The Princess’ Shadow Guard Cannot Be Too Clever

u, he will let you out,” she said bluntly, nodding as she spoke.

Trying to keep calm, Song Shu Qing took a deep breath and asked patiently, “I mean, how can I leave this cursed place without getting beaten or having to participate in some crappy training?”

“Just graduate,” Ming Qin said matter-of-factly, holding up her fingers to count.
“After graduating from Night Mist Court and becoming one of His Majesty’s direct shadow guards, you won’t have to get beaten anymore.
You can earn money, have your own room, and eat whatever you want…”

Song Shu Qing’s eyes lit up when she heard this.
“How can I graduate?”

“Just pass the training,” Ming Qin said with a shrug.
“If you don’t pass the training, you can’t graduate, and you’ll be sent away.
Maybe you’ll be sold to a wealthy family as a maid, or if you look good, you’ll be chosen to go to the Green House.”

“You’re so pretty, you’ll definitely be sent to the Green House first,” Ming Qin said without hesitation, seeming to praise but not really making Song Shu Qing laugh.

Overwhelmed by all this information, Song Shu Qing’s head spun.
Looking at the girl in front of her with shining eyes, she felt like Ming Qin was trying to drive her crazy.

(It wasn’t until later, when she got to know Ming Qin better, that Song Shu Qing realized that her straightforward junior sister had no ill intentions and was just giving her the most sincere answers…)

Once a corporate drone, Song Shu Qing reluctantly accepted the fact that she had crossed over and landed in the most arduous Shadow Guard training camp after being held captive for three days and three nights.

In television dramas, people usually cross over as princesses, young ladies, or at worst, illegitimate daughters of some prince.

Why did she have to be so miserable?

She had believed that her advanced 21st-century wisdom would easily guide her through any challenges.
However, the moment she faced a cold, flashing blade, she was so scared that her legs trembled, and she watched as a strand of her hair was sliced off.

“Senior Sister, you can’t do it like this, you have to dodge!”

Ming Qin looked at her senior sister with a puzzled expression.

Ever since this senior sister had been beaten and poisoned after a fever, her quiet temperament had changed drastically.
She babbled about things that Ming Qin couldn’t understand, and her mediocre martial arts skills had become incredibly poor.
If it weren’t for Ming Qin sheathing her sword in time, she might have accidentally chopped off the person in front of her.

“I… I… I also want to dodge, but I’m scared…”

With a wrinkled face, Song Shu Qing felt like she was about to cry.
She shook her head repeatedly and said, “I’ve never even chopped meat before, let alone a person.
I can’t do it, I’m not capable…”

Ming Qin looked up at the girl who was five years older than her and scratched her head.
She felt that Song Shu Qing looked pitiful despite being older than her.

Hmm…it seems I need to take on more responsibility.

She put away the sharp blade in her hand and awkwardly stood on her tiptoes to pat Song Shu Qing’s head, which towered above her own.
“Don’t worry,” she said in a stuttering voice.
“I won’t cut you.
We just need to practice more.”

The two of them hid from the others’ sight every night and Song Shu Qing received Ming Qin’s lessons from the beginning.

As Song Shu Qing’s blisters on her hands kept breaking and reforming, she complained tearfully, and Ming Qin, with a wooden expression, applied medicinal ointment for her.

“Whew, it doesn’t hurt anymore, Senior Sister…the ointment makes it better.”

The seven-year-old girl said, as she puffed up her face and gently blew on the wound, carefully wiping the medicine.

Ming Qin, aware of her senior sister’s distaste for knives, swords, and bloodshed, used her excellent lightness skills to steal a secret manual on hidden weapons from the Shadow Guard’s collection and secretly showed it to Song Shu Qing.

“I’ll give it to you when I learn it… so even if you don’t touch the blade, you can knock down your opponents from a distance during the assessment!” Excitedly sharing her plan with Song Shu Qing, Ming Qin urged her senior sister to practice every day and secretly taught her the techniques she had learned in the early morning.

Over time, although Song Shu Qing was not as talented as Ming Qin, she could still hold her own against her peers during sparring and occasionally use her cleverness to gain an unexpected advantage.

Even so.

Song Shu Qing still believed that she was merely a transient visitor in this unfamiliar era.

She thought that no matter how long she stayed, she wouldn’t develop any emotions that could tether her to this world.

Perhaps, on a stormy night or when a comet fell from the sky, she would suddenly return to her original world.
Or perhaps not.

Thus, Song Shu Qing watched everything around her with cold, indifferent eyes.

Her sole aim was to escape from the hellish Night Mist Court.

Three years went by in a flash.

“Hey, Dalinzi, where’s Qin Qin?” Having just finished dinner, Song Shu Qing looked around and stopped Lin Yan in the hallway.
“I went to the training ground earlier, but I didn’t see Qin Qin there.”

“Ah, don’t even mention it.” Lin Yan sighed helplessly.
“Qin Qin stole something earlier, it was a martial arts manual.
It was discovered yesterday, and stealing is a major taboo in the camp.
Being expelled from the sect is the least of one’s worries…”

“Thankfully, Master Xicai is merciful, and Qin Qin only received a severe beating.
But I heard it was pretty brutal, and she’s probably still locked up…”

Song Shu Qing gasped and didn’t say much to Lin Yan.
She hurriedly rushed to the small wooden house without looking back.

Frantically prying open the locked door, Song Shu Qing, her face ashen, discovered the ten-year-old Ming Qin lying on the ground, her back covered in bloody lash marks, barely breathing.

“Qin Qin, are you insane?”

She examined the wounds, her hands trembling with nervousness.
“Why didn’t you tell our Master or the senior brothers that you had a reason for stealing? Why did you let them beat you like this?”

Ming Qin, her face pale, opened her eyes and gave a weak grin.
“If I told them… you would be punished too, Senior Sister.”

“You’re so afraid of pain, and you will cry again…”

Before Song Shu Qing could finish her sentence, the little girl’s body gave out, and she lost consciousness.

“Qin Qin… you!”

She’s a lunatic!

Damn it!

Recalling the medical knowledge she learned in class, Song Shu Qing searched the nearby woods for familiar herbs.

Mashing up the bitter leaves and grinding them into a paste, Song Shu Qing applied it to Ming Qin’s oozing wounds.
The usually detached and aloof woman suddenly felt a sharp pang in her heart.

It seemed as though she could no longer remain an outsider.

At least for the girl in front of her, Song Shu Qing had established a bond that was deeper than mere blood ties.
This emotion, so similar to that of familial love, made it impossible for her to just watch idly.

“You insolent little brat…you had better stay alive!”