The Princess’ Shadow Guard – Chapter 16
by Little PandaWhat’s There to Pity?
The troublemakers had mysteriously tripped for the eighteenth time. Zhang Yurong had been knocked unconscious in the Martial Arts Hall for the third time, seemingly without being touched. Finally, during a lunch when no one else was near, Murong Wan shouted Ming Qin’s name.
“You did all this, didn’t you?” Murong Wan asked, his face unhappy as he looked at Ming Qin, who had appeared in a flash.
Ming Qin eyed the food box on the table, swallowed, and forced herself to say stiffly, “I don’t know what the Eleventh Prince is talking about. The weather is great today, hahaha…”
Outside, dark clouds gathered, threatening rain.
“You… you…” It was rare for Murong Wan to meet such a fool who was so terrible at lying. He stomped his foot and said stubbornly, “You don’t need to pity me!”
The words felt strangely familiar to Ming Qin. “I’m not pitying you,” she said, confused.
Murong Wan demanded loudly, “If you’re not pitying me, then why have you been helping me teach Zhang Yurong and his lackeys1 a lesson these past few days? I’m telling you, I don’t need your pity!”
Seeing no one around, Ming Qin took off her mask. “I taught Zhang Yurong and the others a lesson because they’re annoying pests. They insulted your mother, which was wicked! They deserved to be punished,” she said frankly.
A second later, she frowned in confusion. “Am I supposed to pity you? What’s there to pity about you?”
Murong Wan hadn’t expected this kind of reaction. He suddenly started stammering, “I… I… Y-y-you don’t pity me for not having a mother since I was little? For being weak and getting bullied every day? Isn’t that miserable?”
“But I don’t have a mother either. I don’t have a father, for that matter. I know lots of people without parents. Am I supposed to pity all of them?” Ming Qin didn’t quite understand, her mind full of questions.
She then said to the boy with brutal honesty, “You get bullied every day because your martial arts are terrible. Do I need to pity you for being terrible? But even if I pity you, your martial arts won’t get any better, will they?”
Ming Qin’s words grated on Murong Wan’s ears. He was so angry and annoyed he couldn’t get a single word out. “You… you… you…!”
“You don’t have a mother, but you still have a father who will protect you. My martial arts are the best. The fact that your father sent me to protect you shows he really cares about your safety,” Ming Qin said calmly, as if stating the obvious.
She then tilted her head, recalling, “Besides, I don’t think you’re weak at all. You can recite all that difficult stuff in the academy. I can’t understand a word of it. And out of so many students, that old fossil of a tutor still praises you every day. You’re amazing.”
Hearing Ming Qin list his good qualities, Murong Wan, who was only a ten-year-old boy, was stunned.
“Not knowing martial arts doesn’t mean you’re weak. I know someone… she isn’t like ordinary people. She’s gentle and frail and doesn’t know any martial arts, but she’s incredibly smart and brave. I think she’s the strongest person I’ve ever met.”
An image of Murong Yan flashed through Ming Qin’s mind. She smiled and continued, “What’s more, you’re healthy. Just eat more. Mastering martial arts doesn’t happen overnight. You’ll get stronger bit by bit, and then no one will bully you anymore!”
Murong Wan felt a lump form in his throat. He forced the words out. “Do you really think I’m amazing?”
“Of course!” Ming Qin said firmly, then asked in return, “Do you think you’re amazing?”
The boy stared blankly for a moment, then met Ming Qin’s clear eyes and nodded emphatically. “I am strong. And I’m going to get stronger and stronger!”
Ming Qin beamed. “I believe in you!”
Seeing that Murong Wan seemed to have nothing more to say, she put her mask back on, patted the boy’s head, and was about to turn and leap back into the treetops when she felt a tug on her sleeve.
“There’s too much food in the box. Eat with me,” the little prince said, holding onto her with his head lowered.
Ming Qin looked at the sumptuous dishes, swallowed hard, and immediately agreed with delight. She pulled down her mask and began to eat with gusto.
“Huh? Why are you crying?” Halfway through the meal, Ming Qin noticed the boy’s trembling shoulders and asked with her cheeks puffed out.
“You’re so noisy. Shut up,” Murong Wan’s voice was choked with sobs. He turned his head away so Ming Qin couldn’t see him.
