The Emperor Chases His Wife

Chapter II

CHAPTER II: I Shall Avenge It!

Shanghai Nian opened her eyes and blinked. The sound of fabric lightly rustling awoke her from her sleep. It was still nighttime and the room was painted in darkness except for the small glow coming from the little flickering candle on the table.

As the sleep disappeared from her eyes, Nian became aware of what was going on. A girl about twelve was sitting near a table with three legs, her fingers moving up and down quickly as she held what looked like a dress and was probably sewing something.

The girl had soft features that could be considered delicate, but at the moment, she looked malnourished and was extremely thin. Her face was dirty, her clothes were like rags, her eyes were sunken, her body was thin and her bones looked like they were about to break her skin and jump out.

Nian recognized her. Her name was Han Qing. A sudden rush of memories flooded into her mind and she grabbed her forehead, wincing at the pounding pain.

It seemed that her soul was no inhabiting another body. Her most recent memory was of herself being chased into the forest, and after that, everything was blank.

Going backwards, she realized that she was part of an ancient dynasty she wasn't familiar with since it was never recorded anywhere in history.

Khaimore Continent. A mighty empire which was centered around martial arts. It consisted of four large and powerful regions, Northern Region, Southern Region, Eastern Region and Western Region.

These four countries formed a circle of a sort and in the center of it was the legendary and most feared place on the continent, the Netherland Forest. Unless you practiced martial arts and had some form of talent, entering this forest was unthinkable.

In the middle of the forest was a cemetery which held a gateway to an empire in the sky. This empire was known as Purgatory City and it was home to the many immortal rulers of Khiamore Continent. They were viewed as gods and goddesses and they couldn't exist among the common folk, hence they had their own empire where they could watch over the continent while keeping to themselves.

As of now, Nian was part of Eastern Region's Great Shanghai Caravan. Her father, the Great Merchant, Shanghai Chengfeng, was one of the best merchants in the Eastern Region and owned a large caravan which often traveled between the four countries, carrying expensive jewels, priceless clothing fabrics and an endless supply of weaponry and other useful things that a martial art practitioner would need.

While her father held a prestige status and almost ranked as a noble man, Nian was publicly known as an idiot and the good-for-nothing Fifth Miss of the Shanghai Caravan.

It was a common law in Khaimore Continent that at the age of three, every child was expected to take a test in the temple the gods of Purgatory had built in each region. It was a simple skill test that determined whether or not a child could practice martial arts and how strong they were going to be.

Nian's mother was the Great Merchant's favored wife. She was exceptionally talented in martial arts, achieving a skill level of eight at the age of fifteen so naturally everyone had high hopes for the little girl.

One the day she was born, rain and snow fell at the same time for six hours. This strange phenomenon caused everyone to have high expectations for her, expecting her to pass the test and become someone of great importance.

However, on the day of the test, Nian failed for some unknown reason. Her talent was zero and there was no way she could practice martial arts.

With so many important people present that day and stifled with the pressure and embarrassment, Shanghai Chengfeng abandoned his daughter in a fit of rage, tossing her into the shabbiest part of the manor into a house which appeared to belong to the slums of a poor country and he left her to fend on her own.

Whether she lived or died, he didn't seem to care.

Her mother died of grief and depression years later and without the little protection her mother had offered, Nian became a target for her older siblings to bully. She was labeled as the good for nothing Fifth Miss and those in the manor, even the servants, bullied her as they pleased.

Since she was subjected to such poor conditions, her health obviously deteriorated. She was a sickly child left to fend for herself and based on her recent memory, she had tried to escape.

She'd snuck into the stables and knocked out one of the servants before taking a horse and galloping of in search of freedom. Unfortunately she had been caught by the Commander, and unknown to anyone, she had died when she blacked out.

Her weak body was tired from exhaustion and she had several internal injuries from pushing her fragile body over the limit while trying to defend herself. Now it appeared that a new soul, from an unknown point in time, inhabited the body and had the same name.

Han Qing was the only maid Nian had, since she was eight. Qing was the daughter of one of the other maids who served in the Great Merchant's Manor but her mother was involved in a conspiracy between the general's wife and she was disgraced and thrown out of the manor.

Qing had been seven at the time and since her mother had no other means of providing for her daughter, the general agreed to let the girl stay, tossing her in the slums with Nian. Therefore, whatever treatment Nian was subjected to, Qing was a part of it without much of a choice.

Qing was very unaware that her mistress had died and there was now someone else in her place.

Seeing that Qing was someone she could trust, Nian was at ease but her blood was boiling from her anger. The mistreatment and suffering the past owner of the body had endured was unacceptable and Nian vowed to herself: This torture...this humiliation...I, Shanghai Nian, shall avenge it!

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Nian = knee - ann

Chengfeng = cheng - feng

Shanghai = shang- hi

Khaimore = kai - more

Qing = ching