It seems that the villain is targeting me.

Xiao Niao recalled the difficult experiences he had experienced over the years.

"When we first became refugees, we were nearly in dire straits several times. We were so desperate that we had no choice but to rely on picking up things from the dead to survive."

"And then there was the time when we promoted high-yield crops everywhere in order to stockpile food."

"Do you remember how I was almost captured and burned alive in that remote village, mistaken for a monster?"

Xiao Niao blinked gently, his tone full of reminiscence and nostalgia.

"And when I followed His Majesty Lawrence to attack various lords, life was so difficult back then."

"I remember when I cracked my ribs, I couldn't bear to exchange them for painkillers. I just endured and waited for them to heal on their own. Didn't we all get through that?"

After hearing these heartfelt words, the system felt its source code go numb. It stammered, "This, this is different..."

Xiao Niao didn't believe it.

She shook her head. "Over twenty years, from being a refugee to now sitting on the throne of the Prime Minister of the Empire, I don't believe there is any difficulty that we can't overcome together."

As she spoke, she revealed another relieved smile: "Actually, even if I really can't complete the task in the end, I don't think it matters."

"I've done a lot of meaningful things in this world and changed the fate of many people. Even if my mission fails, I have no regrets."

"Also, don't underestimate me."

Xiao Niao said to the system seriously, "It's just a main storyline. What's so unacceptable about it?"

The system is about to move to Bengbu, and it feels that its own bird is now like an old general standing on the stage, with flags all over his body.

It wants to save it, but doesn't know where to start.

In the end, the system had to enlighten itself: Forget it, let go of the desire to help others and respect the fate of others.

It said: [Okay, I’ll give you Kang.]

A moment later, a few short paragraphs of Chinese characters were projected onto Xiao Niao's retina by the system.

This process made Xiao Niao's eyes a little sore.

She vaguely saw a few lines of Chinese characters and thought: This should be the origin story of this world.

Xiao Niao's eyes sparkled, and there was a hint of awe in his expression: "I wonder what kind of profound and thought-provoking story this will be."

The system understood her brain waves, and there was a dead silence in the source code, without any fluctuations.

Soon, Xiao Niao saw three lines of large characters.

[The Overbearing Prince's Pet]

[He is the eldest prince of the empire and the legitimate heir to the emperor.]

[She was just the little daughter of a poor baron who lived among the common people.]

[A chance encounter closely links the fate of the two people. ]

She escapes,

He chases.

They can't even fly away.

Xiao Niao: "Yeah."

Xiao Niao: "Hmm?"

Chapter 3 The bird sensed something was wrong

Dusk has arrived.

This is the best time of the year, with a suitable climate and warm sunshine. The occasional cool rain will only make pedestrians feel refreshed and not annoying.

The residence of the Prime Minister of the Empire is located at the transportation hub of the capital, close to the port, overlooking the sea and the busy market not far away. It is also not far from the emperor's palace, and it only takes about ten minutes to get there by horseback.

The warm glow of the setting sun splashed on the silver armor, warming even the bones.

Two royal guards stood at the porch, leaning on their spears, looking a little drowsy.

They are the guards assigned by the emperor to guard this mansion. Their main responsibility is to ensure the life safety of the Prime Minister of the Empire.

It is said that in the early years, Lord Butcher was often assassinated and poisoned. It was not until the political situation gradually stabilized in recent years that the situation gradually improved.

There had been no accidents for several months in a row, and even these carefully selected elite guards couldn't help but relax a little at this time.

At this moment, a dark and twisted howl suddenly broke the tranquility in the air.

The slight sleepiness disappeared in an instant, and the two guards subconsciously pressed the hilt of the knife and looked around vigilantly.

Soon, they discovered with horror that the distorted wailing did not come from anywhere else, but from the mansion they were guarding behind them!

And that voice sounded so familiar - wasn't it the voice of Prime Minister Butcher?

The two guards exchanged a glance, then flung the door open. Drawing their daggers, they shouted in terror, "Lord Butcher! Are you alright?"

They thought that the Prime Minister might have encountered an assassin, or he might have suddenly discovered that the child he had raised for twenty years was not his own - but the Prime Minister had not yet married, so it was most likely that he had encountered an assassin.

The guards firmly believed this. If the above two situations had not occurred, how could humans make such a shrill, mournful and disintegrating cry?

They rushed into the study, their four eyes nervously searching everywhere, but could not find the assassin.

Everything in the study was normal, with no signs of intrusion. Inside, Lord Butcher was sitting gloomily at the table, like a colorless shadow.

It doesn't seem like there's any danger to my life, but I still feel like I have no desire to live.

The two guards looked at each other, hesitantly standing at the door, their daggers awkwardly suspended in mid-air: "Prime Minister, are you okay..."

Xiao Niao leaned his hands on the table and glanced at the two people at the door with a weak breath.

She closed her eyes in pain: "I'm not okay."

The two of them were just casually saying, "Ah, ah?"

"Nothing," Xiao Niao waved at them, "You guys go out, I'm fine here."

"Oh," one of the guards replied a little confusedly, "As you say, we'll be leaving first..."

"Wait a minute, don't leave yet."

Xiao Niao suddenly called out to the two guards again.

With some kind of magical intuition, Xiao Niao had a premonition that something extremely bad would happen soon.

Although the current situation has made her almost live in Bengbu, Xiao Niao always feels that there are still things waiting for her.

She decided to get some insurance for herself.

"I'll write a note. Go to the Legion headquarters now and call the Red Moon Knight," Xiao Niao ordered. "Tell them I have an urgent matter and have them return as soon as possible."

