My Female Prince

10 years ago in the Suo Kingdom.

"Big Brothers! Big Brothers! Look! Look what I painted!"

Xiao Jun ran with a painting in her hand and laid it out onto the table in front of her four elder brothers.

It was a painting of a sunset with a person on a horse, the person had no significant facial features and could've been either male or female but the entire painting carried a mysterious aura and her brothers complimented her on her skills.

Her eldest brother, Feng Zhang Wei, was a great general in the Suo Kingdom and had won many battles, he was at the age of 18 then and was now at the current age of 28, married, with 4 children.

Her second eldest brother, Feng Li Wei, was the current Crown Prince and was to be the future leader of Suo. He proved his part and was chosen by their father and after an agreement between the brothers. He was at the age of 16 then and was currently 26, married, with two children and another on the way.

Her third eldest brother, Feng Wang Wei, was at the age of 14 and currently was just a prince who studied but now at the age of 24, he ruled over his own city.

Lastly, her fourth brother, also her twin brother, Feng Xiao Liu, was also 7 at the time and would've been at the age of 17 alongside Xiao Jun but.. he had his own fate. Xiao Liu was older by a few hours and was hence deemed as the older brother to Xiao Jun.

Her brothers smiled and Xiao Liu gave her a proud look, "I have such a talented little sister!"

Xiao Jun smiled just as widely and thanked them all for their compliments.

They shooed off Xiao Jun and Xiao Liu as they had private things to discuss.

Xiao Liu was taken away to study and Xiao Jun was taken away for her lessons on etiquette.

Once night fell, Xiao Jun sat in her room as her maid brushed her hair. Hearing a shrill scream of her name, Xiao Jun jumped off the chair and ran out with her shoes off and her hair flowing freely as the voice sounded familiar to her.

Running all the way to Xiao Liu's courtyard, she saw Xiao Liu laying on the ground with his maids all dead around him.

What she saw next made her whole body freeze and she fell to the ground as tears fell. Seeing that she had caught the attention of the assassin, she scrambled to her feet and ran as hard as she could to her parent's courtyard.

Bursting into the room, her father and mother sat up, startled, as a candle was lit and her father went over to her.

"Jun'er, what are you doing up so late? Why do you look like this?" her father asked.

'Had no one else heard the scream of her brother's voice?'

With wide eyes, she pointed to the door and then broke down sobbing. She fell to her knees and cried harder as soldiers ran in with panic on their faces.

"Your Highness! An assassin broke in somehow and the 4th Prince.. has been assassinated..." a soldier reported. Her father stood up and gave a pained expression as her mother quickly draped a cloak around Xiao Jun and looked her up at down.

"Jun'er, what did you see? Ah? Can you tell mother?" her mother asked, she caressed Xiao Jun's face slowly and seemed unfazed about the current news, but really, her heart was shattering and her mind was denying it all.

Xiao Jun looked up at her mother and then quietly spoke, "I..I saw...s-someone... take a s-sword to B-Big Brother's...c-chest...B-Big Brother...is d-dead.."

Her father cried out and yelled out an order for the assassin to be caught.

Falling backwards onto her side, her mother let out a muffled sob and then hugged Xiao Jun close to her chest. "My Xiao Liu! What is Xiao Jun to do without you by her side?!" she cried.

Her father walked over to the two and hugged them both as he cried as well, her three eldest brothers all ran in, hair and clothing disheveled.

They all fell to their knees and cried for Xiao Liu.

Since the death of her twin brother, Xiao Liu, Xiao Jun began to dress like a male and said that she wanted to be known as a prince instead of a princess to help ease her mother's pain in losing her youngest son. Her mother denied but the little, stubborn Xiao Jun insisted, hence her new identity as 'Prince' Xiao Jun began.

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"Big Sister? Big Sister? Wake up.."

Light shaking and pokes to her cheek woke Xiao Jun back up and and Mei'er stood there with a towel in hand along with a worried look on her face.

"Are you alright? You've been sitting in the tub since we got back."

Xiao Jun nodded and took the towel from Mei'er, "I'm fine, can you go to the kitchen and check if we have anything to make for dinner?"

Mei'er nodded before leaving the room and Xiao Jun dried herself and put her undergarments on along with a simple blue robe with a matching sash at the waist. In her room, she sat in front of her mirror and dried her hair before combing through it and put it up in a wooden hair pin.

"I cooked some simple dishes for us tonight, but our food stock is still high, so we don't need to go to the shops for a few weeks." Mei'er walked in and helped fix Xiao Jun's hair.

The night ended with the two girls eating dinner and then going off to sleep.