Ming Qin handed him a handkerchief and patted his shoulder. “It must be this chicken. It’s too spicy, it made you cry. Little kids can’t eat things this spicy.”
She said this with a confident expression, helping the boy to some of the other dishes before finishing off the chicken herself in a few bites.
“…I’m not a little kid anymore.”
Is this Shadow Guard woman thoughtful, or just clueless?
This was perhaps the most difficult puzzle for the ten-year-old Murong Wan.
Murong Yan’s stomach was churning.
Even though her hair wasn’t in a bun and she wore no hairpins, her head felt unbearably heavy.
She forced herself to look up at the snake-like man before her, suppressing the urge to vomit.
“Jiejie, my good jiejie. Have you been thinking of this lonely one?”
Murong Xiao gazed at the woman’s face, the appreciation in his eyes mixed with far too much madness and obsession. He walked toward her, step by step.
Never had she so loathed the Crown Prince’s approach. Murong Yan felt her space being violated, as if an uninvited intruder was forcing his way into her home.2 Every inch of her body screamed in protest.
The only person she had ever permitted to enter was Ah Qin.
This nauseating man before her.
Unbearable.
The moment Murong Xiao’s hand touched her neck, she spoke, her voice full of weariness. “As I recall, Your Highness the Crown Prince wasn’t so full of nonsense when you were a child.”
It was rare for Murong Yan to bring up the past. The man’s hand paused. “When jiejie first met this lonely one, this lonely one was only eleven. Now, this lonely one is twenty-three.”
As if thinking of something exciting, he licked his lips. “Does jiejie want to know how much this lonely one has grown?”
Murong Yan felt her insides roil. A vein throbbed in her temple.
Not wanting to give this disgusting man the satisfaction, her tone remained calm, as if she couldn’t care less. “I have absolutely no interest.”
“What a pity. This lonely one has been practicing day and night, thinking of my good jiejie.” Murong Xiao withdrew his hand, shaking his head with a look of regret. “Is jiejie still angry with this lonely one?”
The discomfort wracking Murong Yan’s body seemed to have reached its limit. She goaded the man with the bloodshot eyes, “How would I dare be angry with Your Highness the Crown Prince?”
She gave a cold laugh, then said slowly, word by word, “I feel no anger toward Your Highness the Crown Prince. No hatred. And certainly no affection. Nothing at all.”
Hearing this, the man’s lewd expression vanished, replaced by a blank look. His eyes widened as he tilted his head. “My good jiejie has no place for this lonely one in her heart? But this lonely one has a place for jiejie in his.”
Murong Xiao looked at the woman just inches away, a violent storm raging in his heart.
Aaaah, I want to tear her to pieces, to gnaw on her, to fill her up, to make her mine.
He reached out, wanting to wrap his hands around that slender neck.
No, no, now is not the time. Her father is that damned Prince of Yu. Now is not the time. If I want to possess her forever, now is not the time.
He crossed his arms, his entire body trembling with restraint.
After about the time it takes for one stick of incense to burn,3 his harsh breathing finally slowed. Murong Xiao backed slowly toward the door, his eyes fixed on the woman.
Just before leaving, he gave Murong Yan a deep look, then suddenly broke into a sinister grin. “Jiejie, you seem even more beautiful this time we meet than before. Why is that, I wonder?”
Without waiting for an answer, Murong Xiao shoved the door open and left, as if he couldn’t bear it a moment longer.
Once the iron chain was locked again, Murong Yan retched into a water basin, heaving as if to empty her insides completely. She only stopped when nothing but sour bile came up.
She lay down, weak and trembling uncontrollably. She thought she should call someone to clean up before Ming Qin arrived, but before she could, her consciousness blurred and she fainted.
LP: Disgusting piece of shi–
Re-translated on June 14, 2025
Footnotes
- Original: 走狗 (zǒugǒu), literally ‘running dogs.’ A common pejorative for henchmen, sycophants, or minions.
- The original uses the idiom 侵门踏户 (qīnmén tàhù), which literally means ‘to invade the gate and tread on the threshold,’ vividly describing a brazen and unwelcome intrusion into one’s private domain.
- In ancient China, ‘one stick of incense’ (yī zhù xiāng) was a common way to measure time, roughly equivalent to 15 to 30 minutes.
oh my god i hate him so much
Ewww the crown prince is so disgusting
Uugh disgusting prick