal maid of her are already hugging her, calling for her when suddenly she quieten down and greet a person with shaky voice. Now, the maid is begging the person who just arrived.

"Your majesty…the princess…the princess is dying..please save her.." The maid kowtow towards the person.

Right..she almost forgot about this beloved brother of her. This person may have forgotten about their beautiful childhood memories but she didn't. It was something that she always cherish, something that can always bring a laugh to her when she reminisce about it. Its just that people grow up and those silly little things they did will be forgotten, what more when the person have too much responsibility now as the new emperor.

So, when she saw that he is the one who came to see her at her last moment, she feels that her ending is not so bad. So happy that her tears trickled down her cheeks, mixing with blood. Now, blood even come out from her eyes, nose and ears.

"Ming ming.." He called her with a tone that he haven't used for years makes her tears falls even faster. She can't distinguish his tone, whether he is happy, relieved or sad since her mind cannot work anymore, she is just happy that he is calling her and staying by her side at her last moment in life.

He pulled her into his embrace tightly. He is someone who have seen mountain of dead bodies, but he is so scared at this moment. So scared when her breathing become shallow and heartbeat become more weak.

When a warm large hand caress her face gently, wiping her tears away, she finally take her last breath, leaving all the joy, sadness, memories and everything in the world.

There is no such thing as seeing the body with her soul because she just fall into complete darkness and more darkness.

…

"Ming ming…"

"Ming ming..I'm sorry.."

She drowsily hear these whispers before a bit cold and wet feeling was felt on her forehead. It lasted for a few seconds before it disappear. She was relieved when those feelings are gone and she fell asleep peacefully not long after.

The next morning she woke up breathing heavily, lifting her hands and feeling her body, it is warm and she can feel her heartbeat. She..she.. is alive?!

There are no pain felt on her abdomen and she looks around, she cannot find any blood. Her body is working perfectly too, she can move her hands and feet.

"Lin Lin." She called her personal maid but then she was shocked to hear her own childish voice. This isn't right, something is clearly wrong.

Then she hear small footsteps coming towards her bed and a small pair of hands lifted up the curtain.

"Yes your highness." A familiar looking little maid greets her cheerfully. The maid hair is put onto two buns and she looks quite adorable with little bells tied around the bun.

"Lin Lin, when did you become so small?" She asked in shock. The maid in front of her is exactly Lin Lin but she is the child version of Lin Lin. She also have question about her own childish voice. Did she injured her vocal cord?

"Oh. This servant have always been small ah your highness." Lin Lin answer truthfully. Those older maids are always teasing her for being short and small, but what can she do, someday she will also grow up like them.

"Then how old are you now?" Shangguan Ji Ming asked.

"10 years old. Like your highness ah." Lin Lin answer truthfully again.

Shangguan Ji Ming laid back onto her bed in disbelief. Her eyes fall onto the expensively decorated roof. She went back in time? Or was it all a dream? The poisoning is just a nightmare? Cannot be, it feel so real, the pain and emotion she felt is too real for a dream.

"Your highness, your highness.." The young maid called her a few more times.

"En?" She was still occupied with her thoughts and answer with a low spirit. Who have the mood to talk now? She clearly felt that extreme pain then the feeling of slowly drifting away. Then all of a sudden there were only darkness..

Yes, that's right!

She immediately sat down, shocking the young maid. How can she forgot about something that is extremely important.

She died but it wasn't the end of it. After the extreme darkness, she was holding a book in her hand, the place she was standing has a light source so she was able to read the book.

It was titled the Emperor Conquest. When she was alive, she read quite a lot of books but she never heard of this one.

The first page of the books started with a war, a bloody and cruel war and shockingly, that was very similar to the first war lead by her older brother, Shangguan Ji Yu when he was 13. She was sure about it because the details explained on the books matches with all the details regarding that war against barbarians in the North. She knows quite a lot about the progress of the war because she was being extremely attentive about her elder bother's first war. Always fussing about bringing her brother back towards her imperial grandmother.

So the first few chapters write in details of what had happened, how his brother fight through the war with impeccable strategy and also…about..his first hand experience with women. When there is a hero, there will be beauties. All the fiction novel she read before have the same concept and idea.

As she reads further, she discover what this book is all about. They were actually characters living in a novel or storybook, she is one of the character too.

Her older brother is the main character in this particular novel and all of them are just small supporting characters in his big world, her imperial father, her mother, her grandmother. They are just passerby that was mentioned in only a few words in the book.

And yes, according to the story, she indeed passed away when she was 16, she died mysteriously but because of her not significant role, that was it.

This novel highlight on Shangguan Ji Yu's journey to unite the world making him the ultimate winner and meeting with beauties attracting butterflies wherever he goes. This was a typical novel with a lot of action scenes, saving the beauties, fighting in wars, politic conflicts.

There are some romantic scenes when Shangguan Ji Yu first met those beauties but after that there is nothing much that shows his inner feelings. Then, there are also quite a few conflicts in the harem scenes which makes the novels more interesting.

Instead of a romantic, Shangguan Ji Yu was portrayed as a very outstanding emperor, genius, strong, cold personality and a very attractive face. All of these is his charming point that attracts all good things to him.

Thinking about it again. As an insignificant supporting character, she should be feeling unfair now, why are certain people written beautifully like this when she was only described as a 'younger sister of the emperor who died mysteriously'.

But how can she have that though and hate her older brother, Shangguan Ji Yu is still the same person who played with her and grew up with her. They grew farther apart but he was still the only family who was present on her last breath.

Shangguan Ji Ming lowered her head and started crying again. She also don't know why she was crying, is it because she died or is it because she was happy that she return to when she was 10 again?

"Your highness..why are you crying? Are you still feeling unwell?" Lin Lin furrowed her brows. One moment their princess is acting weird, then one moment spacing out, then the next moment she cry like a baby. What is exactly in her mind?

"Should this servant call the head mama and the imperial physician? Maybe the fever still haven't reduced. Last night, your highness waited for the crown prince for a long time to release the fireflies, but it started raining and your highness refuse to return.." Lin Lin started to narrate things that happened last night that caused her to have a high fever.

Shangguan Ji Ming wiped her tears away. She remember that day, she and her older brother promised to meet at her garden at night and release the fireflies but then Shangguan Ji Yu didn't show up even when she waited for a long time, she got a high fever due to getting rained on. Thinking that her brother will come and coax her soon like what he will always do, she refuse to go out of her palace for days.

In her memories, Shangguan Ji Yu never came even once to meet her after that. She started to ask around but some people only saw him came to greet their grandmother and their parents before the crown prince will immediately return to the Eastern palace.

Even when they have no time to meet face to face, Shangguan Ji Yu will always send something to her such as unusual gifts, sweets, pastries and other things for her to play but this time there were no news from the Eastern palace.

That was the start of their separation. Even when she cries in front of his palace, he never come out even once. He totally ignored her. Even when they met each other while giving greetings to the elders, he will quickly leave with excuses that he is busy with study and martial arts training. Then, before they make things right, he needs to leave as his father substitute to war against the barbarians.

Was it her fault that they grew apart? Would they still be close if she immediately find him rather than waiting for him to find her?

"Lin Lin, I am feeling well now. Lets go give greetings to grandmother." With high spirit, she jump out from the bed and rush her personal maid to prepare her bath water.

No matter what the outcome this time, she must change and correct things that she regret in her last life. Isn't this the reason she get a chance to live again?