Bound To The Tyrant Prince

The flickering candlelight from the small countryside house cast dancing shadows into the dense forest, illuminating only a tiny patch of the encroaching darkness. Inside, on an ornate antique bed, lay Xu Ling Ai, the Third Miss of the Xu family. She was eerily still, a porcelain doll forgotten.

For nearly seventeen years, she had lived a solitary existence, estranged from her father's affection, which had long since been claimed by Second Madam Gu. Three days prior, a grim prophecy from a shaman had sealed her fate, branding her an omen of calamity.

Her stillness shattered as she convulsed, a violent coughing fit wracking her delicate frame. "Cough, cough!" she gasped, desperately reclaiming her breath, her heart pounding against her ribs.

Her eyes darted around the unfamiliar room, bewildered by the strange surroundings. She squeezed them shut, rubbing them as if to awaken from a nightmare, but upon reopening them, the surreal reality remained. "Dang it! Where am I?" she exclaimed, her voice cracking, as she stared at her own body, garbed in a flowing white tunic and loose pants.