QQ, or Master Quietly as her readers called her, was an online author known for her tragic endings.

Under that pen name, she received a lot of praises and even more curses.

Her readers never met her in person. But if they ever did, a lot of them would probably cry in front of her, begging justice for her characters that met bad fates.

Nevertheless, they were still hooked on her work. Whenever she published another story, it would create a buzz in her niche.

She guessed people had masochistic traits and loved the feeling of bittersweet misery whenever her characters died or parted ways.

For her, it was a mere pastime so she was quite amused when she started earning money through it. The way readers loved and hated her never failed to entertain her.

However, it wasn't as fascinating now.

Because for whatever reason, she was living inside the first novel she ever wrote.

This was also her sole novel where none of the leads died at the end.

It would always be a mystery how she ended up here. And it was a puzzle she didn't want to solve. Without a doubt, it would just endanger her more or open a can of worms she didn't want to see.

Like those stories of idiotic female leads who somehow put themselves in danger every two or three chapters.

Even so, she didn't appear here all of a sudden as most female leads did.

She didn't believe that she was transported here either. And she didn't inherit memories of an original body or soul. There was no original lord in the first place as she was considered to be her own.

Hong Chun1 was born in this world. Or maybe it was more appropriate to say she was reborn in this world. She grew up and made a life here as real as it could be.

But at a young age, she had recalled memories of a distant past. She couldn't remember when but she knew that she lived elsewhere before. So she deemed it as her soul reincarnating even if she never truly believed in the supernatural or the divine.

However, when she witnessed the similarities of this world to the novel she wrote, she almost did a backflip.

The names of aristocrats, titles of princes, the title of the Emperor, the name of the country, the disputes among different factions, the fight for the throne.

Though she wasn't directly part of the big happenings in the court and she only saw it through the eyes of a commoner, she couldn't mistake all the striking resemblance to The Fate of Nuo Ying Su.

Her readers hailed this novel as the 'sole flower among the countless corpses' because it was the only book with HE (Happy Ending) among her portfolio.

Being here though, she never planned on dipping her toes on changing the plot or overthrowing the main leads. Why would she go and actively seek ways to die?

Even if it was ironic that inside the world she thought she created, she was a nobody, it was alright.

Considering that she wasn't involved in the bloody fight scenes she wrote for the main leads. And she didn't have to put herself in desperate situations nor fall in love with the wrong person.

She liked writing those kinds of dramas but didn't want anything to do with it in real life.

It was good being a simple daughter of a fifth-ranked official.

"A'Chun, what do you think of this dress?"

Hong Chun was caught off guard from her daydreaming because of the sudden question.

She looked at her childhood friend who was twirling around in a vibrant outfit.

"Yes, it looks amazing."

"But why do you sound like it's not?"

"Uhm, because I always speak like this?" Arching her brow, she stared at the scowling young lady.

"You!" The girl narrowed her eyes at her but decided that it was too tiring to argue. "Tsk, hopeless!"

Mao Zhen2 stomped her feet and turned to pay for the dress.

Hong Chun was used to these little tantrums so she just shrugged which was very unladylike for her to do. The girl was three years younger than her so she attributed it to the freaky adolescent stage.

The two went out of the store and were about to go home.

One was a lovely young lady from the Mao merchants whilst the other was an official's daughter who was as plain as a rock. Many were puzzled why they hang out with each other but they couldn't care less.

In Hong Chun's point of view, it was always Mao Zhen who stuck to her even if she didn't want to be pestered.

She couldn't even remember when she had gotten used to the sunny girl's presence.

Mao Zhen had a knack for gossips. So it wasn't a surprise when she whispered, "His Majesty's really serious about curfew these days, no?"

"That's better for the people's discipline and safety especially now that we'll have foreign delegates coming in." Hong Chun just mimicked what her elders would say at home.

She had nothing to say except that after all.

"Yeah, but we can't enjoy the night market!" The younger lady complained under her puckered lips.

"You, young woman, are addicted to shopping." Pointing a finger at the other girl's forehead, the older nagged with a flaccid face.

The latter just stuck a tongue out at her.

There were a lot of changes when the new emperor sat on the throne.

This new emperor was the male lead of the story Hong Chun wrote. And at this point, the love story between the female lead and the male lead already reached their happily ever after.

It was a relief to her because she didn't need to be antsy every time there were new developments in the court.

Without her interference, everything went with the original plot.

She previously relied on her foreknowledge when hinting her father about the changes in court and who their family should cling on to. And now that the 'story' was over, she had no idea what would happen next.

But she shouldn't care about it too much since she'd just live as she should.

If anything happened, which would very unlikely affect her, she could still count on knowing how the major key players thought and acted. Other than that, she didn't have an ace up her sleeve.

Nevertheless, she didn't need an ace as she wasn't ambitious.

Hong Chun didn't want to be the mother of this world or to be the mother of anyone whatsoever. Staying as plain Hong Chun was fine.

She didn't need to know all the things happening in the court or in the nation of Han.

As her mind was flying elsewhere again, a commotion was heard not far from where they were.

It was caused by a group of soldiers following who seemed to be people of importance.

They weren't riding a carriage which was the norm for the aristocrats in the capital of Hanjing.

Even if they were only wearing what seemed like normal clothes and not the robes that reflected their real status, the people still gave way to them as though they were respecting their ancestors.

The group was led by a fair tall man who was wearing a thin animal pelt over his robes and another man who seemed to be of high rank here in Hanjing.

The former looked different from the normal menfolk of Han who all had dark hair and crescent black eyes.

His tresses were the color of sandalwood and even from afar, his eyes were light.

Although the people didn't know him, it was obvious that this group came from a different nation aside from the one who seemed to be their host.

Add that to the fact that they were escorted by city guards.

However, Hong Chun couldn't care less about this party. Her feet were already aching from walking around all day so she couldn't wait to go home. But because of this attention-seeking group, she couldn't push through the crowd.

"That gentleman's handsome, isn't he?" Mao Zhen nudged her side and gestured to the group.

"Don't care, want to go home." She answered without even looking at her friend's subject of interest.

The other girl just rolled her eyes at Hong Chun's antics.

It was rare to see a foreigner here in the capital and this young lady wasn't even interested.

Look at the hungry looks of all the maids present here! It looked like the only thing stopping them from approaching were the soldiers and their so-called modesty!

Mao Zhen's gaze passed by her friend as she was judging the young ladies and madams all around and she noticed something.

The sun was about to set but there were still bursts of orange light here and there.

It so happened to shine on the area where Hong Chun was stuck in.

"A'Chun, don't stand there!" She couldn't help but whisper in a harsh tone.