As she spoke, she signed a note and handed it to the two of them.

One of the guards took the note written by Xiao Niao and replied seriously, "Understood, Lord Butcher. I will do it immediately."

Two people press with their left hands

They saluted Xiao Niao in their breastplates, bowed their heads slightly, and then left the room.

------

After closing the door and calming down for a long time, Xiao Niao reluctantly accepted the fact that he had entered a romance novel.

She sulked, "Okay, let's talk about the main storyline now..."

In fact, as you can tell from the name, this is a relatively old-fashioned melodramatic love story.

The plot follows a traditional sadomasochistic style: the protagonist Charles falls in love with the Baron's youngest daughter who is living among the people due to a series of coincidences.

The two people will experience countless bloody events, including but not limited to the contract lover Bai Yueguang's substitute and "Although I love you very much, I just want to watch a group of bad women bully you and remain indifferent, and then kill all those bad women with red eyes afterwards" and many other weird operations.

The heroine will be bruised and battered in the process, while the hero will regret chasing his wife to the crematorium after all misunderstandings are resolved, and the story will eventually have a happy ending.

System: [Well, that's about it.]

There were so many complaints that Xiao Niao felt sick to his stomach. "...Ah, that's all? National strength, political situation, military deployments of neighboring countries, nothing at all?"

System: [No more.]

System: [Intelligence is updated in real time according to the main storyline. It's useless to stare at it.]

Xiao Niao: “…”

(Fury) (Walking around the room in frustration) (Swearing) (Feeling wronged) (Wanting to kill everyone)

Suddenly, she remembered something: "Wait a minute, the male protagonist you mentioned is the eldest prince Charles? His Majesty's eldest son?"

System: [Yes.]

Xiao Niao's eyes widened in disbelief. "Isn't he engaged? I remember it was to the Duke of Tudor's daughter."

System: [Yes.]

Xiao Niao's face turned ugly. She had an impression of this engagement.

She couldn't help but remember that the Duke and his family had received the emperor's order just two months ago and had traveled thousands of miles from their fiefdom, High Court, to the imperial city.

The banquet to welcome the Duke was hosted by the emperor himself, and Xiaoniao, as an important official, was also present.

The Duke of Tudor could be said to be the most outstanding general of this era. No one could match his ability in marching and fighting. When he was fighting against various lords, the Duke of Tudor was also the most powerful general under Lawrence.

And the emperor didn't call anyone to the imperial capital just for some bullshit engagement.

The reason why the Duke was summoned from his territory so urgently was of course because the country was about to go to war, and the Duke of Tudor himself was the most suitable candidate to command the legion!

There was indeed an engagement, but in the whole matter it was just a sweet treat for the Duke's family and a strategy for the Emperor to appease the border princes.

While Lawrence was still happily thinking about how he had won over allies through marriage and consolidated his rule, his eldest son stuffed a fly into the Duke's mouth with lightning speed.

After figuring out the key, Xiao Niao roared in anger: "Damn you wild boar! Look at the good son you raised!!!"

System: […Just now you were calling me Your Majesty.]

System: [Oh, whatever. Life is just like that.]

Chapter 4 What is Ma Mei?

Xiao Niao paced back and forth in front of the desk like a starving leopard.

She thought to herself: Could this be the reason for the massive death of the population in the plot?

Because his married daughter was insulted, the Duke angrily resigned from the position of general, which eventually led to the defeat of the war and the deaths of a large number of soldiers and civilians.

Or did he simply turn against the emperor because of this and lead his troops from High Court to attack?

"No, that's not right."

Xiao Niao covered his chin and muttered to himself, "The Duke of Tudor is not the kind of person who would disregard the safety of the country. He would not joke about marching and fighting."

"Besides, he's not mentally ill. It's impossible for him to turn against Lao Yezhu just because his daughter's marriage is unhappy."

"And according to what you said, this is the world of a romance novel. So, Charles and the baron's daughter are most likely just lovers at the moment—with the legitimate fiancée standing between the hero and his true love. This is a classic trope in sadomasochistic fiction."

[Huh, I didn't realize you were so knowledgeable.] The system was a little surprised. [Yes, that's right.]

Xiao Niao didn't expect that she actually guessed it right, but she was not happy at all. She felt mixed emotions.

I have done good deeds in my life, Xiaoniao thought painfully in his heart, why do you let me see this kind of thing.

Moreover, the mystery has not only not been solved, but has become even more confusing.

Xiao Niao thought: If it was just a new lover, the Duke of Tudor would have no reason to get angry.

To put it bluntly, even if the eldest prince openly cheated on his wife, so what? Even if he found two lovers after marriage, so what?

After all, this was in ancient times. It was rare for a man from a powerful class to find a lover. Lao Yezhu himself even had seven or eight mistresses outside.

She had very low moral expectations of the indigenous people of this world. Xiao Niao was not naive. She knew very well that patriarchy was supreme in ancient times, and women were merely vassals of men in the secular view and had no social status at all.

In such an era, if women want to gain the right to speak, they must

Must be dependent on the authority of a man.

Before marriage, this man is her father; after marriage, he is her husband; after her husband dies, he becomes her brother and son.

Even Xiao Niao, a time traveler, cannot forcibly reverse this huge historical inertia and can only choose to passively adapt.

In fact, this can be seen from the name Xiao Niao gave himself: Levi Butcher.

At the very beginning, she disguised herself as a man.

No one knew that Prime Minister Butcher was actually a girl. Otherwise, Xiao Niao would have had no chance of surviving during her refugee period, let alone climbing step by step to the position of Prime Minister of the Empire.